Malahat Nasibova is an Azeri journalist reporting on abuse of power, human rights violations, war crimes, and corruption in the contested Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. Nasibova is a correspondent for Turan, an independent information agency, and for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). In 2002, Nasibova established the first independent NGO in Nakhchivan, the Democracy and NGO Development Resource Center (DNDRC). Nasibova has faced arrest, assault, harassment, and death threats in retaliation for her work. In 2009, she was awarded the Rafto Prize for her courageous journalism. In 2014, her husband Ilgar Nasibova, also a journalist, was nearly killed when he was beaten unconscious at the DNDRC offices in what was widely seen as an attempt to silence his reporting on a controversial prisoner fatality. Nasibova makes public appearances as a civil society rights activist as well as a Rafto laureate.
