About Caspian Watch
Caspian Watch is an independent media and human rights watchdog dedicated to documenting political repression, human rights violations, and civic resistance in Azerbaijan and the broader Caspian region. Our mission is to amplify the voices of the silenced, expose systemic abuse, and advocate for democratic governance and judicial independence.
Our Founder
Abid Gafarov is an Azerbaijani writer, journalist, and human rights defender whose work on political repression, torture, and democratic resistance has led to systematic persecution. A former prisoner of conscience, he is the author of politically censored literature, including the banned novel “Andaluniya” — a literary work based on real testimonies of torture, judicial abuse, and authoritarian rule.
His investigative work includes documentation of the “Tartar case” involving mass torture of Azerbaijani servicemen, contributing to international awareness of systemic abuse. He has spoken at the OSCE Human Dimension Conference in Warsaw, United Nations human rights mechanisms in Geneva, and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg.
Abid is the founder of the Caspian Information Centre, host of the KimTV YouTube channel, and founder of the Baku Unity Organization. He remains an active contributor to international human rights processes and continues to seek a protected environment to write freely.