The Republic of Azerbaijan has launched a defamation lawsuit against CNN in the United States, accusing the American news giant of falsely reporting that Baku allowed Israeli forces to use Azerbaijani territory to conduct military and intelligence operations against neighbouring Iran.
The case centres on a 5 June CNN investigation, Exclusive: Israel sent troops to Azerbaijan during Iran war.
CNN reported that Israeli military and intelligence personnel, including commandos and Mossad operatives, had been deployed to several locations in southern Azerbaijan, close to the Iranian border. It further alleged that Israeli personnel carried out intelligence gathering and drone operations against Iran from Azerbaijani soil. CNN also linked operations allegedly launched from Azerbaijan to the killing of a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) intelligence official.
Azerbaijan has categorically denied the claims.
Its Foreign Ministry said on the day CNN published its report that the allegations were “entirely baseless”, stressing that Baku had already communicated its denial to CNN before publication.
“Azerbaijan has never allowed, and will never allow, its territory” to be used by another state for hostile operations against a third country, the ministry said, while calling on CNN to retract its story.
Baku says CNN report put Azerbaijan at risk
In its lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the District of Delaware, Azerbaijan argues that CNN's report went beyond causing reputational damage and potentially placed the country and its citizens in danger by portraying Azerbaijan as a participant in the recent Iran conflict.
According to Bloomberg Law, the Azerbaijani government says the CNN story threatened to exacerbate tensions with Iran, particularly given Tehran's warnings that states allowing their territory to be used for attacks against Iran could themselves face retaliation.
The complaint also states that Azerbaijani officials repeatedly sought a correction or retraction from CNN. Azerbaijan's ambassador to Washington, Khazar Ibrahim (pictured left), wrote to the broadcaster shortly after publication, while further approaches were subsequently made through lawyers.
The complaint also states that Azerbaijani officials repeatedly sought a correction or retraction from CNN. Azerbaijan's ambassador to Washington, Khazar Ibrahim, wrote to the broadcaster shortly after publication, while further approaches were subsequently made through lawyers.
Baku claims CNN initially promised to investigate its complaint but then failed to provide a substantive response.
CNN is standing by the controversial report. A spokesperson told Bloomberg Law following the filing of the case that the network “stands by its reporting.”
Can a foreign government sue for libel in America?
The case could also test an unusual question under American law: whether a foreign sovereign state has the right to sue a US news organisation for defamation at all.
US governments and government bodies are generally prevented from bringing libel actions because of constitutional protections for freedom of speech and the press.
Azerbaijan argues that the principle was developed to protect Americans' right to criticise their own government and should therefore not automatically shield false factual allegations made about a foreign state.
American constitutional law scholar Professor Eugene Volokh, writing for Reason, believes Azerbaijan nevertheless faces an uphill legal battle.
Volokh points to the landmark 1964 New York Times v Sullivan ruling and a small number of subsequent cases suggesting foreign government entities may also be barred from suing for defamation.
Even if Azerbaijan is permitted to pursue the action, he notes it would likely also have to overcome America's demanding “actual malice” standard by showing CNN knew its claims were false or acted with reckless disregard as to whether they were true.
The lawsuit therefore sets up two potentially significant disputes: whether CNN's explosive allegations concerning Israeli operations from Azerbaijan can be substantiated, and whether Azerbaijan itself has the legal standing under the US Constitution to demand damages for what it says was dangerously false reporting.
Main image, top, CNN logo outside CNN Headquarters in Atlanta. Stock image, 2017. Photo © Kelly VanDellen / iStock
