He is well known for researching corruption, and mainly works in Sumqayit, the second largest city of Azerbaijan. In June 2016, Turkish daily Hurriyyet published his article on the collapse of a trade center in Sumqayit. One month later, the owner of the trade center, Vuqar Qalandarov filed a criminal complaint against Rahimov at Sumqayit City Court. He claimed that he was subject to defamation and demanded imprisonment of Rahimov. On 25 November 2016, Rahimov was convicted of defamation under article 147.2 (libel that involves accusing someone of a serious or particularly serious crime) of the Criminal Code and sentenced to one year in prison. The Media Legal Defence League (MDLI) filed an application before the ECtHR concerning torture inflicted on Rahimov while being detained for libel allegations. The ECPMF supported the case with 1,300 dollars to help MLDI with the translation of documents.