Tag: activist

hearing in the case of activist reveals, it was his social media posts that had him arrested after all

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Afiaddin Mammadov, the coordinator of Azerbaijan’s Alternative Confederation of Trade Unions, was sentenced to two months in pretrial detention in September 2023. Charged with deliberate infliction of bodily harm and armed hooliganism (based on a bogus accusation by an unidentified man claiming Mammadov stabbed him with a knife) originally, based on the hearing on November 15, in which the court extended Mammadov’s detention by an additional two months, turns out it was his outspoken criticism on social media platform Facebook that landed him behind hars. 

Based on the reporting from the hearing by journalist Ulviyya Ali, the judge said, “I have seen your Facebook profile. What have you written there about the “one-day” war?” Mammadov said he wrote nothing about it. The judge then persisted, “Why did you write that President Ilham Aliyev has resolved the 30-year-old problem?” Mammadov after hearing this question told the judge, that he had criticized the president and his decisions a lot, and that he was certain the reason behind his arrest, was these previously written posts and comments on the social media platform and not him stabbing someone.  

Mammadov repeated over and over again that he committed no crime. And that no one, should be put on trial, for wanting peace.

This is not the first time an activist is accused of a crime he did not commit in Azerbaijan. The country has a long-running history of putting its critics behind bars, handing administrative fines, and using various tools of intimidation to silence its state’s critics. 

Mammadov is among several activists targeted since September. 

yet another activist detained over social media posts [Updated January 17, 2024]

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[Update] On January 17, Ruslan Vahabov [see the case below] was sentenced to 4 years behind bars on drug possession charges. 

[Update] Authorities continued to target civic activists critical of the state during October. Below is a compilation of some the cases documented by AIW. 

October 27 – Tural Farzili was detained after a post on Facebook in which he questioned the arrest of members of the working group representing the rights of workers. Farzili was released after questioning. 

October 24 – Shahin Amanov was questioned at the police over a spot on Facebook where he criticized the local administrative office. He was also forced to delete all the posts. 

October 23 – Zeka Miragayev was arrested over social media post critical of the Ministry of the Interior. 

October 19 – Ilkin Calilov was questioned, beaten and forced to give a video statement under duress after leaving a comment on a post by Meydan TV on Facebook. In an interview with Abzas Media, Calilov recounted how at the station he was asked to remove the comment he left, which he did. Calilov also told Abzas Media that he was told never to leave any more comments. 

October 18 – Mohyaddin Orucov was detained, and sentenced to 30 days in administrative detention. 

October 16 – Emin Akhundov arrested over hooliganism and resisting police charges, charges Akhundov refutes. The activist is an active critic of the state, online. 

Ruslan Vahabov,  was arrested on drug trafficking charges on September 22. His name is the latest in a series of arrests targeting civic activists over their criticism of the state, online. According to reporting by Meydan TV, at least nine activists have been targeted so far. Many were reprimanded for their anti-war commentary. 

In addition to making anti-war statements, Vahabov, is a representative of the Talysh ethnic group, and throughout his activism, he called to respect the group’s national and cultural rights. In a statement issued by the Public Council of Talyshs of Azerbaijan (PCTA), the group said, “Ruslan Vahabov is a public activist. He criticized the activities of certain institutions of the Azerbaijani government on social networks. At the same time, as a representative of the Talysh ethnic group, he advocated ensuring the constitutional national and cultural rights of his people. For public activity, he was previously subjected to verbal warnings from the police.”

On the social media platform Facebook, Vahabov shared anti-war sentiments. A day before his arrest, on September 21, Vahabov wrote, “What did we gain from the 24 hours and 43 minutes?” referring to the military operation that was launched by the government of Azerbaijan on September 19.

activist sentenced to 25 days in administrative detention over social media posts

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On March 18, civic activist, Elvin Mustafayev (known online as Atilla Khan) was sentenced to 25 days in administrative detention on charges of petty hooliganism and disobeying police in Saatli province of Azerbaijan. According to Mustafayev’s friends, the activist was reprimanded for his critical-of-the-authorities comments and posts on Facebook. Since mid-March, residents of Saatli have been protesting water shortage.

Mustafayev lives in Saatli himself and he wrote about the protest and police violence he witnessed. Shortly after he was called in for questioning and arrested on the spot on bogus allegations. According to reports, riot police used rubber bullets and tear gas against local residents who took the streets to voice their grievances.

Local opposition parties recognized Mustafayev’s detention as politically motivated. 

political activist arrested over a question asked during live online discussion

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Magsud Aliyev, a political activist, was arrested on August 16 and sentenced to 30 days in administrative detention on charges of disobeying police according to local media reports. Speaking to Turan News Agency, Aliyev’s father, Faig Aliyev, said the family was not aware of their son’s arrest until they heard it from his friends, days later. 

Aliyev, reportedly asked a question during a live debate on August 12 with the leader of an opposition political party Popular Front, Ali Karimli about Ilham Aliyev and his general intentions. “If you have noticed, Aliyev most recently has been using terms like ‘foreign powers’ similar to the narrative often used by President Erdogan. He has also changed his style, wearing more tight clothes like President Zelensky. What do you think Aliyev is trying to do?” asked Aliyev during the Q&A session. 

A human rights organization, “Line of Defense” condemned the arrest of the activist. The managing director of the organization, Rufat Safarov said there is no doubt Aliyev was arrested because of the question he asked during the debate. “We suspect he was humiliated, beaten, and subjected to ill-treatment during detention. We will have more details soon once the lawyer, visits Aliyev,” Safarov told Meydan TV. 

Aliyev is known to share critical of the government posts on social media platforms according to Meydan TV reporting. 

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Internal Affairs dismissed the claims that the activist was arrested for the question. 

member of political party re-arrested

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Elnur Shahverdiyev is a member of a political party ReAL, and an avid critic of the state on social media platforms. According to information provided by his brother, Shahverdiyev was detained by the police on July 14 at his place of work. “Police showed up at the bakery where Shahverdiyev worked, and said, there was a complaint from a customer. They then forced him on the ground, handcuffed him, and detained him.” According to the brother, police said Shahverdiyev was sentenced to 30 days in administrative detention for disobeying police. 

But Shahverdiyev’s family as well as members of the ReAL party believe the grounds for the activist’s arrest were his posts on Facebook. As such, his posts shared between May 25 and July 14 were all removed from the platform after his detention. 

On August 15, Shahverdiyev was pressed with new charges, this time, drug possession, and sentenced to another 30 days in administrative detention, according to reporting by Turan News Agency.  

In an interview with Caucasian Knot, Natig Jafarli, a member of the political committee of the ReAl Party, questioned new accusations leveled against Shahverdiyev. “Elnur is known for his civil position; he sharply criticizes the country’s authorities and speaks about the human rights violations and officials’ arbitrariness,” Jafarli told Caucasian Knott.

political activist kidnapped, facebook post deleted under duress [update April 29]

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Bakthiyar Hajiyev is a political activist from Azerbaijan. In February 2020, AIW published this story about threats and intimidation Hajiyev was facing. Despite numerous requests made to the relevant government institutions to investigate, Hajiyev’s complaints remained unanswered. Instead, attacks continued. In September 2021, Hajiyev was reportedly threatened by Baku Police Chief Alekper Ismayilov over a Facebook post, in which the activist criticized the Ministry, specifically the Minister of the Interior, Vilayat Eyvazov for delaying a response to his complaints. 

On April 21, 2022, two years after, Hajiyev’s initial reports of cyberharassment, physical threats, and intimidation, the activist was kidnapped, taken to an undisclosed location, and was forced to remove several Facebook posts under duress that criticized the Ministry of the Interior, including the minister himself, for failing to investigate his case and being the perpetrators of threats and attacks against him. 

In a lengthy Facebook post, the activist described in detail what happened to him that day: 

I was attacked by an unknown man on April 21, around 11 pm on my way home. That moment, 4 men, their faces hidden under masks, forced me into their car. They placed a black sack over my head, taping over my eyes and mouth over the sack, tied my hands, and inserted earplugs over the sack so I don’t hear anything. After driving for a while, the men switched cars [Hajiyev suspected that the men changed too]. When they finally removed the sack, I was in what looked like a bathroom of a flat. They proceeded to humiliate me by using foul language. They demanded that I tell them who ordered me to write Facebook posts that were critical of the Minister of the Interior. When I told them I received orders from no one, they stripped me naked and proceeded to urinate on me. They demanded I delete the Facebook posts about Vilayet Eyvazov [the Minister of the Interior] and Fuad Muradov [Chairman of the State Committee on Work with Diaspora]. I deleted them all […] They filmed the whole time. In the meantime, they continued to threaten me. They told me if I continued to criticize the minister, they would rape me, and murder me. After that, they tied my eyes again and got rid of me in an undisclosed location where I was handed over to another group of four men who drove for a while and dropped me off somewhere hands still tied, and eyes covered. By the time I was able to untie myself, they were nowhere to be seen. There was nothing in the location where they disposed of me […] What happened to me, is a state-level crime, mafia-like measures. I immediately informed several government institutions and officials. I was assured that the head of state is aware of the matter. I was also told that the Minister of the Interior himself was going to meet me. A few days later, I was taken to the Ministry of the Interior where I met with the Minister’s Deputy, Ismet Aliyev. But 10-15 minutes into our conversation, it became clear that there was no need to continue the meeting because they did not tell me anything new. “We did not beat you, we used physical force,” “American police is worse. We are treating you humanely like a citizen,” “police beats people who want to hurt themselves everywhere across the world,” etc.

Hajiyev reiterated in his post that everything that has happened to him in the last two years, including most recently, the beating at the Baku City Police Department is all, the doing of the Ministry of the Interior. And until they prove him wrong, and the perpetrators are punished, the responsibility will be on Minister Eyvazov. “For anything that happens to me from now on, it is on the minister and the person who appointed him,” wrote Hajiyev. 

On April 24, Hajiyev attempted to review the CCTV footage from the street where he was kidnapped. In all the footage he reviewed, it appears parts of the recording – specifically the moment of his kidnapping – have been removed without the knowledge of the owners of security cameras. Describing this, Hajiyev wrote that the missing footage indicates “the crime was not committed by any criminal group, but by an organized, professional government agency.”

Earlier this month, Meta released its pilot quarterly Adversarial Threat Report. Among the countries mentioned in the report, is Azerbaijan where the platform said it has identified “a hybrid network operated by the Ministry of the Internal Affairs.” According to the document, this network relied on, what Meta refers to as, “Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior [CIB]” in combination with cyber espionage, “compromising accounts and websites to post” on behalf of the Ministry. The ministry’s press office was quick to dismiss the findings, saying the findings were fictitious.

*On April 28, Hajiyev was informed that the rotating security camera operated by the Ministry of the Interior as part of its “Safe City” system, was not rotating. 

religious activist pressed with drug charges over criticism of the government online [Update May 20, 2022]

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[Update] On May 20, 2022, the Baku Grave Crimes Court, sentenced Humbatov to six years in jail. The religious activist was found guilty of drug possession charges.

Razi Humbatov, a member of the religious movement “Muslim Unity” went missing on July 7. Two days later, his whereabouts were confirmed to Meydan TV, by a human rights organization “Defense Line” as well as Humbatov’s lawyer, Javad Javadov. According to the human rights organization spokesperson Rufat Safarov, and the lawyer, Humbatov was taken to the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ main department for Combating Organized Crime where he was charged with drug possession charges. 

Speaking to Meydan TV, Rufat Safarov from the “Defense Line” said, there were allegations of torture against the religious activist. 

Humbatov’s lawyer said he intends to file a number of complaints including violation of rights, and withholding of information on Humbatov’s whereabouts. 

The “Muslim Unity” said in a statement shared on Facebook that Humbatov is not a drug user, nor did he ever sell drugs. If anything, he actively engaged in anti-drug campaigns. The movement indicated that the real reason behind his detention is the critical posts of the government Humbatov often shared on his Facebook.

On July 8, Humbatov was sentenced to four months in pre-trial detention. In a hearing on July 14 at the Baku Court of Appeals, the judge ruled against Humbatov’s release. 

If convicted, Humbatov is facing up to 12 years in prison reported Meydan TV. 

A number of international watchdogs have reported about torture and prosecution of scores of “Muslim Unity” members, including the movement’s leader Tale Bagirzade who was sentenced to twenty years in 2017.

activist’s personal messages leaked after hacking [update March 9]

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[Update] On March 1, in response to a legal complaint filed by Gulnara Mehdiyeva’s lawyers the Ministry of Internal Affairs informed the defender that the opening of a criminal case on her claim is not planned. 

Last year, ahead of International Women’s Day March, one of the activists and organizers of the March in Baku had her Facebook, Gmail, Protonmail, and Telegram accounts compromised.

At the time, Gulnara Mehdiyeva reported that a hacker who got access to her Gmail account, downloaded her achieve of documents and photographs some of which were sensitive. Mehdiyeva offers support to victims of domestic violence and abuse, and is an advocate for gender equality in Azerbaijan.

In the course of the next 48 hours, Mehdiyeva’s Facebook account was hacked and her admin privileges at some of the Facebook groups that focus on women’s rights and LGBTQI were revoked. These groups were suspended and one was deactivated. Not to mention, thousands of subscribers and content were lost as a result.  

A year later, on February 25, Mehdiyeva was targeted in a different online campaign. The private audio messages obtained from Mehdiyeva’s Facebook account that was hacked last year, were leaked online by one Facebook page, Tənqidçi [translation Critic]. The group that leaked the audio recording, accused Mehdiyeva of being emotionally unstable, questioning her ability to help victims of abuse as well as her alleged involvement in a recent suicide of a young girl. In another post, the page admin shared a post from a Facebook user, humiliating Mehdiyeva and her work. 

The Facebook page in question, shares posts from their readers, and other content they find interesting. In one recent post, the admins shared how a group of Azerbaijani men have been exchanging pictures and private information about their former girlfriends. The admins of the page, claim, the men are violating several articles of criminal code by doing this, and yet, in a post that is targeting Mehdiyeva, the admins were doing just that. Deliberate online targeting 

activist’s treatment at the psychiatric clinic extended

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June 3, an activist who criticized the authorities for the lack of assistance to low-income families on social media was confined to a treatment at a psychiatric clinic.

Agil Humbatov, an activist with the Popular Front opposition party was first detained in March. After being questioned at the police, he was sent to a psychiatric clinic where he was held for two days and then let go. At the time, the local court did not rule for Humbatov’s required treatment. But the activist was detained the following day based on the appeal submitted to the issuing court by the head doctor. This time court ruled in favor of compulsory treatment. 

According to local reports, on June 2, the hospital decided to extend Humbatov’s say by another month.