Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev, in Moscow, May 25, 2023. MIKHAIL METZEL / AFP Barely had the COP29 parenthesis closed in Baku when repression resumed against critical voices. Roufat Safarov, one of the very last Azerbaijani human rights defenders still active in the country, was imprisoned on Wednesday December 4. A Baku court placed him in preventive detention for four months for “hooliganism” and “fraud”. Mr. Safarov was arrested on Tuesday as he was preparing to leave for the United States. His lawyer, Elchin Sadigov, published on his Facebook page a message from his client, where he wrote his intention to travel to the United States two days after receiving his visa, in order to receive the Global Human Rights Defender Award (“Global Human Rights Defender Award”). Global Human Rights Defender Award”) from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The information is confirmed by the activist’s father, Eldar Sabiroglu, who points out that his son was arrested just after being issued a visa by the American embassy. Many human rights defenders, journalists and trade unionists are already languishing in Azerbaijani prisons for various reasons. For the first time since the early 2000s, the number of political prisoners has exceeded 300, according to the Union for Freedom of Political Prisoners in Azerbaijan. But Baku’s timing of arresting Roufat Safarov looks like a bilious farewell gesture to the departing Biden administration. The Azerbaijani head of state, Ilham Aliev, installed in power by his father in 2003, declared during the summer his desire to see Donald Trump return to the presidency, praising him as “a supporter of peace”, “favorable to traditional values”, with which his country had had “a fruitful cooperation based on mutual respect”. An implicit criticism of the Biden administration, for which Mr. Aliev hardly had flattering words. “Fabricated accusations” The American reaction was immediate. “The fight [de M. Safarov] for justice breaks through prison walls. He must be released immediately,” indicates the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee on its account More measuredly, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said that “the United States is closely following Safarov’s case.” You have 20.49% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
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