The number of political prisoners in Azerbaijan has approached 400

The updated list of political prisoners in Azerbaijan, compiled by human rights activists, includes 392 individuals. Over the past four months, 17 people have been added to the list. The list's authors identified the active persecution of women for political reasons as a new trend. 

As the " Caucasian Knot " reported, in 2024, the number of political prisoners in Azerbaijan exceeded 300 for the first time since the early 2000s. On February 12, 2025, the Union for Freedom of Political Prisoners in Azerbaijan published a new list of political prisoners, including 357 names, and on June 10, the updated list included 375 people. The largest increase in prisoners occurred over the past year, according to the "Caucasian Knot" report " Key Points on the Record Number of Political Prisoners in Azerbaijan ." However, Azerbaijani authorities  deny the existence  of political prisoners in the country.

On October 7, the Union for Freedom of Political Prisoners in Azerbaijan published a new national list of political prisoners, including 392 names. The list was compiled by the union's coordinators, Leyla Yunus, Director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy, and Elshan Hasanov, Head of the Political Prisoners Monitoring Center.

The number of political prisoners on the list has increased by 17, Elshan Gasanov told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. Specifically, two individuals have been added to the "journalists and bloggers" category: freelance journalist Anar Abdulla and Ilham Nasibov, head of the YouTube channel Kanal21.az.

"Anar Abdulla was charged in connection with the case of human rights activist Anar Mammadli , and Ilham Nasibov was accused of 'extortion.' However, there is every reason to believe that the real reason for his arrest was his coverage of social problems, corruption among local officials, and, on the eve of his arrest, a protest by residents of the village of Arab in the Gobustan district over water shortages," Gasanov said.

The "human rights activists" group added Fikret Jafarli, head of the Center for the Investigation of Torture, as a new political prisoner. He was arrested after criticizing the Bar Association's methods. Gasanov continued that six more people have been added to the list of those "arrested in the Imishli case."

"We had 13 people arrested in the Imishli case on our list. During the trial of this high-profile accident, we reviewed the cases of six more arrested people," Gasanov explained.

Eight new political prisoners have appeared in the largest category of political prisoners, "believers." 

The arrests of six female believers were a "novelty" in this case. They were arrested on charges of hooliganism and disturbing public order simply because they were distributing treats (ehsan) on the day of Ashura, a mourning event that was interpreted as an unauthorized protest. Criminal cases against female believers had never been brought before. In general, women were rarely arrested for political reasons in Azerbaijan in the past, but now, in addition to the six believers, nine female journalists are also in prison. The total number of female political prisoners is 15," Hasanov said.

All 392 political prisoners are divided into 12 groups in the list, including 31 "journalists and bloggers", seven "human rights activists", 39 "members of opposition parties and representatives of civil society", five "national minority activists", two "anti-war activists", two "those arrested in connection with the events in Soyudlu", five "political emigrants deported from Germany", 249 "believers", eight "those convicted in the Tartar case", 13 "those convicted in the Ganja case", 12 "life-sentenced prisoners", and 19 "those arrested in the Imishli case".

The authorities insist that all those on the list were prosecuted legally. "In most cases, these are the same forces that participated in international projects subject to registration under Azerbaijani law and should have acted legitimately. Activities outside this framework constitute smuggling and tax evasion," Zahid Oruj, head of the Azerbaijani parliament's Human Rights Committee, previously told the Turan news agency.

Translated automatically via Google translate from https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/416119