Following the escalation of tensions in Iran, believers have joined the list of political prisoners in Azerbaijan.

The Azerbaijan Human Rights Union has published a new list of political prisoners, including 328 individuals the organization considers political prisoners. After the January update, some political prisoners were released under an amnesty, but new arrests continued, including among believers.

As "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, on June 10, the updated list already included 375 people, and on October 7 - 392. However, in the new list of political prisoners, published on January 15, the number of political prisoners decreased to 340 due to some of them falling under the amnesty and the release of some due to the completion of their sentences.

The Union "For Freedom of Political Prisoners in Azerbaijan" published a new national list of political prisoners on May 13, including 328 names. The list was compiled by the union's co-coordinators, Leyla Yunus, Director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy, and Elshan Gasanov, Head of the Center for Monitoring Political Prisoners.

As Elshan Gasanov told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, since the previous list of political prisoners was announced in January, 31 more people have been released under the amnesty, including 30 believers and one civil activist, Rza Safarsoy.

According to Gasanov, although approximately 100 people detained for political reasons were released after the amnesty was announced in December 2025 and before its implementation was completed in April, new arrests among this category followed in March.

"Mass arrests among Shiite Muslims followed the start of military action by the US and Israel against Iran. Traditionally, believers have been arrested for drug-related crimes," Gasanov said.

According to him, human rights activists have managed to establish the political motives for the persecution and include about two dozen new political prisoners among believers in the list.

However, he emphasized, the number of those arrested is higher, and human rights activists are clarifying their cases as best they can.

"Unfortunately, information about the arrests of believers, especially in the regions of Azerbaijan, is very difficult to obtain; this work continues. "We have included 328 of those on whom we have complete, reliable information on the list," said Arif Yunusov, Head of the Department at the Institute for Peace and Democracy.

He noted that believers remain the largest group among political prisoners, and the number of persons with confirmed political motives for persecution is 182 people.

The human rights activist also drew attention to the fact that the list includes 15 female political prisoners, including 9 journalists and 6 believers.

The 328 political prisoners are classified into 12 groups: journalists and bloggers - 31 people; human rights activists - 8 people; members of opposition parties and civil society - 44 people; activists of national minorities - 5 people; anti-war activists - 2 people; those convicted in the Soyudlinsky case - 2 people; Political emigrants deported from Europe – 6 people; believers convicted in the "Imishli case" – 182 people; convicted in the "Tertar case" – 8 people; convicted in the "Ganja case" – 13 people; life sentences – 12 people.

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