Human rights defenders: religious activists in Azerbaijan punished too severely

Three religious activists detained in Sumgait for writing on a wall in support of the Talekh Bagirzade’s demands were sentenced to ten days of imprisonment under the charge of petty hooliganism. Human rights defenders called such a punishment too harsh.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on June 18, three religious activists were detained in Sumgait after writing the slogan reading: “Punish those who insult Allah!” on a wall in a public place in support of the Talekh Bagirzade’s demands. One of the activists was sentenced to ten days of arrest on June 19.

On June 20, the Sumgait City Court sentenced two other detainees, Vugar Aliev and Nidjat Aliev, to ten days of administrative arrest, the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent was informed by Arzu Abdulla, the head of the Committee for the Protection of the Islamists’ Rights.

“All three activists were charged under the article of petty hooliganism. Ten days of arrest is a too severe punishment for writing on a wall. Especially since they expressed their attitude to a socially significant problem,” Arzu Abdulla stated.

Human rights defender Namizad Safarov, a former member of the Azerbaijani Bar Association, also considers the arrest of the religious activists for writing the slogan unjustified.

“In modern cities, there are a lot of graffities of various contents on walls in public places, and democratic countries do not arrest people for graffities. Even if the police saw petty hooliganism in their actions, they could have limited the punishment to a warning or a fine. It is clear that the activists got such a severe punishment of 10 days of arrest for political reasons,” Namizad Safarov said.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 21, 2022 at 12:39 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.