Azerbaijani human rights activists criticized the extension of the arrest of religious women.

In Baku, the pretrial detention of six women accused of hooliganism and disturbing public order for distributing treats to believers on the day of mourning has been extended. The court imposed an excessively harsh pretrial detention measure and ignored arguments about the defendants' children, human rights activists noted.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," six female believers were arrested in 2025 on charges of hooliganism and disturbing public order. They were distributing treats (ehsan), and this was interpreted as an unauthorized protest. In October 2025, the Union for Freedom of Political Prisoners in Azerbaijan recognized them as political prisoners.

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The Khazar District Court of Baku has granted the investigators' request to extend the pretrial detention of six female believers for two months: Nigar Baghirova, Ayten Ibrahimova, Shakhla Farajeva, Khoshgadam Guliyeva, Shargiya Sadigova, and Arzu Huseynova, an activist working on the protection of the rights of believers told a Caucasian Knot correspondent on condition of anonymity.

"These women were detained on August 15 of last year for distributing ehsan treats and holding them in the village of Bina (a suburb of Baku) during the holy month of Muharram, on the 40th day of remembrance of Imam Hussein and his companions who died for their faith in the desert of Karbala. posters with religious content. They were accused of hooliganism and "committing actions aimed at disturbing public order." They deny the charges and believe that by persecuting them and other believers, the authorities want to erase the "centuries-old religious memory of the people," the human rights activist said.

According to her, the court's decision was made "in the middle of last week," but information about it only became known on January 19.

"According to the information we have, the reason given for extending the arrest period was The need to send a small amount of sand seized during searches of the arrested men's homes for analysis. This is the so-called "Karbala soil." Pilgrims visiting Karbala (the revered Shiite city of Karbala in Iraq - note from a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent) typically take a handful of sacred soil as a souvenir. In court, the women protested, stating that not only were they not drug users, but they didn't even know what they looked like. On the other hand, they were outraged that an analysis could have been conducted after five months of detention," the human rights activist said. Furthermore, the arrested men indicated that they had minor children. Ibragimova has four children, the youngest of whom is two years old. Sadygova's 5-year-old child suffers from autism and requires special care.

By keeping women in custody, the courts are depriving children of their mothers.

"Young children experience psychological trauma when left without their mothers. By keeping women in custody, the courts are depriving children of mothers," the activist said.

According to her, the accused Baghirova went on a lengthy hunger strike in protest against her unjustified arrest, and as a result, her health has weakened significantly, but the court nevertheless did not release her from custody.

Even under the strictest legal definition, an administrative penalty in the form of a fine could have been imposed for the unauthorized protest, noted Elshan Hasanov, co-coordinator of the human rights union "For Freedom for Political Prisoners of Azerbaijan."

Never before have female believers been arrested in criminal cases.

"Believers have been the largest group on the lists of political prisoners in recent years, and now they constitute the absolute majority – 194 of 340. Despite the formal presentation of various charges, the media is promoting narratives about the "ties" of those arrested to Iran. "But never before have women believers been arrested in criminal cases," Gasanov told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

He noted that pretrial detention of women during an investigation is already an indicator of bias against them. "Pretrial detention is an extreme measure of restraint. In Azerbaijani judicial practice, women are rarely placed in pretrial detention. Even women accused of large-scale embezzlement and fraud are often placed under police supervision or house arrest. For some reason, the courts are strict only toward female journalists and women believers. The latter were placed under arrest even though they were not accused of serious crimes and have young children," the human rights activist noted.

An employee of the Khazar District Court confirmed to a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that on January 13, a decision was made to extend the female believers' arrest by two months, until March 15. The Azerbaijani Ministry of Internal Affairs was unavailable for comment.