ARRESTS IN JANUARY 2019

30 January

The Turkish newspaper Sabah published on January 30, 2019 that the owner of the Baku Zaman newspaper printing-house, allegedly called a “representative” of the famous preacher Fethullah Gulen in Azerbaijan, was detained and extradited to Turkey. Just the detainee’s first name, Ibrahim E., was mentioned in the article, his surname was not printed. According to the newspaper, Ibrahim E. was considered to be one of the prominent Gulenists in Azerbaijan, and “the Gulen’s supporter’s newspaper” was printed in the House under his management.

The Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT) informed the Azerbaijani side of Ibrahim’s whereabouts. As a result of joint activities carried out by MIT and special services of Azerbaijan, Ibrahim E. was detained. The other day he, accompanied by two  Azerbaijani police officers, was taken to Istanbul. Then, he was transferred to Ankara to open a criminal case against him.

It is worth to remind that the Gulen supporters have been previously arrested in Azerbaijan and transferred to Turkey. In 2017, three people were arrested and transferred into custody of Turkish security services, and in 2018, three more teachers were accused of collaborating and abetting terrorism, and also of liaising with the disgraced preacher Gulen. Their fate is still unknown.

ARRESTS IN FEBRUARY 2019

06 February

Bakhtiyar Bagirov

According to Rakurs.tv website, at about 8:30 p.m. Bakhtiyar Bagirov, a member of the Muslim Unity Movement (MUM), drank tea with his friends in a teahouse near  “Sahibazzaman” mosque in Bakikhanov settlement on the outskirts of Baku. At that time, he received a call from an unknown man who told him that he had just met with Bakhtiyar’s friend, a convicted believer, Ahsan Nuruzade, in Colony 6 and wanted to convey important news from the latter. The person who called also added that he would be waiting for Bakhtiyar near the mosque next to the Araz supermarket. Bakhtiyar Bagirov along with his friend went to the specified place. But there they were surrounded by several people in civilian clothes, who forcibly dragged Bakhtiyar Bagirov into the car, then beat up his friend and kicked him out. Immediately after that, Bagirov’s friends called the police. Bakhtiyar’s friend who had been beaten up by unknown people, told to the police officers that he had recognized one of the attackers; he mentioned one of the employees of the Main Department for Combating Organized Crime in Baku.

That incident took place literally the day after Bakhtiyar Bagirov distributed a video on a social network disapproving the use of torture against Tale Bagirzade and Abbas Huseynov.

11 February

The law enforcement agencies did not inform either Bakhtiyar Bagirov’s family or the public about his detention for the next five days following the incident. Just on the 11th of February it was announced that he had been arrested for the period of 20 days and was held in the Binagadi District court in Baku. However, they did not indicate the reason of his arrest and the exact court name.

13 February

Tural Allahverdiyev

According to the agency Turan and the Caucasus Knot website a religious activist Tural Allahverdiyev, known on Facebook as “Tural Divana”, was detained in front of his house by unknown people in civil clothes and driven to unknown location. His neighbours have observed Tural’s detention. There was no information about him for 24 hours. Just in the evening of February 14 his family was informed by the police officers that T. Allahverdiyev had been arrested for 20 days under Article 535.1 of the Code of Administrative Offences (disobedience to the police representative’s legitimate demands) by decision of the Baku Binagadi Court.

Allahverdiyev is known for his calls to collect donations on social networks in order to help the political prisoners’ families and purchase school supplies for their children. He also objected the torture that had been used against the leader of the MUM Tale Bagirzade and religious activists, Abbas Huseynov and Jabbar Jabbarov in Gobustan prison. 

22 February

The hearing to consider a complaint of one of the MUM activists, Bakhtiyar Baghirov was held in the Baku Court of Appeal. According to the Turan agency, it became known that the police officially registered the day of his arrest on the 11th of February whereas he was detained on the 6th of February. The same day, The Baku City Narimanov District Court sentenced Bakhtiyar Bagirov to 15 days(not to 20 days as previously said to his relatives) of administrative arrest on charges of disorderly conduct; in court the police representatives declared that a believer was walking down the street and cursed.
As B. Bagirov stated he was kidnapped in front of his friend Fikrat Mammadov who reported the incident to the 102 service of the Interior Ministry and the ombudsman office. However, the law enforcement officials did not release any information pertaining  to  the  fate or whereabouts of B. Bagirov  to his family and lawyer.
During the trial the accuser’s lawyer Javad Javadov requested for interrogation of the arrested F. Mammadov’s friend, and also for viewing video recordings from the cameras installed on the supermarket “Araz” building as well as on other located facilities nearby. However, the court refused to grant lawyer’s requests.
There was also a question concerning the 6-day-period while the arrested believer was held at the General Department for Combating Organized Crime in Baku. According to B. Bagirov’s statement, he was constantly beaten up by 5-6 people. The reason of his torture was distribution a publication on social networks of a video derogating use of torture against the believers Tale Bagirzade and Abbas Huseynov.
But Judge Hasan Akhmadov dismissed Bakhtiyar Bagirov’s complaint

ARRESTS IN MARCH 2019

Theologian Ruhullah Novruzzade

13 March

According to the site Islamazeri.com, an Azerbaijani citizen a second-year University student-theologian Ruhulla Novruzzade was detained at Baku airport early morning when he was returning from Iran where he studied at the Faculty of Law of Qom University (Iran). He came to Baku to visit his seriously ill hospitalized father. The police officers stated that the theologian is forbidden to enter the country at the behest of the General Prosecutor’s Office of Azerbaijan until 12 p.m. and he should be either deported back to Iran or detained and stayed in Baku.

It must be noted that the detained theologian is a son-in-law of the imprisoned theologian Hajji Abgul Suleymanov.

Late at night, the theologian sent a letter to the editorial office of Islamazeri.com, in which he precisely described what had happened to him at Baku airport. According to him, he was held in a special room at the airport without any explanation for a long time. It was not until around 6 p.m. he was informed by airport officials that his entry to the country was banned and he should return to Iran. Nevertheless, no protocol had been drawn up on the fact of deportation, no documents had been shown, and no one discussed with him an issue. He was just told to be ready to leave the country and at 23:30, he was sent on a board back to Tehran.

22 March

Anar Jabbarov

The Muslim Unity Movement has published a message on its Facebook page, which concerned the detention of the Movement activist Anar Jabbarov who has been living in Turkey. It became known, that he was detained by the Turkish police in Istanbul on 16 March due to “problems with his documents”. After being illegally detained at the police station he was suddenly transferred to the Binkilic Goз police department on the outskirts of Istanbul on the evening of 18 March. There, he was told that some clarifications were conducting and he would be released soon. At the same time, the detainee’s lawyer could not get any access to information concerning his client.

On 21 March, Anar Jabbarov was taken to the Consulate General of Azerbaijan in Istanbul, Turkey, where he had a short discussion between the staff of the diplomatic mission and some Turkish officials, afterwards he was taken back to the police department.

On 22 March, a lawyer who was assigned to meet with Jabbarov discovered that the Turkish authorities had sent his client again to the Consulate General of Azerbaijan and handed him over to the Azerbaijani diplomatic mission. The very same day Azerbaijani intelligence officers arrived from Baku to deport Jabbarov back to Baku where he was taken into custody under supervision of the General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime.

ARRESTS IN APRIL 2019

Anar Jabbarov

01 April

According to Veten ugrunda agency, relatives of the deported Anar Jabbarov from Turkey on 22 March could not find out about his whereabouts for some time. Only on 01 April, they received a call from the ombudsman office in order to be informed that Anar Jabbarov had been transferred to detention facility No. 1 in Kyurdakhani village. His relatives were also pointed out that the believer allegedly had taken part in the events in the village of Nardaran in November 2015, then fled to Turkey and therefore his name was declared wanted by the police.

04 April

It had been discovered that year again, the incriminated article and Anar Jabbarov’s status deported from Turkey to Azerbaijan had been changed. He was detained in Turkey “due to problems with his documents”, in Azerbaijan he was told that he had taken part in the events of November 2015, which is, according to the official authorities statement he had participated in “riots, terrorist acts and destabilization of the socio-political situation in the republic”. However, a few days later it turned out that after 14 days of detention (!) in Baku, the authorities found some drugs during the search of the detained and deported from Turkey Anar Jabbarov, and now he is charged with violation of Article 234.4.3 (illegal acquisition or storage for the purpose of selling drugs on a large scale) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan! In the meantime, neither relatives nor lawyer Bahruz Bayramov managed to meet or talk over the phone with the arrested Anar Jabbarov. 

05 April

On the evening of 04 April, there was another change in the fate of believer Anar Jabbarov. He was transferred from pre-trial detention facility No. 1 in Kyurdakhani village to the Main Department for Combating Organized Crime of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In the afternoon of 05 April, his relatives and lawyer were informed that all charges had been dropped and Anar had been released from custody.

27 April

According to the Turan agency reports, on 26 April, the local law enforcement agencies detained another Azerbaijani believer Elnur Mehdiyev in Turkey. That information was provided by his relatives. The reasons for his detention are unknown but it is assumed that he was also detained in connection with the events in the village of Nardaran in November 2015, when the police had been conducting a special operation against activists of the Muslim Unity Movement in this Baku suburb.

ARRESTS IN MAY 2019

02 May

On 27 April 2019, a member of the Muslim Unity Movement (MUM), Elnur Mehdiyev, was arrested in Turkey. As his relatives informed Meydan TV, he was brought from the police department to the Migration Service for further deportation to Azerbaijan on 01 May. In this regard, Mehdiyev’s lawyer asked the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan not to deport his client. Turkish human rights activists also insisted on not having him deported to Azerbaijan.

Mehdiyev’s relatives also say that his stay in Turkey was legal and that he had not been involved in any illegal activity there. Therefore, they believe that Mehdiyev’s detention is based on instruction sent by the Azerbaijani government. It is believed that he was wanted in connection with the events in Nardaran in November 2015, when two security forces and five local residents had been killed in a special operation in Nardaran.

24 May

Elchin Gasymov

ARRESTS IN OCTOBER 2019

11 October

Bahram Gulaliyev

Pakistani authorities extradited Bahram Gulaliyev, a citizen of the country, accused of participating in illegal armed groups, read the message of the State Security Service (SSS) of Azerbaijan on October 11.

It was established that a citizen of Azerbaijan, Bahram Gulaliyev, born in 1971, nicknamed “Abu Ibrahim Dagystani” was a member of international terrorist organizations, being an expert in explosive devices. He illegally moved to Afghanistan, where he joined illegal armed groups. He was detained in Pakistan and extradited to Azerbaijan in October 2019, the report said.

According to the SSS, Bahram Gulaliyev provided international terrorist organizations with explosive devices, trained in the manufacture of explosive devices, and attracted Azerbaijani citizens to participate in armed conflicts.

During the investigations, Azerbaijani citizen Telman Suleymanov, born in 1988, who participated in terrorist exercises and armed conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria, as well as Azerbaijani citizen Elchin Tofiq oglu Gasymov, born in 1986, who participated in the battles in Syria, the statement says.

It was established that another citizen of the country – Rasi Abbasov, born in 1982, who left Azerbaijan in 2014, moved to Turkey and from there Syria and joined a terrorist organization.

Bahram Gulaliyev, Telman Suleymanov, Elchin Gasymov and Rasi Abbasov were prosecuted, the court chose a preventive measure in respect of them – arrest, the report said.

 

ARRESTS IN NOVEMBER 2019

13 November

 

According to the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet, a number of foreign ISIS fighters who will be deported from Turkey is 959 and 29 of them are Azerbaijani citizens.

The list of Islamic militants published by the Turkish authorities also includes 99 citizens of Russia, 17 – Germany, 21 – Tajikistan, 23 – Kyrgyzstan, 10 – Kazakhstan, as well as citizens of other countries.

147 of them are teenagers. It was noted that teenagers lost their parents in the fights ongoing in Syria.

Turkey has already begun the deportation of ISIS members arrested during the fighting in Syria and Iraq to the countries of Europe whose citizens they are.

Foreign ISIS fighters are considered to be sent to their countries until end of November.