PACE and OSCE PA rapporteurs: Unjust arrests in Azerbaijan are shameful

Azadeh Rojhan, PACE General Rapporteur on political prisoners, and Steve Cohen, Special Representative on Political Prisoners of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, issued a joint statement on arrests in Azerbaijan ahead of October 30, the International Day of Political Prisoners.

The statement, published on October 29, names human rights defender Anar Mammadli, opposition leader Ali Karimli, and journalists Ulvi Hasanli, Farid Mehralizade and Ulviyya Ali, who are imprisoned in Azerbaijan. It says their detention shows the extent to which freedom of expression and independent public and political activity are restricted in Azerbaijan.

Rojhan and Cohen said the release of unjustly detained persons must not be a condition of any political or economic deal: “Such cases are shameful for the authorities and those responsible. The release of unjustly imprisoned people is an obligation, not a bargaining chip.” The authors of the statement called on the international community to keep the situation of political prisoners in focus.

Farid Mehralizade and Ulvi Hasanli were sentenced to 9 years in prison in June last year on a series of economic charges in the “AbzasMedia case”. Ulviyya Ali, detained in connection with the “Meydan TV case”, is charged with smuggling. The journalists reject the charges and say they are being punished for their professional work.

Human rights defender Anar Mammadli was sentenced to 12 years in prison on smuggling charges, which he rejects. Popular Front Party chairman Ali Karimli has been in detention since November 29, 2025, and is charged with actions aimed at forcibly changing the constitutional order. Karimli rejects the charge and calls his arrest political and ordered.

Since November 2023, more than 30 journalists and civil activists have been arrested in groups in Azerbaijan on smuggling charges. According to lists compiled by local human rights organisations, there are currently 322 political prisoners in Azerbaijan's prisons. Government officials say that no one in the country is imprisoned for their professional activity or political views, and that the people named on those lists have been held accountable for specific crimes.

On October 30, 2025, Rojhan and Cohen also issued a joint statement for the International Day of Political Prisoners, expressing grave concern about detentions in Belarus, Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and the occupied territories of Ukraine and calling on all states to release those held on politically motivated charges.