Rights defender: religious prisoners on hunger strike beaten and tortured in Penitentiary No. 17

Religious prisoners holding a hunger strike in Penitentiary Institution No. 17 in protest at the hijab ban have reportedly been beaten en masse and subjected to torture. The information was published on 6 November by Arzu Abdulla, a defender of the rights of religious believers, on her social media account.

According to her, about 60 prisoners began a hunger strike on 13–15 October. Before starting it, they submitted a written appeal to the head of the facility, Shafaat Abbasov. Although the Penitentiary Service instructed them to end the hunger strike immediately, the prisoners continued it, after which some of the hunger strikers were placed in punishment cells.

According to the rights defender, on 21 October the head of the facility Shafaat Abbasov, his deputies Samit Gafarov, Emin Eminaliyev and Vugar Ismikhanli, as well as several employees of the Penitentiary Service beat the prisoners. Citing an unnamed prison employee, Arzu Abdulla writes that 20 religious prisoners held in punishment cells who had joined the hunger strike were taken out of the cell one by one and beaten until they lost consciousness. The post claims that the head of the facility said the order to beat them had been given by Fikrat Gafarov, head of the Penitentiary Service's Operational Regime Department.

According to the employee cited by Arzu Abdulla, “the chief's first deputy Emin Eminaliyev rushed at a believer who was praying in the punishment cell and began kicking him in the head non-stop while his head was in prostration.” The account says several prisoners bled from the mouth and ears, some had their arms twisted behind their backs, and their faces and heads were shaved. The rights defender also writes that some prisoners were threatened with rape if they did not end the hunger strike, and were filmed.

According to the rights defender, those most subjected to torture were Muslim Unity Movement members Tural Valiyev and Ibrahim Muradov, as well as Asad Agashov, Aydin Huseynzade, Galib Bandaliyev and Mahmudaga Agayev. She says the prisoners' families have repeatedly complained to the Ministry of Justice, the Penitentiary Service and the Ombudsman's Office, but received no response; each time the Ombudsman's Office told the families: “We will visit.”

Arzu Abdulla also alleged that detention conditions in the facility are unsatisfactory and that everything, from bedding to family visits, is bought and sold through bribes. According to her, since the mass arrests of Shia believers on drug charges in 2022, about 90 percent of religious prisoners have been sent to Penitentiary Institution No. 17. The positions of the Penitentiary Service, the Ministry of Justice and the Ombudsman's Office on the matter are not known.

The hijab dispute began on 21 September after the Cabinet of Ministers amended the dress rules for pupils in schools. Under the decision, clothing that violates the uniformity of the school uniform and does not comply with the secular principles of education is not allowed. Although the document does not mention the hijab directly, reports emerged from 12 October that pupils wearing hijabs were not being admitted to classes in some schools. People were detained during protests in Baku and the regions, after which religious prisoners began hunger strikes demanding protection of the rights of hijab-wearing pupils and teachers.