Gubad Ibadoghlu. Photo Credit: Human Rights Watch
The Azerbaijani government has intensified its crackdown against government critics in the lead up to the COP29 Climate Summit in November. Those targeted include the prominent Azerbaijani economist and New University in Exile Consortium scholar Gubad Ibadoghlu, whose ongoing case has been “indefinitely frozen” by Azerbaijani courts as he continues to remain under house arrest.
Gubad Ibadoghlu is an opposition figure leading the Democracy and Welfare Party and a critic of President Aliyev. He is also an internationally known economist who has held visiting positions in universities like Central European University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University and Princeton University. He was most recently a Visiting Fellow and Senior Economist at the London School of Economics from September 2021 to June 2023.
Dr. Ibadoghlu was initially detained on July 23, 2023, on counterfeit currency charges which were later changed to “the preparation, storage, or distribution of religious extremist materials”. After 274 days in pre-trial detention in prison, he was released to house arrest on April 22, 2024. Dr. Ibadoghlu suffered medical problems under detention and was denied access to proper healthcare. He still cannot receive adequate healthcare as he is restricted from leaving his house and the country. Although Dr. Ibadoghlu was set to face trial on August 20, 2024, recently, Azerbaijani courts have informed his lawyers that his case has been indefinitely frozen. Because an indefinite freeze on court proceedings does not mean that charges against him have been dropped, this decision condemns Dr. Ibadoghlu to indefinite pre-trial detention under house arrest.
In a recent letter to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, 25 members of parliament from the United Kingdom have protested the recent decision as well as the broader prosecution and persecution campaign directed against Gubad Ibadoghlu. Critics of the Azerbaijani government have been drawing attention to the hundreds of political prisoners that have been imprisoned for their oppositional activities as Azerbaijan prepares to host the COP29 climate summit in November 2024.
In addition to Dr. Ibadoghlu, Igbal Abilov and Bahruz Samadov are the latest scholars to be arrested under trumped up treason charges. Igbal Abilov is pursuing a PhD at the Faculty of International Relations at Belarusian State University. He was arrested in Azerbaijan in late July 2024. Bahruz Samadov was arrested on August 21, 2024, during a family visit to Azerbaijan. A PhD candidate at Charles University, Samadov was arrested for his publications critical of the Second Karabakh War of 2020, as well as the Azerbaijani government’s policies regarding Nagorno-Karabakh. Both scholars are charged with treason and are to remain in pre-trial detention for four months. If convicted, they could be sentenced to life in prison or given a death sentence.
Endangered Scholars Worldwide (ESW) condemns the unjust prosecution of Dr. Gubad Ibadoghlu as well as the mistreatments he has been subjected to under detention in prison and house arrest. We call on the Azerbaijani government to release Dr. Ibadoghlu from house arrest and lift the travel ban that is barring him from seeking medical attention. ESW further condemns the arbitrary arrests of Bahruz Samadov and Igbal Abilov and call for their immediate release. These cases demonstrate how judicial processes are weaponized and used to punish oppositional figures through prolonged pre-trial detentions in Azerbaijan. We invite the members of the international community dedicated to upholding human rights globally to join our call.
Read our country profile on Azerbaijan here.
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