Mehman Kerimov

[Mehman Kerimov @Odlar_Yurdu12]

@AliKarimli #StopRepression_İlhamAliyev

[Mehman Kerimov @Odlar_Yurdu12]

@AliKarimli #FreeAliKarimli

[Ali Karimli @AliKarimli]

Court Returns Eight Complaints Concerning Ali Karimli Over the Past Five Months

The fact that court complaints concerning PFPA Chairman Ali Karimli have repeatedly been returned without consideration once again demonstrates that his arrest was directly ordered by Ilham Aliyev and that he is being held as a political hostage. What has taken place during the nine months since he was falsely incriminated and imprisoned on fabricated charges shows that there is no longer any space in the country for peaceful and civilised political competition.

Having repeatedly failed in its schemes to silence Ali Karimli, the authorities are now taking merciless revenge on him. There is no room in this campaign of vindictive retribution for humanity or basic moral values. Spite and resentment have so blinded those who have turned state power into an instrument of coercion that they are prepared to stoop to the petty cruelty of preventing a political opponent from attending his own father’s funeral.

For months, Ali Karimli has been subjected to torture in violation of international law, while even the highest-level appeals from international organisations have been ignored. Over the past five months, the domestic courts, which have been reduced to instruments of the authorities, have returned eight complaints concerning these unlawful actions without any legitimate basis and without examining them on the merits.

To illustrate the scale of the unlawful actions taken against the opposition leader, we set out below the complaints that have been returned by the courts:

* 13 May 2026 – Application concerning Ali Karimli’s request to attend his father’s funeral – returned by the Sabail District Court.
* 1 July 2026 – Complaint concerning the torture of Ali Karimli – returned by the Sabail District Court.
* 2 July 2026 – Complaint concerning violations of Ali Karimli’s right to defence and right of access to information – returned by the Sabail District Court.
* 3 July 2026 – Complaint concerning violations of Ali Karimli’s right to telephone contact and family visits – returned by the Sabail District Court.
* 3 July 2026 – Second complaint concerning the torture of Ali Karimli – returned by the Sabail District Court.
* 15 September 2026 – Complaint concerning violations of Ali Karimli’s right to family visits and telephone contact – returned by the Sabail District Court.
* 18 September 2026 – Complaint concerning the confiscation of Ali Karimli’s handwritten materials – returned by the Sabail District Court.
* 21 September 2026 – Complaint concerning violations of Ali Karimli’s right of access to information – returned by the Sabail District Court.

PFPA Press Service

[Ali Karimli @AliKarimli]

On 10 June, @FRANCE24 published an interview with Ali Karimli while he was being held inside Azerbaijan’s State Security Service detention facility. In it, he described himself as a prisoner of conscience and continued to speak out against the regime. The interview marked the beginning of a sustained campaign of retaliation.

For more than 100 days, Ali Karimli has been cut off from his family: no telephone calls and no visits. He has been subjected to prolonged and systematic sleep deprivation and held in degrading conditions.

These are not routine prison restrictions. They are instruments of isolation, exhaustion and humiliation, intended to punish and break a peaceful political opponent who refuses to be silenced.

The European Court of Human Rights has formally sought answers from Azerbaijan concerning his health, access to water and systematic sleep deprivation. Amnesty International has warned that the denial of clean water and ventilation may amount to torture or other ill-treatment.

As world leaders prepare to gather at the United Nations, democratic governments that continue to engage Azerbaijan as an energy and security partner must not look away. They should raise Ali Karimli’s treatment directly with their Azerbaijani counterparts and demand an immediate end to his abuse and his unconditional release. Strategic cooperation cannot become a shield for political persecution.

Ali Karimli must be released immediately and unconditionally.

Read the France 24 interview that preceded this prolonged retaliation: https://t.co/xYzhbpkE9v

#FreeAliKarimli

[Ali Karimli @AliKarimli]

The Decision to Be Free, a new English-language collection of Ali Karimli’s writings and interviews, has been published in France.

Prepared for an international readership, the book brings together his views on Azerbaijan’s struggle for freedom, repression and corruption, relations with Russia and the West, peace in the South Caucasus, Ukraine, and three decades of political developments in Azerbaijan.

The publication was announced by journalist @QanimatZahid.

[Mehman Kerimov @Odlar_Yurdu12]

@AliKarimli @FrankSchwabe #FreeAliKarimli
#StopRepression

[Ali Karimli @AliKarimli]

At PACE in June, @FrankSchwabe warned that Ali Karimli was being subjected to torture and held in appalling conditions.

With Strasbourg now examining his treatment, that warning has only become more urgent. Ali Karimli should be released immediately.

[Ali Karimli @AliKarimli]

Thank you, @gideonrachman, for drawing attention to this case.

The European Court of Human Rights has now asked the Azerbaijani government to account for Ali Karimli’s health and conditions of detention, including access to drinking water and food and reported sleep deprivation. Baku has until 10 September to respond.

International scrutiny matters. What happens to political prisoners in Azerbaijan must not take place behind closed doors.

[Mehman Kerimov @Odlar_Yurdu12]

@AliKarimli #FreeAliKarimli

[Ali Karimli @AliKarimli]

The Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights calls for immediate international action to protect Ali Karimli's life and secure his release, warning that his detention conditions have reached a critical point.

It urges Canada and like-minded states to use every measure available, including targeted sanctions against those responsible.

This follows the European Court of Human Rights requiring Azerbaijan to account for his treatment. The pressure is converging, and it must continue until he is freed.

[Mehman Kerimov @Odlar_Yurdu12]

@gideonrachman #FreeAllPoliticalPrisoners

[Mehman Kerimov @Odlar_Yurdu12]

@gideonrachman #FreeAliKarimli

[Gideon Rachman @gideonrachman]

Important and shocking case in Azerbaijan https://t.co/1DWbXS8L8B

[Ali Karimli @AliKarimli]

The International Society for Human Rights (@IGFM_DE), a long-established German human rights organisation with UN ECOSOC consultative status, is sounding the alarm over the detention and treatment of Azerbaijani opposition leader Ali Karimli.

IGFM describes the case as politically motivated repression and reports that he is being denied urgently needed medical care and held in degrading conditions.

It is calling on Germany and the EU to use their political and economic influence to secure medical access, humane treatment, an end to the prosecution and Karimli’s immediate release.

As Europe deepens its energy ties with Azerbaijan, human rights cannot be treated as secondary.

[Mehman Kerimov @Odlar_Yurdu12]

@AliKarimli #FreeAliKarimıi

[Ali Karimli @AliKarimli]

ALARMING: Azerbaijani journalist Ganimat Zahid warns that the Aliyev regime is preparing a provocation against the family of imprisoned opposition leader Ali Karimli.

Zahid says the operation is being personally directed by Ilham Aliyev and would involve individuals planted among businesses and service providers in the neighbourhood where Karimli’s family lives.

This is an extremely serious warning. We urge diplomats in Baku, international human rights organisations and the international media to take note and closely follow the safety of Ali Karimli’s family.

[Ali Karimli @AliKarimli]

The Independent reports on the case of Ali Karimli, Azerbaijan's imprisoned pro-democracy leader, held for nearly a year on treason charges his lawyers and international observers call fabricated.

Human Rights Watch tells the paper there is no credible evidence he attempted to seize power, and that his case fits "a well-documented pattern" of Azerbaijan jailing its critics on unfounded charges. The deterioration in his treatment after he spoke publicly, HRW says, is "particularly disturbing."

The UK Foreign Office has confirmed, on the record, that it has raised his case with senior Azerbaijani officials and pressed for due process and medical care.

A man held nine months without trial, while his conditions are used to apply pressure, is not a legal case. Azerbaijan's democratic partners have both the standing and the leverage to press for his release. https://t.co/g2IzAWXLIw

[Ali Karimli @AliKarimli]

For a third month, PFPA Chairman Ali Karimli has been subjected to detention conditions that repeatedly deprive him of normal sleep. Since mid-June, according to his family and lawyers, a detainee placed in his cell has kept him awake through the night, while increasingly punitive restrictions have left him largely cut off from his family and the outside world. His health has seriously deteriorated.

Sleep deprivation is a well-documented method of coercive abuse that can amount to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Its use against political detainees has a grim history: Stalin’s NKVD employed extreme sleep deprivation through the “conveyor” system of relentless interrogation; Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn documented its systematic use in the Soviet prison system; Menachem Begin described enduring it in NKVD custody; Antonio Gramsci suffered prolonged sleep deprivation under Fascist imprisonment; and in 2021 Alexei Navalny said hourly nighttime checks were subjecting him to “torture” through sleep deprivation.

In the 21st century, an internationally recognised opposition leader is enduring conditions that Human Rights Watch says raise serious concerns about inhuman or degrading treatment, while being held on charges HRW has called unfounded.

There comes a point when silence becomes complicity.

#FreeAliKarimli

[Ali Karimli @AliKarimli]

⚠️ APPEAL TO THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY REGARDING THE TREATMENT OF ALI KARIMLI IN DETENTION

Nearly 9 months after Ali Karimli was arrested on wholly fabricated charges, the investigation has produced no evidence and conducted no meaningful inquiry. Meanwhile, the Azerbaijani authorities have continued to worsen his conditions of detention.

Ali Karimli is not being provided with adequate drinking water. A person associated with religious extremist forces has been placed in his cell, posing a threat to his safety. From 11pm, an alarm sounds every 15 minutes and a cellmate loudly performs a ritual until morning, effectively depriving him of sleep.

For more than two months, he has also been denied phone calls and visits with his family. His rights to meet confidentially with his lawyers and exchange written notes with them continue to be violated.

These conditions raise grave concerns under Articles 2, 3 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the UN Convention against Torture and the Nelson Mandela Rules. Deliberate sleep deprivation and the infliction of psychological suffering constitute inhuman and degrading treatment.

The Azerbaijan Popular Front Party calls on the Azerbaijani public not to remain indifferent.

We call on the international community and diplomatic corps to investigate Ali Karimli’s treatment, visit him in detention, assess his health and conditions firsthand, inform their governments of the situation and take the necessary legal steps.

Ali Karimli must be released.

#FreeAliKarimli #FreeThemAll

[Ali Karimli @AliKarimli]

Amnesty International raises the alarm over the grave risks facing Ali Karimli and other imprisoned government critics in Azerbaijan.