Tofig Shirinov

[Ali Karimli @AliKarimli]

Ali Karimli is being held on fabricated charges and subjected to conditions that threaten his life. The Raoul Wallenberg Centre has now taken his case urgently to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. Democratic governments must press Azerbaijan, publicly and together, for his immediate and unconditional release.

[Tofig Shirinov @TofigS]

@TheRWCHR Free all political prisoners

[Tofig Shirinov @TofigS]

@TheRWCHR #FreeAliKarimli

[Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights @TheRWCHR]

On 29 September 2026, the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights filed an urgent complaint with the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) concerning Ali Karimli, leader of Azerbaijan’s Popular Front Party (APFP), raising serious concerns over the deteriorating conditions and circumstances of his detention.

The complaint calls for urgent international attention and demands his immediate and unconditional release, as required under fundamental human rights standards and due process.

The deteriorating and inhumane conditions of Mr. Karimli’s detention have reached a critical point, posing a serious and growing threat to his health and life. Azerbaijani authorities at the State Security Service Investigation Detention Facility have continued to deprive him of clean drinking water and adequate food, expose him to extreme heat and humidity without ventilation, subject him to prolonged sleep deprivation, confine him in an unsanitary cell infested with pests, and severely restrict his contact with the outside world.

We remain deeply concerned by his life-threatening circumstances, underscoring the urgent need for immediate international action

We urge the WGAD to take all measures at its disposal to safeguard Mr. Karimli and ensure his immediate release.

👉 Read the full news on our website: https://t.co/mXHgfCg4yr

@AliKarimli @CanadaFP @AnitaAnandMP

[Saadet Cahangir @saadetcahangir]

Eynən!

[Tofig Shirinov @TofigS]

@AliKarimli Stop dictatura

[Tofig Shirinov @TofigS]

@AliKarimli Stop repression

[Tofig Shirinov @TofigS]

@AliKarimli #FreeAliKarimli

[Ali Karimli @AliKarimli]

Benedict Rogers, a longstanding advocate for political prisoners and democratic freedoms, has called for the immediate and unconditional release of Ali Karimli after speaking with his daughter Sezan. Read his thread on Karimli’s treatment in detention. #FreeAliKarimli

[Ali Karimli @AliKarimli]

A major bipartisan US Senate intervention: @SenPeterWelch, @SenThomTillis and @SenTimKaine urge @SecRubio to press Aliyev for the immediate release of Ali Karimli, Alasgar Mammadli, Anar Mammadli, Gubad Ibadoghlu, Farid Mehralizada, Rufat Safarov, Tofig Yagublu and Ulviyya Guliyeva, placing their release directly within the terms of the US–Azerbaijan strategic relationship.

[Tofig Shirinov @TofigS]

@benedictrogers #FreeAliKarinlit

[Benedict Rogers 羅傑斯 @benedictrogers]

🧵Yesterday I had the privilege of speaking with Sezan Karimli, the brave daughter of the courageous Azerbaijani pro-democracy opposition leader Ali Karimli who has been detained since November 2025.

I do not work on Azerbaijan, but I was deeply moved when I read about Ali Karimli's case and Sezan's campaign to free her father. And so the very least I can do is help draw attention to his plight and appeal for his release.

Sezan told me that her father has been denied telephone contact and visits with his family since 10 June, now more than 100 days. Her mother has submitted three written applications for permission to visit him and has received no response. This is cruel, and unacceptable. The Azerbaijani government has told the European Court of Human Rights that he does receive family visits and can make phone calls to his family – but this is directly contradicted by the family’s experience and the information available to his lawyers.

Sezan also told me that her father is subjected to prolonged and systematic sleep deprivation which continues. This amounts to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment under the Convention against Torture and it must end.

Ali Karimli’s lawyers report that he has lost considerable weight, looks markedly older, and feels physically weak.

The authorities in Azerbaijan have not arranged the medical examination requested by his lawyer. This must be arranged urgently, and it should be conducted independently.

Most importantly, it is time to #FreeAliKarimli immediately and unconditionally. The international community must urgently demand his release.

In the thread below, I share further information about his case.

Please support Sezan Karimli's campaign to free her father.

https://t.co/omkJv5p0gB

[Tofig Shirinov @TofigS]

@AliKarimli #FreeAliKarinlit

[Ali Karimli @AliKarimli]

By using detained French nationals as leverage to secure sanctions relief for a Kremlin-linked oligarch, Aliyev is advancing Moscow’s interests while presenting Azerbaijan as a strategic partner of Europe.

Ali Karimli has long defended Ukraine’s sovereignty and warned about Baku’s relationship with Moscow. He is now imprisoned on fabricated charges. Europe should not treat Azerbaijan’s democratic voices as expendable while authoritarian coercion is rewarded.

[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

[Gulu Mammadli 🇪🇺🇦🇿🇨🇵 @MemmedliQulu85]

The #Azerbaijani dictator Ilham Aliyev’s “letter” show has ended in fiasco.

So, why is @AliKarimli still in prison?

They made a huge fuss claiming that the well-known “letter” from Ramiz Mehdiyev had been found in Ali Karimli’s home.

10 months ago, Ilham Aliyev sent the State Security Service (SSS) to Ali Karimli’s home with that letter in hand. The “letter” was then presented to the public, along with the absurd claim that “Ali Karimli keeps Ramiz Mehdiyev’s letter in his drawer, and together they are preparing a coup d’état.”

Ali Karimli was arrested on the basis of this “letter,” and he has now been held in the SSS detention facility for nearly 10 months. Over the past 4 months, physical and psychological torture against him has continued.

Three or four days ago, however, it became known that Ali Karimli’s case had been separated from Ramiz Mehdiyev’s criminal case. Apparently, because they could not convince anyone in Azerbaijan or the international community of the absurd accusation that had initially been put forward, and because the issue was increasingly turning Ilham Aliyev into a laughingstock, they separated Ali Karimli’s “case” into a separate proceeding.

Now a very simple question arises:

If that “letter” was presented as the basis for Ali Karimli’s arrest, why are you not releasing him now?

There is only one reason behind the unlawful imprisonment of Ali Karimli and the other 330 political prisoners:

The concepts of law, legality, and statehood have long been pushed into the background in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has now become a territory governed according to Ilham Aliyev’s will and decisions. Here, both the application of laws and the fate of people are determined not by legal principles, but by Ilham Aliyev’s personal will and spite.

@BBCNews @ukinazerbaijan @UNHumanRights @amnesty @freedomhouse

[Comerd Qaya @Comerd_Qaya]

"Çığırarsan,
Bağırarsan,
Adım gəlsə, için yanar"

Müəllif: Anar Seyidağa

[Tofig Shirinov @TofigS]

@AliKarimli #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.

[Tofig Shirinov @TofigS]

@MemmedliQulu85 Stop dictatura