Human rights organizations of Azerbaijan (north) have appealed to the UN and Amnesty International to defend the southern Azerbaijani political activists convicted to imprisonment by the occupying regime of Iran simply for supporting the just war of the Republic of Azerbaijan during the 44-day war since September 2020.
The appeal of the heads of human rights organizations to the United Nations and Amnesty International reads:
“We, a group of human rights activists from the Joint Working Group on Human Rights in Azerbaijan, are concerned about the fate of activists recently arrested in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
As it is known, the Second Karabakh War, which started on September 27, 2020 and lasted for 44 days, was sympathetically welcomed by Azerbaijani citizens living in neighboring Iran.
Twelve activists, who voted for the liberation of their lands by Azerbaijan after 30 years, held a rally in Ciral Park in Ardabil in support of the Azerbaijani Army and in protest of Iran’s assistance to Armenia.
On October 9, 2021, the Ardabil city court sentenced the activists to 180 months in prison and 888 lashes.
The statement said the verdicts against southern national activists were unfair and biased.
Hussein Balakhani, Asgar Akbarzadeh, Mustafa Parvin, Murtaza Parvin, Muqtaba Parvin, Hamed Heydari, Mohammad Colani, Subhan Bakhshi, Mehdi Hushmand, Bahman Kheyrju and Sajjad Colani were found guilty under Article 607 of the Criminal Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
He was sentenced to 7 months and 16 days in prison on charges of disobedience to law enforcement officers, 7 months and 16 days in prison on charges of disturbing public order, and 74 lashes.
Askar Akbarzadeh was also fined for allegedly injuring a police officer.
In the following days, activists protesting for similar purposes in various cities of South Azerbaijan and Tehran were arrested and released, “the statement said.
The authors of the statement demanded the immediate release of southern political prisoners.
Statement has been signed by Novella Jafarova, chairwoman of the Dilara Aliyeva Society for the Protection of Women’s Rights, Saida Gojamanli, chairwoman of the Bureau for the Protection of Human Rights and the Rule of Law,
Head of the Azerbaijan branch Saadat Bananyarli, chairman of the Society for Humanitarian Research Avaz Hasanov, chairman of the Azerbaijan National Committee of the Helsinki Civil Society Arzu Abdullayeva, Azerbaijan Human
The agreement was signed by Eldar Zeynalov, chairman of the Human Rights Center, Zaliha Tahirova, program coordinator of the Azerbaijan Human Rights Center, and Mirvari Gahramanli, chairman of the Organization for the Protection of Oil Workers’ Rights.
