Azerbaijan detains US human rights defender awardee

On Tuesday, human rights defender Rufat Safarov was detained in Azerbaijan a week before he was set to be awarded the Human Rights Defender of the Year award by US State Secretary Antony Blinken.

That day, Safarov’s lawyer, Elchin Sadigov, posted on Facebook that Safarov was accused of hooliganism and fraud resulting in major damage.

Sadigov later posted a message written by Safarov, in which he explained that he was planning to visit the US two days after receiving his visa in order to accept the Global Human Rights Defender Award from Blinken.

‘So I was awarded as a strong human rights defender of the year. Because the United States initially nominated me, I express my deep gratitude to [Mark] Libby, the US Ambassador in Azerbaijan, and Mr Blinken, US Secretary of State, who supported my candidacy.’

The US Embassy in Baku has not commented on Safarov’s arrest, but they shared remarks made by the State Department’s Deputy Spokesperson, Vedant Patel, during a press briefing on Tuesday.

‘We’re deeply concerned by reports that human rights defender Rufat Safarov has been detained in Azerbaijan’, Patel said, adding that they were ‘closely monitoring the case.’

‘It’s imperative that human rights defenders everywhere are able to conduct their work without hindrance and […] fear from retribution. And we continue to urge Azerbaijan to release all of those unjustly detained and to cease its crackdown on civil society, including human rights defenders and journalists.’

Frank Schwabe, the head of the German delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), criticised Safaravo’s arrest, saying that PACE will ‘respond to this in January’.

The detention of Rafat Safarov shows the willingness of Ilham Aliyev’s family dynasty to fulfill the conditions for #Azerbaijan ‘s return to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. The willingness is actually not there. @PACE_News will provide the answer in January

— Frank Schwabe #FreeNahid (@FrankSchwabe) December 3, 2024

Safarov’s father, Eldar Sabiroghlu, told Voice of America that his son was detained because of his professional activities. 

‘He received a visa and was going to America. Blinken was going to present him with an award for his activities in the field of human rights. That’s why they arrested Rufat,’ he said.

Safarov, a former prosecutor’s office official who spoke out against human rights abuses by the government, was sentenced to nine years in prison on charges of bribery, fraud, and human rights violations in 2016.

He was released from prison alongside almost 400 others  after Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev issued an amnesty to mark Novruz in 2019.