Ethnic Talysh activist Mirhafiz Jafarzade, who advocated for the creation of Talysh school textbooks in Azerbaijan, has been sentenced to 16 years in prison on charges of treason. 

Jafarzade, who is also a Russian citizen, was found guilty of treason in the form of espionage on Thursday. Jafarzade was detained by the authorities in November 2022.

That day, pro-government media reported that the trial had determined that Jafarzade worked ‘in secret cooperation with foreign special services to fulfil tasks assigned to the detriment of the state security and defence capabilities of Azerbaijan’. They also claimed Jafarzade ‘specified the location of military objects and sent their location and other information’ through Telegram. 

One of Jafarzade’s close friends, who wished to remain anonymous, told OC Media that Azerbaijan’s State Security Service (SSS) had already taken an interest in Jafarzade back in 2021.

‘Jafarzade was arrested at the Heydar Aliyev Airport in 2021, when he tried to fly from Azerbaijan to Russia’, he said. He added that all of Jafarzade’s belongings — including his laptop, mobile phone, and memory devices — were confiscated.

He told OC Media that over the next year, SSS officers repeatedly called Jafarzade, demanding that he meet with them in Baku. 

‘They demanded from him a list of names of wealthy Talysh people who live in Russia, and who support and financed the Talysh movement. They asked him to collect their addresses and install surveillance devices in their houses. They said, “Bring us the information and we will provide you with an office, a house, a car, etc”, but Mirhafiz refused to do so.’

His friend claimed that he was arrested for refusing to cooperate with the security agency.

Jafarzade has been an active defender of the Talysh language, and has advocated for the creation of Talysh schoolbooks. Currently, there are no schools in Azerbaijan providing education in the Talysh language. 

The subject of Talysh rights and culture have been a sensitive subject for the Azerbaijani authorities for decades. In 1993, a short-lived separatist entity in southern Azerbaijan emerged calling itself the Talysh-Mughan Autonomous Republic. Its leader was soon arrested.

Since then, Azerbaijan has frequently arrested Talysh activists and cultural figures, including on charges of treason.

Azerbaijan this year arrested two researchers on charges of treason, including another ethnic Talysh researcher, Igbal Abilov, on charges of treason and inciting ethnic hatred, and researcher and writer Bahruz Samadov.