Azerbaijani activist Movsum Mammadov, known for his harsh criticism of the government on social media, was sentenced to 30 days in prison by the Kurdamir District Court on Tuesday. Mammadov was found guilty based on recently amended legislation criminalising ‘immorality’.
Mammadov, who lives in the Kurdamir district of central Azerbaijan, often wrote about the many problems faced by the district’s residents, while also criticising state authorities on social media.
His friends told the news outlet Qazetchi that on the morning of 2 February, Mammadov shared a post on Facebook stating that he was being taken into police custody. ‘Later, his post about [his] arrest and other critical posts were deleted. After that the activist was unreachable’, Qazetchi wrote.
Currently, Mammadov’s social media page is still public, but the most recent posts shown are birthday congratulations made by his Facebook friends in November 2025.
According to Qazetchi, information about Mammadov’s health, ‘the conditions of his detention, or [his current location were] not provided’.
After the adoption of the new amendments to the administrative offences code, arrests due to posts on social media increased. According to the new legislation ‘open immoral activity’ on social media falls under the category of petty hooliganism.
On 3 February, queer TikToker Salman Mammadov, who runs the social media page Velizarofficial, was detained for ‘promoting immorality’.
The pro-government media outlet Qafqazinfo wrote that Salman Mammadov was charged for ‘posting of information prohibited for distribution on internet information resources or information and telecommunications networks’.
Aytan Farhadova
