Queer activist detained in Azerbaijan for action on International Women’s Day

Feminist activist Sanubar Heydarova has announced that activist Rauf Heydarov (no relation) disappeared the day after his medical examination at a Baku clinic shortly after participating in a demonstration on 8 March, International Women’s Day. She later learned that Heydarov had been administratively detained for 30 days and has not been allowed to receive any medication.

On 8 March, Heydarov attempted to display a poster containing the faces of detained female journalists. Heydarov was then released, but arrested again two days later and sentenced to 30 days of administrative detention.

Following his detention, Heydarova said other activists brought his medicine and some other necessary belongings, but the police didn’t allow Heydarov to receive them.

‘[Heydarov] has not been in touch with his family for many years. We tried to be his family. That is why we had these things and medicine. He suffers from depression and stomach pain. In addition, we are trying to deliver books and cigarettes, as Rauf will be there for a month’, Heydarova said on social media.

On 8 March, Heydarov shared a photo with the caption, ‘Scary hours for the government. Even our existence is enough for this country, for this battle. Always be present’. Following the post, he returned home and spoke about upcoming plans with Heydarova, specifically that he had a doctor’s appointment the following day. After he sent a photo from the clinic on 10 March, he was then unreachable.

On Tuesday, Heydarova posted on social media that Heydarov had been missing since 10 March, saying that he disappeared after going to the hospital.

‘I can’t find him, he’s not in the hospital, he isn’t home, his friends don’t know anything. His lawyer called the police station on the hospital grounds, but no one was there’.

In a separate post, she wrote that Heydarov had been sentenced to 30 days of administrative arrest by the Binagadi District Court.

According to the charges, on 10 March at around 17:00, Heydarov committed petty hooliganism by using obscene language in a public place. He was also accused of deliberately disobeying police.

Not just one target

On 8 March, police allegedly followed several young activists, later detaining at least three people.

That day, Jamila Alisheva and Elmir Abbasov, members of the opposition Nida movement, posted on social media that they were being followed by someone, and that later they were stopped by the police. Several hours after the posts, their friends shared on social media that the two were unreachable.

Later Alisheva stated that she was detained for around five hours, while Abbasov told OC Media that he had been detained for more than six hours before being released.

Similarly, queer activist Alex Shah told journalist Ulviyya Ali that they were also detained that same day. According to Shah, they were kidnapped from a bus station, after which their phone was confiscated. They told Ali that they were also released three hours after being detained.

Since 2019, feminist groups in Azerbaijan have been holding an annual protest on International Women's Day in Baku’s city centre, which has always been followed by detentions. It wasn’t until 2022 that police allowed demonstrators to gather and read aloud a public statement.

In 2025, however, the organisers shared a statement that ‘in recent years, we are currently continuing our activities in defence of Azerbaijan outside of Azerbaijan’.

‘To date, we have had the honour of standing shoulder to shoulder with each participant, walking hand in hand, and raising our fists together at all the protests we have organised’, the statement read, before noting that this year, due to the repressive situation in Azerbaijan, no demonstrations would be held inside the country.

Instead, local feminists created a social media campaign entitled #8Women8March, asking followers to take a photo with a poster showing eight detained women journalists. They also demanded the immediate release of all journalists and public and political activists imprisoned for their professional activities in Azerbaijan and called for an end to all forms of political and cyber persecution of civil society.

Azerbaijani police allow women’s march to go ahead

Azerbaijani police did not prevent a march by women’s rights activists in Baku, breaking from their actions in recent years. On 8 March, International Women’s Day, the Azerbaijani Feminist Movement organised a demonstration in Fountain Square, in the center of Baku. Several dozen people gathered…

OC MediaI