The opposition Azerbaijani Popular Front Party (PFP) has said that two of its members, Teymur Salahov and Shamil Jafarov, were arrested for comments they made on social media.
According to RFE/RL, Salahov was summoned for questioning on 17 January and was subsequently placed under administrative arrest for 10 days.
Jafarov was taken from his home by police on 19 January and was remanded into 15 days of detention.
The charges they were detained under have not been disclosed as of publication.
The two are the latest PFP members to be detained in recent months, as the government appears to intensify its crackdown on the political party chaired by Ali Karimli.
Karimli himself was detained in late November on alleged charges of committing actions aimed at the violent seizure of power and the violent change of constitutional order in Azerbaijan. The arrests have been linked to a treason case against the former head of the Presidential Administration, Ramiz Mehdiyev, who himself was accused of similar charges.
According to media reports, more than 20 members of the party have been detained since, including some of the party’s regional heads and Karimli’s personal bodyguards.
Aytan Farhadova
