US lawmakers to introduce bill sanctioning Aliyev’s personal plane until economist Ibadoghlu is released, sources say
A group of bipartisan lawmakers from the US Congress are preparing to introduce a bill which would impose sanctions on Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s personal plane until economist and pro-democracy figure Gubad Ibadoghlu is released, journalist Alex Raufoglu reported on Monday, citing sources.
While visiting Azerbaijan in July 2023, Ibadoghlu was arrested as part of what the authorities said was an investigation into supporters of exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen, whom Turkey blames for an attempted coup in 2016.
He was released into house arrest in April, but has accused authorities of continuing to deny him access to needed medical treatment, despite his life-threatening condition.
Prior to his arrest, Ibadoghlu lived and worked in London, where he was a Senior Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics. He maintains that he has no connection to Gülen and that his arrest and detention are politically motivated and a form of retribution for his activism.
According to Raufoglu, the bill is called the ‘Azerbaijan Aircraft Engine Export Restrictions Act’, and would prohibit the transfer of engine parts to Aliyev’s plane until Ibadoghlu is released.
Within 30 days of its enactment, the legislation would also compel US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to ‘submit a report detailing the status of Ibadoghlu’s detention, US diplomatic efforts to secure his release, and any attempts by Azerbaijan to circumvent export restrictions through 3rd-party entities’.
Additionally, the draft legislation contained punitive measures if any ‘foreign company, financial institution, or government is found to have facilitated the export of GE90-110B1L or GE90-115B engine parts to Azerbaijan’.
The sanctions could include the ‘blocking of US financial transactions involving the violating entity [and the] revocation of US export privileges for the violating entity’.
There has been no official confirmation of the proposed legislation, and it has yet to be formally introduced in Congress.
Aytan Farhadova
