Azerbaijan detains activist for anti-war social media posts

Azerbaijan detains activist for anti-war social media posts

PanARMENIAN.Net - Azerbaijani activist and former political prisoner Qiyas Ibrahimov was briefly detained by security forces in his home country allegedly for publishing anti-war post on social media.

Fighting along the Nagorno-Karabakh line of contact entered a third day on Tuesday, September 29, after Azerbaijan launched a major offensive in the morning of September 27, shelling Armenian positions and civilian settlements with large caliber weapons and rocket systems. Armenia and Karabakh have introduced martial law and total mobilization. The Armenian side has reported deaths and injuries both among the civilian population and the military.

In footage shared by the activist, one of the two people who enter Ibrahimov's house in Baku for detention is seen wearing civilian clothes, but introducing himself as an officer of the Azerbaijan Intelligence Service (DTK), Gazete Duvar reports.

The persons in question have reportedly refused to tell Ibrahimov the reason for his detention.

Ibrahimov says in the video that the reason for his arrest is probably the fact that "some people" have complained about his anti-war posts on social media.

The activist was released two hours after being detained.

In 2016, Ibrahimov and fellow activist Bayram Mammadov were sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of drug possession after writing graffiti with a provocative on a monument to President Ilham Aliyev’s father, Heydar Aliyev. In 2019, they were pardoned.

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