Azerbaijan bars opposition politician Arif Hajili from leaving country

Arif Hajili

A prominent Azerbaijani opposition politician has been barred from leaving the country to attend international political conferences in Austria, his party has said.

Arif Hajili, the assembly chairman and former leader of the opposition Musavat Party, was stopped by border officials at Baku's international airport on Tuesday, 23 June.

He had been due to travel to Vienna for a regional security meeting, which was expected to be attended by both Azerbaijani government and opposition delegates.

Hajili said he also planned to travel to the Austrian capital in early July to attend the upcoming congress of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), a European political party of which Musavat is a member.

Writing on social media, Hajili said border guards gave him no explanation for the travel ban. He added that his subsequent attempts to find out which government body had ordered the restriction had been unsuccessful.

The Musavat Party described the ban as a "violation of human rights" and an act of political pressure against the opposition. In an official statement, the party demanded that the travel restrictions be lifted immediately and called for an end to political pressure.

Azerbaijani authorities have not yet commented on the ban, and official agencies could not be reached for immediate comment.

Hajili, who led the Musavat Party from 2014 until 2024, previously served as a state adviser on territorial administration between 1992 and 1993.

He has been imprisoned twice before, serving sentences from 2003 to 2005 and again from 2011 to 2012, following his participation in unauthorised anti-government protests.