Azerbaijan opposition leader Ali Kerimli facing harsher prison conditions, committee says

Ali Kerimli

Supporters of jailed Azerbaijani opposition leader Ali Kerimli say authorities have imposed harsh new restrictions on him in detention, including confiscating legal documents and blocking food parcels.

The Defence Committee for Ali Kerimli, the leader of the opposition Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (AXCP), said existing difficulties surrounding his detention conditions had been deliberately escalated.

In a statement, the committee said Kerimli was still being held in a cell alongside a noisy, mentally unwell inmate accused of terrorism to prevent him from sleeping.

His family visitation rights, phone calls, outdoor exercise time and access to daily news updates also remain severely restricted, the statement added.

According to the committee, recent measures against the politician include denying him food parcels sent by his family and cutting off television broadcasts that had briefly been restored to his cell.

They also said prison guards had confiscated Kerimli’s handwritten notes, including legal petitions prepared for court, and prevented his lawyers from taking written notes during visits.

The committee attributed the tightened restrictions to interviews Kerimli had given to international media, alleging the directives came directly from President Ilham Aliyev.

"Lower and appellate courts are refusing to consider complaints filed by lawyers regarding the unlawful acts against Ali Kerimli," the committee said, adding that the judicial rejections reflected political pressure from the top of government.

Kerimli was arrested on 1 December and charged under Article 278.1 of Azerbaijan’s Criminal Code, which covers actions aimed at forcibly seizing power or altering the constitutional order.

Mammad Ibrahim, secretary of the AXCP Supreme Council, was detained alongside him under identical charges.

Both men reject the allegations, maintaining that their arrests were politically motivated.