16:21, 24 December 2015

Rights defenders ask to pardon 22 Azerbaijani political prisoners

A list of 22 political prisoners with the proposal to include them into expected New Year's pardoning was presented to the joint working group on human rights, said Novella Djafaroglu, a member of the Monitoring Group of Human Rights Organizations of Azerbaijan (MGHROA).

She noted that the list contains rights defenders Intigam Aliev, Rasul Djafarov and Anar Mamedli; journalists Khadija Ismayilova, Parviz Gashimli and Tofig Yagublu; oppositionists Ilgar Mamedov and Yadigar Sadygov, and others.

"Our list was accepted, but nothing certain was promised. At the same time, however, we were encouraged by the fact that, although the sitting of the Pardon Commission under the president had already taken place a few days before, the final pardon list may be amended, since this issue is the exclusive prerogative of the president," Arzu Abdullaeva, the head of the Azerbaijani National Committee of Helsinki Citizens' Assembly, also a member of the MGHROA, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.

Author: Faik Medzhid

Source: CK correspondent