Azerbaijani rapper Jamal Ali reports pressure on his relatives for video clip

The mother and several relatives of the Azerbaijani rapper Jamal Ali, who is in political emigration in Germany, are questioned by law enforcers, who demand from the musician to remove from the Internet the video clip "Grandpa Monument", which contains criticism of the Azerbaijani authorities. The rapper wrote about it in his Facebook profile.

"My mother was taken to the Chief Police Department of Baku. Currently, she is there. Other relatives are also delivered there. First, yesterday, my mother was taken to the Sabunchu District Police Office. They said that her son had written a song; but they can't arrest me, so, they detained her. They made her a verbal warning and demanded to remove the video from the YouTube. Today, they have again come to our home, but this time they took my mother to the Chief Police Department of Baku. I won't delete anything. Let Ilham Aliev resign, then I'll delete," Jamal Ali wrote at about 12:00 a.m. Moscow time on January 6.

Jamal Ali told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the video clip "Grandpa Monument" is dedicated to protest against the "autocratic regime's violations of the freedom of speech and self-expression of young activists."

"We can't keep silent when young people are sentenced to 10 years in prison for inscription on the monument," the rapper said, meaning the prosecution of the young activists Bairam Mamedov and Giyas Ibragimov.

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