Information about Ziya Ibrahimov, who was arrested in Azerbaijan after deportation from Germany
Ziya Ibraimov is the 6th political refugee arrested after being deported from Germany to Azerbaijan. Punhan Karimli, Jafar Mirzayev, Mutallim Orujov, Malik Rzayev and Samir Ashurov, who suffered the same fate before him, were also arrested on false charges. Even Punhan Karimli was sentenced to 6 years in prison. Along with this, Emin Malikov, who was deported on July 28, 2022, as well as Anar Aliyev, were also arrested. The German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) and Administrative Courts (Verwaltungs Gericht) rejected the request for political asylum of 7 of the 8 people who were arrested in Azerbaijan, saying that they are not in danger of being detained in their country.
The political activities of the deported political immigrants, their statuses and opinions about the political regime of Azerbaijan on social networks, the posters and photos they shared, their speeches at rallies against human rights violations, as well as the video footage of those persons, are fully and seriously grounds for saying that they were arrested because of their political views.
- Ziya Ibrahimov, 01.04 .1972. Zahmatabad village, Bilasuvar district, Azerbaijan.
Address in Germany: Finther Landstraße 23, 55124 Mainz
He applied for political asylum in Germany on 23.04.2018. He has been a member of the Azerbaijan People’s Front Party since 1990. He was constantly harassed and pressured during his political activities. During his stay in Germany, he regularly participated in political actions and took a critical stance against the political regime on social networks. In addition, he was the head of the Rheinland-Pfalz office of the largest DAS (Wähle das Demokratische Aserbaidschan) organization created by Azerbaijani political refugees in Germany. He was the organizer of 5 protests against the Azerbaijani dictatorship regime. He constantly spoke at rallies and criticized the corrupt administration in Azerbaijan. At the same time, he made speeches in favour of the release of political prisoners.
BAMF and Trier Verwaltungs Gericht rejected the request for political asylum of a member of the DAS organization, Ziya Ibraimov, who lived in Germany for about 4 years. On May 19, 2022, he was deported to Azerbaijan. On the same day, he was detained administratively (30 days). Since his detention, no information has been given about the conditions under which he was interrogated or whether he was provided with a lawyer. Due to pressure, the family members avoided meeting with human rights defenders, journalists, and people defending the public interests. On July 22, 2022, by the decision of Rauf Dashdamirov, the judge of the Yasamal District Court of Baku City, a criminal case was launched against Ziya Ibrahimli under Article 306 of the Criminal Code (Default of a verdict, decision, or other actions of the court), and he was imprisoned for 2 months and 26 days. This information was made public by his lawyer. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=5572151206157092&id=100000868041420
The political side of the matter is that Z.Ibrahimov allegedly had an alimony obligation while he was in Azerbaijan and did not pay it. His opposition to the regime while living in Azerbaijan and Germany stimulated his arrest. Ibrahimov may face up to three years of imprisonment in this criminal case.
We present some of Ibrahimov’s statuses and social network account while he was in Germany so that we can find an answer to the question of why the regime arrested him:
https://www.facebook.com/ziya.ibrahimov.9693
We would like to note that the German State bears responsibility for the arrest of Ziya Ibrahimov and other “prisoners”.
Thus, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment adopted by the resolution 39/46 dated December 10, 1984, of the General Assembly of the United Nations provides:
Article 3
- No State Party shall expel, return (“refouler”), surrender or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that they would be in danger of being subjected to enforced disappearance.
- For the purpose of determining whether there are such grounds, the competent authorities shall take into account all relevant considerations, including, where applicable, the existence in the State concerned of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights or severe violations of international humanitarian law.
The deportation of Ziya Ibrahimov and people like him who fled Azerbaijan to seek asylum in Germany and continued their political activities here has bitter consequences today.