Intellectuals should not remain indifferent to the torture of political prisoners

Emergency meeting of the Committee to Protect Leyla Yunus and other political prisoners took place today. The reason for this was the use of torture against human rights activist Leyla Yunus in jail and a leader of the Islamic Party of Azerbaijan, Movsum Samedov, in jail N12.

Speaking at the meeting, the head of the committee, Professor and historian Jamil Hasanli and other participants said that the society, especially intellectuals should not remain indifferent to this torture.

Their voice of protest against it expressed a writer Chingiz Huseynov and screenwriter Rustam Ibrahimbeyov. According to Hasanli, the use of torture against Yunus by an officer of the prison service Fagan Yagubov was authorized personally by  Ilham Aliyev. "If this is not so, Ilham Aliyev must punish the perpetrators,"  said Hasanli. It was noted that in the prison system identified 21 people who use torture, and their names will be revealed in the press.

However, it was noted that the use of torture against Yunus trampled respectful attitude towards women in the Azerbaijani society. According to panelists, in Azerbaijan there is an atmosphere of impunity and the reason for that is the lack of independence of the judiciary.

All the reform of the judiciary has been reduced to the fact that the judges  simply wear gowns, said Hasanli. There is a fear of being arrested, said the head of the Association of Azerbaijani Intellectuals, Eldaniz Guliyev. However, according to him, the youth activists of NIDA dispelled the "fear of arrest", and therefore, the authorities are trying to escalate the "fear of torture" in prisons.

The head of the Karabakh Islamic Resistance Movement, Rovshan Ahmadli, said that it is  the sixth  day  that the leader of the IPA, Movsum Samedov,  is in a punishment cell  in jail  N12, and  announced a  hunger strike.

In his view, they want to provoke the protests  by a theologian Taleh Bagirzade, who is also kept there,   in order to increase his sentence.

According to the leader of the Popular Front Party, Ali Kerimli,  by their anger the Azerbaijani authorities  are leading the country to the abyss. He called on civil society to protest against the torture of Yunus.

PPFA is currently discussing the possibility of starting protests against torture, and are preparing a special document to inform the international community about the torture.

Debates resulted  in the adoption of a statement  on protest  against the torture of political prisoners.-- 05C06--