The Prosecutor General's Office has launched an investigation into the complaint of an activist who fled Iran

Activist Puya Pourhemmeti, who fled from Iran to Azerbaijan, was invited to the Prosecutor General's Office of Azerbaijan in connection with allegations of illegal actions against him by Azerbaijani security forces. In October 2023, Pourhemmeti fled to Azerbaijan from Iran, fearing criminal prosecution in that country for supporting the movement to abolish the compulsory wearing of the hijab by women.

In Azerbaijan, he was detained and subjected to pre-trial detention for 2 months. However, Purhemmeti was later released from custody and eventually sentenced to 3,000 manats in a monetary fine. "For two hours, I was asked questions about illegal actions that I encountered in Azerbaijan after arriving here. I was told that an investigation would be conducted on this matter. The interrogation was conducted on the basis of information disseminated by human rights defender Rufat Safarov on social networks," Pourhemmeti said.

A week ago, human rights defender Safarov wrote a post on Facebook with reference to Pourhemmeti himself about how an investigator of the border guard service extorted money from an Iranian citizen in exchange for solving his issue.

Safarov also reported that Purhemmeti's expensive wristwatch and fountain pen were taken away from him in the detention center of the Penitentiary Service of Azerbaijan and these items were not returned after his arrest. According to Safarov, money was taken from Purhemmeti in the pre-trial detention center each time for using his legal right to telephone conversations.

Safarov said that after publication, the Office of the Prosecutor General's Office for Supervision of the execution of laws in operational search activities in state security agencies, emergency situations and the border guard service launched an investigation.