"The world is watching" — Hillary Clinton Expresses Concern For Bakhtiyar Hajiyev

Washington D.C./24.02.23/Turan:  The Biden Administration on Thursday once again urged Azerbaijan to release Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

"Azerbaijani democracy activist Bakhtiyar Hajiyev has been detained since December on charges that are widely known to be politically motivated"  Samantha Power, the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), said in a tweet. "Hajiyev is on a hunger strike and his health is rapidly deteriorating. He must be released," she noted.

Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also added her voice to, as she put it,  "the chorus of people and institutions expressing concern for Azerbaijani activist Bakhtiyar Hajiyev."

"He's on hunger strike to protest his detention since December on politically-motivated charges, and his condition is deteriorating," she tweeted.

"The world is watching," Clinton noted.

Hajiyev was arrested on Dec 9 for alleged “hooliganism” and “disrespect for court”, claims that he strongly rejects. He has been on a hunger strike for 47 days.

A graduate of Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Hajiyev has been constantly targeted for his activism in Azerbaijan. He ran for parliament in 2010. A year after, in March 2011, he was sentenced to two years imprisonment for evading military duty but was released nine months early on the eve of a visit by then-U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton to Baku.

Alex Raufoglu