Azerbaijani women in Iraqi prisons started a hunger strike demanding release

Baku/03.05.23/Turan: On May 1, a group of relatives of Azerbaijani women imprisoned in Iraq held a protest rally in front of the Foreign Ministry building. They called on the government to take measures to release their relatives from detention. One of the participants reported that the children of these women had previously been released and brought to Azerbaijan. "We are asking the government to help release the mothers themselves," he said. Women in an Iraqi prison also sent a video with an appeal to relatives.

"There are 121 of us sentenced to life imprisonment in Rosafa B6 prison in Baghdad," says one of the convicts in her video appeal. According to her, since April 25, the women have started a hunger strike, demanding their release. "Women from Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, France, Germany, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and other countries are also being held in prison B6," the appeal says.

The husbands of these women were killed during the fighting between ISIS units and government kiosks. "The Iraqi court handed down a sentence of life imprisonment without any evidence against us. We are accused of terrorism. We did not participate in anything, but only came to our husbands in Iraq.

We have been held in an Iraqi prison for 6 years in the most terrible conditions. Over the years, many convicted women and children have died, unable to withstand the prison regime. The patients do not receive medical care and we were separated from the children 4 years ago. Help us to return to our children," says the convict.

One of the protesters in front of the Foreign Ministry, Javadova Sevda, says that her son was killed in Iraq. "My grandchildren are disabled, I can't take care of them. If my daughter-in-law is guilty, then let her be punished in our country," she said.

According to official information, hundreds of Azerbaijani citizens fought as part of illegal military formations in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. Many of them died, and some were arrested or deported to Azerbaijan.

The last time 82 children were brought to the country from Iraq was in 2020. According to the latest information provided by the Azerbaijani Interior Ministry at a meeting with representatives of the International Organization for Migration in October 2018, 1,477 people (1,136 men and 341 women) from Azerbaijan went to Syria and Iraq to participate in battles as part of terrorist groups, 903 of them (749 men and 154 women) are considered dead or missing. ---0---