Families of Three Political Prisoners Receive Congratulations on Novruz

The representatives of the Committee to Protect Civil Society and the Alliance Azerbaijan without Political Prisoners visited the families of three political prisoners on Wednesday. The meeting with the relatives of the political prisoners Saraj and Faraj Kerimli, Nemat Panahli and Mammad Ibrahim was timed to the holiday of Novruz.

"We decided to hold meetings with families on the holiday to congratulate them and express moral solidarity of civil society with them," said the former political prisoner Avaz Zeynalli.

During the holiday, visits of other political prisoners are also scheduled.

The leader of the National Statehood Party Nemat Panahli was sentenced to six years' imprisonment on bogus charges for beating a man on June 17, 2011. He is recognized as a political prisoner by the Alliance Azerbaijan without Political Prisoners.

The opposition activists Faraj and Saraj Kerimli were sentenced to 6.5 and 6 years of imprisonment on charges of illegal drug trafficking in 2015. Amnesty International has announced Faraj and Siraj Kerimli prisoners of conscience and called for their immediate release.

The advisor to the Chairman of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan Mammad Ibrahim was sentenced to three years' imprisonment on charges of hooliganism on March 15, 2016. Mamed Ibrahim is included in the list of political prisoners in Azerbaijan, compiled by local human rights activists, journalists, lawyers and other civil society activists.   -0-