Fuad Ahmadli Marks His Birthday in Solitary Confinement

An activist of the Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (PFPA) Fuad Ahmadli on January 9 celebrated his 27th birthday in solitary confinement of the Kurdakhani detention center, where he was put on false pretenses the day before. Turan was told by the young man's lawyer Asabali Mustafayev.

Today he visited the detention center, where before meeting Ahmadli he learned that he was put in solitary confinement on January 8.

Ahmadli's parents were not given an appointment with the activist and they were not allowed to pass food to him, including his birthday cake.

According to the lawyer, Ahmadli and his cellmate joked with each other, and it was used to punish the activist. Allegedly, the young people fought and both were put in solitary confinement for that.

Today it was announced that by the decision of the deputy head of the prison Ahmadli will spend five days in solitary confinement.

In protest Ahmadli started a hunger strike. The young man was in fact forced to spend his birthday hungry in solitary confinement, the lawyer said.

The already poor health of Ahmadli has aggravated due to the hunger strike.

In solitary confinement his inmate knocked the door to call a doctor. Despite the promise of the warden to call a doctor, he did not come.

At a meeting with the lawyer Ahmadli looked very sluggish.

"I thought that he was about to fall to the floor. Fuad said that in the cooler he was very rudely treated by the shift supervisor named Mahir and the overseer Fuad Gurbanov. Gurbanov openly shows hostility to Ahmadli and threatens him. This gives reason to believe that Ahmadli's incarceration in the cooler was planned to exert psychological and physical pressure on him and they just looked for a reason for that," said the lawyer.

He noted that Ahmadli was not allowed to take his personal belongings to the cooler. For two days he has been deprived of the basic things - a toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, and towels. In the cold dungeon the activist is contained in a jacket that was on him when he was taken out of the common cell to the solitary confinement. In this cold room Fuad's lung disease can aggravate," said the lawyer.

He urged the leadership of the Prison Service to immediately investigate the legality of Ahmadli's solitary confinement, depriving him of health care, and inhuman treatment of him by the jail employees named Mahir and Fuad Gurbanov.

The PFPA activist Fuad Ahmadli was arrested on August 18, 2016. He is charged under articles 302 (violation of legislation on operative-search activity) and 308-1 (abuse of power) of the Criminal Code.

In a joint statement, Prosecutor General's Office and the State Security Service say that Fuad Ahmadli, working as an operator in the Call Center of LLC Azerfon, gave away personal information of customers, along with a printout of their calls and other private information. Ahmadli is also announced to have some relation to the Fethullah Gülen network. It is alleged that leaflets related to Gülen were found in his apartment.

However Ahmadli denies the accusation and says it is fabricated and politically motivated.

Human rights organizations have recognized him as a political prisoner. -05B06-