Iranian Court Decision on the Case of Azerbaijani Writers to Be Announced in September

The decision of the court on the case of the Azerbaijani writers Farid Hussein and Shahriyar Hajizadeh will be issued in 15-20 days. Yesterday the representatives of the Azerbaijani Consulate in Tabriz were informed about this by the judge, who leads the process, said the spokesman of Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry, Elmar Abdullayev at a briefing today.

It is noteworthy that the Azerbaijani writers, under arrest since May 2, still do not have lawyers. The Iranian side has actually refused to provide them with lawyers.

Abdullayev said that the Iranian authorities have not explained what the young writers are accused of.

Recall that Farid Hussein and Shahriyar Hajizade were in Iran at the invitation of their Iranian counterpart to attend the presentation of a literary collection at the end of April. On the way back from Tehran, they were detained in Tabriz. They were not formally charged, nor were given official explanations of the reasons for the arrest.

The trial began a few weeks ago, but it has not clarified the question of what the government of Iran wants from the writers. -06c-