Police in Yevlakh Did Not Allow Theologian Taleh Bagirzadeh to Visit Mosque

The Shiite theologian, leader of the Islamic Unity Movement, Taleh Bagirzadeh was detained by police in Yevlakh on September 26.

He arrived in Yevlakh on a visit to a relative for a family celebration.

By day, Bagirzadeh came to the mosque to commit prayers. However, by this time the mosque was surrounded by gunmen.

Bagirzadeh was detained and taken to the town police department and interrogated there for about three hours.

Bagirzadeh reported that he was told by the police that the service 102 received information that supposedly the theologian would perform an "anti-state speech" in the mosque.

Finding out the real matter, they released Bagirzadeh.

He condemned the police for the detention of citizens without any justification.

Recall that on September 22 Bagirzadeh was also summoned to the Ministry of National Security.

 Bagirzadeh is known for speeches critical of the authorities for violation of the rights of believers. For his participation in the protest before the Ministry of Education in Baku against the ban on headscarves on May 6, 2001, he was sentenced to one and a half years in prison on charges of hooliganism and resisting police.

In March 2013 he was again arrested on charges of drug possession and sentenced to 2 years in prison, and later the prison term was extended by another 4 months for detecting a mobile phone in Bagirzadeh's prison cell. He was released on July 31, 2015.

 In January 2015 the Islamic Unity Movement was established and Bagirzadeh headed it in absentia from his prison. -06D--