The detained human rights activist went on a hunger strike

Baku/03.05.22/Turan: Journalist and human rights activist Elchin Mammad, currently detained in the Penitentiary Service's Penitentiary No. 16, has started a hunger strike. The human rights activist, who has been in prison for two years, demands an end to the injustice done to him and his immediate release.

The mother of the human rights activist, Rahila Mammadli, told Turan.

Rahila Mammadli said that her son was arrested by order.

"I am also sick. Elchin was taken hostage by officials interested in his arrest and is being held captive for a crime he did not commit. I will try to meet him myself tomorrow. I will ask him to stop the hunger. Elchin has hepatitis C, has problems with his bronchi, has difficulty breathing, his kidneys do not function normally and suffers from prostatitis. How will he endure hunger in such a situation? ” The human rights activist's mother said.

It has not yet been possible to obtain information from the Penitentiary Service about the human rights activist's hunger strike.

* On October 17, 2020, the Sumgayit City Court sentenced Elchin Mammad, head of the Legal Education of Sumgayt Youth NGO and editor of the Yukselish Namine website, to 4 years in prison, finding him guilty of “theft” and “illegal possession of ammunition and weapons.”

The international organizations Amnesty İnternational, PEN, FİACAT and others condemned Mammad's arrest. Local human rights activists recognized him as a political prisoner.—05B06-