I am writing this letter with a heavy heart as I have been reading reports almost daily about your deteriorating health in detention. The news that you are so weak that you can barely walk, that you are having trouble breathing, that you have already lost 18 kilograms, that your teeth and hair are falling out, and that you are being mistreated in so many ways, is incredibly distressing. It breaks my heart to think of you now spending your birthday in such inhumane conditions.
This is hard to reconcile with the image of the Leyla I know, the strong and courageous Leyla who has dedicated her life to working to improve the situation in her country. I remember one of our early meetings, around 2006, when I was a young diplomat, having recently arrived in Baku. We sat in your office, drinking tea and talking about Azerbaijan’s history. All those years later, you still spoke of Black January with such passion that you were moved to tears. I saw then your drive, your dedication, and your love of your country, which you have consistently displayed throughout the years I have known you. Any attempts to label you a traitor, or unpatriotic, are simply absurd.
I have admired you from that moment, Leyla. I admired you when you spoke out for property rights when your office was destroyed and so much work lost. I admired your efforts to collaborate with a new generation of human rights defenders and unite civil society around a consolidated list of political prisoners. I admired you when you fought for your rights and your dignity during a police search of your home, despite having been kept awake all night and your husband taken to hospital. I admired you when you continued your work as the pressure mounted against you. I admire you now, in the most terrible of circumstances, because you knew all along that this was the price you could pay for fighting for peace, justice, and democracy – and you did it anyway.
Just two days before your arrest, you wrote to me about the increasing pressure against you and Arif. “Please support us,” you wrote. “Without support from such people as you, we won’t be able to withstand.”
We support you, Leyla. The international community is on your side – and that will prove to be the right side of history. But we need you to stay strong for us, for Arif, for Dinara, and for your country. You have overcome incredibly difficult circumstances in the past; please let this be another such hardship over which you will triumph, and not the thing that breaks you.
I cannot wait for the day when we can once again drink tea and talk together in freedom. In the meantime, we will never stop calling for your release, and the release of so many other friends and colleagues you worked so hard to defend.
Sending my love and best wishes on your birthday,
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