Thank you for helping Mehman!

I would like to express my great appreciation to all of you who immediately and graciously helped us raise the fund needed for Mehman’s initial cancer treatment. The solidarity you have shown by helping us collect 82,000 francs in less than two weeks through the GoFundMe platform has been unprecedented for Azerbaijan.

 On 11 June, after paying the first deposit, Mehman has started receiving radiotherapy treatment at the Geneva University Hospital. We hope that this treatment course will successfully reduce the size of his tumor so that by mid-August, he can safely undergo surgery. 

 For more than 10 years now, Mehman has dedicated his life to the figh against corruption and the protection of human rights in Azerbaijan. During this period, he constantly experienced difficulties, such as repeated administrative pressure and torture, a five-year international travel ban, illegal cancellation of his identification documents and two years of imprisonment.  The last was the hardest on him and the rest of our family, but especially on our 70-year-old mother, Frangiz Huseynova. Unable to withstand the stress caused by Mehman’s arrest, she fell ill and died in a state hospital in Baku without receiving proper medical care.

 The repeated torture Mehman experienced over the past 8 years cause irreparable damage to his health. To make matters worse, the authorities in Azerbaijan have repeatedly deprived him of the opportunity to receive proper medical examinations and treatment - as they did to our late mother. Only because of the support provided by different international human rights organizations that he finally had the opportunity to be medically examined, which led to the detection of his cancer. But this illness will not stop him from continuing his work on promoting and protecting the rights and freedom of the people of Azerbaijan.

 The support Mehman received through GoFundMe gave him immense hope to successfully fight cancer! It also proves that when people are united and everyone contributed towards a common cause, nothing is impossible. This fuels his motivation to get well sooner, work harder and be an instrument in achieving a common dream: to one day see true democracy reigning in Azerbaijan. 

 This is not the first time Mehman has shown strong commitment to his work on human rights and democracy. Immediately after his release from the two-years of imprisonment term, he launched a public campaign to free all innocent political prisoners in Azerbaijan. Two weeks later, 50 political prisoners were released by the authorities.

 While dealing with a growing tumor, Mehman, all throughout the end of 2019 and early 2020, worked on exposing the corruption and large-scale fraud during the country’s municipal and parliamentary elections. This once again led to him being severely tortured and beaten by the Azerbaijani authorities, the stress of which made him experience more symptoms of his illness.

 Mehman must first overcome his cancer so he can then continue pursuing his unwavering commitment to protect human rights and promote democracy in Azerbaijan. Currently, the fund we raised is sufficient to cover the amount estimated for a worse-case scenario outcome of his initial treatment course, including surgery. Depending on the outcome of the treatment, which is expected to be completed by September 2020, we will know if additional funds would be required to cover his post-surgery medication and follow up examinations to monitor his health. As soon as the doctor clears Mehman for travel, he plans on returning to Azerbaijan and continuing his human rights work. 

 We acknowledge the more than 2,100 individuals that donated and the 25,000 Facebook users that shared the GoFundMe link on their social media pages. It is through this generosity that Mehman will be able to regain his health and stand up for human rights! 

 We will keep Mehman’s fund-raising campaign open for donations for the next few months, especially since we continue receiving hundreds of letters expressing intention to support him. We will ensure that all his medical needs will be met and expenses covered. Any surplus generated by this fundraiser will be used to continue our work on human rights, particularly in support of the victims of violence, torture, illegal detention, and the oppression of journalist and the civil society. Peoples’ solidarity and philanthropy expressed through online platforms proves that by working together we could solve the serious problems of our society.

 We hope you will continue your support for and solidarity with Mehman. We urge you to help us create awareness about the life and work of Mehman Huseynov, the brave young human rights activist and journalist in Azerbaijan. 

 We hope that this campaign will serve to inspire more people in Azerbaijan to be brave and stand up for their rights.