MPs, Lords and campaign groups have called on Azerbaijan to immediately and unconditionally release an LSE academic being held on allegedly politically motivated charges.
The 25 lawmakers co-signed a letter to the president of Azerbaijan regarding Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu who is being held on “fabricated charges” with no trial date after a judge froze his case without explanation.
Dr Ibadoghlu’s son Ibad Bayramov, delivered the letter to the Azerbaijan embassy in London on Thursday and visited Westminster to raise awareness for his father’s case.
Ibad said: “I worry every moment of every day about my Dad’s treatment due to this politically motivated detention. Just as any son would want to see their father, we are desperate to have him back. He suffers greatly, and we need to know that he is okay. We call on President Aliyev to release him now and unconditionally.”
Dr Ibadoghlu, a senior visiting fellow at the London School of Economics, was severely beaten by police and imprisoned while visiting his home country Azerbaijan in July last year.
Anti-corruption groups, including Global Witness and the UK Anti-Corruption Coalition, maintain the “unsubstantiated charges” which could land the 52-year-old 17 years in prison are politically motivated.
Dr Ibadoghlu’s arrest came after he published an article that criticised the country’s oil and gas policies and created a charity to return public resources seized by Azeri oligarchs to the people of Azerbaijan.
His health deteriorated quickly in prison where he was denied vital medical treatment.
Following international pressure earlier this year the academic was moved to house arrest in Baku but the Azeri authorities continue to restrict his access to medical care, according to his family.
The letter, which gained cross-party support, said: “Azerbaijan’s courts have now frozen the case, cancelled trial proceedings and are preparing to keep Dr. Ibadoghlu hostage indefinitely.
“We ask that you free him unconditionally, allow him to seek medical treatment abroad, and reunite him with his family.”
One of the MPs supporting the letter is Patrick Harvie, Co-Leader of the Scottish Green Party.
He said: “Across much of the world, authoritarian regimes abuse their power to crack down on legitimate dissent and criticism, often with the complicity of corporate interests. It is essential that our own Government challenges this at the highest level.
“Whether the issue is energy and climate policy, corruption, undemocratic government or other abuses, the voices of dissent need to be heard without fear of retribution.”
Dr Ibadoghlu is one of hundreds of reported political prisoners in Azerbaijan.
In recent years, the European Court of Human Rights has found a “troubling” increase in the arrests and detention of government critics in Azerbaijan.
Independent organisations estimate there are nearly 300 political prisoners held in the former-Soviet state, including journalists, activists and opposition politicians.
Azerbaijan is hosting the global climate conference COP29 in November and has drawn criticism from activists due to its oil production and human rights record.
Earlier this year Global Witness revealed that the petrostate plans to increase its fossil fuel production by a third over the next decade.
Dr Ibadoghlu’s daughter Zhala argues that having COP29 in the capital of Azerbaijan gives legitimacy to the government which has overseen a brutal crackdown on descent.
Alice Harrison, Fossil Fuels Campaign Lead at Global Witness said: “The Azerbaijani government is promoting this year’s climate summit as a “COP of peace” while threatening its neighbour Armenia with invasion and keeping Gubad Ibadoghlu hostage after he dared to criticise the Aliyev regime.
“The government must release Dr. Ibadoghlu and its other political prisoners to uphold basic human rights and to have any hope of a successful COP.”