Azerbaijan Should Release Jailed Opposition Leader

Expand Tofiq Yaqublu (file photo). © Azadliq Radiosu/RFERL Friday marks two months since Tofiq Yagublu, one of Azerbaijan’s top political opposition figures, was thrown behind bars for his activism. Police arrested Yagublu on March 22, three days after President Ilham Aliyev, in his first major speech addressing the Covid-19 pandemic, implied he would use the fight against the virus to crack down on the country’s political opposition. The authorities wasted no time finding a pretext to jail Yagublu, arresting him on bogus “hooliganism” charges. As governments around the world are urged to…

© Human Rights Watch - mercredi 20 mai 2020