Authorities Seek Harsher Prison Regime for Detained Azerbaijani Activist Nicat Ibrahim

Azerbaijani prison authorities have asked a court to transfer imprisoned civic activist Nicat Ibrahim to a stricter prison regime, a move his family says is politically motivated and aimed at increasing pressure on him.

According to Ibrahim’s wife, Parvin Ibrahimova, the administration of Prison No. 10 has submitted a request to the court seeking to move the activist to a closed prison regime after he spent more than a month in a disciplinary cell.

She said the prison administration claims Ibrahim has repeatedly violated prison rules and caused disturbances. However, his family rejects the allegations, arguing that similar justifications have previously been used against political prisoners.

“They claim Nicat seriously violated prison regulations, started fights, and committed other disciplinary offenses. Of course, these are merely pretexts. Political and civic activists have often been transferred to harsher prison conditions for trivial or fabricated reasons,” Ibrahimova said.

According to her, Ibrahim has repeatedly faced provocations while in prison, and the family’s concerns grew after he was kept in solitary confinement for an extended period without being allowed to communicate with relatives.

“It was obvious that something worse was coming. We expected they would try to transfer him to a harsher prison regime. What hurts most is the cruelty shown toward innocent people. They are not satisfied with imprisoning someone they falsely accuse—they want to inflict even more suffering,” she said.

Ibrahim’s lawyer, Zibeyda Sadigova, confirmed that prison authorities have formally requested the court to transfer her client to a closed prison regime for three years.

The case is scheduled to be heard on July 14 at the Narimanov District Court under Judge Gultekin Asadova.

The Penitentiary Service has not commented on the case. In previous statements, the agency has maintained that all prisoners’ rights are fully protected in accordance with Azerbaijani law.

Nicat Ibrahim has been in custody since September 9, 2024. He was sentenced to six years and six months in prison after being convicted of stabbing another man.

The activist has consistently denied the accusation, saying he never stabbed anyone. According to Ibrahim, he was standing on a street when an unknown individual approached him, then suddenly threw himself to the ground and began shouting before police officers arrived and detained him.

One week before his arrest, Ibrahim and his family reportedly attempted to leave Azerbaijan but were prevented from doing so at the airport. He later said that after being barred from leaving the country, he called the Interior Ministry’s emergency hotline and threatened to take his own life outside the ministry building, which he believes led to retaliation against him.

Ibrahim had previously been imprisoned in 2020 after attempting to stage a protest outside the Presidential Administration demanding President Ilham Aliyev’s resignation. He was sentenced to one year and three months on charges related to violating COVID-19 restrictions, charges he also described as politically motivated.

In recent years, several Azerbaijani civic and political activists have been convicted on charges of stabbing other individuals. Many of them deny the allegations, insisting that the accusations were fabricated to silence their activism.

Human rights organizations currently estimate that 328 political prisoners are being held in Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani government rejects the existence of political prisoners, insisting that all individuals in custody have been prosecuted for ordinary criminal offenses rather than for their political views or professional activities.