Family Says Prisoner Mirjafar Huseynzade Cut Off From Relatives and Denied Early Release Procedure

The family of Mirjafar Huseynzade, an inmate held at Prison No. 17 in Azerbaijan, says prison authorities have blocked his communication with relatives and failed to process documents necessary for his possible early release.

Speaking to Meydan TV, Huseynzade’s wife, Khadija Huseynzade, said her husband has serious health problems and that the family has been unable to obtain any information about his condition for several days.

According to her, the prison’s governor, Shafaat Abbasov, had previously allowed Huseynzade to make daily voice and video calls to his family, but the permission was suddenly revoked.

“They allow religious prisoners and other inmates to make daily phone and video calls. But whenever Mirjafar asks for permission, he is told ‘no.’ They have completely cut off communication. He is ill, and when he cannot call us, we become extremely worried. This is obvious discrimination,” she said.

Khadija Huseynzade also alleged that her husband has repeatedly tried to register for a meeting with the prison governor to complain about the restrictions but has not been received.

“He asks to meet the governor to explain this injustice, but Shafaat Abbasov refuses to see him and ignores his complaints,” she said.

The family also accuses prison authorities of delaying Huseynzade’s application for conditional early release.

According to his wife, Huseynzade has already served two-thirds of his three-year prison sentence, making him legally eligible to apply for early release. However, she says prison officials have failed to forward the required application to the Khazar District Court for the past five months.

Khadija Huseynzade said she personally raised the issue during a meeting with Mirsaleh Seyidov, a senior official of the Penitentiary Service. She claims Seyidov’s deputy instructed the prison governor to hand over the application so she could submit it herself.

After receiving the signed document, she took it to the Khazar District Court, where court staff reportedly refused to accept it, explaining that under Azerbaijani law such requests must be submitted officially by the prison administration rather than by family members.

She then returned the application to Prison No. 17, where it was handed to an employee responsible for preparing official documents. Although prison staff later told her that the application had been sent to the court, court officials informed the family that no such document had ever been received.

Mirjafar Huseynzade was arrested in March 2024 and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment after being convicted on charges of possessing and trafficking large quantities of narcotic substances.

Neither the Penitentiary Service nor the administration of Prison No. 17 has publicly commented on the family’s allegations.