Azerbaijani Authorities Seek Three-Year Closed Prison Regime for Activist Nicad Ibrahim

Azerbaijani prison authorities are seeking to transfer imprisoned civic activist Nicad Ibrahim to a closed prison regime for three years.

His wife, Parvin Ibrahimova, and lawyer, Zibeyda Sadigova, said the administration of Prison No. 10 had submitted a formal request to the court to impose harsher detention conditions on the activist.

The request will be considered on July 14 by Judge Gultekin Asadova at the Narimanov District Court.

Nicad Ibrahim has been held in a disciplinary punishment cell, commonly known as a kars, for more than a month. According to his wife, the reason for his prolonged placement there became known only recently.

“The submission claims that Nicad has allegedly committed serious violations of prison discipline, started fights and caused disturbances. Of course, all of this is merely a pretext,” Ibrahimova said.

She noted that other imprisoned political and civic activists had previously been transferred to stricter prison regimes on the basis of minor or questionable disciplinary accusations.

“In one case, they wrote that an activist did not exercise; in another, that he did not make his bed. From this perspective, what is happening is not surprising,” she added.

Ibrahim’s family and defence team reject the allegations and view the request for harsher detention conditions as an additional form of pressure against him while in custody.