Article

2023-07-09 Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

Muslim Unity activist convicted in Azerbaijan

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] A court in Baku sentenced Mahir Azimov, a member of the Muslim Unity movement,

...also in our archives as the unregistered Movement For Muslim Unity, in Arabic as Al Tawheed. They describe themselves as a peaceful Shiite Islamic soci-political movement calling for democratic reform and religious liberties, but it’s clear from context they mean the peace that comes from submission to Khomeini Shiism and Iran. In practice they’ve been involved in the usual murder, terrorism, organized mass riots, and attempted armed insurrection, exactly on the Khomeini model...

to four years in prison after finding him guilty in a drug case. Azimov's relatives called the case fabricated, and the sentence was persecution for being a religious activist.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that relations between Iran and Azerbaijan have escalated against the backdrop of Baku's plans to implement the Zangezur corridor project through Armenia. In October-November 2022, both countries held military exercises near the border and exchanged accusations of terrorist and sabotage activities. On January 27, the Azerbaijani embassy in Tehran was attacked, the head of the security service was killed and two guards were wounded.

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On April 3, the countries exchanged notes of protest accusing the two countries of propaganda against each other. On April 6, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry declared four employees of the Iranian embassy in Baku persona non grata, and on May 5, the Iranian Foreign Ministry, in response, declared that four Azerbaijani diplomats were undesirable in the country.

On July 7, the trial on the case of a member of the Muslim Unity Movement (DME), 41-year-old Makhir Azimov, ended in the Baku Court for Grave Crimes on July 7, lawyer Zibeyda Sadigova said.

Mahir Azimov was detained in July last year. He was initially charged with drug trafficking. However, in the end, the court mitigated his article, reclassifying the charge to possession of drugs without intent to sell. The court sentenced Azimov to 4 years in prison, she noted.

"The defense believes that there was no reliable evidence of Azimov's guilt either at the preliminary investigation or in court. Azimov himself said that the drugs were planted on him by the police. He said that he was being persecuted because of his membership in the DME," the lawyer told the correspondent "Caucasian Knot."

She pointed out violations in the Azimov case. “According to the expert opinion in the case file, Azimov is not a drug user. On the other hand, the court found that he had drugs “without the purpose of sale.” In this case, the question arises, if he is not a drug dealer and a drug user, then why he had drugs, why did he buy them? By the way, the investigation did not establish the source of the drugs. We asked the court to acquit Azimov. But the judge limited himself to reclassifying the charge to a less serious article, and appointed a sentence of 4 years in prison, instead of 7 years requested by the public prosecutor," the defender said.

She also pointed out that Azimov's rights were violated during the arrest, he was not allowed to tell his family which police department he was taken to, what he is suspected of, to invite a lawyer of his choice. The lawyer said that Azimov's sentence would be appealed to the Court of Appeal.

An employee of the Baku Grave Crimes Court confirmed to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent the information about Azimov's sentence.

Azimov was detained at work, his wife Yegana Azimova said. “Makhir was detained on July 20 last year by several people in civilian clothes in the store where he works. Without any reason, they took him by force and, putting him in a car, took him away in an unknown direction. Only a few days later we learned that he was arrested on charges of connection with drugs," she told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Azimova noted that after the arrest of her husband, a misfortune occurred in their family. "On June 3, our 16-year-old son Muhammad drowned in the sea. My husband was engaged in the sale of fruits and vegetables, providing for our family. After his arrest, I had to do this and control my son, who was in a difficult transitional age, I could not fully " she complained.

"Now my husband - a completely innocent person - was sent to prison for 4 years. The arrest of his father, the death of his brother had a very bad effect on our other child, and he began to fear new troubles," Azimova said.

According to her, after the detention, her husband was required to publicly disown the DME, leave the organization, or otherwise he would be arrested on charges of drug trafficking. “But my husband is an honest, conscientious person, a believer, he cannot commit unjust deeds, give up his beliefs, so they arrested him and now they have sentenced him to 4 years in prison,” Azimova said.

Abulfaz Bunyadov, a spokesman for the Muslim Unity movement, confirmed Azimov's membership in the organization.

"He became a victim of the authorities' repressive policy against Muslim Unity. Over the past year, more than 50 DME activists have been arrested, mainly on charges of drug trafficking. In total, more than 60 members of our organization are kept in prisons," he told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent."

Bunyadov believes that the new wave of repressions is caused by the deterioration of Azerbaijan's relations with Iran. "But the members of the DME are Shiites not because they are connected with Iran, and the Shiite clergy are in power there. Shiism has been the religion of Azerbaijani Muslims for hundreds of centuries. There are a number of Shiite shrines on the territory of Azerbaijan," Bunyadov said.

The case of Azimov is being studied by the Union "For Freedom to Political Prisoners," Elshan Hasanov, co-coordinator of the organization, said.

“Obviously, after the verdict, we will include him in our list of political prisoners. There was no convincing evidence of his guilt. On the contrary, it turned out that his case is similar to cases of persecution of other believers and religious activists. There are currently more than 180 political prisoners in Azerbaijan, and more than two-thirds of them are believers. A new wave of persecution of believers began in the autumn of last year," Gasanov said.

Posted by badanov 2023-07-09 00:00|| || Front Page|| [23 views ] Top
File under: Govt of Iran Proxies

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