Tofiq Yagublu: “Freedom or Death”
Tofiq Yagublu is in hospital. The Azerbaijani political prisoner was sentenced on Sept. 3 to more than four months in jail for “hooliganism.” He has been on a hunger strike since Sept. 2 when he was denied his right to speak at his own trial. He has told his supporters he wishes to be the “last political prisoner” in Azerbaijan and he chooses “freedom or death.”
The National Council of Democratic Forces spokesperson Gultekin Hajibeyli reported that Tofiq Yagublu is risking his life not just for his own exoneration of all charges but to put an end to the government’s continuous oppression of political prisoners. She added that the government is currently holding more than 200 political prisoners who have done nothing more than speak out against the current regime.
Amnesty International calls Yagablu a “prisoner of conscience,” which means he has been imprisoned for exercising freedoms guaranteed under the UN Declaration of Human Rights as well as the Azerbaijan constitution.
He was arrested in March under what many national and international organizations say was a “bogus” charge. The arrest came just days after President Aliyev said in his Nowruz address, that opposition leaders should all be jailed.
Arif Shahmarli, former Azerbaijani Ambassador to COE and EU, called on the U.S. Congress to move to address Yagublu’s imprisonment that has been recognized by the global human rights community as a miscarriage of justice. Shahmarli went on to explain that the U.S. may be reluctant to interfere in Azerbaijani internal conflicts because of the undercurrent of fabricated news that President Aliyev and Vladimir Putin are not on good terms. Thus, the U.S. must keep the enemy of its enemy as its friend. But Shahmarli remarked that any message that the U.S. politicians are even “thinking” about the Yagublu crisis would likely bring relief to Tofiq.
Hajibeyli said that the West, including the U.S., must step up and take responsibility and accountability for what is happening in Azerbaijan. She implored the U.S. Congress to take a stand on this issue. She added that she deplores being labeled as “radical opposition” when her group is just calling for democratic values to be upheld.
Opposition politics in Azerbaijan is indeed a complex matter. Alex Raufoglu, U.S.-Azerbaijani journalist, spoke of one unique opposition party as the “pocket opposition.” This opposition party is not related at all to the National Council of Democratic Forces but more in coalition with government forces. He adds that this pocket opposition spends its time working with allied media outlets in the U.S., like the Washington Times (not to be confused with the Washington Post) to promote “information laundering.” This information “laundromat” can be witnessed in a recent comment in the Washington Times where Azerbaijan was lauded as a bastion of “political pluralism.” Raufoglu says that this misinformation campaign is then reported back to Azerbaijan as coming from a credible U.S. media source — in the laundering cycle.
[It’s important to note that the Washington Times is owned by Operations Holdings which is owned by the Unification Church of South Korea or Sun Myung Moon who heads a religious movement in South Korea referred to as the “Moonies.”]
Updates on the condition of Tofiq Yagublu will be forthcoming. Remember his statement this week: “Freedom or Death,” a grim reminder that freedom is not free.
Please view entire conversation about this week’s news from Azerbaijan in English here.
