© Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
© Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

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Letters from an Azerbaijan Jail

Years active: 2014-2015

IWPR presents a series of letters written by political prisoners in Azerbaijan. More and more leading human rights defenders, opposition party members and independent journalists are being arrested, tried and jailed for a range of ostensibly non-political offences – a tactic which allows the authorities to insist both that there is no political motivation and that the individuals concerned are common criminals. Prosecutions are designed to discredit those accused personally and government critics more generally.

These letters will show that independent thinking carries on even when people are locked away, and to focus wider international attention on the state of civil and political liberties in Azerbaijan.

Shafi's Story

Political prisoner tells the life story of a young cellmate who spent his teenage years living homeless on the streets of Baku.

A Flag of Many Colours

LGBT activist's suicide a year ago can be seen as an act of courage in a world of hypocrisy.

Arbeit Macht Frei

Political prisoner deemed “workshy” as pretext for turning down his application for release.

Torture by TV

An Azerbaijani opposition figure reflects on the quality of state TV seen from inside a detention cell.

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