Mehman Huseynov (born 24 November 1989) is an

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

i journalist and human rights activist. He was imprisoned from 2017-2019. Huseynov edits ''SANCAQ'', a socio-political magazine, which uses

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

. He also chaired the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS) - an Azerbaijani human rights organisation concerned with freedom of expression and freedom of information, which was shut down after a police raid in the summer of 2014. Prior to his arrest he had launched a campaign, “Hunt for Corrupt Officials”. The purpose was to provide evidence of corruption amongst Azerbaijan's ruling establishment. He was arrested in central Baku at around 8 pm local time on Monday 9 January 2017. He had recently posted pictures on the internet of luxury properties, which he claimed were owned by government officials. He has also claimed he was subsequently tortured. The day following his arrest he was tried in a closed session of the

Nəsimi raion Nasimi rayon () is a settlement and raion of Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, named after Imadaddin Nasimi and formed on June 13, 1969. The administrative territory of the Nasimi district, one of the central districts of Baku, is 10 km² and as ...

court and fined 200 manat (about 105 euro) for "disobedience to a lawful order by police officers". He subsequently received a visit from international doctors who stated his medical and psychological conditions were consistent with his claims of mistreatment. However, on 3 March 2017, he appeared at the

Suraxanı raion Suraxanı () is a settlement and raion of Baku, Azerbaijan. It has a population of 210,500. The region is best known for the Fire Temple of Baku on the northern edge of town, a castle-like temple and monastery complex known locally as the ''Ate ...

where he was found guilty of “

slander Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making wikt:asserti ...

" and sentenced to two years imprisonment. On 2 March 2019, Mehman Huseynov was released. In January 2019 his lawyer,

Shahla Humbatova Shahla Humbatova (Azerbaijani language, Azerbaijani: Şəhla Knyaz qızı Hümbətova) has been an Azerbaijani human rights lawyer since 2013. After speaking out about prison conditions she found herself disbarred from being a lawyer. There were i ...

, spoke publicly about his poor conditions. She was later cautioned for "spreading false information" by the penitentiary service. After this the prison refused to allow her access to Huseynov (and other clients). The bar association attracted international criticism for moving to disbar Humbatova from a number of bodies including the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute and Lawyers for lawyers.

Awards

Mehman Huseynov was awarded the Free Media Award from Fritt Ord Foundation and the Zeit Foundation in 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huseynov, Mehman Azerbaijani journalists 1992 births Living people Azerbaijani bloggers Azerbaijani human rights activists Political controversies in Azerbaijan Free Media Awards winners