Human rights activists call on Georgia not to extradite Azerbaijani journalist
International human rights organizations have appealed to the Georgian authorities to prevent the extradition of journalist Afgan Sadigov to Azerbaijan. The applicants include International Partnership for Human Rights, Open Contract Partnership, Crude Accountability and the Norwegian Human Rights House Foundation.
As the authors of the appeal note, by extraditing Sadigov, Georgia will violate its obligations under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. This will expose him to a significant risk of torture and ill-treatment, given the recent increase in politically motivated arrests in Azerbaijan.
At the end of November, the Tbilisi City Court decided to extradite journalist Afgan Sadigov to Azerbaijan. According to the defense, in this case he will not escape political persecution, torture and ill-treatment for criticizing the Azerbaijani authorities.
The journalist has been on hunger strike in a Tbilisi detention center since September 21. On the 17th day of his hunger strike, he was hospitalized due to deteriorating health.
Afgan Sadigov, founder and editor-in-chief of the opposition Azerbaijani channel Azel TV, was arrested in Tbilisi on August 3 on the basis of a fabricated Interpol wanted list at the request of the Azerbaijani authorities. In May 2020, he was sentenced in Azerbaijan to seven years in prison on charges of extortion. He was subsequently pardoned. Human rights activists called the criminal case fabricated.
