Source: Kavkaz Uzel
Musavat Party activists brought their weeklong hunger strike to an end,
Kavkaz Uzel
reported on May 18, 2015. The protestors demanded release of political prisoners and ended their strike at “the urgent request” of two jailed deputy chairmen of Musavat and board members.
“We believe that the action achieved its goal to a certain extent and drew the attention of local and international community to the issue of political prisoners,” Musavat deputy head Elman Fattah told
Kavkaz Uzel
. “This week, the local and international media have published a number of articles about the campaign. May 16 saw a one-day national strike to demand the release of political prisoners, which was attended by dozens of Musavat activists across the country.”
Musavat had earlier warned that if political prisoners were not released before Republic Day on May 28, the party would call for boycott of the European Games scheduled for June 12-28.
The protest action started on May 12 and was held at the Musavat headquarters in Baku. Six people took part in the strike initially – five in Baku and one in the southern region of Masalli. Two more activists joined the action on May 14 at the party headquarters in Baku.
According to Musavat official Rasim Amiraslanov, participants Niyaz Nasir and Ali Gasanov had to end their strike on Sunday “due to a sharp deterioration in health.” Doctors had also urged Shakir Abbasov and Rauf Aga to stop the hunger strike.
Amiraslanov added the even though the hunger strike did not result in release of political prisoners, it contributed to raising awareness about their plight. No official reaction came from the Azerbaijani authorities.
