A new charge has been filed against political prisoner Mammad Ibrahim on the day his three-year prison sentence was supposed to end. Ibrahim, adviser to the chairman of the opposition Azerbaijan Popular Front Pary (APFP), was arrested in September 2015 on charges of hooliganism and has been imprisoned ever since.
His son, Turan Ibrahim,
announced
a few days ago that his father had been placed in solitary confinement because prison wards allegedly found a knife under his pillow. Protesting against this treatment, Mammad Ibrahim started a hunger strike. In a meeting with the prison warden on 28 September, Turan Ibrahim was assured that his father would be released the day after.
However, when family and fellow party members arrived at the facility to meet the political prisoner for his long-awaited release, they were told that Ibrahim had been taken to the Baku detention center, with no further explanation given.
Turan Ibrahim was later told that a new charge under Article 317-2.1, relating to the possession of prohibited items in prisons and detention centers, punishable with up to six months of prison, had been filed against his father. Mammad Ibrahim will remain under arrest for two more months.
APFP supporters held a protest outside the prison, demanding Ibrahim’s freedom.
