Ali Karimli, a prominent opposition leader, has been detained since November 2025 and remains in detention nine months later.
Justice & Anti-CorruptionAzerbaijan
- Omissions
- The claim states 'nine months later', but from his detention on 29 November 2025 to the session date of 7 October 2026 the elapsed period is approximately ten months (about 10 months and 8 days), not nine.
- Multiple independent human rights sources (HRW, Amnesty International, Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights) document that his detention conditions have worsened over 2026, which supports the 'deeply concerning conditions' element of the claim.
- The sources used were published before the session date (HRW and RWCHR in August 2026, Amnesty in December 2025 and August 2026), so the MEP could have known them directly.
- Sources
- SecondaryHuman Rights WatchKarimli, 61, has been held in the State Security Service detention facility since November 29, 2025. Authorities charged him under Article 278.1... Azerbaijani authorities have imposed increasingly punitive detention conditions on Ali Karimli, chairman of the opposition Azerbaijan Popular Front Party.
- SecondaryAmnesty InternationalAli Karimli was detained on 29 November after security agents raided his home in Baku after which he was kept incommunicado for two days.
- SecondaryOC MediaKarimli and Ibrahim were originally detained in November 2025 in connection with a case against former presidential administration chief Ramiz... If found guilty, Karimli and Ibrahim face a prison sentence of 12–20 years or life imprisonment.
- SecondaryRaoul Wallenberg Centre for Human RightsWe are deeply concerned by the worsening detention conditions of Ali Karimli, leader of the opposition Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (APFP)... On 29 November 2025, security forces raided his Baku apartment and detained him, and on 1 December a Baku district court ordered his pre-trial detention.
- SecondaryTuran News AgencyInvestigation into Ali Karimli and Mammad Ibrahim completed... Proceedings involving politicians, civil society representatives and journalists.