Jailed Azerbaijani blogger awaiting permission to see severely ill mother

Opposition blogger Mehman Huseynov is awaiting a court ruling on whether he will be permitted to visit his mother who is in intensive care.

Huseynov was arrested on charges of slander against the police in 2017 and sentenced to two years in prison. The charges were pressed by the head of the Nasimi District Police Department, Musa Musayev, after the blogger stated that he had been tortured by the department’s officers during a previous arrest.

Firangiz Huseynova, Mehman Huseynov’s mother, was hospitalized with a serious condition and is currently in a coma. According to Shahla Humbatova, the blogger’s lawyer, the law allows for a close relative to leave prison for a short time in such cases, but the Ministry of Justice is dragging its feet with the approval.

“According to the rules, such applications should be considered within seven days. But in this case, when there is a real threat to the life of a close relative, the request should be considered immediately,” Humbatova said.

The Ministry of Justice told the BBC that ‘the request is being considered and will be answered in accordance with the law’. It is unknown whether or not Mehman Huseynov’s mother will be alive by the time an answer is given, and more and more people have taken to Facebook to demand that the prisoner be allowed to visit her:

“I won’t discuss here whether he was put away lawfully or not – we already know how our ‘laws’ work. But I believe this is a matter of the people’s honour and dignity.”

“Poor guy and mother. Is it possible that he will not see her?”

“Does anything function by law in our country? Is this where we have ended up? Refusing such a request? They are not human.”