ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN
The Anar Mammadli Campaign to end repression in Azerbaijan is a joint project of human rights defenders and NGOs,
highlighting the systemic nature of arbitrary detention by the Azerbaijani government for over two decades
As Azerbaijan prepares to host the next UN Climate Change Conference, COP29, a group of distinguished human rights defenders have joined forces under the name of Anar Mammadli, campaigning to raise the profile of emblematic political prisoners amidst a climate of sustained repression in Azerbaijan.
On 29 April 2024, prominent democracy and human rights defender Anar Mammadli was abducted in the streets of Baku. A former political prisoner, Anar Mammadli is once again facing multiple arbitrary charges related to the management of his organisation, the only independent election watchdog in Azerbaijan. Prior to his arrest, Anar Mammadli had co-founded the Climate of Justice Initiative ahead of COP29.
Anar Mammadli is not the only political prisoner in Azerbaijan. According to the group “For Freedom of Political Prisoners in Azerbaijan”, 303 individuals are currently detained arbitrarily in the country.
Anar Mammadli is not the only political prisoner in Azerbaijan. According to the group “For Freedom of Political Prisoners in Azerbaijan”, 303 individuals are currently detained arbitrarily in the country.
The Anar Mammadli Campaign is managed by Progress & Change Action Lab, at the behest of several Azerbaijani lawyers, human rights defenders, and their organisations. The Campaign is supported by Azerbaijani human rights defenders and NGOs through their pro-bono contributions and invaluable endorsement.
Image courtesy of Voice of America, public domain in the United States.
Given the climate of sustained repression in Azerbaijan, the names of those endorsing the Campaign are at this stage not made public. Please contact us for further information in this regard at info(@)free-anar.site.
Progress & Change Action Lab is a not-for-profit advisory group chaired by Florian Irminger, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Florian Irminger has worked from the hallways of the European Union and Council of Europe to the United Nations; from Central Asia to Central Africa, and from Baku to Minsk through Kyiv. His engagement with human rights in Azerbaijan is rooted in nearly two decades of cooperation with Azerbaijani civil society. In his capacity at the time at Human Rights House Foundation, he observed the trials of Anar Mammadli in 2014 and led the drafting of the report “Breaking Point in Azerbaijan”, documenting the unprecedented wave of repression that started in 2014.
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