EU lawmakers back Azerbaijani government critic under house arrest

Baku [Azerbaijan], November 21: Members of the European Parliament highlighted the precarious human rights situation in Azerbaijan during the UN climate conference and invited Gubad Ibadoghlu, a government critic held under house arrest, to Strasbourg.
"It is appalling" that critics like Ibadoghlu "are arrested on trumped-up charges and subjected to state arbitrariness," Michael Bloss, a member of the European Parliament for the Greens, told DPA after meeting Ibadoghlu at the EU embassy in Baku. "Ibadoghlu must be released immediately." Bloss also criticized the climate record of the Azerbaijani government: "The fossil autocracy of Azerbaijan is an accelerant of the climate crisis and shows no interest in real climate protection.
The regime unscrupulously pursues its economic interests, wants to sell even more oil and gas and turns a blind eye to the consequences of its climate pollution." Ibadoghlu, an economist, is being held under house arrest in Azerbaijan and may not leave his home, after spending a lengthy period in pre-trial detention. His health has severely deteriorated, Amnesty International said. (DPA)
Source: Qatar Tribune