BAKU — Jailed Azerbaijani activist Baxtiyar Haciyev’s health has dramatically worsened due to his hunger strike and he could fall into a coma if he is not provided with urgent medical assistance, his lawyer Rovsana Rahimli told RFE/RL on February 21.
Rahimli added that for the first time in a few days, her client had sipped some water. Still, she says Haciyev has lost 20 kilograms since he started his hunger strike 44 days ago.
On February 20, a court of appeals rejected Haciyev’s request to be transferred to house arrest.
Two of Haciyev’s supporters who were detained near the court building on February 20 were handed 30-day jail terms each on charges of hooliganism and failing to obey police orders.
Haciyev, who was born in 1982, was arrested on December 9 on charges of hooliganism and contempt of court. He previously was convicted on slander charges and had been detained during human rights protests in recent years.
Haciyev was sent to pretrial detention for one month, but his detention was extended in early January, then again on January 21.
The activist was given a two-year prison sentence in 2011 on charges of evading military duty but was released nine months early on the eve of U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton’s visit to Baku.
He has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
Earlier this month, the U.S. State Department expressed concerns over Haciyev’s arrest and his state of health, stressing that the charges against him are “understood as politically motivated.”
Critics of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s government say authorities in the oil-rich Caspian Sea state frequently seek to silence dissent by jailing opposition activists, journalists, and civil society advocates on trumped-up charges.
Aliyev has ruled Azerbaijan with an iron fist since 2003, taking over for his father, Heydar Aliyev, who served as president for a decade.
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