Azerbaijani authorities have detained Ali Karimli, the head of the country’s main opposition party, after security forces carried out a raid on his home in Baku, party officials reported.
According to the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (AXCP), Karimli’s whereabouts have been unknown since 30 November, a day after the raid. Several other party officials have also reported searches of their homes and disappearances.
Turan Ibrahim, whose father Mammad is a member of the party’s presidium, said in a Facebook post that more than a dozen security agents searched their home, seized electronic devices and took his father to an undisclosed location. Other AXCP members have used social media to report harassment and surveillance.
Both the State Security Service and the Ministry of Internal Affairs have failed to respond to inquiries from the Azerbaijani service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). Pro-government media have also reported on Karimli’s arrest, claiming that the raid is connected to an unspecified criminal case.
Reuters, citing an unnamed government official, reported that the detention is linked to an ongoing criminal investigation involving Ramiz Mehdiev, a longtime ally of the late President Heydar Aliyev. His son, Ilham Aliyev, who assumed the presidency shortly before his father’s death in 2003, has been widely accused of tightening control and suppressing dissent, including the detention of journalists, opposition figures, and civil society activists.
In a statement, AXCP said that Karimli’s interviews with foreign media had “alarmed the regime of Ilham Aliyev”, describing the raid as a further escalation of political repression in a country where political activity is heavily restricted and civil liberties severely limited.
