October 30, 2025
Human Rights House Azerbaijan
Established in 2007, Human Rights House Azerbaijan operated until its closure by the Ministry of Justice in 2011. Member organisations continue working to reopen HRH Azerbaijan.
About
Human Rights House Azerbaijan was a vibrant platform and meeting space until it was forced to cease all its activities following an order of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2011. Today, HRH Azerbaijan’s member organisations continue their activities and work toward its re-opening as a platform for human rights work.
Organisations
Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center
Contact information
info@smdtaz.org
www.smdtaz.org/en/home/
Independent Lawyers' Network
The Independent Lawyers Network (ILN) is a non-profit, non-governmental organization established in 2020 in Azerbaijan with the mission of strengthening the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, promoting the rule of law, and supporting the independent lawyer profession.
ILN operates through three core directions: 1) empowering lawyers, human rights defenders and civil society through capacity-building, network and cooperation, 2) advancing strategic litigation and legal defense at national and international levels, and 3) research, documenting and advocating against systemic human rights violations. Guided by values of independence, solidarity, human dignity, and responsibility, ILN seeks to support independent legal defense, promote human rights and freedoms, strengthen accountability, and building resilience in Azerbaijan’s lawyer and human rights defender community and civil society at large.
Legal Education Society
Contact information
legal@azeurotel.com
Freedom for political prisoners in Azerbaijan
Since 2023, Azerbaijan has been conducting its most comprehensive crackdown against civil society in its post-independence history. With the majority of human rights defenders, journalists, and lawyers in exile or behind bars, the few that remain are unable to operate in a civic space that defenders describe as transitioning from “shrinking” to “closing”. Human rights defenders estimate almost 375 political prisoners in the country [as of June 2025]. Our colleagues are among them.
Anar Mammadli, leader of Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center (one of HRH Azerbaijan’s member organisations) has been unjustly detained on spurious charges since 29 April 2024, in retaliation for his election observation and as a reprisal for his international advocacy work. HRHF continues to call for his release.
Journalist and photographer Ulviyya Ali has been detained on spurious smuggling charges since 8 May 2025.
Writing from behind bars
Since Ulviyya Ali’s detention, several letters and in-prison interviews with inmates have been published on her behalf, describing her own detention, to documenting the experiences of fellow political prisoners. Ali’s writing serves as a window into the daily realities for those behind bars in the country.
Ali has been a colleague of the Network of Human Rights Houses for years, having participated in a 2018 Network mission documenting rights violations in occupied Crimea. In 2024, she photographed the Azerbaijan entry for the Network’s Portraits Of Strength 3rd edition, highlighting the resilience and impact of women human rights defenders. HRHF repeatedly calls for her release, as well as all political prisoners in Azerbaijan.
