Azerbaijan

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the Azerbaijan government has remained under the authoritarian rule of the Aliyev family, headed by President Ilham Aliyev. Elections in Azerbaijan have been plagued with fraud, concentrating power into the hands of Aliyev’s autocratic regime and repressing any political opposition. As a result, Azerbaijani civilians have faced violent and hostile threats to academic freedom and human rights.

Higher education has become one of the primary sites of conflict and contestation, with academic freedom in the country being severely restricted. Students and scholars who are critical of the government or participate in opposition activity risk suspension, dismissal, or expulsion from their positions.

One of the scholars critical of the government to face unjust prosecution is prominent economist and New University in Exile Consortium member Gubad Ibadoghlu. Dr. Ibadoghlu was initially detained on July 23, 2023, on counterfeit currency charges which were later changed to “the preparation, storage, or distribution of religious extremist materials”. After 274 days in pre-trial detention in prison, he was released to house arrest on April 22, 2024. He is currently under indefinite house arrest since his case has been frozen with no determined trial date. His health has also been deteriorating due to lack of adequate medical attention. As part of the investigation against Dr. Ibadoghlu, A PhD student at Istanbul University, Fazil Gasimov, was arrested in Turkey in August 2023 and sentenced to nine years in prison in March 2025. In April 2025, similar charges were also brought against Dr. Ibadoghlu’s brother, Galib Bayramov, a journalist and activist.

Another case is that of Professor Araz Aliyev of Baku State University (BSU), a cofounder of the Third Republic Platform, an opposition political movement in Azerbaijan advocating for democratic governance. Professor Aliyev was abducted, tortured for 24 hours, and sentenced to 25 days in prison in December 2023 on petty hooliganism charges. In March 2024, he was arrested again, this time on smuggling charges, followed by his dismissal from his teaching position in September 2024, which, the BSU stated was due to his political activity. Other scholars whose academic freedom has been violated by the Azerbaijani government include Igbal Abilov, an Azerbaijani citizen, researcher, and lecturer at Belarusian State University, who was arrested in July 2022 during a visit to Azerbaijan over fabricated treason charges, due to his academic work on ethnic minorities. Similarly, Bahruz Samadov, a PhD student at Charles University in Prague and Azerbaijani political analyst was arrested over falsified treason charges in August 2024, during a visit to Azerbaijan, and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Following his arrest, border guards also detained journalist and student, Javid Agha, at the airport as he was about to depart to study at Vilnius University in Lithuania, over his supposed ties to Bahruz Samadov.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the government also strengthened its control over the opposition to pandemic-related policies, specifically taking measures against academic and student protestors through forceful imprisonment. At the start of the pandemic, in June 2020, the police arrested six students protesting the continuation of exams despite the ongoing pandemic and the unequal access to higher education at the height of COVID-19 restrictions. In February 2021, four student activists from the group, “Student Power Center,” were detained for criticizing the school’s grading policy at Lankaran State University (LSU). Then again on May 3, 2021, the police detained five student activists from the same group for peacefully protesting a decision by Azerbaijan State Economic University (ASEU) to revoke a policy that aided students taking exams during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Additionally, the hostilities between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces have had a major impact on all levels of education. The Azerbaijani Minister of Education reported that the education of 300,000 students at 1,150 schools was interrupted during 2020’s sporadic military clashes, which escalated to a large-scale war that continued for six weeks. This resulted in the killing of thousands and the destruction of over 130 schools and pre-schools. Both forces also used universities as grounds of operation, and in some cases, the occupation of schools continued after the ceasefire.

Endangered Scholars Worldwide is deeply concerned with the arbitrary detention of Azerbaijani students and scholars for peacefully exercising the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly that is expressly protected by international human rights instruments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Azerbaijan is a party. ESW demands that the Azerbaijan government reinstate the autonomy of higher education institutions and scientific research, to stop the persecution of scholars and students for expressing their views, and to immediately release the currently detained students and scholars. ESW also calls for increased funding for the education system, removal of national security officers from public universities, and the cessation of threats to the job security and integrity of scholars’ careers.

(Last updated: June 14, 2026)

Please send appeals to:

Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

Palais des Nations

CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland

Email: ohchr-InfoDesk@un.org

Tofig F. Musayev

Permanent Representative of Azerbaijan to the United Nations

Office of the Permanent Representative

633 Third Avenue, Suite 3210

New York, NY, 10017