Five members of the public association “Spiritual Figures of Azerbaijan” – Sardar Babayev, Gadir Mammadov, Jalal Shafiev, Ali Musayev and Tamkin Jafarov – were detained.
Note that all of them collaborated with the site maide.az . According to their relatives, they were detained on the evening of October 19 at about 16.00-17.00 by State Security Service officers. Their homes were searched, computers and phones seized.
Shafiev and Mammadov were released early this morning; however, they were detained again a few hours later.
No comments were received from the State Security Service.
Imam of the Juma mosque in Masalli, Babayev was arrested in 2017 and sentenced to three years of imprisonment on charges of violating requirements of religious ceremonies. Human rights activists recognized him as a political prisoner.
All the detainees are Shiites. When it comes to reasons of their detention, most likely, the authorities are anticipating the possible increase in activity of pro-Iranian circles.