Human Rights Watch organization condemned the arrest of Citizen and Development Party leader Ali Aliyev. Rachel Denber, Deputy Director of Europe and Central Asia Division of Human Rights Watch said:
“It is completely outrageous that Ali Aliyev had gotten a custodial sentence and is actually behind bars on defamation charges. Criminal defamation is wrong, It goes against human rights principles and international treaties that Azerbaijan is a party to. People should not go to prison on defamation charges. It is a very straightforward principle of international human rights law and a very straightforward aspect of Azerbaijan’s human rights committments. Moreover if you look at how quickly the proceedings went and circumstances under which they went, it seems pretty clear that the outcome was pre-determined.”