Azerbaijani poets to face trial today in Iran

Azerbaijani poets Farid Huseyn and Shahriyar Hajizadeh arrested in Iran three months ago will go on trial today. It is not known whether local or foreign lawyers will defend our compatriots. Representatives of the Azerbaijani consulate in Tabriz will also watch the process. According to the preliminary agreement with the Iranian side, the close relatives of the charged persons and representatives of our consulate can watch the trial.

Farid Huseyn and Shahriyar Hajizadeh traveled to Iran to attend the poetry festival, but were arrested. Iran didn’t confirm the reports about their arrest for a long time. Later it became clear that they are in jail. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan sent several notes to Iran to clarify the incident, but the notes remained without response. Iranian media claimed that they were accused in spying against Iran, but later this information was denied. According to the agreement with Iranian side, Azerbaijani diplomats in this country could meet with the poets, who said during the meeting that they were accused of illegal arrival in Iran. Iranian deputy foreign minister Arakchi was expected to discuss the issue during his visit to Azerbaijan, but the visit was postponed for two times. During his press conference in Moscow last week, another deputy foreign minister of Iran Huseyn Amir Abdullahian refused to answer the question of APA’s correspondent concerning the Azerbaijani poets arrested in Iran. “I don’t know anything about the Azerbaijani poets that were arrested in Iran. I have no details”, Abdullahian said.

Farid Huseyn and Shahriyar Hajizadeh traveled to Iran to attend the poetry festival there and were arrested on May 2, 2012.


/APA/