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| Mehdi Neimi |
According to political activist Mehdi Neimi, who spoke to Voice of America, over the past 15 years, the national movement in Iranian Azerbaijan has grown in various fields, but the efforts to defend political prisoners have not expanded at the same rate.
Currently, many Turkish activists are serving long-term prison sentences in Tehran and various cities of Iranian Azerbaijan. Human rights defenders also report that the trials of hundreds of citizens are still ongoing. The majority of these individuals were detained during protests related to the Karabakh war last September and October.
Mehdi Neimi believes that the Iranian government has applied disproportionate pressure on those who participated in demonstrations during the Karabakh war.
"What was the demand of those who joined the protests during the war? Azerbaijan was rightfully defending its lands. The Iranian government, even if only in words, did not call Karabakh Azerbaijani land, but at the very least, it referred to it as Islamic land. Recently, they have even started calling it Azerbaijani land. The protesters were saying nothing different than that," the political activist explains.
Neimi highlights that pressure on national activists has generally increased in recent years:
"The pressure has definitely intensified. The authorities are trying to raise the cost of engaging in the national movement and make it more burdensome. They have decided that by imposing severe punishments, they may reduce the number of participants in the movement or keep them under control. They want to prevent new people from joining. When we look at the case files of prosecuted activists, we see that harsh sentences are being handed down for minor charges."
He emphasizes that, despite the increasing repression, efforts to defend national activists and political prisoners have been insufficient.
"There is not enough activity in the field of human rights. Although there are some efforts, when we compare them to past activities in this field, we see that there has not been much progress," says the political activist.
Mehdi Neimi further explains, "Even about 20 years ago, when social media was not as widespread as it is today, there was an organization called ASMEK (Committee for the Defense of Azerbaijan’s Political Prisoners), which carried out very serious and successful activities. However, 20 years have passed, and unfortunately, we do not see an equivalent organization today. This means there is a shortcoming and a deficiency in the movement. Because in the past, there was something even stronger. If there had never been such an organization, we could say that we are now trying to create one. But the fact that we had it before and do not have it now is a disgrace for us."
He notes that although national movement activities have increased over the past 10–15 years, the growth of efforts to defend political prisoners has not kept pace:
"In the last 10–15 years, activities for the cause of South Azerbaijan have significantly increased. So much so that the number of detainees is becoming overwhelming. There are now activities in broader fields. However, in proportion to that, there are no defense groups for political prisoners. Some exist, for example, in Europe, but they are insufficient. I appreciate their work, but their efforts are not proportional to the expansion of the movement."
Link to the original interview in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Mehdi Nəimi: Güneydə siyasi məhbusları müdafiə fəaliyyəti milli hərəkatın böyüdüyü nisbətdə artmayıb