 |
| Murtaza Nurmehemmedi |
Murtaza Nurmehemmedi was detained by security forces at the Sufiyan City Registration Office in Iranian Azerbaijan and taken to an unknown location.
Azerbaijani lawyer and human rights defender Sina Yusifi shared this information on his X (formerly Twitter) account.
Nurmehemmedi visited the Sufiyan City Registration Office in East Azerbaijan Province on September 9 after receiving a call from the office. Once he arrived, security agents arrested him.
The HRA news agency reported, citing one of his relatives, that after his arrest, security forces raided his home and confiscated several of his personal belongings.
Previously, Murtaza Nurmehemmedi and his family had applied to the Sufiyan City Registration Office to obtain a national identity card for their child with the Turkish name Hunay. However, the authorities at the office refused to issue the identity card with that name.
This is the first time in Iranian Azerbaijan that families intending to get a national identity card for their child with a Turkish name have been arrested. The reasons for Nurmehemmedi's arrest and the charges against him remain unclear.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has imposed restrictions on the freedom of families to choose names for their children, requiring them to select names from a list approved by the Iranian government.
Link to the original text in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
İran Azərbaycanında övladına türk adı qoymaq istəyən ata həbs edilib