Obama is asked to save lives of human rights defenders jailed in Azerbaijan

Ramis, the brother of the head of the Department of Conflictology at the Peace and Democracy Institute Arif Yunus, turned to the US president Barack Obama with an open letter urging him to save the spouses Yunus who are under “real threat of death” as they are bullied in prison both morally and physically. The letter is published on the website of the Azerbaijani information agency Turan.

“I appeal to you personally, as a citizen of the United States and as your voter who has exhausted all possibilities to save the members of my family, my brother Arif Yunus and his wife Leyla Yunus who are in prison in Azerbaijan on made up charges, and who, according to Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Freedom House are on the list of political prisoners in Azerbaijan,” Ramis Yunus writes reminding that the spouses are human rights defenders who are protecting human rights in authoritarian Azerbaijan. In 2013, Leyla Yunus was awarded the highest order of France and became The Knight of the Legion of Honor. Recently, she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The author of the letter also notes that over the past seven months that the spouses have been in prison, many international organizations and political leaders from around the world, including the Presidents of France and Germany, made concerning statements on their behalf. The European Parliament adopted a special resolution demanding their immediate release. Several appeals for their release were made from Washington as well. These concerns were made by the State Department and the Helsinki Commission of the US Congress which held several hearings on the state of human rights in Azerbaijan.

“But in spite of all these calls and appeals, the authoritarian regime of President Aliyev hasn’t freed them in Azerbaijan, but rather continued his attacks on NGOs, political activists and journalists, thus violating their commitments signed by them in Azerbaijan's accession to the OSCE,” Arif Yunus’s brother reports.

It is highlighted in the letter that the regime in Baku attacks not only local dissidents, but also the US citizens, their family members and American institutions working in this country. One after another, the local offices of US organizations such as NDI, IRI, IREX and Peace Corps were closed, including the latest purge on the office of Radio Freedom and, ironically, it occurred immediately after the conversation between the Secretary of State John Kerry and President Aliyev.

“What else needs to happen in Azerbaijan that the United States will finally realize that it is time to stop all these double standards in relation to the dictatorship regime of President Aliyev?” the author writes and notes that the authorities in Azerbaijan have skillfully cleared the field before the Olympics in summer, with the connivance of the US and its allies in Europe.

He writes that twelve years ago, he immigrated with his family to the United States, where he received political asylum and as many emigrants, had to start a new life almost from the scratch. But it is very hard to accept the fact that not all members of his family can share with him that “joy of living in a free world.”

“Help me save my brother and his wife, who are on the edge of death, as they are constantly being bullied in prison morally and physically, as their age is not young and they both are 60 years old. I hope that you will have the opportunity to read this letter and will hear me and my SOS signal and do everything possible to save them. I also hope that you understand that the US energy security is not possible without the protection of basic norms of democracy where there are strategic interests of our country,” Ramis Yunus concludes.

The Nasimi District Court has recently extended the arrest of Azerbaijani human rights activist Leyla Yunus for five months, despite the fact that earlier the German physician Kristan Witt had confirmed a serious illness that she had. According Kristan Witt, a blood test showed that the Azerbaijani human rights activist really was in process of decomposition of a liver. She continues to lose weight: within 6 months she has lost weight from 62 kg to 46 kg, all in all she has lost 16 kg. According to the doctor, all this clearly confirms the irreversible processes in her body.

Human rights activist Leyla Yunus was arrested on 30 July in her house yard. She was charged with state treason, tax evasion, illegal entrepreneurship, falsification of documents and large-scale fraud. Charges of high treason and large-scale fraud were also brought against her husband Arif Yunusov. The Nasimi District Court extended her arrest till 5 August, 2015.