The new list of political prisoners in Azerbaijan includes 322 people.

The new list of the Union "For the Freedom of Political Prisoners of Azerbaijan" includes 322 people who, according to human rights defenders, are persecuted by the authorities on fabricated charges.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", on May 13, the Union "For the Freedom of Political Prisoners of Azerbaijan" included 328 people in the updated list. In 2024, the number of political prisoners in Azerbaijan exceeded 300 for the first time since the early 2000s.

The Union "For the Freedom of Political Prisoners of Azerbaijan" today published a new national list of political prisoners, including 322 names. The list was compiled by the co-chairs of the union, director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy Leila Yunus and head of the Center for Monitoring Political Prisoners Elshan Gasanov.

Compared to the list from May 13, the number of political prisoners decreased by six people. After serving their sentences, the member of the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party Alizamin Salaev, trade union activists Elvin Mustafaev and Aykhan Israfili, satirical poet Ibrahim Khudayi, as well as 19 believers were released, Gasanov reported.

At the same time, 17 people were added to the list. They include the head of the YouTube channel Azel TV Afgan Sadigov, participants of the rally with Soviet flags in Baku on November 7, 2025, Abdulla Ibrahimli, Ibrahim Asadli, Elchin Bayramly, and Mehman Zeynalov, lawyer and human rights defender Zabil Gahramanov, political activist, former head of the "Rise of Azerbaijan" party Anar Asadli, chairman of the Union of Young Veterans Gadji Veliev, Talysh activist Khafiz Ismailov, and eight other religious activists.

"Some of the new faces on the list were arrested back in late 2025. However, we needed time to thoroughly examine their cases, and as a result of this work, we concluded that the arrested were being persecuted for political reasons. During the reporting period, arrests of believers continued, who are traditionally charged with drug-related cases. A completely new case was the arrest of Talysh activist Khafiz Ismailov," Gasanov told a correspondent of "Caucasian Knot".

No one considered a political prisoner by the union was included in the decree on pardon signed in September, Gasanov pointed out.

In the new list, political prisoners are divided into 12 groups: "journalists and bloggers" – 31 people, "human rights defenders" – seven, "members of opposition parties and representatives of civil society" – 46, "activists of national minorities" – six, "anti-war activists" – two, "case of the riots in the village of Soyudlu" – one, "deported from Germany political emigrants" – six, "convicted in the Imishli case" – 12, "believers" – 178, "convicted in the Terter case" – eight, "convicted in the Ganja case" – 13, "lifers" – 12.

All individuals on the list were prosecuted legally, the head of the human rights committee of the Azerbaijani parliament Zahid Orudj stated earlier.

"In most cases, these are the forces that participated in international projects that are subject to registration under Azerbaijani law and were supposed to act legitimately. Activities outside of this are already events of smuggling, tax evasion," Orudj noted.