Azernews.Az

The spokesperson for Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has responded to statements made by the spokesperson of Iran’s Foreign Ministry regarding the treatment of Iranian nationals imprisoned in Azerbaijan, calling the allegations completely baseless.

Azernews reports that Azerbaijani MFA spokesperson Aykhan Hajizadeh dismissed the claims by Ismail Baghaei, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, that Iranian prisoners are mistreated in Azerbaijan.

Hajizadeh noted that, in line with the provisions of the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, Azerbaijan has officially provided Iran with information on all Iranian nationals detained or imprisoned in the country.

He emphasized that Iranian citizens held in the penitentiary institutions of Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Justice have their rights, lawful interests, and personal safety protected and are provided with the necessary material and living conditions.

In accordance with the current legislation, prisoners and detainees have the right to phone calls, receive parcels, and meet with family members. In some penitentiary facilities, Iranian inmates have even been allowed to hold video meetings with their relatives.

Foreign nationals in detention—including Iranian citizens—regularly undergo medical examinations. Furthermore, medicine delivered by the Iranian Embassy in Azerbaijan has been duly accepted by medical staff and distributed to the prisoners according to regulatory procedures.

In 2025 alone, Azerbaijani authorities facilitated 37 consular meetings between Iranian Embassy representatives and Iranian prisoners. The most recent meeting took place on July 31, involving two detainees.

Hajizadeh also recalled that Iran is fully aware of Azerbaijan’s humanitarian approach to certain Iranian citizens, highlighting that on May 26, 2025, five Iranian nationals were pardoned under a decree by the President of Azerbaijan.

Despite this, he noted, Iran has frequently failed to provide Azerbaijani diplomatic missions with information about Azerbaijani citizens imprisoned there. In most cases, Azerbaijani detainees are denied access to their families and diplomatic representatives, and are not allowed to submit requests to serve the remainder of their sentence in Azerbaijan, as stipulated by the 1998 bilateral agreement signed in Baku on the transfer of sentenced persons.

Moreover, Azerbaijani authorities are not informed about court proceedings or verdicts concerning their citizens in Iran, despite repeated requests.

“Our country has always supported addressing such issues through diplomatic channels and in a bilateral framework, without politicization. Such topics, along with others, were discussed during the most recent round of consular consultations between the Azerbaijani and Iranian foreign ministries, held on April 15, 2025, in Tehran,” Hajizadeh stressed.