Azernews.Az

By Araz Said, AzerNews Staff Writer

Two Azerbaijani poets, detained in Iran for four months, arrived in Baku last Thursday, September 6. They were released and transferred to the Consulate General of Azerbaijan in Tabriz two days earlier.

Shahriyar Hajizada and Farid Huseyn were detained in Iran without bringing any specific charges. The poets said they would speak about the reasons of their detention at a press conference to be held shortly.

Hajizada and Huseyn briefly answered journalists' questions upon their arrival.

"The Iranian government pardoned us," they said. "We were treated [in Iran] in line with Islamic rules, with compassion. They created the conditions for cooperation with the staff of the Consulate of Azerbaijan in Tabriz."

Hajizada told local media that they had no hope of being released, but they knew and believed that the Azerbaijani government would do everything possible to set them free. "The Azerbaijani foreign minister's regular appeals have yielded positive results," he said.

Huseyn and Hajizada were arrested after arriving in Iran in late April to participate at a poetry festival. Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry sent five diplomatic notes to the Iranian government over the case. The Iranian Foreign Ministry later confirmed the arrest of the two Azerbaijani citizens, saying they were accused of "attempting to commit a crime", without any clarification. Afterwards, an Iranian state TV channel reported that officials had interrogated the two Azerbaijani nationals on espionage charges, claiming that the detained poets were on a mission to recruit dissidents in Iran to promote separatism. Iranian news websites claimed that the Azerbaijani poets were accused of drug trafficking and spying for Israel. Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry dismissed the spying charges as unfounded.

A trial of the two poets with the participation of their family members and representatives from the Azerbaijani Consulate in Iran was held on August 7. Although no charges were formally filed, the judge announced that he would pronounce a sentence in a few days.

In late August, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani and expressed deep concern regarding the detention of Hajizada and Huseyn. "We hope that the issue will be resolved soon," Mammadyarov said.

Dozens of letters had been sent to the international community on behalf of the committee for the protection of the detained poets' rights, established by the PEN Club of Azerbaijan, with a call to release them.