23:51, 26 August 2019

Azerbaijani journalist tells about health problems due to hunger strike

Ikram Ragimov. Photo from his personal account on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=582039032132658&set=a.143389449330954&type=3&theater

On his 20th day of hunger strike, the Azerbaijani journalist, Ikram Ragimov, convicted of extortion, cannot move, his cousin said. He hopes for the reaction of the Red Cross doctors who visited the journalist.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on June 12, 2019, a court in Baku found Ikram Ragimov, the editor-in-chief of the "Realliq.info" website, guilty of extortion, and sentenced him to 5.5 years in prison. On August 7, he went on a hunger strike, demanding an objective consideration of his appeal.

On August 23, Ikram Ragimov said that his condition was critical.

The journalist refuses to stop his hunger strike until "justice is restored", despite the persuasion of his family, said his cousin, Galib Gasanov, adding that Ikram's family hopes that "the international democratic community will not remain indifferent to his fate."

Ikram himself asserts that law enforcers began persecuting him after his open letter criticizing Ali Gasanov, the assistant to the Azerbaijani president. The "Union for the Freedom of Political Prisoners of Azerbaijan" has put Ragimov on the list of the country's political prisoners.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 26, 2019 at 02:03 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Faik Medjid

Source: CK correspondent