Azerbaijani fossil fuel critic fears he will be a prisoner in his own home until his death

Under other circumstances, you would expect someone like Gubad Ibadoghlu to be speaking at a United Nations conference on climate change.

But as world leaders gather at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, the economist and outspoken critic of fossil fuels is about 20 miles away, holed up in his home, under 24/7 police surveillance.

“All charges are trumped up and I am being arbitrarily detained,” Ibadoghlu said As it happens host Nil Köksal from his home in Sumqayit, where he is under house arrest. “It's a lawless country.”

Ibadoghlu, a British-based Azerbaijani economist, was arrested last summer during a trip home on what human rights groups say are politically motivated charges. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, European ParliamentAnd several British MPs have called for his release.

Human rights groups say Ibadoghlu is one of hundreds of political prisoners in the COP29 host country. While advocates say they hope the conference will draw attention to the plight of the prisoners, they say Azerbaijani officials are already using the conference as a pretext to round up and jail more critics.

The government of Azerbaijan did not respond to CBC's request for comment.

A sudden and violent arrest

Ibadoghlu is an economist at the London School of Economics who researches public financial management, good governance and budget transparency.

He is an outspoken critic of his home country's governance, including the oil and gas industry, and has tried unsuccessfully to establish an Azerbaijani opposition political party.

He has therefore been living in exile in Britain since 2017, but returned last year to visit his family.

He was arrested on July 23, 2023 and charged with selling counterfeit money and preparing, storing or distributing religious extremist material.

His children have described their father's arrest as sudden and violent. They said unmarked police cars surrounded and rammed their parents' vehicle, prompting dozens of plainclothes officers to surround them.

Ibadoghlu's son, Emin Bayramov, told the Associated Press that police interrogated and beat his mother before forcing his parents into separate vehicles and locking up his father.

Ibadoghlu was placed under house arrest in April 2024 due to his deteriorating health, but says he continues to be denied the medical care he needs, including heart surgery for an aortic aneurism, a balloon-like bulge in his heart.

“It's like a bomb in my heart,” he said. “It could explode at any moment.”

A pre-COP crackdown

Ibadoghlu's treatment is part of an established pattern of repression in Azerbaijan, said Rachel Denber, deputy director of Europe and Central Asia for Human Rights Watch.

“Azerbaijan has a long track record of punishing critics and investigative journalists and anyone who digs too deeply into government misconduct,” she told CBC.

Estimates vary on the number of political prisoners in Azerbaijan, but Denber says local activists believe it is more than 200.

It's a problem that she says has only gotten worse in the run-up to COP29. Her organization has documented 33 arrests of independent journalists in the past year alone.

“The arrests increased in speed and intensity after Azerbaijan was selected as the host country,” she said. “The last thing they want is for knowledgeable people to write and publish investigative stories that put the government in a bad light.”

Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Yalchin Rafiev declined to comment on the arrests printed through Democracy now! host Amy Goodman at COP29 on Wednesday.

“I will certainly not comment on any ongoing legal processes. We are here to make a collective effort in the interest of humanity to reach an agreement and make important decisions on climate action,” Rafiev said.

Can COP29 make a difference?

In Canada, the federal Greens, NDP and Bloc Québécois refused to send delegates to the COP, citing Azerbaijan's abysmal human rights record, including last year's military invasion of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. forcing 120,000 ethnic Armenians to flee their homes.

LOOK | Ethnic Armenians describe fleeing their homes:

'I will never go back': Armenian refugees flee after Azerbaijan's offensive

Thousands of Armenian refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh grabbed what they could and began leaving their homes after Azerbaijani forces claimed control of the disputed region.

Denber says she tried to attend COP29, but Azerbaijan rejected her visa application. She says her colleagues with expertise in climate change and economics were given access, and she believes she was left out for her work documenting abuses in the country.

“We really urge the leaders to save this conference by really pushing Azerbaijan to release prisoners before the conference ends,” she said.

But Ibadoghlu does not hold out hope that COP will lead to material change for him and other political prisoners.

“The regime is using this COP29 conference to greenwash its image, presenting itself as the leader of the climate space, while at the same time imprisoning political prisoners within its borders,” he said.

He says he and his fellow prisoners will never be released unless Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev orders it.

That is why he is calling on world leaders – and Canada in particular – to impose sanctions on Azerbaijan to put pressure on Aliyev. a proposal to Global Affairs Canada from the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights last month.

“Despite the urgency of the matter and the compelling evidence presented, no action has been taken to date,” he said. “World leaders… turn a blind eye to the violation of human rights and freedoms and democracy in my country.”

Global Affairs Canada was unable to comment on the sanctions proposal before deadline.

Telephone conversations are tapped

Ibadoghlu may no longer be behind bars, but he says he has no freedom. Police have been stationed at his house, his belongings have been confiscated and he is not allowed to leave the country.

“I am under the heartbreaking restriction of house arrest due to the constant surveillance with cameras following my every move and my phone calls being recorded,” he said.

That includes, he says, his interview with CBC Radio. He says talking to journalists could land him back in jail. But as far as he is concerned, he has 'no other alternative'.

No evidence has been presented against him, he says, and no trial date has been set. The last he heard, his case was being put on hold indefinitely.

That means authorities plan to keep him in limbo under house arrest until he dies, he said.

“I'm here like a hostage,” he said.