Jabbar Savalan
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Jabbar Savalan (; born c. 1991) is an Azerbaijani
blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...
ger and political activist. On 4 May 2011, he was sentenced to two and half years in prison on charges of dealing drugs. The Azerbaijani government defended the ruling, but the
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and several
human rights group A human rights group, or human rights organization, is a non-governmental organization which advocates for human rights through identification of their violation, collecting incident data, its analysis and publication, promotion of public awareness ...
s such as
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
alleged the charges were fabricated and part of a pattern of framing government dissidents to silence them. He received a presidential pardon on 26 December 2011.


Involvement in protests

A student at Sumgait State University, Savalan became active in the youth wing of the
Azerbaijan Popular Front Party The Azerbaijani Popular Front Party (APFP; , ) is a political party in Azerbaijan, founded in 1989 by Abulfaz Elchibey. Since Elchibey was ousted from power in the 1993 military coup, the party has been one of the main opposition parties to the ...
(APFP), the nation's primary opposition party to the continued rule of President
Ilham Aliyev Ilham Heydar Oghlu Aliyev (born 24 December 1961) is an Azerbaijani politician who has been the fourth president of Azerbaijan since 2003. He is also the leader of the New Azerbaijan Party since 2005. The son and second child of former Aze ...
, son of previous president
Heydar Aliyev Heydar Alirza oghlu Aliyev (10 May 1923 – 12 December 2003) was an Azerbaijani politician who was a Soviet party boss in the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic from 1969 to 1982, and the third president of Azerbaijan from October 1993 to ...
. With this group, he participated in an anti-government rally on 20 January; he also re-posted on
Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
an article from a Turkish newspaper that had criticized the president. On 4 February 2011, he posted on Facebook calling for a "Day of Rage" emulating recent pro-democracy protests in
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and
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. He urged citizens to join in protesting in Freedom Square in
Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...
, the nation's capital.


Arrest and trial

The following day, 5 February, he was arrested returning from an APFP meeting in the city of
Sumgayit Sumqayit (or Sumgait; ; , ) is a city in Azerbaijan, located near the Caspian Sea, on the Absheron Peninsula, about away from the capital Baku. The city had a population of 427,000 at the beginning of 2024, making it the second largest city in ...
. The police had allegedly searched his home in his absence. Savalan was taken to the police station, where he was searched. The police officer conducting the search then allegedly found 0.74 grams of
marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...
in the pocket of his coat, and Savalan was booked on charges of "possessing narcotics with an intent to supply". Savalan then signed a confession which he later retracted, alleging that he had signed it only in the face of police pressure; his lawyer was not allowed to see him until two days after his arrest. On 7 February, a judge ordered him two months of pre-trial detention. At Savalan's trial, he claimed the drugs were placed on him by police officers. A blood test showed that he had not recently used drugs, and his friends and family testified that he had no history of drug use. One friend reportedly told
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
, "Jabbar is not a smoker and doesn't drink alcohol at all – there is no way he would be a drug user." However, he was convicted on the basis of his confession, and sentenced to two and a half years' imprisonment. He was twenty years old at the time of his sentencing. Savalan's lawyer, Anar Gasimov, alleged that following the trial, one of the police officers had approached and threatened him, stating, "I know where you live. We will see what I will do for you." People protesting the verdict were reportedly violently dispersed by police forces. Savalan's appeal to Azerbaijan's Supreme Court was rejected on 29 November 2011.


International reaction

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
described the charges against Savalan as "trumped up", stating its belief that the accusation formed part of a pattern of "similar cases where drugs have been found on prominent critics of the government, such as Eynulla Fatullayev and Sakit Zahidov". The organization named him a
prisoner of conscience A prisoner of conscience (POC) is anyone imprisoned because of their race, sexual orientation, religion, or political views. The term also refers to those who have been imprisoned or persecuted for the nonviolent expression of their conscienti ...
. The organization selected Savalan's case for their 2011 Letter-Writing Marathon, which reportedly generated more than one million appeals on behalf of prisoners. His arrest was also protested by the human rights organizations
Index on Censorship Index on Censorship is an organisation campaigning for freedom of expression. It produces a quarterly magazine of the same name from London. It is directed by the non-profit-making Writers and Scholars International, Ltd (WSI) in association wit ...
, ARTICLE 19, and the Norwegian Helsinki Committee.
Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...
described the government's actions as a "fresh example of the government's efforts to silence critical voices" and "blatant repression", urging that Savalan be released immediately. On 12 May 2011, the
European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...
passed a resolution condemning Azerbaijani "human rights violations" and "oppression of opposition forces". The resolution mentioned concern for Savalan's case by name, noting that he had apparently been "targeted for using Facebook to call for demonstrations against the government" and that "serious doubts" existed regarding the fairness of his drug trial. Savalan was freed from prison following a pardon by President
Ilham Aliyev Ilham Heydar Oghlu Aliyev (born 24 December 1961) is an Azerbaijani politician who has been the fourth president of Azerbaijan since 2003. He is also the leader of the New Azerbaijan Party since 2005. The son and second child of former Aze ...
on 26 December 2011. Following his release, Savalan stated that "It feels good to be with my friends again. I feel good now that I can spend time with them and my family." Amnesty International issued a statement welcoming Savalan's release but calling for his conviction to also be overturned.


Involvement in 2012 protests

On 6 March 2012, Savalan and three other youth activists were reportedly beaten by Baku police officers during a protest, prompting the
Index on Censorship Index on Censorship is an organisation campaigning for freedom of expression. It produces a quarterly magazine of the same name from London. It is directed by the non-profit-making Writers and Scholars International, Ltd (WSI) in association wit ...
, ARTICLE 19,
Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; ; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organisation, non-governmental organization headquartered in Paris, which focuses on safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its a ...
, and the
Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in New York City, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists. The '' American Journalism ...
to protest on their behalf in an advocacy letter. In early May, Savalan was conscripted into the army despite being exempt from military service, leading
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
to state concern that he "was targeted for his peaceful activism".


See also

*
Bakhtiyar Hajiyev Bakhtiyar Ilyas oglu Hajiyev (; born c. 1982) is an Azerbaijani activist and blogger who served a prison sentence from 2011 to 2012 on charges of evading military service. His imprisonment was protested by numerous human rights organizations. Ba ...
*
Human rights in Azerbaijan International organizations have frequently alleged that Azerbaijan has violated human rights standards established in international law. Human Rights Watch issued a 2013 report accusing Azerbaijan of imprisoning and harassing political activis ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Savalan, Jabbar Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Azerbaijan Azerbaijani democracy activists Azerbaijani prisoners and detainees Living people Date of birth missing (living people) Recipients of Azerbaijani presidential pardons Year of birth missing (living people) People from Sumgait