{"id":211559,"date":"2014-08-29T07:46:05","date_gmt":"2014-08-29T07:46:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/article\/together-a-lifetime-azerbaijani-activists-are-now-apart-in-jail\/"},"modified":"2021-10-29T12:06:04","modified_gmt":"2021-10-29T08:06:04","slug":"together-a-lifetime-azerbaijani-activists-are-now-apart-in-jail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/together-a-lifetime-azerbaijani-activists-are-now-apart-in-jail\/","title":{"rendered":"Together a lifetime Azerbaijani activists are now apart in jail"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n They have been married for 36 years. They have never been apart. Not until a few months ago, when a court in Baku sentenced the couple on a series of trumped up charges. The article was originally published by Daisy Sindelar for
\n
\n Radio Liberty
\n <\/a>
\n .\n<\/p>\n

\n Leyla and Arif Yunus met as young history students in the late 1970s, at a party hosted by one of their professors at Baku State University.\n<\/p>\n

\n As the evening drew to a close, Arif offered to walk Leyla to the subway station. There was something about her he liked, a lot. Just a week later, he appeared at her mother\u2019s doorstep, asking for Leyla\u2019s hand in marriage.\n<\/p>\n

\n Dinara Yunusova, the couple\u2019s daughter, says her grandmother was startled by the abrupt proposal. \u201cUsually in Azerbaijan, it\u2019s the elders who will come and ask for the hand of the daughter. But my dad came by himself,\u201d says Yunusova, 28. \u201cMy grandmother was shocked, but she said, \u2018It\u2019s her life.\u2019 My mother had already noticed him a few times at the university, even before the party, so I guess she liked him, too.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n The couple was married soon afterward, at a small ceremony attended by close friends. Nine years later, Dinara was born.\n<\/p>\n

\n Arif became a respected author and historian; Leyla, a prominent rights activist and outspoken government critic. Both shared a passionate conviction of
\n
\n the need for reconciliation between Azerbaijan and neighbouring Armenia
\n <\/a>
\n .\n<\/p>\n

\n As a child, Dinara fell asleep to the sound of her parents talking late into the night, sparring cheerfully over history or discussing Leyla\u2019s work as head of the
\n
\n Institute for Peace and Democracy
\n <\/a>
\n , a group launched in 1995 to fight corruption, violence against women, and unlawful evictions.\n<\/p>\n

\n Sometimes they would settle on the sofa to watch the Soviet-era World War II movies they loved, or listen to tapes of Vladimir Vysotsky and Bulat Okudzhava. \u201cThey both like to sing, even though they can\u2019t,\u201d Dinara says. The two were rarely apart.\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n The charges
\n <\/b>\n<\/p>\n

\n Now, however, the couple is experiencing the first real separation of their 36-year marriage \u2013 as prisoners facing charges of fraud and treason that supporters say are punishment for their long years of activism and Baku-Yerevan peace efforts.\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n Leyla, 58, and Arif, 59, were arrested
\n <\/a>
\n on 30 July and accused of spying for the Armenian secret services and using foreign aid money to recruit Azerbaijani citizens for espionage. Human Rights Watch has dismissed the charges as \u201ccompletely bogus.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Leyla Yunus was remanded at the Baku Detention Facility the same day; Arif Yunus was placed under house arrest but subsequently jailed at Baku\u2019s Kurdakhani Prison on 5 August. Two days later, he was transferred to the detention facility run by Azerbaijan\u2019s National Security Ministry. They are both now serving three months in pre-trial detention.\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n Their arrests come amid a sweeping opposition crackdown
\n <\/a>
\n by the oil-fed regime of President Ilham Aliyev; at least two other activists, lawyer Intigam Aliyev and democracy campaigner Rasul Jafarov, have been detained in recent weeks. A third, Ilgar Nasibov, was
\n
\n brutally beaten and left for dead
\n <\/a>
\n in the country\u2019s Naxcivan exclave on 21 August.\n<\/p>\n

\n The Yunuses, Jafarov, and Intigam Aliyev have all been added to a
\n
\n newly published list
\n <\/a>
\n \u2013 compiled by Leyla Yunus and Jafarov themselves \u2013 of nearly 100 political prisoners being held in Azerbaijan.\n<\/p>\n

\n Ilham Aliyev, whose government currently presides over the committee of ministers of the Council of Europe, has denied the presence of any political prisoners in Azerbaijan. Critics say the West has turned a blind eye to the rampant rights abuses of the Aliyev regime out of deference to the country\u2019s massive energy wealth.\n<\/p>\n

\n At the time,
\n
\n Azay Guliyev, chairman of the country\u2019s state support to NGOs, told the Guardian
\n <\/a>
\n that \u201cthe Azeri system is fair and transparent\u201d and insisted that \u201cirregularities\u201d had been found \u201cin the operation of the NGOs managed by Aliyev, Jafarov and [Leyla] Yunus.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n The separation
\n <\/b>\n<\/p>\n

\n Concern is mounting, meanwhile, about the Yunuses\u2019 state of health. Leyla Yunus suffers from diabetes and requires a special diet; Arif Yunus has a heart condition and was hospitalised after being denied medical treatment when the couple was detained earlier this year at the Baku airport and barred from leaving the country.\n<\/p>\n

\n For Dinara, who has spent the last five years living in the Netherlands where she has received political asylum, the news of her parents\u2019 arrests has been a torment. She says she last spoke to her father just hours before he was taken into detention on 5 August.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cHe was very nervous. There were some problems with his heart and blood pressure, but he tried to tell me everything was fine,\u201d she says. \u201cHe said he was going to bed and that he would call me the next day. The next day, I saw in the newspapers that he had been taken in.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Lawyers for the couple say they\u2019ve been denied proper medical care and have been barred from communicating with each other. In a
\n
\n plaintive open letter to her husband
\n <\/a>
\n published last week, Leyla Yunus describes the harsh conditions of her detention cell and pressure from violent cellmates but adds, \u201cmost difficult of all is that you are not nearby.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n She goes on to compare them to
\n
\n Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
\n <\/a>
\n and other Soviet dissidents who were arrested together with their wives. \u201cTogether we have read it all… we often discussed how spouses who had been arrested together felt.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Dinara says the letter was heartbreaking to read, especially knowing that her parents will spend months in jail \u2013 and possibly years, if convicted. \u201cShe\u2019s never been away from him,\u201d she says. \u201cEven when I would Skype with my dad, she was always in the background calling him, \u2018Arif, Arif, come here, help me with something.\u2019 She couldn\u2019t do anything without him, she couldn\u2019t be without him. And now, with his health, she\u2019s afraid that she\u2019s never going to see him again. She won\u2019t be there to say goodbye.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Growing up, Dinara says she was aware of the pressures facing her mother. \u201cMy mum and dad, they never told me what to think. But I listened to them talk, and when I got older, I started to translate things for some of her cases. That\u2019s when I really saw what kind of complications there could be for her.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n But she says even as her parents pushed her to leave the country, they refused to leave Azerbaijan themselves. \u201cThey said, \u2018We\u2019re in this, and we\u2019re staying here and working for human rights.\u2019\u201d Through it all, they maintained a happy family life, with seaside vacations, walks with their poodle, Joy, and even occasional tango lessons.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIf I could talk to them, I would tell them I love them a lot, and that I\u2019m proud of them,\u201d Dinara says. \u201cI hope to hug them very soon. I\u2019m very blessed to have such wonderful parents. Life could not have sent me a better family.\u201d\n<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They have been married for 36 years. They have never … <\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-211559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","infinite-scroll-item","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTogether a lifetime Azerbaijani activists are now apart in jail - MEYDAN.TV<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/together-a-lifetime-azerbaijani-activists-are-now-apart-in-jail\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Together a lifetime Azerbaijani activists are now apart in jail - MEYDAN.TV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"They have been married for 36 years. They have never ... Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/together-a-lifetime-azerbaijani-activists-are-now-apart-in-jail\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MEYDAN.TV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-08-29T07:46:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-10-29T08:06:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"user-manager\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/article\\\/together-a-lifetime-azerbaijani-activists-are-now-apart-in-jail\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/article\\\/together-a-lifetime-azerbaijani-activists-are-now-apart-in-jail\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"user-manager\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/10d11eccf6da3662cf5fdab9806ea91a\"},\"headline\":\"Together a lifetime Azerbaijani activists are now apart in jail\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-08-29T07:46:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-29T08:06:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/article\\\/together-a-lifetime-azerbaijani-activists-are-now-apart-in-jail\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1167,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/article\\\/together-a-lifetime-azerbaijani-activists-are-now-apart-in-jail\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/article\\\/together-a-lifetime-azerbaijani-activists-are-now-apart-in-jail\\\/\",\"name\":\"Together a lifetime Azerbaijani activists are now apart in jail - MEYDAN.TV\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-08-29T07:46:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-29T08:06:04+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/article\\\/together-a-lifetime-azerbaijani-activists-are-now-apart-in-jail\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/article\\\/together-a-lifetime-azerbaijani-activists-are-now-apart-in-jail\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/article\\\/together-a-lifetime-azerbaijani-activists-are-now-apart-in-jail\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"\u0413\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u0430\u044f\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/section\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Together a lifetime Azerbaijani activists are now apart in jail\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"MEYDAN.TV\",\"description\":\"Meydan TV Az\u0259rbaycan\u0131n media m\u0259kan\u0131ndak\u0131 alternativ s\u0259sidir\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Meydan TV\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/meydan-logo.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/meydan-logo.svg\",\"width\":195,\"height\":46,\"caption\":\"Meydan TV\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.meydan.tv\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/10d11eccf6da3662cf5fdab9806ea91a\",\"name\":\"user-manager\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Together a lifetime Azerbaijani activists are now apart in jail - MEYDAN.TV","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/together-a-lifetime-azerbaijani-activists-are-now-apart-in-jail\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Together a lifetime Azerbaijani activists are now apart in jail - MEYDAN.TV","og_description":"They have been married for 36 years. They have never ... Read more","og_url":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/together-a-lifetime-azerbaijani-activists-are-now-apart-in-jail\/","og_site_name":"MEYDAN.TV","article_published_time":"2014-08-29T07:46:05+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-10-29T08:06:04+00:00","author":"user-manager","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/together-a-lifetime-azerbaijani-activists-are-now-apart-in-jail\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/together-a-lifetime-azerbaijani-activists-are-now-apart-in-jail\/"},"author":{"name":"user-manager","@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/10d11eccf6da3662cf5fdab9806ea91a"},"headline":"Together a lifetime Azerbaijani activists are now apart in jail","datePublished":"2014-08-29T07:46:05+00:00","dateModified":"2021-10-29T08:06:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/together-a-lifetime-azerbaijani-activists-are-now-apart-in-jail\/"},"wordCount":1167,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/#organization"},"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/together-a-lifetime-azerbaijani-activists-are-now-apart-in-jail\/","url":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/together-a-lifetime-azerbaijani-activists-are-now-apart-in-jail\/","name":"Together a lifetime Azerbaijani activists are now apart in jail - MEYDAN.TV","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-08-29T07:46:05+00:00","dateModified":"2021-10-29T08:06:04+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/together-a-lifetime-azerbaijani-activists-are-now-apart-in-jail\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/together-a-lifetime-azerbaijani-activists-are-now-apart-in-jail\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/together-a-lifetime-azerbaijani-activists-are-now-apart-in-jail\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u0413\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u0430\u044f","item":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/section\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Together a lifetime Azerbaijani activists are now apart in jail"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/","name":"MEYDAN.TV","description":"Meydan TV Az\u0259rbaycan\u0131n media m\u0259kan\u0131ndak\u0131 alternativ s\u0259sidir","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/#organization","name":"Meydan TV","url":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/meydan-logo.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/meydan-logo.svg","width":195,"height":46,"caption":"Meydan TV"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/10d11eccf6da3662cf5fdab9806ea91a","name":"user-manager"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211559"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":214437,"href":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211559\/revisions\/214437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}