An arrested journalist's eye began to fester

Ahmed Mammadli

In Azerbaijan, the detained journalist and public activist Ahmed Mammadli has developed a festering condition in one of his eyes.

According to a statement from Mammadli's Rights Protection Committee, the Main Medical Directorate of the Ministry of Justice responded to an appeal from the activist's lawyer, Elchin Sadigov, regarding the provision of medical assistance. An ophthalmologist was invited to the pre-trial detention center where Mammadli is being held, who diagnosed the activist with "chorioretinal dystrophy" and prescribed him outpatient treatment.

Mammadli's Rights Protection Committee also reminds that the activist suffers from hereditary asthma and, while in police custody, received blows to his previously operated-on eyes. After torture, his vision in one eye became completely blurred. Meanwhile, on September 3, 2025, the court hearing on the criminal case against Ahmed Mammadli was postponed. The conditions of his imprisonment are not suitable for Ahmed Mammadli's health. "We demand Ahmed's release to house arrest," says the statement from Mammadli's public defenders.

Ahmed Mammadli was detained on May 6, and two days later, he was remanded in custody for a period of four months as a pre-trial measure.

Mammadli has been charged with deliberately causing serious harm to health and hooliganism.

He denies the charges and states that he is being persecuted for his former political, public, and current journalistic activities.