NOTHING BUT relief can greet the news that Azerbaijan has released from prison the ailing scholar Arif Yunus, who should never have been detained in the first place. Nothing but fury can be expressed about the continued incarceration of his wife, Leyla Yunus, on trumped-up charges that stem from the simple fact that she dared fight for human rights and the rights of minorities in Azerbaijan.
Mr. Yunus, 60, suffers from extremely high blood pressure that has caused him to faint in the courtrooms where he was put on trial and sentenced to seven years in prison for fraud and tax evasion. For months he had been held in solitary confinement, according to a family member. He was released Nov. 12 after his lawyers informed an appeals judge that his health is precarious, but no change was made in his legal status and he cannot leave the capital, Baku. "I will not keep silent, I will be struggling until Leyla is also set free," Mr. Yunus vowed.
Ms. Yunus, 59, founder and director of the Institute for Peace and Democracy, has for years been at the forefront of human rights campaigns in Azerbaijan and prior to her arrest was compiling a list of Azerbaijan’s political prisoners. She has been an outspoken critic of Azerbaijan’s human rights record under the regime of President Ilham Aliyev, and her conviction and sentencing to 8½ years in prison on charges of fraud and tax evasion — a treason charge is still pending — was widely regarded as an attempt to silence her. Ms. Yunus is also ill, suffering from hepatitis C, diabetes and kidney stones, has trouble walking and has complained of repeated beatings in prison.
Their daughter, Dinara, who lives in the Netherlands, told us recently that the arrests and prison time have been like a march toward death’s door. “They are basically dying behind bars,” she said. “My parents don’t have much time.”
Everything about the arrest and prosecution of Leyla and Arif Yunus has been arbitrary, an example of the unforgiving power of Mr. Aliyev and his cronies that has also swept up dozens of others. Amnesty International says there are now at least 20 prisoners of conscience there. Mr. Aliyev has long ignored demands from abroad for an end to the human rights abuses. Meanwhile, his allies won seats in the rubber-stamp parliament on Nov. 1 in an election that was neither free nor fair. Three members of a delegation from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe declared: "The situation in the country with respect to political freedoms, freedoms of expression and media, and freedom of assembly and association does not provide conditions for holding free and democratic elections."
Mr. Yunus’s release was a humanitarian gesture, but no one should confuse this with the end of the matter. Nor should anyone have to beg Mr. Aliyev for mercy. What’s called for is nothing short of unconditional and immediate freedom for Ms. Yunus and the remaining political prisoners.
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