BAKU, August 4, 2025 — Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry has firmly denied Iranian accusations of mistreatment of Iranian citizens held in Azerbaijani prisons, calling the allegations baseless and misleading.
Ministry spokesperson Aykhan Hajizada responded to comments made by Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei, who claimed that Iranian detainees in Azerbaijan were subject to poor conditions.
Hajizada stressed that all information regarding detained or arrested Iranian nationals has been officially shared with Tehran in accordance with the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.
“The rights and personal safety of Iranian citizens in our penitentiary system are fully protected,” he said. “They are provided with proper living conditions, access to healthcare, and allowed phone calls, family visits, and parcels. In some facilities, video calls are also available.”
He added that Iranian detainees regularly receive medical checkups and that medicines delivered by the Iranian embassy are administered in line with Azerbaijani regulations.
“Only this year, 37 Iranian citizens were granted consular meetings. The most recent of these took place on July 31,” Hajizada noted. “In addition, President Ilham Aliyev pardoned five Iranian citizens on May 26, 2025, demonstrating Azerbaijan’s humanitarian approach.”
In contrast, Hajizada accused Iran of withholding basic information about Azerbaijani citizens in its custody.
“Our embassy in Tehran is routinely denied access to detained citizens, and they are often barred from contacting family members or consular staff. Iran also fails to inform us about court proceedings or verdicts,” he stated.
He called on Iran to avoid politicizing the issue and to resolve such matters through diplomatic channels, citing recent consular talks held on April 15 in Tehran between the two foreign ministries.
