The United States continues to deeply engage and directly raise the issue of the arrests of activist Bakhtiyar Hajiyev and politician Tofig Yagublu in Azerbaijan. Vedant Patel, Principal Deputy Spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State, stated during the briefing.
“The U.S. remains strongly committed to advancing respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and we again in this case urge the government to respect its citizens’ rights, including the right to express views peacefully.
I don’t have a specific call readout to offer for you, but as I said, this is something that we are paying very close attention to, and I will echo what Ned said when this was first raised, is that we are deeply troubled by these arrests and we urge authorities to release them expeditiously,” the official said.
