Rufat Safarov

Extra Bio Info:

Rufat Safarov is imprisoned for his religious freedom advocacy. 

On December 3, 2024, Azerbaijani authorities arrested Rufat Safarov, an outspoken critic of the Azerbaijani government’s unjust imprisonment of nonconforming Shi’a Muslims, just before his scheduled travel to the United States to receive the U.S. Secretary of State’s 2024 Human Rights Defender Award.

In June 2026, the Baku Court of Grave Crimes sentenced him to 8 years' imprisonment on fabricated charges of fraud, hooliganism, and intentional infliction of bodily harm.