AZERBAIJAN.— Hadi Hamidi Shafiq’s wedding was to take place in Tabriz with political and social activists from all over Azerbaijan attending the event.

On July 20, 2011, Tabriz Intelligence Agency summoned the wedding banquet hall director and interrogated him about the scheduled event.

The following day, Tabriz Intelligence Agency contacted the bride and the groom’s families by phone, summoning them for questioning and threatening to arrest all the guests who attempted to attend the wedding.

Intelligence agents from Tehran and Urmia offices have also spoken with many of the activists invited to the wedding and warned them not to attend the ceremony.

The intelligence agents contacted Hadi Hamidi Shafiq, reportedly forbidding him from continuing with his wedding plans. The agents told Shafiq that if he attempted to hold the wedding the wedding ceremony would be immediately closed down and all the guests without any exception would be detained.

Most recently, Hadi Hamidi Shafiq was sentenced to six months in prison and 60 lashes on charges of propaganda against the regime. In May 2006, Hadi Hamidi Shafiq was arrested for attending demonstrations and spent nearly 17 months behind bars.

Hadi Hamidi Shafiq has been arrested by Tabriz Intelligence Agency, his whereabouts are still unknown.

Fatullayev founded and was the editor-in-chief of two of the largest and most popular newspapers in the country – Gundelik Azerbaijan, or Azerbaijan Daily, and Realny Azerbaijan, or Real Azerbaijan. The original civil and criminal charges against him stem from a 2005 newspaper article and internet posting about the 1992 Khojali massacre that took place during the war between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. The article questioned the version of the Khojali events commonly accepted in Azerbaijan.

Fatullayev, had been serving an eight-and-a-half year sentence since April 2007 on politically-motivated and unsubstantiated charges of criminal defamation, threatening terrorism, inciting ethnic hatred, and tax evasion.

In April 2010 the European Court of Human Rights claimed that Azerbaijan had violated Fatullayev’s right to freedom of expression in a largely disproportionate manner by imprisoning him, and called for his immediate release.

On November 11, 2010, the Supreme Court reviewed Fatullayev’s case, clearing him of some of the convictions, but authorities attempted to continue his detention by filing charges of drug possession against him while he was in prison.

Prior to 2007 case, Fatullayev had faced threats, attacks, and prosecution, apparently in retaliation for his writing. In July 2004, he was severely beaten in what appears to have been retaliation for an article criticizing the government.

In October 2006, Fatullayev was forced to suspend publication of both newspapers briefly after his father was kidnapped. The kidnappers threatened to kill him and his father if Fatullayev continued to publish.

Human Rights Watch cliams Fatullayev’s case is one of many in a broader government campaign to restrict freedom of expression in Azerbaijan. Giorgi Gogia, researcher at Human Right Watch stated,  ”Freedom of expression, particularly if it challenges the government, is still under serious assault in Azerbaijan.”