Bakhtiyar Hajiyev

Bakhtiyar Ilyas oglu Hajiyev (; born c. 1982) is an Azerbaijani activist and blogger who served a prison sentence from 2011 to 2012 on charges of evading military service. His imprisonment was protested by numerous human rights organizations.

Background Hajiyev graduated from the undergraduate program on applied mathematics of Baku State University, Baku, Azerbaijan. Dissatisfied on it, he then preferred his master of science program and graduated from Khazar University, Baku, Azerbaijan, then John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard for master of art program in 2009. He co-founded "Positive Change" Later in the day, he was arrested on charges with disobeying a police order not to leave the city of Ganja while charges that he had evaded military service were being investigated.

Hajiyev was released early by the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan for good behavior on 4 June 2012. The announcement came days before a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

International response to imprisonment

Several international human rights organizations objected to Hajiyev's arrest and sentence and called for his release. International organizations, including the ComparativeConstitutions Project, have objected to the legality of imprisonment for defying mandatory conscription laws, given the guaranteed rights of Azerbaijani citizens under their own national constitution. Amnesty International described Hajiyev as "continually harassed solely for peacefully expressing his views", called for an investigation into his allegations of police torture, named him a prisoner of conscience, and called for his immediate release. Human Rights Watch described his arrest and conviction as "examples of the Azerbaijani government's efforts to silence dissent" and called on European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek to press for Hajiyev's immediate release on a 20 May visit to Azerbaijan. Index on Censorship compared Hajiyev's arrest on a charge unrelated to activism to that of Jabbar Savalan—an activist imprisoned on charges of marijuana possession—describing it as "a tactic increasingly employed to silence dissenting voices". Reporters Without Borders also called on the Azerbaijani government "to release Hajiyev immediately and to drop the charges against him".

US Senator Mark Kirk issued a statement calling for Hajiyev's release, saying that the case "typifies the State Department’s alarming assessment of human rights in Azerbaijan". On 12 May, the European Parliament passed a resolution condemning Azerbaijan's "practice of intimidating, arresting, prosecuting and convicting independent journalists and political activists on various criminal charges", and called for the release of prisoners including Hajiyev. He went on hunger strike for 50 days. During that time, private communications from Hajiyev's phone were leaked.

Responding to a question at a briefing on 9 January 2023 about the most recent detention of Hajiyev and fellow activist Tofig Yagublu, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that the Department was "deeply troubled by the arrest and detention of Bakhtiyar Hajiyev and Tofig Yagublu". Price urged the Azerbaijani authorities to "release them expeditiously" and "respect its citizens’ right, including the rights to express views peacefully." The EEAS also put out a statement condemning the arrests.