A prominent jailed Azerbaijani activist is vowing to remain on hunger strike until freedom or death. 

Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, one of the Azerbaijani government’s most vocal critics, has been on hunger strike for 40 days in protest at his detention. He was arrested in December on charges of hooliganism and contempt of court and sentenced to a month and 20 days of pre-trial detention. On January 21, the court prolonged his detention for another month. He faces a prison term of between two and five years if found guilty. 

On February 14, the court denied a motion by Hajiyev's lawyers to release him into house arrest. They filed the motion after he was transferred to the Treatment Center of the Penitentiary Service three days earlier against his will. Hajiyev's lawyer Rovshana Rahimli said following the court hearing that her client's health has deteriorated, he has lost about 16 kilograms, his pulse and blood pressure have dropped, his hands are shaking, and he is dizzy.

Hajiyev connects his arrest to his political activism. He "absolutely refuses intravenous drips, saying that as long as he is conscious he will be the one to make decisions over his body and that no one can intervene," another of his lawyers, Agil Layic said. 

On February 16, Layic said his client was escalating to a dry hunger strike, refusing water in addition to food. 

This is Hajiyev's second hunger strike since he was detained. His first started on December 15 and lasted for 14 days. He resumed eating out of deference to "the requests of his family, public, and his lawyers," Layic reported back then. 

Meanwhile, supporters say the release of old messages hacked from Hajiyev's Facebook account was likely an attempt to discredit him, but they remain unwavering.

The hacked conversation – from a 2019 Facebook Messenger chat apparently with a journalist working for pro-government media – suggested that Hajiyev worked with the journalist and the Ministry of Emergency Situations to boost the ministry's public image. Hajiyev's account was later closed. 

Minister of Emergency Situations Kamaladdin Heydarov has extensive business interests in Azerbaijan and is called an "oligarch" by critics. He has been in his post since 2006, prior to which he headed the State Customs Committee for 11 years. 

After the revelation, Hajiyev released a statement via local human rights group Defense Line, saying that, based on what he was briefed about the disclosure, it contained "real parts" as well as "many false additions" to discredit him. 

He said he had been open in the past about his interactions with the government. "As I have stated many times in the media and social media, I was contacted at the beginning of 2019 at the initiative of President Ilham Aliyev. I was told that Aliyev would start reforms, and in this process he wanted me to be represented in any institution in the new team. Negotiations were entrusted to the minister of emergency situations, Kamaladdin Heydarov," he recalled. 

The negotiations were later handled by the State Security Service, and since "the process was prolonged and fruitless," Hajiyev withdrew from it, the statement read. 

Despite the development, Hajiyev still receives support from civil society and opposition figures, as well as internationally. 

On February 15, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in response to a question posed by a reporter from Azerbaijan's Turan news agency that authorities in Baku were "ultimately responsible for his welfare and his well-being." In a statement the week before, Price called for Hajiyev’s “expeditious release and for the release of all persons incarcerated for exercising their fundamental freedoms.”

A graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School, Hajiyev ran for parliament in 2010 and 2020. He previously served a year-long prison sentence for evading his mandatory army service.

Prior to his arrest, he had been running an independent activism space in Baku, the Caspian PlatForum, which holds movie screenings and lectures as well as political appearances and press briefings, including by opposition figures.