1. Gubad Ibadoghlu, spelled Gubad Ibadoglu, is an Azerbaijani anti-corruption advocate, a scholar, a critic of oil and gas industry, and a prominent human rights and environmental defender, who from 2021 has been a research fellow at the London School of Economics.
Gubad Ibadoghlu was supposed to start a new teaching position at TU Dresden in 2023.
Gubad Ibadoghlu was nominated for 2025 Nobel Peace Prize by Rutgers University professor Belinda Davies.
The court ruled that Gubad Ibadoghlu is in urgent need of medical care and hospitalization.
Gubad Ibadoghlu received his PhD in economics in 2000 at Azerbaijan State University of Economics.
Furthermore, Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu was a fellow at Prague Civil Society in 2018, researching Azerbaijani corruption and analyzing money laundering.
Gubad Ibadoghlu wrote opinion pieces and reports on lack of economic transparency, financial accountability, and dysfunctional economic models implemented by the authorities of extractive industry in the region.
Gubad Ibadoghlu has published more than twenty books in the area of politics on natural resources and revenue management.
Gubad Ibadoghlu focused on good governance and "petro-authoritarianism", alternative energy, analyzing how oil and gas revenues have fueled corruption and authoritarianism in post-Soviet states.
Gubad Ibadoghlu is paying specific attention to the political effects of natural resources in the Caspian Sea Basin regions, including Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia.
Gubad Ibadoghlu published papers discussing how many of the large scale international events in Azerbaijan, such as Formula One races, are organized by companies owned by relatives of the state officials and how this leads to large scale misappropriation of funds.
Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu has been a steadfast voice against Azerbaijan's corruption.
Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu has extensively documented the corruption and abuses within among the Azerbaijani elites.
Gubad Ibadoghlu discovered that the ability to use these lands was exclusive to the president's Aliyev close circle of allies and relatives and their companies.
Gubad Ibadoghlu continues to cooperate with the Eastern Partnership' Civil Society Forum on a number of topics and has been a contributor to the Eastern Partnership Index for a number of years.
Gubad Ibadoghlu served as a member of the steering committee at Black Sea NGO Forum, a member of Strategy Advisor Group at Publish What You Pay International Coalition, of which he is a founding member.
Gubad Ibadoghlu conducted research for UNICEF, World Bank, Oxfam GB, OSF, EU, GIZ, USAID, UNDP, WB, OSCE, NRGI, OSI and Asian Development Bank.
Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu was fired from Azerbaijan State University of Economics for his civil rights activism in 2019, where he worked as a lecturer until 2014 and continued to collaborate remotely until 2019.
Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu has been a research team leader for USAID and Transparency International's Azerbaijan funding project on "Partnership for Transparency" from February 2013 to February 2016.
Gubad Ibadoghlu worked as International Consultant in the World Bank and IETI projects from December 2015 to January 2016 and projects of USAID and UNDP from January 2014 to May 2015 in Kyrgyzstan.
Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu was a researcher at the EU funding project "The effective system of public finances control " from July 2012 to April 2014.
On 17 December 2013, Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu organized a protest in front of the presidential administration and submitted the protest statement from the civil society.
Therefore Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu has been in exile since 2015 January and is member of New University in Exile Consortium.
Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu is one of the reporters for the World Bank, EBRD and other banks that provide loans for Azerbaijan.
Recently, Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu has been analyzing and reporting on corruption and embezzlement in Nagorno-Karabakh, confirming the nepotism business connections of Aliyev and Erdogan.
Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu criticized the Azerbaijani government and official agencies and ministries for money laundering, corruption, embezzlement, exploitation of labor, fraud, extortion, and graft.
Shortly before his arrest, Gubad Ibadoghlu planned to publish research into Azerbaijani spending in and around Nagorno-Karabakh.
Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu had previously sought to expose the Aliyev family's extensive property empire in London, which he filmed on his YouTube channel.
Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu has been a member of EITI and worked closely with Crude Accountability, authoring many reports on Azerbaijan's policy covering the environmental impact of poor governance in oil and gas industry.
Gubad Ibadoghlu, established the chairperson of the Azerbaijan Democracy and Prosperity Movement in 2014 with a social-democratic platform, that has been arbitrarily denied registration six times as a political party by the Azerbaijani authorities.
On May 15,2024, Gubad Ibadoghlu announced the suspension of the Azerbaijani Party of Democracy and Prosperity, which he leads.
The cars surrounded Mr Gubad Ibadoghlu's car, forcing it into a traffic accident by ramming it from the rear and front.
Gubad Ibadoghlu was brutally detained as a witness so that Dr Gubad won't have any legal protection.
From July 21 until his arrest on July 23,2023, the state-owned media outlets reported that Gubad Ibadoghlu was arrested on FETO-related charges.
The government media publishes articles trying link Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu to FETO, Soros Foundation, atheism, LGBTQIA+ rights, implying that he is an Iranian spy and that he has extensive connections to the Armenian diaspora.
Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu's health has been rapidly declining while in jail and he is being denied access to medical care despite a serious pre-existing heart condition.
Gubad Ibadoghlu's detention was extended several times since his arrest and as a result his health was reportedly deteriorating further.
Gubad Ibadoghlu feels like his fellow inmates, who are convicted of serious crimes, are spying on him, leaving him isolated and unable to seek help for his basic needs.
Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu is treated worse than other cellmates and the room lacks natural light sources, drinkable water and ventilation.
Detention center refuses to provide him with medications, therefore, Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu's family has to find unconventional ways to deliver the needed medications.
Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu's relatives stated that clean water, food and cleaning products are either not allowed or rationed by weight for him.
Professor Gubad Ibadoghlu Ibadoglu is informed that the delivery of documents, including the government's response to ECtHR, letters, and books is prohibited.
Human Rights Watch has stated that "Gubad Ibadoghlu's detention falls squarely in a longstanding pattern of pursuing dubious charges against government critics in Azerbaijan".
Gubad Ibadoghlu was arrested on false charges, assaulted, denied medical care.
US Congressmen Bill Keating, Tom Kean and Gerry Connolly made a joint statement calling on the Azerbaijani government to respect his rights and ensure access to medicine and a fair trial for Gubad Ibadoghlu, citing his health condition.
On February 14 2024 a resolution demanding the immediate release and condemning the detention of Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu was introduced in the US House of Representatives.
The criminal prosecution of Gubad Ibadoghlu Ibadoglu is of a political nature, according to Rufat Safarov, director of the human rights organization "Line of Defense".
OMCT has called for respecting his rights citing his deteriorating health, prison cell conditions as well as obstacles faced by Gubad Ibadoghlu in accessing his lawyer.
The rector of TU Dresden, where Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu was supposed to start working in the fall 2023, sent a letter to Ilham Aliyev regarding Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu's arrest and calling for his release from detention.
Apart from the calls for immediate and unconditional release as well as access to healthcare, it was noted that all of the complaints filed by Gubad Ibadoghlu were summarily denied by the Azerbaijani courts.
Gubad Ibadoghlu stated that she wrote to President Aliyev urging his administration to immediately release Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu and enable him access to medical care.
The Washington Post published another opinion piece discussing a letter Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu wrote to the public.
Gubad Ibadoghlu reiterated that in his opinion that the main reason for his arrest was his role in starting a foundation in the UK that would use assets seized from corrupt Azerbaijani politicians to fund the education of Azerbaijani students abroad.
Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu himself was one of the contributors for this report.
The public presentation of the letter and the report was met with strong criticism by the Azerbaijani delegates who were insisting that the report is biased and that Gubad Ibadoghlu is a criminal under investigation.
Gubad Ibadoghlu criticized the level of preparedness to host COP29 in Baku and the ongoing human rights violations.
Gubad Ibadoghlu is married to Irada Bayramova and has 3 children: Zhala Bayramova, Ibad Bayramov and Emin Bayramli.
Zhala Bayramova has been target of smear campaign for their peace activism, and Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu has particularly stood behind Zhala's criticism of the blockade, showing his criticism for the current measures in place.