15 Facts About Leyla Yunus

Leyla Islam qizi Yunusova, better known as Leyla Yunus, is an Azerbaijani human rights activist who serves as the director of Institute of Peace and Democracy, a human rights organisation.

Leyla Yunus is particularly known for her work helping citizens affected by forced evictions in Baku, on whose behalf she organized several small protests.

Leyla Yunus was one of the founders of the modern Popular Front party.

In 2009, Leyla Yunus was tried for libel after she stated that there was police misconduct in a recent kidnapping trial, alleging that police had been involved in further trafficking the two young girls involved.

Human Rights Watch protested the trial, stating that "a judgment against Leyla Yunus would set a terrible precedent for freedom of expression in Azerbaijan", while other international groups described the case as "one more example of the Azerbaijani government cracking down on free expression".

In 2011, after a number of failed appeals to authorities regarding police behavior during evictions, Leyla Yunus stated her intention to appeal the evictions to the European Court of Human Rights.

Leyla Yunus was in Norway on the day of the demolition.

In 2014, together with Rasul Jafarov, Leyla Yunus has led a Working Group, which worked on compiling a list of political prisoners in Azerbaijan.

On 13 August 2015 Leyla Yunus was sentenced to 8.5 years in jail, her husband, Arif, was sentenced to 7 years in jail on charges of fraud and tax evasion.

Leyla Yunus was released on health grounds on 9 December 2015, after her husband Arif Yunus had previously been released, on health grounds, in November 2015.

Leyla Yunus thus has not been cleared of the charges.

Leyla and Arif Yunus were allowed by Azerbaijani government to travel to the Netherlands for health treatment in April 2016, where they remained to reside in.

In October 2014, Leyla Yunus was among the three finalists for the Sakharov Prize.

Leyla Yunus has been nominated for the Human Rights Tulip award.

Leyla Yunus received the Polish Prize of Sergio Vieira de Mello in October 2014, for her personal achievement in the fight for human rights.