Campaigners protesting about the detention of two Azerbaijani bloggers arrested last month have demonstrated outside the country's embassy in London. A group of around 20 supporters carried banners and petition sheets calling for the release of Adnan Hajizada and Emin Abdullayev (Milli). The men face two months detention before their case on hooliganism charges will be heard. 27 UK MPs have now called for the release of the men.

Campaigners protesting about the detention of the two Azerbaijani bloggers arrested in Baku last month have demonstrated outside the country's embassy in London .

 

A group of around 20 supporters carried banners and petition sheets calling for the release of the two men, Adnan Hajizada and Emin Abdullayev (Milli).

 

The protest has been recorded on YouTube and written about on the BBC Azeri service.

Intervention by UK politicians

Another seven UK politicians have now added their names to calls for the immediate release of the two and say there is a "rapidly deteriorating human rights situation" in Azerbaijan.

 

The UK MPs want the British government to put pressure on President Ilham Aliev to release the two and have made their feelings known in a House of Commons Early Day Motion (the equivalent of an MPs’ petition).

 

In the motion, Labour MP Paul Flynn says the MPs condemn "the attacks and imprisonment of youth activists in Azerbaijan."

Online campaign continues

Adnan Hajizadeh is one of the founders of OL! Youth Movement which has a Facebook site.

 

The group also tweets @olmedia and has a YouTube site where it updates videos of the campaign to free the two.

 

Emin Milli helped set up the Alumni Network (AN).

 

Supporters of the two have set up an online video petition where people can post video messages calling for their release. 

 

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