World

Shia Activists Arrested in Azerbaijan’s Lankaran

Police in the Republic of Azerbaijan arrested a number of Shia figures in the southern city of Lankaran.

They raided the houses of clerics and activists, including Karbalayi Qismat, Syed Nazem and Seyed Waqar, taking them into custody, the Caucasus cultural center reported.

Meanwhile, police have closed off the entrances to Lankaran in their ongoing crackdown.

Azerbaijn is a majority Shia state of more than nine million people, with Shias accounting for 85 percent of the population.

The secular government of Ilham Aliyev suppressed a Shia-dominated popular uprising in 2010 amid international outcry over his heavy-handed crackdown.​

Baku began a fresh wave of attacks on the majority Shias on November 26, 2015, when security forces killed four members of the Movement for Muslim Unity (MMU) during a raid in the village of Nardaran.

At least 14 people were nabbed in the raid, including the MMU leader Tale’ Bagirzade, who is also known as Sheikh Bagirov.

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