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A group supporting convicted Azerbaijani youth activist Bakhtiyar Hajiyev launched a campaign of sending messages to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and U.S. President Barack Obama, Turan reported. According to the group members, in the letters young people ask Ilham Aliyev to release Bakhtiyar Hajiyev. And in the letters to the U.S. President, young people ask Barack Obama to help release Bakhtiyar Hajiyev.

The campaign has been launched in the social networking site Facebook. Over 100 young people have joined it.

Alumni (MPP 2009) of John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, Bakhtiyar Hajiyev was arrested on March 4. On May 19, 2011 he was sentenced to two years in prison by Nizami District Court of Ganja under Article 321.1 (evasion of military service). Ganja Court of Appeal upheld the verdict of the first instance court.

16 youth activists have been arrested or sentenced to various terms in prison in Azerbaijan in 2011.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other human rights organizations say that the charges brought against the activists are not true and indeed they were detained for participation in the opposition rallies, and for launching Facebook campaign to attract more supporters. In mid-May the European Parliament passed a resolution condemning human rights
violations, repressions against youth activists, intimidation of journalists in Azerbaijan. The resolution also called on official Baku to release Hajiyev and other activists.