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Arif Yunus, husband of Azerbaijani human rights activist Leyla Yunus, has had his pretrial detention extended until 5 March, 2015, reads the article published on the site of the Index on Censorship.

According to the article, this comes after Azerbaijani authorities announced that police will be able to use electric shockers, following an amendment to the police law.
The couple was first detained this summer, along with rights activist Rasul Jafarov, lawyer Intigam Aliyev and journalist Seymur Hezi.

It's noted in the article that previously, the European Parliament has called on Azerbaijan to release political prisoners, including Arif and Leyla Yunus. The parliament also called on the government to cease its harassment of civil society organisations, opposition politicians and independent journalists.

On 13 October, thousands protested in Baku, calling for the resignation of President Ilham Aliyev, the release of political prisoners and an end to human rights abuses in the country. Two days prior, a travel ban had been placed on journalist Khadija Ismayilova.

Fellow journalist Arzu Geybulla was threatened on social media and accused of treason following a recent interviewed with Azerbaijani news site “Modern.az”. In July, one of the country’s few remaining independent media outlets newspaper “Azadliq” was forced to suspend publication due to financial pressure from authorities.