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Azerbaijani human rights activist Leyla Yunus was one of three candidates for receiving the the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. The prize went to Denis Mukwege, a Congolese gynecologist. Yunus is one of the leading civil society activists of Azerbaijan. Human rights activist, was arrested on July 30, she was accused of spying. However, her only crime is that she has angered the government of President Ilham Aliyev, writess the British newspaper “The Economist.”

As the article notes during a visit to Brussels early this year, Mr Aliev claimed that his country had no political prisoners. Ms Yunus and fellow activist Rasul Jafarov responded by publishing a list of such prisoners on the internet which totaled 109 names, including one of Mr Aliev's chief political rivals. This may help explain why Mr Aliev won re-election last year with 85% of the vote, without running a campaign.
As a result of their activities, Ms Yunus and Mr Jafarov are now eligible to be included on their own list of political prisoners. Meanwhile, Ms Yunus launched a citizen diplomacy initiative, inviting Azerbaijanis and Armenians to talk about how to end their countries' 25-year-long frozen conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. That initiative is the basis of the government's treason accusations, the article writes.
I think the Azerbaijan government took advantage of the world's attention being focused on Ukraine and on Ebola, so they decided to cut off the last voices of civil society," says Ms Yunus's daughter Dinara.

Dinara, who was granted political asylum in the Netherlands five years ago, says her mother was transferred from a regular prison to an isolated Security Ministry detention center on October 20. Her father, the historian Arif Yunus, is held at the same facility, after being arrested August 5. He has been charged with treason, as well. Yunus’ lawyer says she is being beaten, both by prison guards and by a cellmate. Dinara says she is unsure whether her parents are receiving their medications in the Security Ministry prison, the article reads.
The article also notes that the European Parliament will send a delegation to Azerbaijan to meet with Ms Yunus and "support [her] in her fight for democracy and freedom in her country. Ms Yunus's family has called on British Petroleum (BP) to pressure the government to release her.