Azerbaijani fossil fuel critic worries he’ll be a prisoner in his own home until he dies [Video]

Under different circumstances, you might expect someone like Gubad Ibadoghlu to be speaking at a United Nations conference on climate change.

But as world leaders gather at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, the economist and outspoken fossil fuel critic is about 30 kilometres away, locked inside his home, under 24/7 police surveillance.

“All of the charges are fabricated and I’m arbitrarily detained,” Ibadoghlu told As It Happens host Nil Kӧksal from his home in Sumqayit, where he is under house arrest. “It is a lawless country.”

Ibadoghlu, a U.K.-based Azerbaijani economist, was arrested during a trip home last summer on what human rights organizations say are politically motivated charges. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, European Parilament, and several British MPs have called for his release.

Human rights groups say Ibadoghlu is one of hundreds of political prisoners in the COP29 host country. While advocates say they hope the conference will draw attention to the plight of prisoners, they say Azerbaijani …