Azerbaijan has barred 14 Iranian citizens, including lawmakers, religious figures, analysts and media representatives, from entering the country.
APA reported that the individuals had been declared unwelcome in Azerbaijan. The decision was linked to public appeals against Azerbaijan and statements that authorities in Baku regarded as inciting religious hostility and threatening state security, according to the agency.
The list includes political analyst Ehsan Movahedian; Ahmad Farshbafian, former head of the Center for Caucasus and Anatolia Studies at Tabriz University; and current or former Iranian lawmakers Kamran Ghazanfari, Alireza Beygi, Abolfazl Zohrevand, Abbas Moqtadaei Khorasgani and Alireza Salimi.
Also barred are Kayhan newspaper editor-in-chief Hossein Shariatmadari; Ayatollahs Mohsen Araki and Mohammad Javad Fazel Lankarani; Abdolhossein Khosropanah, secretary of Iran’s Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution; Gholamreza Kavashi, a representative of the Tabriz Friday imam’s office; Professor Dariush Safarnejad; and actor and television host Ahmadreza Mousavi.
APA’s report did not name the Azerbaijani government agency that made the decision.
Iranian officials had not publicly commented on the report at the time of publication.
Source: Vesti Baku, citing APA.