Taleh Bagirov
Taleh Bağırov, also widely known as Taleh Baqirzade, is an Azerbaijani Shia Islamic scholar currently under arrest by the Government of Azerbaijan.
He has been considered one of the most influential Islamists in Azerbaijan alongside Sardar Hajjihasanli, since the banning of Movsum Samadovs Azerbaijan Islamic Party, as well as the forced exile of Tawhid Ibrahimbegli and his Hussainiyoun.
Biography
Early life
Originally from the Lahij in Ismayilli province, he eventually moved to Baku to study at Azerbaijan State University of Economics from which he graduated in 2005.Religious education
He received religious education in the city of Qom, Iran from 2005 to 2010, after which, from 2010 to 2011, he briefly continued his religious education in the city of Najaf, Iraq, being qualified as a Hujjatullah; he is a muqallid of Hossein Noori Hamedani.Conflicts with the Azerbaijani Government
Shortly after completing his religious education in Najaf and returning to Azerbaijan, he was arrested for participating in the "No to the Hijab Ban" protest at the Ministry of Education.After being released from prison, he travelled through the country to deliver Islamic sermons. During one such a sermon, in one of the private courtyards in the city of Agsu, police did not allow him to enter the city mosque, shortly after, he was arrested again, at another protest.
Media outlets however claimed his sermons in one of the main mosques and on YouTube as the reason for his arrest. In these sermon, he emphasized that he could not be turned from preaching Islam by being arrested, or jailed. These words of his also attracted special attention from the Azerbaijani government.