The head of an LGBT organization in Azerbaijan and his partner say they are going into hiding after receiving death threats on Wednesday following the publication of articles reporting they had gotten engaged to be married.
On Wednesday afternoon local time, Javid "Atilla" Nabiyev, president of Nafas LGBT Azərbaycan Alliance, sent out a message marked "Urgent" warning that both he and his fiancé — identified only by the initials M.A. — were both in danger of being killed. Word of their engagement got out after Nabiyev posted a close-up picture of their hands wearing engagement rings on Twitter and as his cover photo on Facebook. Though they had cropped out their faces to protect their identity, local news outlets published images from his Facebook page showing his face, Nabiyev told BuzzFeed News.
A torrent of death threats appeared on his Facebook page before he blocked his account, Nabiyev said. He said he was planning to leave the city where he lives, and said M.A. is being held by his family, which also has possession of his travel documents. He feared for his safety, since M.A. "had been subjected to violence by his family before this incident," including a case in which his mother poured gasoline on him and attempted to set him on fire.
"I don't know what happened to him," Nabiyev said in an email message, sent as he was preparing to leave the city. "We planed [to] share photo [of] just our finger. but we didn't count on this that situation will [be] like this," he wrote.
Nabiyev said he believed the publicizing of their engagement was part of "some big propaganda" targeting LGBT people, and that earlier this week police summoned him to the station to discuss his work as an activist. This comes amidst a broad crackdown on civil liberties in the country, and follows the apparent suicide of another LGBT leader earlier this year that other activists said reflected the oppressive situation in the country.
"This happy event turned into a nightmare," Nabiyev said.