Radio Farda




At the request of the Republic of Azerbaijan Russia handed over an
individual accused of receiving “terrorist” training in Iran, TASS and
Azerbaijani media reported July 28.

Russian Federation Prosecutor General’s Office announced that Mehdi
Shukurov, an Azerbaijani citizen sought by Baku was handed over for
criminal prosecution.

The accusation against Mr. Shukurov is that in 2016 he crossed the
border into Iran and joined an “illegal armed group” receiving
training in the use of firearms and explosives and other terror
techniques.

The group in question is not named and it is not clear whether the
Iranian government was involved in any way or Shukurov joined an
underground group.

After the alleged training the accused traveled to Russia and after
Azerbaijan determined he was in Russia asked for his extradition.
Russia arrested him earlier this year and finally extradited him to
Azerbaijan.

Two years ago, Azerbaijan claimed that a suspect in the assassination
of the mayor of Ganja had spent eight months in 2016 in Iran’s
religious city of Qom and then traveled to Syria for military
training. Yunis Safarov was arrested shortly after the mayor’s murder.

At the time it was reported that Safarov intended to establish an
organization called “Unity of Azerbaijan’s Muslims” and agitating for
the assassinations of government officials to prepare the ground for
an insurrection to set up an Islamic state.