Azerbaijani Opposition Figure Gets Three Years In Prison

An opposition figure in Azerbaijan has been sentenced to three years in jail.

A court in Baku found Mammad Ibrahim -- an adviser to the leader of Azerbaijan's opposition Popular Front Party (AXCP) -- guilty of hooliganism on March 15 and sentenced him the same day.

Ibrahim was arrested in September.

He pleaded not guilty and insists the case against him is politically motivated.

Ibrahim's lawyer Yalcin Imanov said he plans to appeal the court's ruling.

Ibrahim's son, Turan Ibrahim, who is a member of AXCP's youth committee, was sentenced to seven days in jail in January for using vulgar words in public, resisting police, and disrupting public order.

Turan Ibrahim also claimed his sentence was politically motivated and was part of government pressure on the family.