Tofig Yagublu

Responding to a question at a briefing on 9 January 2023 about the most recent detention of Yagublu and fellow activist Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that the Department was "deeply troubled by the arrest and detention of Bakhtiyar Hajiyev and Tofig Yagublu". Price urged the Azerbaijani authorities to "release them expeditiously" and "respect its citizens’ right, including the rights to express views peacefully."

On 3 December 2021, Azerbaijan police violently dispersed a peaceful protest in central Baku, detaining dozens of protesters, including Yagublu, who alleged that police severely beat him while videoing him and demanded that he say on camera that he would stop criticizing Azerbaijan’s leadership. Human Rights Watch stated that he was beaten in the police station and then again while being driven to the outskirts of Baku, being dumped 70km outside the city center, and that "his face and body showed clear signs of abuse."

On December 15 2021, Amnesty International said that Yagublu was re-arrested, describing arrest as an attack on government critics and basic freedoms in Azerbaijan

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan, on March 22 2020, at about 15:00 in the Nizami District of Baku, a Toyota Corolla driven by Tofig Yagublu collided with a Lada Riva driven by Elkhan Jabrayilov. However, Yagublu's daughter, Nigar Hazi told that when he was in his parked car, another car drove into him, while Elkhan Jabrailov, who was driving, rushed to Yagublu with claims.

On September 1 2020, the public prosecutor spoke at the trial in the Nizami District Court, chaired by Judge Nariman Mehdiyev, and requested that Tofig Yagublu be sentenced to four years and six months in prison. On September 2, Yagublu accused the court and the authorities of fabricating charges, then declared that he will start a hunger strike in protest against this arbitrariness. On September 3 2020, Yagublu was sentenced to four years and three months in prison.

Yagublu has been arrested several times since 1998 when he was sentenced to two years of suspended imprisonment for participating in protests. On February 4 2013, he was sentenced to five years in prison for participating in the anti-government protests. On March 17, 2016, he was pardoned by a presidential decree. In 2014, the Shaki Court of Grave Crimes sentenced Yagublu to five years in prison, officially for inciting mass violence. In October 2019, Yagublu was detained for 30 days, for disobeying police orders during peaceful protests, according to the official narrative.

He is married and has two daughters and a son. In 2012, one of Yagublu's daughters, Nigar Hazi, was imprisoned. His other daughter, Nargiz Yagublu, died in 2015.

Yagublu joined Musavat in 1992. During the presidency of Abulfaz Elchibey, Yagublu was the first deputy head of the executive power of the Binagadi District, Baku.

Tofig Rashid oghlu Yagublu (Azerbaijani: Tofiq Rəşid oğlu Yaqublu; born 1961), is an Azerbaijani politician, journalist, former deputy chairman of the Musavat Party (2010–2018), and a member of the coordinating center of the National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF).

Tofig Rashid oglu Yagublu was born on February 6, 1961, in the Azerbaijani-populated village of Injaoglu (Shua-Bolnisi), then Georgian SSR of the Soviet Union. In 1989, he applied for withdrawal from the membership of the CPSU. He took part in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, and was twice presented for the title of National Hero of Azerbaijan, but in the end, was not awarded for various reasons. In 2012, the Yeni Musavat online newspaper began publishing Yagublu's war diary.