An Azerbaijani Shia Muslim cleric was charged with high treason on 21 October. Sardar Babayev (also known as Sardar Hacihasanli), a member of the Azerbaijani Union of Clerics, was arrested for four months pending trial.

Babayev is also the editor-in-chief of the Islamic Maide.az website.

Babayev was detained by the State Security Service together with another four members of the Azerbaijani Union of Clerics on 19 October. All the detainees are believed to be pro-Iranian religious figures.

In the meantime, the detention of two members of the Huseynci (Followers of Shia Imam Hussein) movement, Sabuhi Salimov and Mammadrza Mammadrzayev. Their homes were searched, and their computers, telephones, and books were seized.

Earlier, Azerbaijani special services were carrying out "purges" in the towns of Sumqayit, Quba, Davaci, and Masalli.

Haci Ilqar Ibrahimoglu, who was also briefly detained on 19 October, has condemned Sardar Babayev's arrest in a live video address on his Facebook account.

"These kinds of arrests and repressions can only be harmful to our motherland, state, and people, for a nation that won a victory in the 44-day Patriotic War (Second Karabakh War of September-November 2020), that is for sure. Especially as at issue is a highly professional faqih (Islamic jurist) like Sheikh Sardar," Ibrahimoglu said, adding that Babayev had provided major moral support to people during the war.

He said that regional and geopolitical issues would be resolved, but that national unity was "of the utmost importance" and should not be harmed by arrests and Soviet-style repressions. Ibrahimoglu called for the release of all detained religious figures.