Draft:Zhala Bayramova

Zhala Bayramova (Azerbaijani: Jalə Bayramova) is an Azerbaijani human rights lawyer  and activist. They worked on a variety of cases in Azerbaijan and they specifically focus on cases at the European Court of Human Rights.

Human rights lawyer
Zhala Bayramova's primarily focused on and LGBTQ+ related cases in Azerbaijan. Additionally they also did a lot of advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights in Azerbaijan and tried to raise awareness of the dire state of LGBTQ+ community in Azerbaijan.

They criticized the Azerbaijani government policies during the COVID-19 pandemic, which they believed have caused a severe repression of human and civil rights in the country, during and after the pandemic. According to them the government used the pandemic and the curfew to suppress the opposition voices, arrest journalists and activists, and decimate the civil society.

Election observer
Zhala Bayramova was an election observer during the 2020 early parliamentary election in Azerbaijan. The election process was marred by fraud and violence. Zhala Bayramova was physically assaulted at one of the polling stations by a by-stander for filming the ongoing voter fraud. Their face was scratched, they were punched in the head and dragged on the floor by their hair. As a result of the assault they suffered a concussion and multiple bruises. The head of the election committee called for criminal investigation against Zhala Bayramova for filming in the public space. They were refused admission to a private hospital due to the political nature of the incident.

This case brought a lot of attention to the electoral process and gained a lot of public resonance in Azerbaijan. Several NGOs sent a formal request to the president Ilham Aliyev to investigate the incident, but the request was ignored and Zhala Bayramova was subject to harassment from the election committee instead.

Feminist movement
In 2021 Zhala Bayramova took part in the organization of the feminist movement protests. They, together with other activists, were detained in violation of their freedom of assembly. Zhala Bayramova was beaten up, tortured and sexually assaulted by the police while being dragged to the police department.

Peace activism
Zhala Bayramova has been advocating for peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia and against the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, trying to promote the human experiences that can bridge the divide between the nations. For this stance they have been a subject of harassment from the media and online as well as being called a traitor.

Family and personal life
Since 2021 Zhala Bayramova lived in Sweden, where they are studying law at Lund University with SI scholarship.

In July 2023, Zhala Bayramova's father Gubad Ibadoghlu was arrested in Azerbaijan on fabricated charges and they have been working on his case, advocating for his release. Their personal photos have been spread online in a smear campaign.