LGBTQİ+ activist faced harassment at Asan Service

LGBTQİ+ rights activist Ali Malikov faced harassment at Asan Service No. 1. They reported this on their social media accounts.

They stated that on June 27, around 3:00 PM, they arrived at Asan Service No. 1, placed their belongings in the detector at the entrance, and went through the check themselves. Although there were no issues with their belongings, the security officer first asked for their name and then, while pretending to check Malikov with a device, rubbed his hand from their waist to their hip.

Shocked by this action, Ali Malikov waited for their friends to arrive and approached the entrance again. They asked the security guard why they were subjected to a physical search when the detector didn't reveal anything and expressed their discomfort with the way their body was touched.

According to Malikov, the security guard then began to shout, threatened them and their friends, and acted as if he was going to call someone by reaching for the desk of a female employee at the other entrance, trying to intimidate them.

“If that security guard didn’t touch my body deliberately and with bad intentions, why did he start shouting at me?! Right now, my body is trembling. Again, the guilty one shouted so loud that the innocent's heart burst. I felt like I was sexually harassed. For almost an hour now, I have been feeling the actions of that uncivilised person repeatedly on my body,” wrote Ali Malikov on their social media account.

The activist filed a complaint with the Ministry of Internal Affairs' hotline 102 regarding the issue. According to them, after their post on social media, the management of Asan Service also contacted them. Malikov will go to the Chief Security Directorate on Monday to file a complaint.

In a statement to the Minority Azerbaijan editorial team about the incident, Ali Malikov said: “In cases of sexual harassment and violence, we sometimes forget that they have existed everywhere in our lives. For instance, when I experienced this incident, I first started by blaming myself, thinking 'no, I misunderstood.' Because we have been conditioned to this. The patriarchal system has conditioned us to either normalise these things or find it difficult to see the perpetrator.

I will file my complaint and publicise the incident when necessary. That person may not receive severe punishment, but in an environment like Azerbaijan, even seeing him suffer will be a success for me.”