Azerbaijan detains writer Akram Aylisli at airport on way to festival

Nobel nominee who suffers state persecution reportedly prevented from travelling to Incroci di Civiltà in Venice

The Azerbaijani writer Akram Aylisli, who saw his books burned and endured calls for his ear to be cut off four years ago after writing about massacres of Armenians, has reportedly been prevented from travelling abroad to an Italian literary festival.

Aylisli was a popular writer in Azerbaijan until the publication of his 2012 novella Stone Dreams, which told of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the 20th century, and of the massacres of Armenians by Azeris. He was due to speak at the Incroci di Civiltà festival in Venice on Thursday, but the Armenian news agency Armenpress reported on Wednesday that he had been detained by airport police at Baku airport.

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