Breaches of Privacy: Why are sex tapes used against political targets in Azerbaijan?

Multiple videos with intimate footage have been disseminated on social media in March.

On March 28, intimate videos of National Council Chair Jamil Hasanli’s daughter, Gunel Hasanli, were shared on social media.

Hasanli, an oppositional figure long a target of the ruling government, condemned the publication publicly, stating that his daughter’s private life was no one’s business.

As it turns out, not only were the videos taken without Ms. Hasanli’s knowledge, but they seem to have been part of a plot to entrap her in order to use the images to defame her father.

The man whom she had been seeing, and who had introduced himself to her as Mahir Allahverdiyev when they met in late 2020, has since disappeared. Before the video began being shared, Ms. Hasanli says he had stated his intent to marry her.

What started out as a love story has now been uncovered to have been a scam, all with the intent of ruining Ms. Hasanli and her father’s reputation.