Azerbaijan detains 37 after school hijab restrictions

Azerbaijan detained 37 people after protests over enforcement of a school uniform rule that restricts hijab for female students and teachers. Since this week, schools in Baku, Masally and Jalilabad have reportedly barred students wearing headscarves from class, while some teachers were told to remove their hijabs or stop teaching. The government defended the rule as part of secularism and uniformity in state schools. The dispute then spread to Turkiye, a close ally of Baku, after adviser to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Oktay Saral, called the denial of education rights for hijab-wearing students unacceptable. The Yeni Azerbaijan Party responded by asking Ankara not to interfere in domestic affairs. Amid rare protests in the country, activist Ilkin Huseynov was reported out of contact after launching a support platform for students barred from school.