On May 16, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the State Security Service, and the General Prosecutor's Office jointly reported that the Iranian special services had arrested Azerbaijani citizens who were "captured by means of the financial interest and religious propaganda." According to the allegations, those citizens planned criminal acts to destabilize the country.

It was mentioned in the information that Rufulla Akhundzadeh and his son Almursal Akhundzadeh, who cooperated with the Iranian special services, organized armed riots in the territory of the country to establish the "Karima" state by forcefully changing the constitutional structure of Azerbaijan, organized assassinations of well-known public officials, and prepared an action plan to organize gangs.

According to official information, Rufulla Akhundzade created secret groups on "Whatsapp," "Telegram" and other instant messaging systems as part of that plan.

"Besides, Akhundzade and his son Almursal Akhundzade presented to the group members the list of officials and public figures, their questionnaire data, and addresses of residence and workplaces for organizing assassination attempts. For this purpose, he instructed the group members to obtain firearms and prepare a 'Molotov cocktail.' During the operation, seven members of the 'Revenge 313' group, Elgun Agayev, Ruslan Aliyev, Yusif Mirzayev, Elvin Jafarov, Savalan Huseynli, Bilal Sujaddinli, Maharrameli Musayev, as well as other members of the group, were detained and submitted for investigation. Rufulla Akhundzade held continuous virtual meetings to instruct the listed persons and keep them in the sphere of influence. In this way, he created an opportunity for the radical tendencies of the gang members to become stronger. According to Rufulla Akhundzadeh's instructions, the group members will engage in illegal activities such as establishing the 'Karima' state in the territory of the republic, various disturbances, mass riots, assassinations, etc. They used the Holy Qur'an as a tool for their dirty deeds and swore to it. Also, they wrote radical religious slogans on the streets near the administrative buildings of various state bodies, took pictures, and shared them on social networks to create confusion among citizens. Akhundzade also planned to take gang members to Iran for military training and illegal armed-extremist organizations in the name of receiving religious education. Akhundzade gave orders to close the groups he created in instant messaging systems and to keep the members of the group from being active on social networks for a while after the successful operations aimed at 'exposing the persons involved in secret cooperation with foreign special services in the country," the information added.

The official information noted that the group members used the funds sent to them from abroad to promote religious radicalism in Azerbaijan and finance other disruptive activities. It is also stated in the information that search and investigative measures are being continued in this direction.

Notably, pro-Iran clerics have actively used the "Karima" state narrative against Azerbaijan. The expression of the state of Karima is used in the "Iftitah prayer," which is said to have been narrated by Muhammad ibn Osman al-Amri, one of the four special viceroys of Imam Mahdi and is recommended to be recited in the month of Ramadan. In that prayer, God wishes for a state of grace: "Islam and Muslims will be glorified, and the dissidents and hypocrites will be humiliated." It is emphasized that in that state, people will be granted "the grace of this world and the hereafter." Religious literature states that this state will be founded by Imam Mehdi, who will appear after the "great gossip."