On January 20, the Azerbaijani State Security Service and Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that, following instructions from President Ilham Aliyev, Safarli Farid Qabil oglu, an Azerbaijani citizen detained in Iran in 2023, was repatriated to Azerbaijan on January 18, 2025. The transfer was part of international legal cooperation and mutual procedural arrangements. Safarli, who had been studying in Germany, was reunited with his family after undergoing a medical examination.

According to his relatives, Safarli traveled to Tehran on February 20, 2023, at the invitation of a female university acquaintance. Contact with him was lost on March 4, and he did not return to Germany. It was later revealed that Iran had opened a criminal case against him on charges of espionage. The Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs clarified that the espionage charge was later replaced with the charge of "intent to commit espionage," and Safarli was reportedly sentenced to two years in prison. Azerbaijani authorities emphasized that they would continue to take all necessary measures to protect the rights and interests of their citizens abroad.