Azerbaijan arrests prominent opposition leader

Baku : Azerbaijan has arrested a prominent opposition leader, her party said on Friday, denouncing the move as a latest step in the crackdown on dissent in the tightly-controlled country.

Gozel Bayramli -- the deputy chairperson of the opposition Popular Front party -- was arrested on Thursday evening after she crossed into Azerbaijan from neighbouring Georgia, the party's chairman Ali Kerimli told AFP.

"Her illegal arrest brings to mind the Soviet-era repression of dissidents," Kerimli said.

Azerbaijan's border service said in a statement that Bayramli was "detained at the Shyhly border-crossing point after the undeclared amount of $12,000 was found in her luggage."

Kerimli insisted that "someone planted the banknotes in Bayramli's bag."

If found guilty, Bayramli may face up to five years in prison.

The authorities in oil-rich Azerbaijan have faced strong international criticism for routinely harassing and jailing those opposed to President Ilham Aliyev.

Aliyev, 55, fiercely denies any rights abuses.

He took over in 2003 after the death of his father Heydar Aliyev, a former KGB officer and communist-era leader who had ruled Azerbaijan with an iron fist since 1993.