George Clooney persuades spouse not to visit Azerbaijan for security risks

World famous Hollywood actor George Clooney admitted that it was he who persuaded Amal Clooney not to visit Azerbaijan, the actor told The Hollywood Reporter. “We had agreed with Amal that we will not allow any job to put us under risk”, George Clooney said.

In September 2015, Amal went to the Maldives to try to get President Mohamed Nasheed out of jail, that’s the former leader, imprisoned on terrorism charges that were deemed bogus by the U.S. State Department. “The Maldives has the highest per-capita rate of recruiting ISIS, so it was a very nerve-racking time, and as Amal was coming into town, her co-counsel [Mahfooz Saeed] was pulled off a motorcycle and stabbed in the head as a warning”, Clooney told.

He admitted that he had to make a deal with her wife to keep her away from Azerbaijan. “When she finally got out of there, she had another client in jail in Azerbaijan,” added Clooney, “and I said, ‘I’ll tell you what, let’s make a deal: I won’t go to South Sudan and you don’t go to Azerbaijan. How is that?’ And she said, ‘For now, fine.’ ”

Famous British lawyer Amal Clooney defended the interests of Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismailova who has been jailed in Baku for 7.5 years. Clooney took the case to the ECHR. She has also defended the interests of the Armenian side in Perinchek’s case.