BAKU: A court in Azerbaijan rejected on Friday an appeal by top rights activists Leyla and Arif Yunus to lift a ban on leaving the country for medical treatment despite their deteriorating health, their lawyer said.

“The Baku Court of Appeals has refused to allow the Yunuses to leave Azerbaijan for medical treatment in Germany,” the lawyer, Elchin Sadykhov, told AFP.

The court issued the decision despite the couple’s poor health.

Leyla Yunus suffers from hepatitis C, diabetes, pancreatitis, and cholelithiasis, while her husband Arif has been diagnosed with a brain tumour and hypertension, the lawyer said.

The couple were released from prison last year on health grounds but still face suspended sentences.

“The verdict violates my clients’ rights enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights, the right to life and prohibition of torture,” Sadykhov said.

“We will appeal the illegal verdict in a higher court.”

Leyla Yunus, 60, heads the Institute for Peace and Democracy, one of the leading rights groups in the tightly-controlled ex-Soviet country.

She was jailed last August for eight-and-a-half years after being convicted of fraud and tax evasion, but a court in December commuted her jail term to a 5-year suspended sentence, citing her health.