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Paris-Geneva, August 19, 2024 - Indian authorities have arbitrarily
detained Kashmiri human rights defender Khurram
Parvez for over 1,000 days. Khurram remains incarcerated in a
maximum-security prison in Delhi, India, in reprisal for his vital
and commendable human rights work. We, the undersigned
organisations, call once
again for his immediate and unconditional release. We
further demand an end to the Indian authorities’ relentless
repression targeting Kashmiri human rights defenders, journalists,
scholars and dissidents.
Khurram Parvez is the
Program Coordinator of the Jammu
Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), a civil
society organisation in Indian-administered Kashmir that has, due to
repression, ceased to operate. He is also the Deputy
Secretary-General of the International
Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Chairperson
of the Asian
Federation against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD).
His longstanding human rights work has earned him widespread
international recognition, including the Martin
Ennals Award (2023) and the Reebok
Human Rights Award (2006).
Khurram was
arrested on November 22, 2021, by India’s counter-terrorism
authority, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), on
politically-motivated charges
including “waging, or attempting to wage war, or abetting waging of
war, against the government of India” as an act of reprisal for his
human rights work. While imprisoned, Indian authorities arrested him
again in March 2023 in a separate case on false charges
of “terror financing” along with journalist and human rights
defender Irfan
Mehraj (who also remains arbitrarily detained in a
maximum-security prison, now for over
500 days). Khurram had been imprisoned by Indian
authorities previously and also been harassed and targeted by Indian
authorities for years. In September 2016, he was prevented from
attending the United Nations Human Rights Council and arbitrarily
detained for 76 days.
Khurram’s
continued arbitrary
detention is emblematic of the Indian authorities’
escalating crackdown on human rights and civic space in
Indian-administered Kashmir, including on the rights to freedom of
expression and association. The ongoing
crackdown by the Indian authorities is part of a wider pattern of
human rights violations, often committed with impunity. The
specific escalation targeting Kashmiri human rights defenders and
journalists illustrated by Khurram’s and Irfan’s cases has shown
that Indian authorities continue to commit grave and systematic
violations with minimal scrutiny.
There has been
widespread condemnation of the Indian authorities’ persecution of
Khurram and Irfan, including by United
Nations human rights experts and international
civil society. The Indian government, however, has
continued to respond with further violations and repression,
labelling and prosecuting human rights defenders and journalists as
terrorists. We demand that Indian authorities immediately and
unconditionally release Khurram and Irfan, drop all charges against
them and end the pattern of targeting of Kashmiri human rights
defenders, journalists, scholars and dissidents. Indian authorities
must immediately comply with their international legal obligations,
including by allowing civil society to freely operate in
Indian-administered Kashmir, and cease their longstanding obstruction
of international civil society and inter-governmental organisations,
including the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
(OHCHR), UN Special Procedures and other human rights mechanisms,
which should have unfettered access to Indian-administered Kashmir
and Kashmiri detainees. The Indian government
must halt its continuous crackdown and repression, while also
guaranteeing transparent, independent and full accountability for
human rights violations. The international community,
especially the Member States of the UN, should urge the Indian
government, both bilaterally and publicly, to stop criminalising the
defense of human rights in Indian-administered Kashmir.
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