(March 20, 2024) We, the undersigned civil society
organisations, call for the immediate and unconditional release of
Kashmiri journalist and human rights defender Irfan Mehraj.
While on a professional assignment on March 20, 2023, Mehraj was
summoned for questioning and arbitrarily detained by India’s
National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Srinagar under provisions of
the Indian Penal Code and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Mehraj is a
well-regarded Srinagar-based independent journalist. He is the
founding editor of Wande Magazine and a senior editor at
TwoCircles.net. He was a frequent contributor to leading news
publications in Kashmir, India and internationally (including
Deutsche Welle and TRT World). Mehraj also previously worked as a
researcher at the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS),
an internationally recognised leading civil society organisation in
Indian-administered Kashmir that has done ground-breaking and
extensive human rights documentation work in the region.
Mehraj is facing
multiple politically motivated charges
including ‘sedition’ and ‘funding terror activities’ along
with internationally renowned human rights defender Khurram
Parvez,
the Program Coordinator for JKCCS. Parvez has been arbitrarily
detained for over two and a half years. The NIA targeted
Mehraj for being
‘a close associate of Khurram Parvez.’ Both Mehraj and Parvez are
presently in pre-trial detention in the maximum-security Rohini
prison in New Delhi, India.
In June 2023, United
Nations experts expressed serious concerns
regarding the charges against and arrest of Mehraj and Parvez,
stating that their continued detention is ‘designed to delegitimise
their human rights work and obstruct monitoring of the human rights
situation in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir.’ On March 7,
2024, UN experts sounded the alarm
on the “harassment and prolonged detention of human rights
defenders and journalists” in the country. The cases against Mehraj
and Parvez seek to criminalise human rights work in
Indian-administered Kashmir and the support for any such work under
the guise of countering financing of ‘terrorism.’
The UAPA is a
counter-terrorism law often used against human rights defenders by
the Indian authorities to target, harass, intimidate, and detain them
on bogus and politically motivated charges. In May 2020, UN experts
expressed concerns
over the non-conformity of various UAPA provisions with international
human rights standards. In October 2023, they reiterated their
concerns, stating that the pre-trial detention period of 180
days–which can subsequently be increased–is beyond reasonable.
They called for a review of the UAPA in line with international human
rights standards and with recommendations made by the Financial
Action Task Force.
Irfan Mehraj’s
detention is part of a growing crackdown against journalists and
human rights defenders in Indian-administered Kashmir.
Since August 2019, when
Jammu and Kashmir’s special status was arbitrarily revoked,
there has been increasing harassment against the media. Journalists
have been arrested, media outlets shut down, and self-censorship has
become pervasive. In another emblematic case, on 29 February 2024,
journalist Asif Sultan was re-arrested
by the Jammu and Kashmir police shortly after being released and
having spent five years in detention under the UAPA and the Jammu and
Kashmir Public Safety Act. Kashmiri journalists also face travel bans
and revocation of their passports by Indian authorities.
Consequently, information flow from Kashmir–especially on human
rights violations–has been severely restricted.
Mehraj’s continuing
arbitrary detention is emblematic of the Indian authorities’
escalating crackdown on human rights including the rights to freedom
of expression and association in Indian-administered Kashmir. The
detention of Mehraj and Parvez creates a chilling effect among other
human rights defenders and journalists, thereby allowing grave and
systemic human rights violations to continue with impunity and
minimal transparency.
Our organisations, therefore, call for the immediate release of Irfan
Mehraj and Khurram Parvez and for an end to all reprisals against
Kashmiri human rights defenders and journalists. We urge Indian
authorities to repeal or amend the UAPA and to bring it in conformity
with international human rights standards, and to end the
criminalisation of human rights defenders, journalists, and their
invaluable work.
We also call upon Indian authorities to comply with their
international human rights obligations by respecting, protecting,
promoting, and fulfilling the human rights of everyone as well as by
allowing civil society and the media to freely operate in
Indian-administered Kashmir and India.
In addition, the authorities must cease their longstanding targeting,
harassment, and forced closure of international civil society.
Likewise, the authorities must refrain from attacking inter-governmental
organisations, including UN Special Rapporteurs and other human rights
mechanisms. These entities should have unfettered access to
Indian-administered Kashmir and Kashmiri detainees.
|