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London: As Kashmiri journalist and human rights defender Irfan Mehraj completes three years in arbitrary detention, around three dozen human rights and civil society organisations have renewed calls for his immediate and unconditional release, while urging the Indian government to end its ongoing crackdown on journalists and human rights defenders in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).<\/p>\n
According Kashmir Media Service, Irfan Mehraj was detained on March 20, 2023, by India\u2019s National Investigation Agency under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Indian Penal Code on what the organizations termed \u201cpolitically motivated and fabricated charges\u201d. They also expressed solidarity with his family. The NIA has alleged that Irfan Mehraj was a close associate of Khurram Parvez, a prominent Kashmiri human rights defender and Programme Coordinator of the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), who remains in prolonged detention.<\/p>\n
In a joint statement published on the website of Amnesty International, the organisations said Indian authorities also continued to arbitrarily detain Khurram Parvez for over four years on politically motivated and fabricated charges.<\/p>\n
The statement noted that the continued detention of Irfan Mehraj and Khurram Parvez reflects a broader pattern of persecution of human rights defenders and journalists in IIOJK. It said authorities have increasingly used \u201cthe UAPA \u2013 a draconian anti-terror law \u2013 and the repressive Public Safety Act (PSA), to criminalise and silence journalists and human rights defenders in Jammu and Kashmir,\u201d adding that the situation has worsened since the unilateral abrogation of IIOJK\u2019s special status in August 2019.<\/p>\n
The organisations further expressed concern over what they described as growing harassment and intimidation of journalists for their reporting in IIOJK in recent months, including repeated police summons and pressure to sign undertakings restricting their reporting activities.<\/p>\n
The statement also criticised the Indian government for failing to respond to concerns raised by United Nations experts and international human rights organisations regarding human rights violations in Kashmir, urging it to uphold its international human rights obligations and end reprisals against human rights defenders and journalists.<\/p>\n
Calling for immediate action, the organisations urged the Indian authorities to repeal repressive laws, including the UAPA and the PSA, and to create an enabling environment for the media and civil society to function freely and independently in IIOJK.<\/p>\n
They also appealed to the international community to take cognisance of the situation and press India to comply with its international human rights obligations, release Irfan Mehraj, Khurram Parvez and other detained Kashmiri human rights defenders, and end its repression in occupied Jammu and Kashmir.<\/p>\n
The statement was signed by:<\/p>\n
Afghanistan Democracy and Development Organization; ALTSEAN-Burma; Amnesty International; Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD); Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA); CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation; Civil Society and Human Rights Network (CSHRN); Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ); Community Self Reliance Centre; Defence of Human Rights Pakistan; Front Line Defenders; Human Rights Commission of Pakistan; Human Rights Foundation; Human Rights Watch; International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders; International Service for Human Rights (ISHR); Kashmir Law & Justice Project; Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law; KontraS (Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence); Korean House for International Solidarity; Law & Society Trust; League for the Defence of Human Rights in Iran (LDDHI); Madaripur Legal Aid Association (MLAA); Maldivian Democracy Network (MDN); Odhikar; Public Association \u201cDignity\u201d; Redemption Pakistan; Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU); Reporters Without Borders (RSF); Taiwan Association for Human Rights; Think Centre, Singapore; WOREC; World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
London: As Kashmiri journalist and human rights defender Irfan Mehraj completes three years in arbitrary detention, around three dozen human rights and civil society organisations have renewed calls for his immediate and unconditional release, while urging the Indian government to end its ongoing crackdown on journalists and human rights defenders in Indian illegally occupied Jammu …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":196909,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-196908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indian-occupied-jammu-and-kashmir"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2026\/03\/Irfan-Mehraj.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196908"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":196910,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196908\/revisions\/196910"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}