New Delhi: A special court in Delhi has sentenced senior Hurriyat leader and Dukhtaran-e-Millat chief Aasiya Andrabi to life imprisonment in a politically charged case under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). Her two associates, Fehmida Sofi and Nahida Nasreen, were also sentenced to 30 years in prison in the same case.<\/p>\n
According to Kashmir Media Service, on January 14, Aasiya Andrabi, Fahmida Sofi and Nahida Nasreen were convicted under Sections 20, 38 and 39 of the UAPA, as well as various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).<\/p>\n
Following the conviction, India\u2019s notorious National Investigation Agency (NIA) had sought life imprisonment for Aasiya Andrabi, accusing her of waging war against India through so-called hate speeches and asserting that “a stern message was required to be sent that conspiring against the State would invite the harshest penalty.”<\/p>\n
The sentence was pronounced by Additional Sessions Judge Chander Jit Singh after hearing arguments on the quantum of punishment today. Aasiya Andrabi\u2019s conviction follows her arrest by the NIA in April 2018.<\/p>\n
Human rights groups have consistently condemned the case, labeling it fabricated, politically-driven and part of a broader crackdown on pro-freedom voices in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). The case is seen as illustrative of the BJP-led Indian government’s efforts to stifle dissent in the occupied territory.<\/p>\n
Aasiya Andrabi, who founded the women-led pro-freedom organization Dukhtaran-e-Millat in 1987, has long been a vocal advocate for Kashmiris\u2019 rights including the UN-recognized right to self-determination. The BJP-led government has banned Dukhtaran-e-Millat along with several other pro-freedom organizations in IIOJK.<\/p>\n
Notably, Aasiya Andrabi\u2019s husband, Ashiq Hussain Faktoo, has also been imprisoned for the past three decades. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2003 in a fabricated murder case, further highlighting the prolonged persecution faced by the Andrabi family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Delhi: A special court in Delhi has sentenced senior Hurriyat leader and Dukhtaran-e-Millat chief Aasiya Andrabi to life imprisonment in a politically charged case under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). Her two associates, Fehmida Sofi and Nahida Nasreen, were also sentenced to 30 years in prison in the same case. According to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":192552,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-197105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indian-occupied-jammu-and-kashmir","tag-top-story"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/assests\/2026\/01\/asiya-andrabi.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197105","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=197105"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":197106,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197105\/revisions\/197106"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmsnews.org\/kms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}