New Delhi: Over 50 press freedom organisations, human rights organisations and publications wrote to Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, urging his intervention to release Kashmiri journalist Fahad Shah.
Shah was arrested on 4 February for allegedly “glorifying terrorist activities” and “inciting the public”, with the Kashmir Police adding that the journalist had been named in two prior cases.
The joint letter by 58 organisations comes less than a week after the Editors Guild of India condemned Kashmir Police for arresting Shah and lamented that “the space for media freedom has progressively eroded in Kashmir”.
“[Fahad Shah’s] reporting on events in Jammu and Kashmir is a public service, not a crime, and should be protected under Indian law,” the new letter said, referring to Shah as “a journalist of high integrity”.
It also urged L-G Sinha to release other Kashmiri journalists who had been detained “under anti-terror or preventative detention laws”, such as Sajad Gul, Aasif Sultan and Manan Gul.
We, the undersigned 58 press freedom organizations, human rights organizations, and publications write to request your urgent intervention to secure the immediate release of Fahad Shah, editor of the online news portal The Kashmir Walla, from jail, and the withdrawal of all police investigations launched into his journalistic work.
On February 4, authorities arrested Shah at the Pulwama police station, where he had been summoned earlier that day for questioning. The first information report states that Shah is being investigated for alleged sedition and making statements causing public mischief, and unlawful activities under the anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Prior to his arrest, police had questioned Shah regarding The Kashmir Walla’s coverage of a gunfight between government forces and militants.
Shah is well known to many in South Asia and around the world as a journalist of high integrity. His writing for The Nation magazine was recognized at the 2021 Human Rights Press Awards. His reporting on events in Jammu and Kashmir is a public service, not a crime, and should be protected under Indian law.
We also urge you to arrange the immediate release of other detained Kashmiri journalists– Sajad Gul, Aasif Sultan, and Manan Gular Dar – all of whom, like Shah, have been jailed under anti-terror or preventative detention laws in apparent retaliation for their work.
Since the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s political autonomy in August 2019, press freedom and rights groups have documented numerous incidents of detentions and threats to journalists in the region. In view of this, the release of Fahad Shah and other arbitrarily detained journalists is a critical step to prevent further criminalization of the profession in Jammu and Kashmir.
We urge you to ensure that authorities drop their retaliatory investigations into all four journalists, withdraw any unwarranted charges brought against them, and allow Kashmiri members of the press to work freely without facing detention, harassment, and other forms of government reprisal. The Print
