Human Rights Foundation (HRF) and the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) submitted an individual complaint to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) on 30 January on behalf of Kashmiri journalist and human rights defender Irfan Mehraj, urging the group to declare his detention arbitrary and in violation of international law.
Mehraj, an independent journalist who has reported for international and local news outlets, was arrested on March 20, 2023, by the National Investigation Agency. Nearly three years later, he remains in prolonged pre-trial detention in Tihar Jail. Courts have relentlessly extended his pre-trial detention, while his bail application remains undecided and his trial has yet to begin.
“Mehraj’s case exemplifies India’s practice of ‘trial by jail,’” said HRF Legal and Research Officer Hannah Van Dijcke. “Dissidents are subjected to indefinite pre-trial detention, whereby the legal process itself becomes the punishment.”
Probe agencies allege Mehraj’s detention is linked to his past association with the human rights organization Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), levelling accusations of terrorism and secessionism against him in connection with the “NGO terror funding case.”
These allegations form part of a broader investigation launched against JKCCS and other Kashmiri NGOs in 2020, which has been widely criticised by international observers, including the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
Kashmiri human rights defender Khurram Parvez remains detained under the same case.
This story was originally published in maktoobmedia.com. Read the full story here.
