NEW YORK: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent watchdog body, has sharply criticized the arrest on Friday of journalist Fahad Shah in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJ&K), and called for his immediate and unconditional release and to cease detaining members of the press.
“The arrest of Fahad Shah shows Jammu and Kashmir authorities’ utter disregard for press freedom and the fundamental right of journalists to report freely and safely,” Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator, in Washington, D.C., said in a statement.
“Authorities must immediately release Fahad Shah, and all other journalists behind bars, and cease detaining and harassing journalists for simply doing their jobs,” he added.
According to media reports, authorities in Jammu and Kashmir arrested Shah, editor of the privately-owned news portal The Kashmir Walla, at a police station in the southern Kashmiri city of Pulwama, where he had been summoned earlier that day for questioning.
In a statement republished in those reports, police claimed that Shah had been identified among “some Facebook users and [news] portals” that had published “anti-national content,” but did not mention any specific content.
A police first information report, the first step in opening an investigation, which CPJ reviewed, states that Fahad Shah is being investigated for alleged sedition and making statements causing public mischief, both crimes under the Indian penal code, and of unlawful activities under the anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. If charged and convicted of those offenses, he could face up to seven years imprisonment under Indian law..”
