Media watchdog calls on India to release Kashmiri journalist

By Nusrat Sidiq

SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir (AA) — An international media watchdog on Sunday called on Indian government to release Kashmiri journalist Aasif Sultan, who has been imprisoned for five years.

"Sunday marks five years of the arbitrary detention of Kashmiri journalist Aasif Sultan, who faces a number of charges under draconian security laws in retaliation for his work," the Committee to Protect Journalists said on X, formerly Twitter.

Sultan has been detained since Aug. 27, 2018, the first to be held under anti-terror legislation known as the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and later under the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, which allows for preventative detention for up to two years without trial.

Police accused him of harboring militants and "advocating the idea of separatism through articles" which sultan's family and his editor have vehemently denied.

On April 5, 2022, a special court granted Sultan bail in the anti-terror case, claiming that the state failed to provide evidence linking him to any militant organization. But five days later, he was arrested again under a different law.

According to his family, Sultan was being held in the Ambedkar Nagar Central Jail, located in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, as September last year.