Kashmir Scholars Consultative and Action Network April 1, 2023 public statement on the Arrests of Irfan Mehraj and Khurram Parvez. KSCAN invites institutional endorsements and individual signatories in support of this statement. Individual scholars, journalists, and activists should add their signatures using this Google form. Organizations should email kashmirscholarsnetwork@protonmail.com to add their institutional endorsements.  See the full statement with a complete list of signatories at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1B8fbzSXg-1tmMT5XeQjCEkG993_HyHZftUlz_ILwGm8/.

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UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders (Mary Lawlor) with the endorsement of the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and of association (Clément Nyaletsossi Voule)dcalls for the release and the closing of the investigations against Kashmiri human rights defenders, including Khurram Parvez and Irfan Mehraj. “The State must respect its human rights obligations and be held accountable where it violates them....Former associates and volunteers of the JKCCS are facing coercion and intimidation from the authorities. The Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) carries out essential work monitoring human rights. Their research and analysis of human rights violations are of huge value, including to international organisations seeking to ensure accountability and non-repetition of abuses. UN experts have repeatedly highlighted grave concerns regarding the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, which allows the designation of any individual as a ʽterroristʼ, bypassing the requirement to establish membership or association with banned groups. The Act is applied as a means of coercion against civil society, the media, and human rights defenders in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir.

On the first-year anniversary of prominent Kashmiri human rights defender Khurram Parvez’s arrest and detention, four human rights organisations (Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen ParticipationFIDH (International Federation for Human Rights), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights DefendersWorld Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders) have submitted a complaint to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.

UN experts (Aua Baldé (Chair-Rapporteur), Gabriella Citroni (Vice-Chair), Grażyna Baranowska, Luciano Hazan, Angkhana Neelapaijit, Working Group on enforced or involuntary disappearances;  Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism and Morris Tidball-Binz, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions) demand the immediate & unconditional release of Kashmiri activist Khurram Parvez, saying that his arrest & detention has a chilling effect on civil society, rights activists & journalists.

Amnesty International, Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, FORUM-ASIA, Front Line Defenders (FLD), Human Rights Watch, International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) in the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), Minority Rights Group International, Stichting The London Story and World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), in the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, call for the immediate and unconditional release of Kashmiri human rights defender Khurram Parvez, who was arrested one year ago on November 22, 2021 on politically motivated terrorism and other charges.