WASHINGTON: Authorities in India must stop targeting prominent Kashmiri activist Khurram Parvez, a group of independent UN human rights experts said on Wednesday, while calling for his immediate release from detention.
Mr. Parvez has proved serious mortal rights violations in the enthralled Jammu and Kashmir, including executed discoveries and unlawful killings, and has faced damages reportedly for participating in information with the UN. The Indian National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested him in November on charges related to conspiracy and terrorism.
The rights experts, appointed by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, issued the statement after reviewing available information about the case.
A UN news report also quoted the experts as prompting Indian authorities to repeal the laws that target Kashmiri civilians and mortal rights activists.
“ We’re concerned that one month after Mr. Parvez’s arrest, he’s still deprived of liberty in what appears to be a new incident of retribution for his licit conditioning as a mortal rights protector and because he has spoken out about violations,” the rights experts said.
“ In view of this environment of former damages, we call on the Indian authorities to incontinently release him and insure his rights to liberty and security.”
Read: UNSC apprised of the grave situation in held Kashmir
The UN agency reported that Mr. Parvez was detained at the Rohini Jail Complex in Delhi, which the experts described as among “ the most overcrowded and unsanitary incarcerations in the country, posing an immediate threat to his health and safety, in particular from Covid-19.
Mr. Parvez was arrested on Nov 22 under Indian counter-terrorism legislation, the Unlawful Conditioning Prevention Act (UAPA).
Introduced in July 2019, the Act allows the authorities to designate any existent as a terrorist without the demand of establishing class or association with banned groups. The rights experts said the UAPA has redounded in a “ worrisome rise” in the number of apprehensions in India, and especially in the enthralled Jammu and Kashmir, the UN news agency reported.
“ We lament that the government continues to use the UAPA as a means of compulsion to circumscribe civil society, the media, and mortal rights protectors (and they are) abecedarian freedoms,” the experts said.
“ We thus formerly again prompt the government to bring this legislation in line with India’s transnational legal scores under mortal rights law.”
Indian authorities produced Mr. Parvez in a court in Delhi on Nov 30 and Dec 4 when it was decided to transfer him from NIA to judicial guardianship. The NIA Special Court is meeting on Thursday to decide on another extension of his detention for a further 90days. However, he could face up to 14 times in captivity, or indeed the death penalty, If condemned.
