The Editor of The Kashmiriyat, Qazi Shibli, is still under detention for the past 6 days.
Qazi, on Thursday received a call at around 2:15 PM, from the Cyber Police Station, Srinagar, summoning him for questioning. The next day, Friday, Qazi Shibli presented himself before the Cyber Police and was detained under unknown charges, after eight hours of ‘questioning’.
On 1st August, Shibli was taken to PCR hospital for reasons not known to the family or his organization. He was later shifted from Sher Ghari police station to Central Jail, Srinagar. He has now been booked under 107 CrPc, a law permitting the police to arrest anyone on suspicion.
Qazi’s detention has received global attention:
Amnesty India, released a non-exhaustive list of arrested and intimidated Kashmiri journalists post-August 5th 2019, on the first anniversary of abrogation of Article 370, ranking Qazi Shibli number 1. Amnesty India, part of Amnesty International’s global human rights movement, stated Qazi Shibli’s 9-month arrest from 31st July 2019- 13th April 2020 and the current ongoing 6-day arrest as the use of a “repressive law” against journalists for their news report on Kashmir.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) demanded the immediate release of Qazi Shibli.
In a statement Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia Program Coordinator, in Washington DC said, “Authorities in Jammu and Kashmir must immediately release Qazi Shibli and allow him to return home”.
On Qazi Shibli’s detention Aliya Iftikhar, a senior researcher from CPJ said, “One year after the revocation of Article 370, journalist Qazi Shibli’s detention is yet another example of the ongoing harassment and intimidation of the press in Jammu and Kashmir.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Asia, further demanded “Jammu Kashmir Police must immediately release, QaziShibli, the editor of The Kashmiriyat, who was detained last evening by the Cyber Crime Cell in Srinagar.”
The International Observatory of Human Rights, a Non-Profit Organisation, focused on exposing Human Rights violation, on their official Twitter handle demanded the release of Qazi Shibli.
The Tweet read, “Journalist and editor, Qazi Shibli has been detained in Srinagar following a lengthy interrogation by Cyber Police. In 2019 he was held in prison for 9 months without trial for posting about troop movements on Twitter. #JournalismIsNotACrime #FreeQaziShibli #ReleaseQaziShibli”.
In a Press Release, The International Federation of Journalism (IFJ) stated, “IFJ calls for the immediate release of Qazi Shibli and demand that authorities stop persecuting journalists for doing their jobs.”
They also quoted Geetartha Pathak, President Indian Journalists Union (IJU). The Indian Journalists Union president had said, “We demand the immediate release of Qazi Shibli, the editor of the news website The Kashmiriyat. Authorities must allow independent journalists to do their work.”
In a statement, the IJU president and former Press Council of India member, Geetartha Pathak, and IJU secretary-general and IFJ vice president Sabina Inderjit condemned the arrest saying that the Jammu Kashmir authorities continue to misuse the PSA with impunity.
Urgent action was issued on 3rd August 2020 from London, Brussels, and Geneva simultaneously by the Organization of Kashmiri Coalition (OKC) regarding Qazi Shibli’s detention. The organization joined CPJ’s statement and demanded: Immediate and unconditional release of Qazi Shibli and the drop of any charges against him for carrying out his professional work and peacefully defending human rights; and ensuring that he has regular, unrestricted access to family members and lawyers of his choice and ensuring that he is not subjected to torture or other ill-treatment while in detention. The organization appealed to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, The President of Europen Commission Brussels, Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression, Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) of the Organisation of Islamic Co-Operation (OIC), Chair of Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI) European Parliament, and President APGK European Parliament.
It is pertinent to mention here that Qazi Shibli was arrested last year on July 25th and booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA) for publishing news about heavy deployment of security forces in Kashmir before August 5. He had been shifted to Bareilly Jail and released after 9 months on April 13, this year.
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