NEW DELHI (AP) — A prominent Kashmiri human rights activist and a renowned journalist have been released on bail after years of imprisonment on allegations of financing terrorism in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir.Rights activist Khurram Parvez and independent journalist Irfan Mehraj were arrested in 2021 and 2023 respectively, under India’s terror laws. Despite their release from a New Delhi jail late Wednesday, both remain under tight court-imposed restrictions as the country’s federal counterterror agency seeks to reverse the ruling.The Indian government has increasingly cracked down against rights activists, journalists and dissidents in Kashmir under stringent anti-terror laws, particularly after August 2019, when India scrapped the region’s special status.Last week, a lower court in India allowed the two men to be released on bail, but India’s National Investigation Agency appealed the decision. The Delhi High Court refused on Tuesday to suspend the release order but imposed tougher restrictions on their movements and activities while it hears the agency’s appeal.
International human rights groups, including the United Nations’ human rights body, have consistently sought their release, saying that they were jailed for their work. Parvez has long been associated with noted rights group the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society, or JKCCS, where Mehraj assisted as a researcher. The National Investigation Agency alleges the two used the group to fund militant-linked activities and promoted a separatist agenda. The two deny the allegations against them.
