Human rights defender Khurram Parvez detained under India’s counter-terrorism legislation

On 22 November 2021, officials of National Investigation Agency (NIA), India’s federal counter-terrorism agency, raided human rights defender Khurram Parvez’s home and office in Srinagar, seized several electronic devices and documents, and arrested him on charges of terrorism funding, being a member of a terrorist organization, criminal conspiracy, and waging war against the state under the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

Khurram Parvez is the Chairperson of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), a collective of 13 non-governmental organizations from ten Asian countries that campaign on the issue of enforced disappearances. He is also the Program Coordinator of the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), which is a coalition of various campaign, research and advocacy organizations based in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir which monitor and investigate human right abuses.

On 22 November 2021, the NIA raided Khurram Parvez’s home and office for approximately 14 hours, seizing his and his family members’ laptops, mobile phone, and books. After the raid, he was arrested by the NIA on the basis of a First Information Report lodged on 6 November 2021. Khurram Parvez was charged under the Indian Penal Code and the UAPA, which allows for long periods of pre-trial detention and makes procuring bail extremely challenging.

On 13 May 2022, the NIA filed a preliminary charge sheet before the NIA Special Court in New Delhi and accused Khurram Parvez of “running a network of over ground workers of the Pakistan-based armed militant organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) for furthering activities of LeT and to commit terrorist attacks in India”. His detention has been extended at least five times by the NIA Special Court in New Delhi under Section 43D(2)(b) of the UAPA, which allows for the extension of the detention period for up to 180 days if the investigating agency is unable to complete the investigation of a case within a 90-day period.

Indian authorities have repeatedly targeted the human rights defender for his work in Kashmir. In 2016, he was detained for over two months and blocked from traveling to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. He was also among those targeted in counter-terrorism raids in October 2020, when several nongovernmental organizations, activists, and a newspaper faced investigations for their work and for being outspoken about government abuses.

Since August 2019, the Indian authorities have clamped down on media freedom in Kashmir. The authorities have shut down the internet more often than anywhere else in the world. The majority of the shutdowns are in Kashmir, and are aimed at silencing protests, curbing access to information and violating fundamental rights, including the right to freeexpression and association. The UAPA is increasingly being used to target human rights defenders as a reprisal for raising their voices against violations by the State. The long periods of incarceration under the UAPA subjects human rights defenders to a lengthy judicial process violating rights enshrined under international human rights law and the Constitution of India.

Front Line Defenders condemns the arrest and prolonged pre-trial detention of human rights defender Khurram Parvez and is deeply concerned about the increasing harassment of activists and journalists in Kashmir. It call on the authorities in India to immediately and unconditionally release Khurram Parvez and quash the fabricated charges against him. It also recalls the several joint statements we have issued last year, and this year – to mark the first anniversary of his arrest.