Gender: Male

Perpetrator: India

Religion or Belief: Muslim – Unspecified/Other

Reports of Torture: No

Reports of Medical Neglect: No

Date of Detainment: March/20/2023

Current Status: Not Released

Religious Leader: No

Most Recent Type of Abuse: Detainment

Reason for Persecution: Human Rights Work for Religious Communities Reporting on Religious Freedom Conditions or Documenting Religious Freedom Violations

Nature of Charges: Criminal Premeditation & Conspiracy Illicit Financing Terrorism Threat Treason & Sedition

Irfan Mehraj

Extra Bio Info:

Irfan Mehraj is detained for his human rights work and journalism for vulnerable religious communities.

On March 20, 2023, authorities with the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested Mehraj, a human rights activist and journalist, in Srinagar after summoning him for questioning. The NIA accused him of working at the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), a human rights organization known for documenting human rights violations committed by authorities in Kashmir, a Muslim-majority area. The NIA has accused JKCCS of funding terrorist activities and arrested its leader, human rights defender Khurram Parvez, in the same case. Mehraj was also known for his reporting on marginalized religious communities.

Mehraj was reportedly charged with conspiracy (Sec. 120B IPC), sedition (Sec. 124A IPC), raising funds for terrorist acts (Sec. 17 UAPA), conspiracy (Sec. 18 UAPA), threatening a witness by a company (Sec. 22A and 22C UAPA), associating with a terrorist organization (Sec. 38 UAPA), supporting a terrorist organization (Sec. 39 UAPA), and raising funds for a terrorist organization (Sec. 40 UAPA).

On March 24, 2023, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders Mary Lawlor called for Mehraj's release.

Related Cases: Khurram Parvez

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