UN Urges India to Release Human Rights Defender Khurram Parvez
The United Nations (UN) is calling on India to immediately release Kashmiri human rights activist Khurram Parvez, according to a joint press release from the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), Forum Asia, and CIVICUS.
Parvez, a key figure in human rights advocacy in Kashmir, was arrested on 22 November 2021, under India's stringent anti-terrorism legislation. He is currently detained in Delhi's Rohini Jail.
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) declared Parvez's detention as "arbitrary" in an opinion adopted on 28 March 2023 and released on 5 June 2023. They expressed grave concern over his arrest's repercussions on India's civil society, human rights defenders, and journalists. The WGAD has also called for Parvez to be compensated and provided with other reparations.
"The UN ruling on Khurram Parvez’s case definitively confirms that his detention is a retaliation for his human rights work, aimed at silencing him and Kashmiri civil society as a whole," said Alice Mogwe, FIDH President.
The WGAD, a body authorised by the UN Human Rights Council, investigates alleged cases of arbitrary detention. The group considers individual complaints and decides whether a particular person's detention is arbitrary. This recent opinion from WGAD was in response to a complaint filed by FIDH, CIVICUS, FORUM-ASIA, and OMCT on behalf of Parvez.
Gerald Staberock, OMCT Secretary-General, highlighted that Parvez's detention was not an isolated incident. "The arbitrary and unjust detention of Khurram Parvez is a consequence of India’s continuous assaults on those who uncover the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government’s discriminatory and abusive policies," he stated.
The WGAD concluded that Parvez's imprisonment violates several articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. They found that the authorities could not establish a legal basis for Parvez's detention and that the violations of his right to a fair trial were severe enough to make his detention arbitrary.
The rights groups welcomed the WGAD's opinion and reiterated their demand for the immediate and unconditional release of Parvez and all other human rights defenders currently imprisoned in India. They also called for all charges to be dismissed.
Khurram Parvez, who has faced multiple charges relating to criminal conspiracy and terrorism, serves as the Program Coordinator of the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), the Chairperson of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), and FIDH Deputy Secretary-General. His arrest in 2021 came after a 14-hour raid on his home and the JKCCS office in Srinagar by National Investigation Agency (NIA) officers.
By William Gomes, ModernGhana, UK