Censorship

Journalists hold protest against continuous detention of Asif Sultan

Srinagar: A protest was held by journalists on Monday against the continuous detention of Asid Sultan, the Assistant Editor of the monthly magazine Kashmir Narrator.

The protest program was organised by Kashmir Journalist Association (KJA) and was attended by Kashmir Working Journalists Association, (KWJA), Kashmir Photojournalists Association (KPA) and Video Journalists Association of Kashmir (VJAK).

The protesting journalists demanded immediate release of Asif Sultan, who was arrested by police last month. They alleged that the rights of the journalists are being violated in the Kashmir Valley.

Meanwhile, Asif Sultan’s “illegal” detention has been challenged in court, sources said. They said that court has issues notice to the State government and fixed September 13, the date for the case hearing.

After being arrested in a nocturnal raid at his Batamaloo residence on recently, Aasif has been languishing in police custody. The Srinagar district court on Saturday remanded the assistant editor to central jail in judicial custody till 22nd September.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned the arrest of Kashmir Narrator Assistant Editor Aasif Sultan and demanded his ‘immediate release’ in a statement issued.

In a similar incident, the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society condemned the recent arrests of Kashmir Narrator assistant editor Aasif Sultan and human rights activist Gautam Navlakha among others in a statement.

“Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) condemns these arrests and hopes that people in India and institutions would rise to this occasion and express unconditional solidarity with these activists and all those who in a similar manner are being targeted by the ruling class for the work which is produced by them. This sustained stifling of the dissent has made India an absolute majoritarian and authoritarian regime,” the statement read.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called for “immediate and unconditional” release of Kashmiri journalist Aasif Sultan, a Kashmiri journalist who has been held by the police in Srinagar, “in violation of all criminal procedure rules for the past ten days”.

“Detaining a journalist without any serious evidence to support the charges against him is unacceptable,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific desk, in a statement.

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