Srinagar journalist Aasif Sultan completes three years in Indian jail

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published 4 years ago

SRINAGAR—Aasif Sultan, a Kashmiri journalist, detained under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) since 27th August 2018, has completed three years in prison as an under-trial during which he has not been granted bail so far in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

Sultan was detained from his home in August 2018 and arrested a few days later, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Police filed a charge sheet against him in February 2019, KMS reported.

A month before his arrest, Sultan had written a cover story for the Kashmir Narrator magazine on Burhan Wani, a popular youth leader whose martyrdom in 2016 by the Indian forces sparked a major uprising in Kashmir that lasted several months.

Sultan has received several awards for his work from various journalist organizations across the globe. Last year, he was named one of TIME Magazine's "10 Most Urgent" examples of threats to press freedom throughout the world. He is being held at the Srinagar Central Jail.

The next hearing of Sultan's case is scheduled for 1st September 2021.