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Joint statement on India's detention of journalist Fahad Shah

Fahad Shah, a respected Kashmiri journalist, has been held for a full year under India’s anti-terror law. He must be released. 

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Dar Yasin/AP/File
Fahad Shah (right), editor-in-chief of The Kashmir Walla, works in the newsroom in Srinagar, India, on Jan. 21, 2022. Two weeks later, he was detained on accusations of publishing "anti-national content," police said, in a widening crackdown against media.

A full year has passed since Fahad Shah, editor of The Kashmir Walla newspaper and an internationally respected reporter with whom we have worked, was arrested on Feb. 4, 2022, in Kashmir for publishing “anti-national content.” 

The Kashmir Walla, which Mr. Shah founded, elevates the voices of everyday people and stands fast against unjust laws with honest reporting. But Mr. Shah has paid a heavy price for that work. He has been granted bail repeatedly, only to be immediately rearrested. He continues to be held in a jail in Jammu, far from family and friends, under the anti-terror Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. He is facing life imprisonment if convicted.

Mr. Shah’s case is a sharp reminder of the need to strengthen free voices as efforts to shut them down intensify daily around the globe. His release is particularly important to the cause of free press in Kashmir.

We, the undersigned, call on authorities to release Mr. Shah immediately and to respect his standing as an independent journalist.

Mark Sappenfield
Editor
The Christian Science Monitor

Ravi Agrawal
Editor-in-Chief
Foreign Policy

Erica Berenstein
Executive Producer of News and Documentary
Insider

Dave Besseling
Longreads Editor
South China Morning Post

D. D. Guttenplan
Editor
The Nation

Daniel Kurtz-Phelan
Editor
Foreign Affairs

Boyoung Lim
Senior Editor
Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting

Katharine Viner
Editor-in-Chief
The Guardian

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