By KAMRAN YOUSUF,
SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir — Released after nearly two years in jail over terror and fake news allegations, Kashmiri journalist Fahad Shah’s weary face tells the story of deepening media repression in the volatile Indian region.
Shah’s spiral from editor-in-chief of the influential weekly magazine Kashmir Walla to inmate at a high-security jail saw him become one of nearly three dozen local journalists targeted in recent years with police raids, threats, assault and criminal charges, according to Human Rights Watch.
“It is hard to get arrested and sent away to prison,” the 34-year-old told Nikkei Asia at a cafe in Kashmir’s capital Srinagar. “It affects your mental health when you are suddenly in a changed atmosphere. … And physically, I suffered various issues and had to consult medical attention, which is limited in prisons.”
Shah’s revolving door of brief arrests linked to investigative reporting led to his jailing in 2022 over an op-ed article that had appeared in the digital magazine more than a decade earlier. It was written by a university scholar who was also jailed for what authorities said amounted to “narrative terrorism” and was “intended to create unrest, and aid and abet the gullible youth to take the path of violence.”
Geeta Seshu, founding editor of the Free Speech Collective, said the case was “a signal to others to stay quiet and not to ask questions.”
“It had an immediate chilling effect,” she added.
This story was originally published in asia.nikkei..com. Read the full story here.
