Asif Sultan is a Kashmiri journalist who has been in Indian custody since August 2018. Although recently released on bail, he was rearrested just a few hours later.
Sultan, aged 36, served as an assistant editor for a Srinagar-based English magazine and faces accusations of helping militants, a charge he vehemently denies. In addition, he is charged with murder, attempted murder, and other offenses.
Aasif Sultan gained attention for publishing “The Rise of Burhan Wani,” a profile of a Kashmiri militant that exposed the true reason for his implication in the case. This information was later openly acknowledged by the police in the Public Safety Act dossier. Sultan’s journalistic work on Burhan Wani, who was killed in 2016, was evidently disliked by the authorities.
According to a BBC report, on February 29, Asif Sultan returned to his Srinagar home after more than 2,000 days in jail on remand, spending barely five hours with his family before being summoned to a local police station and re-arrested. His father, Muhammad Sultan, expressed surprise at the unexpected arrest.
Asif Sultan’s initial arrest in August 2018 was under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), an anti-terror law making bail difficult to obtain. Police accused him of aiding and sheltering anti-India militants, charges he denies.
Colleagues allege that Sultan was targeted for an article he wrote in 2018 about Burhan Wani, a young militant leader whose death had triggered protests and violence two years earlier.
When questioned about Asif Sultan’s re-arrest, police officials in Indian-occupied Kashmir did not respond, according to the report.
Sultan remained in a Srinagar prison from August 2018 until April 2022 when a court granted him bail. However, he was then detained under the Public Safety Act (PSA), with authorities deeming him a “threat to peace.” Transferred to a jail in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, approximately 1,500 km (932 miles) from his home, he was released in December 2023 after a court in Srinagar quashed the PSA detention. Nevertheless, it took 78 days for his release to be actualized.
On February 29, shortly after his return home, Asif Sultan was once again detained. This time, his lawyer states that a case had been filed against him under the UAPA related to a 2019 incident of rioting at Srinagar’s Central Jail, where prisoners allegedly ransacked barracks after a dispute with prison staff, as reported by the BBC.
