Khurram Parvez, coordinator of the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) and Chair of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD), has spent decades documenting human rights violations in Indian-administered Kashmir, including enforced disappearances, torture and extrajudicial killings. Irfan Mehraj, a journalist and human rights defender associated with JKCCS, has similarly contributed to documenting and reporting on human rights concerns in the region.
Both human rights defenders have faced prosecution under spurious allegations related to terrorism and secessionism that human rights organisations have consistently characterised as politically motivated and unsupported by credible evidence. The charges against both defenders remain in place, and the conditions attached to Khurram Parvez’s release continue to impose severe restrictions on his rights and freedoms. The international community, including the UN human rights system, must remain closely engaged until all charges are dropped and any restrictions on their work and freedom come to an end.
22 July 2022: The case in which Khurram Parvez, a prominent Kashmiri human rights defender, and Irfan Mehraj, a Kashmiri journalist and human rights defender – both associated with the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) – have been granted bail involves trumped-up charges of “funding terror activities” and “propagation of secessionist agenda” in retaliation for their widely respected and recognised human rights documentation and accountability work through JKCCS. On 18 July 2026, a New Delhi District Court held the bail hearing in this case.
In June 2023, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD), in its Opinion No. 8/2023, determined that Khurram Parvez’s detention was arbitrary and called on the Indian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release him.
Although the conditional release of the two defenders comes as a relief, after a prolonged period of arbitrary pre-trial detention, the harassment through legal means against them continues, in a context of longstanding and ongoing grave violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Observatory calls on the Indian authorities to drop all charges against Khurram and Irfan, as they are part of politically motivated proceedings aimed at discrediting their legitimate work and the JKCCS.
https://www.fidh.org/en/region/asia/india/india-khurram-parvez-and-irfan-mehraj-released-on-bail
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 