After 658 days in jail, Kashmir journalist Fahad Shah shares his story
| Srinagar, India
On a chilly winter afternoon, Fahad Shah stares at the wilted flowers in the walled compound of his home on the outskirts of Srinagar.聽
鈥淚t feels different to be free,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 wake up and see my family, and it feels good.鈥澛�
Mr. Shah, a prominent journalist from Kashmir and a contributor to 海角大神, was released on bail last week after being jailed for 658 days. Indian authorities charged him with 鈥済lorifying terrorism鈥� and publishing 鈥渁nti-national content,鈥� as well as receiving foreign funds illegally. The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, however, found insufficient evidence to try Mr. Shah on terrorism charges, and granted the beleaguered editor bail.聽
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onThe release of Fahad Shah is a triumph for the friends and family who鈥檝e been fighting for the newspaper editor鈥檚 freedom. It鈥檚 also a rare moment of relief amid an ongoing crackdown on press freedom in the region.
Global media watchdogs and journalists from the region view Mr. Shah鈥檚 experience as part of a wider crackdown on media in Indian-controlled Kashmir, where authorities have been accused of intimidation, harassment, and the systematic targeting of critical voices. Press freedom advocates have welcomed Mr. Shah鈥檚 release, demanding that all remaining charges against him be dropped and the blockade on his popular news portal, The Kashmir Walla, be reversed.聽
鈥淔ahad鈥檚 ordeal reflects the challenges journalists in Jammu and Kashmir endure for doing their work,鈥� says Kunal Majumder, India representative of the Committee To Protect Journalists (CPJ). 鈥淲e also call for the immediate release of journalists Aasif Sultan and Majid Hyderi, who face similar charges and are in preventive custody even after being granted bail by the court.鈥�
鈥淎uthorities in Jammu and Kashmir must stop this trend of criminalizing journalists and be tolerant of critical and dissenting voices,鈥� he adds.
Kashmir鈥檚 ongoing media crackdown
After his initial arrest in February 2022, Mr. Shah was held in a series of police facilities and jails across the region. After he secured bail in one case, authorities arrested him for another. When he secured bail in that too, they slapped him with the Public Safety Act, a draconian law that allows a person to be held in jail without trial, though the high court quashed that case months ago. He was eventually booked under four different cases in what as a 鈥渞evolving-door detention.鈥�
Mr. Shah says this coordinated effort to keep him behind bars was crushing.
鈥淓very time I would feel like [I was] getting released, something new would happen,鈥� he says.聽
Last week, a court declared that local law enforcement lacked evidence to prove charges filed under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, a stringent anti-terror law, and that Mr. Shah did not pose a 鈥渃lear and present鈥� danger to society.
Keeping him in jail 鈥渨ould mean that any criticism of the central government can be described as a terrorist act because the honor of India is its incorporeal property,鈥� states the court鈥檚 bail order. 鈥淪uch a proposition would collide headlong with the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression enshrined in Article 19 of the constitution.鈥�
Indeed, these freedoms are under sharp threat in Kashmir.聽
It has never been easy for journalists to operate in the heavily militarized Himalayan region, but under Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Kashmir 鈥� and India more broadly 鈥� has experienced a significant press freedom backslide.
After the Modi government stripped the region of its limited autonomy and imposed a monthslong communication blackout in 2019, the crackdown on Kashmiri journalists intensified. Many have been questioned by police, had their homes and news offices raided, been forced to reveal sources, and been barred from leaving the country. In August, authorities blocked access to The Kashmir Walla鈥檚 website and social media in India, effectively shutting down one of the region鈥檚 last independent media organizations without explanation.聽
Today, there are at least four Kashmiri journalists who remain incarcerated.聽
Days after Mr. Shah鈥檚 bail, a court quashed the聽Public Safety Act charge against Sajad Gul, a Kashmir Walla trainee who has been in jail since January 2022. Mr. Gul has yet to be released.聽
Another journalist, Irfan Mehraj, was arrested in March under terrorism charges, and Mr. Sultan and Mr. Hyderi, as mentioned by India鈥檚 CPJ representative, also remain imprisoned.
Adjusting to life outside jail
Relatives, friends, and fellow journalists have been thronging Mr. Shah鈥檚 home since his release.聽
鈥淚t is really moving to see so many of my colleagues,鈥� says Mr. Shah. 鈥淓veryone was hugging, and there were these tight hugs, and people hugging twice, thrice; it made me feel I have not been forgotten. ... There are people who have been waiting to see me.鈥澛�
They discuss the state of journalism, fill him in on who got married while he was in jail, and crack jokes to lighten the mood. And when Mr. Shah describes his time in jail, legs covered under a blanket, everyone in the room listens intently.
鈥淧rison breaks you bit by bit,鈥� he says.聽
He describes his 鈥渨orst days鈥� of incarceration during the initial months of his arrest, when he was confined to a small cell where he couldn鈥檛 stretch out his body properly.聽
鈥淚 was not in touch with my family. I don鈥檛 know what was happening outside that cell,鈥� says Mr. Shah, who looks frail and fatigued, with dried lips and dark circles under his eyes. 鈥淚 was exhausted and mentally tortured. ... I used to get these hallucinations and imaginations about what must have happened at home.鈥�
Those who know him well say he looks shattered. But it wasn鈥檛 all so painful.聽
After being sent to Kot Bhalwal jail in June 2022, Mr. Shah says he made peace with his new reality and tried to become part of the jail community.
鈥淭here are prisoners of different kinds and [from] different areas,鈥� he says. 鈥淥nly inmates are there for each other in happiness and gloom.鈥�
He also had time to read lots of books, mostly about his favorite subject: culture and media.聽
鈥淥ther than that, I would read newspapers. But there wasn鈥檛 much to do,鈥� he says.聽
All the while, Mr. Shah says he felt like he was becoming a character in an article. The questions he so often asked as a reporter 鈥� about how long a person had been in prison, the charges against them, and what it was like being targeted by the state 鈥� were suddenly relevant to his own life.聽聽
鈥淭here was a point when I was writing about these people, and then I became one of those people,鈥� says Mr. Shah. 鈥淚 became the character of my own story. Now it was about me.鈥�
Mr. Shah knows that spending 21 months in jail has changed him as a person and as a journalist, but he鈥檚 not sure what comes next.聽
While longing for his release in jail, he made plans about everything, from the kinds of food he was going to eat when he got out to when he would return to work. Now that he is free, he says he feels out of place.聽
Right now, his priority is to consult doctors about his mental and physical state, he says. 鈥淚鈥檓 still trying to figure out things.鈥�
