New Delhi, March 8, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Indian authorities to grant photojournalist Kamran Yousuf bail. The bail decision was expected March 7, according to news reports, but has not been handed down yet. Yousuf, a freelancer working in the Jammu and Kashmir region, who contributes to the daily Greater Kashmir, has been in custody since September 5, 2017, after being arrested for allegedly throwing stones, according to reports. He faces charges of sedition, criminal conspiracy, and attempting to wage war against India, CPJ has documented.
“The prosecution has yet to present any credible evidence to support the charges against Yousuf,” CPJ Deputy Executive Director Robert Mahoney said from New York. “Yousuf has already spent six months in jail and any fair examination of the facts should lead to immediate granting of bail.”
In January, an Indian court transferred Yousuf’s bail plea to a different court on the day a decision was expected, thus delaying the bail decision, according to the Indian Express.