The Latest Breaking News from Fahad Shah

There is little that parties in poll-bound Jammu and Kashmir are offering for journalists despite increased challenges to press freedom over the last five years in the erstwhile state.

Jammu and Kashmir is set to hold assembly polls after a decade in October, but it seems that not every journalist will be able to cover it freely – the past five years have been especially difficult for the press in the valley.

Kashmiri journalist and The Kashmir Walla editor Fahad Shah walked out of the jail today after nearly two years of incarceration – a week after the Jammu and Kashmir High Court granted him bail in a case involving a purported “seditious” article he wrote 13 years ago. 

Shah is owner and editor of independent news portal Kashmir Walla, banned earlier this year by the Indian government.

Fahad Shah, 36, founder and editor of the Srinagar-based news magazine and portal The Kashmir Walla, is likely to be released this week, days after the Jammu & Kashmir High Court came down heavily on the administration for invoking various sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) against him…

The arrest of Kashmir journalist Sajad Gul in January 2022 was part of a “tendency” by authorities to “detain the critics of the policies...of the government machinery” which is an “abuse of the preventive law”. 

The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has quashed several charges including that of terror conspiracy against an editor of a news portal. Read further on Dynamite News:

J&K High Court grants bail to Fahad Shah, editor of The Kashmir Walla, after 21 months in jail under PSA & quashing charges under UAPA. He still faces trial under Sections 13 & 35, 39 of UAPA & FCRA. His arrest was widely condemned by journalists' bodies.

Police in disputed Kashmir region threaten legal action against the broadcaster for reporting on media crackdown.