Home Human Rights Indian Americans welcome release of Muslim doctor in India, demand freedom for...
Indian Americans welcome release of Muslim doctor in India, demand freedom for other prisoners of conscience
By Muslim Mirror Desk
Washington/New Delhi/: Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), an advocacy group committed to safeguarding India's pluralist and tolerant ethos has welcomed the release from prison of Dr. Kafeel Khan, a whistleblower Indian Muslim doctor who has been repeatedly imprisoned by the government in Uttar Pradesh state on false criminal charges. In a press statement IAMC has also welcomed the release of Pinjra Tod activist Devangana Kalita and former AMU student leaders Sharjeel Usmani and Farhan Zuberi.
IAMC lauded the High Court in Uttar Pradesh, which ordered his release this week, for rejecting the government's claim that the 39-year-old pediatrician had tried to "increase hatred, enmity and disharmony towards Hindus" in a speech last December. The government had booked Dr. Khan under the draconian National Security Act.
That the High Court unequivocally ruled that Dr. Khan "did not promote hatred or violence" but, in fact, gave a call for "unity among citizens" in his speech exposed that the state government's true intent behind incarcerating Dr. Khan is to persecute India's Muslims for protesting India's new anti-Muslim citizenship law said IAMC.
"In his speech from December that caused his arrest, Dr. Kafeel Khan had blamed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government for its economic failures and rising unemployment, and criticized it for bringing the citizenship law with the sole aim of rendering millions of Muslims illegal migrants in their country of birth," said Ahsan Khan, President of the Indian American Muslim Council. "As the high court said, he broke no law but actually performed his duty as a law-abiding citizen in a democracy, but was punished nonetheless," added Mr. Khan.
'It is appalling that the Uttar Pradesh government has repeatedly filed false criminal cases against Dr. Khan over the last three years. He was jailed for seven months in 2017 on the false accusation that his negligence had caused the death of 70 minor patients at a government hospital when several investigations revealed that Dr. Khan had, in fact, worked day and night to save hundreds of children from certain death by arranging oxygen for them with his own money, said the statement.
"The Uttar Pradesh government, which is also run by Mr. Modi's political party, the BJP, has viciously attacked, killed and imprisoned hundreds of Muslims over the last seven months in a bid to terrorize India's largest religious minority and to browbeat it into submission to the new citizenship law," said Syed Ali Vice President of IAMC.
The Indian Government must immediately set free hundreds of other activists and human rights defenders such as Ishrat Jahan, Natasha Narwal, Meeran Haider, Sharjeel Imam, Khalid Saifi, Akhil Gogoi, Dhairjya Konwar, Bittu Sonowal, Manash Konwar, who were arrested during the anti-CAA protests. IAMC has also demanded the release of former Gujarat-cadre IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, poet-activist Varavara Rao, Ex-DU professor GN Saibaba, social activists and intellectuals Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha, who were arrested in the 2018 Bhima Koregaon case.
"Mr. Modi's government is adamant at sabotaging the right to protest and the freedom of expression, which have long been the cornerstone of the Indian democracy," Mr. Ahsan Khan of IAMC said. "As Dr. Khan said in his December speech, no matter how severe the repression, India's Muslims will not flinch in fighting such persecution and will eventually defeat the repression." it added.
IAMC is dedicated to promoting the common values of pluralism, tolerance, and respect for human rights that form the basis of the world's two largest secular democracies – the United States and India.
Dr Kafeel Khan
Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC)
Previous articleDalit community in Kerala denied access to Haircut ; barred from barber shops
Next articleIs BJP responsible for pushing Bangladesh out of India's orbit?
Dr Kafeel Khan's book on Gorakhpur tragedy, his journey
Protest against termination of Dr. Kafeel Khan
Kafeel Khan terminated from service by UP Govt after 4-year battle
mian September 4, 2020 At 3:50 pm
these muslims should fight for democracy ,freedom in muslim countries
pakistan, afghanistan, iran, syria, saudi arabia.
and muslims as in your paper, criticise pm modi govt in worst manner. in shahhen bagh, toothless old women, and young kids called for murder of pm modi and amit shah.
would they do dare do so in your own free muslim countries. would not dare.
journalists in pakistan often killed and dumped on the roads. talibanin afganistan bombing every day- done even spare their own.
in usa blacks are just killed for frrivilous reasons. i dare these muslims to take up the cause of these blacks. ofcource they willnot
its allways for muslims only.and for muslims in fascist india- not for muslims in own
mr mujtiba. start this dialogue-badly needed
ZS September 6, 2020 At 10:12 pm
All the muslim countries are having their own freedom and no need for new freedom like the BJP which is creating a new Hindutva freedom and destroying the Indian democracy.
Every now and then, we see BJP, RSS & Hindu mobs lynching innocent muslims on the pretext of one thing or other of your so called freedom & democracy of BJP.
Hindu fanatics every now and then assault innocent & poor muslims to chant Jai shri ram and other things, is this the meaning of freedom in your mind. You cannot impose your way of freedom on others which is un democratic.
The muslim countries are far better as they are not assaulting the Hindu brothers working there in the Gulf to Chant Allahu Akbar.
Muslims in the US are helping a lot to support the blacks and have been taken care of by many organizations, that's why many of them are reverting to Islam since a couple of years.
Islam is the religion of peace where it doesn't recognize any individual on the basis of Caste, Creed, Color, Race or Ethnicity. We are all one as Humans.