Kashmiri journalist Irfan Mehraj has been arrested by the National Investigation Agency under draconian UAPA in Srinagar on Monday.
Irfan has been arrested in case no RC-37/2020/NIA/DLI alleging terror funding, the same FIR under which human rights defender Khurram Parvez was arrested in 2021.
Irfan was formerly a researcher with Khurram’s JKCCS.
Irfan who was the founding editor of Wande Magazine is now a senior editor at TwoCircles.net.
Irfan has been shifted to Delhi, said journalist Raqib Hameed Naik.
Over the last two years, Irfan was questioned multiple times by the NIA. His electronic gadgets were confiscated in 2020.
Irfan who is one of the prominent journalists in the Valley has contributed to prominent media outlets like Al Jazeera English and DW News.
NIA has claimed Mehraj is its first arrest in the ‘NGO-terror funding case’.
The case has been filed under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 124-A (inciting disaffection towards government through words, signs, etc. of Indian Penal Code and 17 (fund raising for terror activities), 18 (conspiracy to commit terror act), 22A & 22C (relating to offences committed by registered companies), 38 (offence relating to membership of a terrorist organisation), 39 (supporting terrorist organisation) and 40 (raising funds for terrorist organisation) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
