European Union Parliament body demands release of Anti-CAA protesters, writes to Amit Shah

Maria Arena, Chair of European Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights, a parliamentary body has written to Home Minister Amit Shah expressing concern over arrests of Anti-CAA activists. The body actively monitors human rights developments across the globe.

Here is Marie’s tweet.

Here are five important components of the story

• The letter by DROI Chair comes at a time when several arrests anti-CAA Muslim activists along with other Human Rights defenders are being carried out in India. The recent one is two students of Aligarh Muslim University.

• The letter says that the European Parliament has noticed that government India is labelling Pro-Democracy protests like CAA as terrorist activity.

• The letter mentions arrests of, Sharjeel Imam, Asif Iqbal, Kafeel Khan, Shifa Ur Rahman, Meeran Haider, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Safoora Zargar, Khalid Saifi, Gulshifa Fatima, Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha.

• The letter also states that UAPA gives discretionary power to state agencies.

• The letter mentions that the unprecedented situation of Covid19 pandemic has led to repeated calls by the United Nations for the immediate release of prisoners of conscience as part of overall efforts to contain the outbreak.