1: Amid the spread of #COVID19, the Supreme Court of India’s order directing the arrest and imprisonment of two human rights defenders, #AnandTeltumbde and #GautamNavlakha within a week, is disappointing.
amnesty.org.in/news-update/in…
2: On one hand, the court acknowledges that overcrowded prisons present a serious threat and recommends the release of prisoners during the pandemic and then it directs 2 activists who have been critical of the government to surrender before the police and to be sent to jail.
3: Both Navlakha & Teltumbde are above 65 years old & have underlying heart ailments. The 2 activists are charged under a draconian counter-terrorism law that has repeatedly been used to silence government critics.
4: On 3 April 2020, @mbachelet of @UNHumanRights in view of the #COVID19 pandemic urged all states to release “every person detained without sufficient legal basis, including political prisoners, and those detained for critical, dissenting views”.
5: Amnesty India believes that the impending arrests of the 2, along with the arrests of the nine activists in the Bhima Koregaon case in 2018, are politically motivated actions that are aimed at chilling peaceful dissent.
#FreeBK9
6: Besides discouraging peaceful dissent in the country, the incarceration of Navlakha annd Teltumbde stands to add to India’s growing #undertrial population who live in overcrowded and unsanitary facilities with minimal physical distancing.
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