Amnesty International’s former India chief said Wednesday he was stoppedfrom flying to the United States because of government legal action againstthe human rights watchdog.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration has long been accused oftrying to silence critics, and activists say they have been targeted forharassment since he took office in 2014.
Aakar Patel said he was stopped from boarding his flight to the UnitedStates at the airport in the southern city of Bangalore because he was onan “exit control list”.
He wrote on Twitter that he was then contacted by the country’s CentralBureau of Investigation (CBI) and told he was prevented from leaving”because of the case Modi govt has filed against Amnesty InternationalIndia”.
Amnesty has been a vocal critic of the Modi government’s treatment ofminorities and alleged abuses by Indian security forces in the disputedterritory of Kashmir.
It halted its India operations in 2020 after the government froze its bankaccounts in what the group said was part of an official “witch hunt”.
Amnesty’s Bangalore offices had been raided two years earlier by theEnforcement Directorate, which investigates financial crimes in India.
The group had also faced sedition charges, later dropped, over a 2016 eventto discuss human rights violations in Kashmir.
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Amnesty on Wednesday called on Indian authorities to allow Patel to fly.
“For Aakar, who dares to raise his voice peacefully and consistentlyagainst injustice, a travel ban is nothing but retaliation from the Indiangovernment against his activism,” said the watchdog’s deputy secretarygeneral Kyle Ward.
Last week, prominent Indian activist and writer Rana Ayyub was preventedfrom flying to London to speak about the intimidation of journalists inIndia.
Ayyub, a fierce government critic, tweeted that she was stopped at Mumbaiairport because of a probe into an alleged money laundering case againsther.
Delhi’s high court on Monday gave the 37-year-old permission to fly.-APP/AFP
