Authorities in Indian-held Kashmir on Wednesday freed a prominent rights activist, who had been detained for two and a half months, after a court ruled his arrest was illegal. Khurram Parvez, 39, was released from prison nearly a week after a court in occupied Srinagar ordered him freed, saying that authorities had abused their powers and arrested him arbitrarily.
"Khurram Parvez was formally released from police custody... He was set at liberty after 76 days of incarceration, following the quashing of his preventive detention by the High Court," Parvez's group, the Jammu-Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), said in a brief statement.
Indian police arrested Parvez in September at the peak of deadly protests against Indian rule of the territory. Parvez was accused of being a threat to peace and was imprisoned under the Public Safety Act, which allows authorities to detain anyone for up to two years without trial. Many international rights bodies, including UN Rapporteurs, had campaigned for his release. Parvez said he was happy to be back with his family and vowed to continue defending human rights.
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