JOIN USJournalists and activists campaigning for the release of freelance journalist Syed Ahmed Mohammed Kazmi on Wednesday released bank account and foreign remittance details, claiming that the police version implicating him in the terror attack against an Israeli diplomat was flawed.
“He was hustled into a police vehicle at 11:30 am as he emerged from the India Islamic Cultural Centre (IICC). The arrest memo given to Kazmi’s family on March 17, following an order by Delhi’s Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM), records his arrest at 11:30 pm,” a statement by the group said.
Kazmi, who worked with an Iranian news agency, was arrested on March 6. The Kazmi Solidarity Committee claimed the journalist was interrogated through the early phase of his detention by unidentified persons.
“Contrary to the clear guidelines laid down in the D K Basu case, several of the police personnel who interrogated him did not wear name tags or uniforms. This earned the Special Branch of the Delhi Police a stern reprimand by CMM Vinod Yadav on March 17,” the statement said.
It added that the 'suspicious money' transfer, estimated at about Rs 19 lakh by Delhi Police, had nothing shady about it.
“Kazmi’s family has documentation which establishes that these transactions date back at least four years and originate in the Gulf Emirate of Dubai. They are following a regular monthly pattern and were all sent by Jahanara Kazmi’s son from a previous marriage to Kazmi’s long deceased elder brother,” according to the statement.
In the letter addressed to the chief metropolitan magistrate, Kazmi had claimed that he was being forced to sign on papers without reading them.
“I am constantly being threatened about my life and that of my family,” said the letter.
The committee consists of lawyer- activist Colin Gonsalves, journalists Seema Mustafa, Kuldip Nayar, Javed Naqvi, Ajit Sahi, Iftikhar Gilani and others.