March 10th, 2012, New Delhi

The undersigned condemn the arrest of senior journalist Syed Mohammad Kazmi by the Delhi Police Special Cell in connection with the attack on Israeli diplomat last month. Mr. Kazmi’s arrest is reminiscent of the arrest and false allegations against another veteran journalist, Iftikhar Gilani, several years ago. We fear that Mr. Kazmi may be made a scapegoat in order to please an international lobby. It is no secret that Israel held Iran culpable within minutes of the attack, and there has been immense pressure on India to sever its ties with Iran—both from Israel and US (to the extent that US displayed its obvious unhappiness to foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai over the fact that India was not heeding the unilateral sanctions imposed by the US on Iran.)

Israel also pressured India to support a resolution condemning “Iranian terrorism” in the UN Security Council. While the Indian government has so far held out against the pressure, even refusing to implicate Iran in the attack, a recent report in Jerusalem Post stated that, “Israel provided the Indian authorities with information on two suspects in the attack connected with Iran” (Article.aspx?id=257830). Has Mr. Kazmi been picked up upon tips provided by Israeli agencies? How credible can these inputs be, given Israel’s clear intent to condemn and implicate Iran as the source of the attack? We are anxious that the Persian-knowing Mr. Kazmi, a journalist with the Iranian News agency, IRNA, who would obviously be in regular touch with his sources and employers in Iran and the Iranian embassy, is being targeted precisely because of these reasons.

Mr. Kazmi is well respected and known to the journalist fraternity for his professional integrity.

We demand that he be immediately released on bail and the due process of law followed.Aamir Idrisi, President, Association of Muslim Professionals
Abdul Daiyan, social activist, Bihar
Abu Zafar Adil Azmi, Special Correspondent, Afkar-e-Milli
Afroz Alam Sahil, Editor, Beyondheadlines
Ajit Sahi, Senior Journalist, Delhi
Anuradha Bhasin, Editor, Kashmir Times
Arundhati Roy, Writer and Activist
Asad Zaidi
Azam Khan, social activist, Hyderabad
Bhavna Sharma, social activists, Anhad
Bobby Kunhu
Dilip Khan, Journalist
Dr Anand Pradhan
Dr. Hilal Ahmed, Associate Fellow, CSDS
Dr. Saroj Giri, University of Delhi
Dr. Zafarul Islam Khan, Editor, the Milli Gazette
Farah Naqvi, Writer & Activist, Delhi
Fr Cedric Prakash, Human Rights Activist
Gauhar Iqbal, Palestine Foundation
Hanif Lakdawala, social activist, Gujarat
Harsh Kapoor, SACW.net
Hilal Ahmed
Imran Khan, social activist, Anhad
Jawed Naqvi, Senior Journalist
John Dayal, Member, National Integration Council

Kamayani Bali Mahabal, Human rights Activist, Mumbai
Khadeeja Arif, BBC News
Khurshid Anwar
KN Panikkar, Historian
Kundan Pandey, Journalist
Madhuresh Kumar
Mahesh Bhatt, Filmmaker
Mahtab Alam, Civil Rights Activist and Freelance Journalist
Manisha Sethi, Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association
Mansi Sharma, Social Activist
Md. Ali, Twocircles.Net
Mukul Dube
Mukul Kesavan, writer and historian
Mumtaz Alam Falahi, Editor, Twocircles.Net
Nandita Das, film actress
Navaid Hamid, Member, National Integration Council
Neshat Quaiser, Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi
Panini Anand, Editor, Pratirodh
Prof. Anuradha Chenoy, JNU
Prof. Anwar Alam, Center for West Asian Studies, Jamia
Prof. Apoorvanand, Delhi University
Prof. Jairus Banaji, Historian
Prof. Kamal Mitra Chenoy, JNU
Prof. Nirmalangshu Mukherjee, University of Delhi
Prof. Shohini Ghosh, MCRC, Jamia
Ram Puniyani, social activist, writer
Sadiq Naqvi, Journalist
Sanjay Kak, Filmmaker
Sanjay Sharma, social activist, Anhad
Satya Sivaraman, journalist
Seema Mustafa, Senior Journalist
Shabnam Hashmi, Social Activist, ANHAD
Shafi Mahajir ,advocate Hyderabad
Sharmila Tagore, Actor
Shivam Vij
Sohail Hashmi, filmmaker, writer
Soheb Niazi
Sucheta Dey, President, JNU Student Union
Sukumar Muralidharan, journalist
Tanveer Hussain, activist, Kashmir
Vijayan MJ
Vivan Sundaram, artist
Waliullah Laskar, Activist
Zaheeruddin Ali Khan, editor, SiasatZoobi Amir, Film Maker Delhi