Joint Statement in Support of Professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad: Drop All Charges and End the Crackdown on Dissent
Indian American Muslim Council and Hindus for Human Rights demand that the Indian government and judiciary immediately drop all charges against Professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad. We further urge Indian authorities to release all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience who remain incarcerated simply for exercising their democratic rights.
Professor Mahmudabad was arrested on Sunday, May 18, following a spurious complaint by a leader affiliated with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The complaint was based on a social media post by the professor in which he decried the escalating India-Pakistan military confrontation. He was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court of India on Wednesday, May 21.
In his post, made in the wake of Operation Sindoor—India’s air strikes on targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir—Professor Mahmudabad wrote: “The loss of civilian life is tragic on both sides and is the main reason why war should be avoided.”
He also exposed the hypocrisy of Hindu nationalist commentators who celebrated Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, a Muslim officer who briefed the media during the operation, while ignoring the ongoing violence and discrimination faced by Indian Muslims. “I am very happy to see so many right-wing commentators applauding Colonel Sofiya Qureshi,” he noted, “but perhaps they could also equally loudly demand that the victims of mob lynchings, arbitrary bulldozing, and others who are victims of the BJP’s hate mongering be protected as Indian citizens.”
His arrest is a chilling reminder that the Modi government is exploiting the India-Pakistan crisis to intensify its authoritarian crackdown on dissent, and on academic and press freedoms at home.
Rather than dismissing what is clearly an attempt to misuse national security to suppress speech, the Supreme Court labeled Professor Mahmudabad’s post as “dog whistling” and an attempt at “cheap publicity”—language that invites police harassment and paves the way for continued legal persecution.
Professor Mahmudabad’s targeting comes amid a broader assault on free expression in India. In the past two weeks alone, Indian authorities have blocked over 8,000 X (formerly Twitter) accounts, and geo-blocked or entirely removed independent media platforms including The Wire, Maktoob Media, and several Kashmiri outlets—some of which were only partially restored later. Through this sweeping digital censorship, the government seeks to suppress its own grave intelligence failure that allowed a deadly terrorist attack to kill 26 people, most of them Hindu, in Pahalgam, Kashmir.
This is not an isolated case. Professor Mahmudabad’s arrest is part of a long-running pattern of repression targeting Muslim intellectuals and activists in India. Nearly five years have passed since Umar Khalid, Sharjeel Imam, Gulfisha Fatima, and other Muslim student leaders were imprisoned under draconian laws like the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for peacefully protesting the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. These prisoners of conscience have faced fabricated charges, prolonged detention without trial, and a judiciary unwilling to uphold their basic rights.
India must end its crackdown on academics, journalists, and dissenters; cease its digital censorship; and uphold the values enshrined in its Constitution. All Indians—regardless of religion—deserve to live in dignity, safety, and freedom.
