After being imprisoned for two years without trial, an Indian journalist in Lucknow (northern India) was released on Thursday February 2 after being released on bail in a money laundering case.
Siddique Kappan was arrested in October 2020 in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where he had traveled to report on a high-profile gang rape case.
“I have never been afraid”
Along with three other people, he had been accused of belonging to an Islamist group and charged with incitement to religious hatred.
Siddique Kappan claimed his innocence in vain, claiming to have traveled from Kerala, his native state, to Uttar Pradesh to accomplish his mission as a journalist.
India's Supreme Court ordered his release on bail last September but the journalist remained behind bars in another money laundering case.
“
I will continue my fight against the draconian laws.
They kept me in jail even after I was released on bail
,” he told NDTV news channel after his release from jail in the city of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.
"
These two years have been very hard, but I have never been afraid
," he added.
Since the Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, India has been downgraded again in 2022 in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) world press freedom index, dropping to 150th place ( out of 180).
