Kashmiri journalist Asif Sultan released after five-year detention

Kashmiri journalist Asif Sultan, who was arrested for allegedly providing logistical support to militants in the state, has been released after a five-year detention, officials said on Thursday.

Sultan was released two months after the Jammu and Kashmir High Court in December 2023 quashed his detention order under the Public Safety Act. The court had said the authorities "did not follow the procedural requirements in letter and spirit".

Officials said Sultan's release was delayed because authorities at Ambedkar Nagar district jail in Uttar Pradesh were awaiting clearance letters from Kashmir's home department and the Srinagar district magistrate.

"He reached home today and was also taken to SMHS hospital for a check-up for a chest infection," the officials added. Sultan was first arrested in a UAPA case in September 2018, when he was working as a reporter with a local magazine, for allegedly "providing logistical support to a banned militant group."

In April 2022, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court granted him bail in the case "on the grounds that investigative agencies failed to establish his links with any militant group". However, days later he was booked under the PSA.