Irfan Mehraj is an independent Kashmiri journalist and human rights defender whose reporting for local and international outlets has covered minority rights, and alleged government abuses in Kashmir. On March 20, 2023, India’s National Investigation Agency arrested him, citing his past association with the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCSS) and leveling terrorism and secessionism charges as part of a sweeping “NGO terror funding case.” These allegations form part of a broader investigation launched against JKCSS and other Kashmiri NGOs in 2020, which have been widely criticized by international observers. As of August 2026, he has now spent more than  three years in pre-trial detention in a New Delhi maximum-security prison, roughly 500 miles from his home in Srinagar – punished at length without ever being convicted.