Two activists. Two countries. Two legal systems. One method of silencing dissent.
Umar Khalid is an Indian scholar and student activist who has spent the last six years in jail without trial, after his involvement in protests against discriminatory changes to India’s citizenship law. He stood alongside many other people’s struggles in India.
In Britain, Umer Khalid is currently being held as a political prisoner for Pro-Palestinian activism. A different state but a familiar logic the weaponisation of law, institutions and power against those who dare to show solidarity with Palestine.
Different governments but the same fear of those who speak truth to power.
Join us for an evening of testimony, analysis and solidarity, featuring:
Gautam Bhatia – a progressive constitutional lawyer based in New Delhi, will join us in person to talk about how India’s legal architecture allows for the effective criminalisation of dissent.
Nuri, Umer’s close friend – on the repression of Umer Khalid and the British state’s role in criminalising Palestinian solidarity
Together we’ll explore: what does it mean when two democratic states deploy the machinery of repression against Muslims who organise, dissent and refuse to comply? And what does solidarity across these struggles look like?
All welcome. Organised by Joint Committee Against State Repression in India (JCSRI), India Labour Solidarity (ILS), Anti Imperialist Front (AIF)