An Appeal from the Syed Kazmi Solidarity Committee Syed Mohammad Ahmad Kazmi, a journalist and well regarded

public commentator on Iran and the Arab world, was arrested on 6th March 2012, for his alleged involvement in the attack on a vehicle belonging to the Israeli diplomatic mission in Delhi. Kazmi had a declared and well reasoned position on Israel and the U.S. and their strategic alliance, which was of obvious consequence for his region of expertise. The events immediately following the attack on the Israeli diplomatic vehicle in Delhi -the international pressure to implicate Iran and the distinctly undiplomatic suggestions from the Israeli government that India was aware of where responsibility lay but was fearful of saying so -need to be taken into account in this context. Following Kazmi's arrest, there have been selective and well-placed leaks from the Special Cell of the Delhi Police, suggesting among other things that he had confessed to the crime. There have also been reports inspired by obviously privileged sources within the Delhi Police that the record of calls made from Kazmi's registered cellphones and remittances received in his and his wife's bank accounts, amounted to conclusive proof of his involvement in an international terrorist ring. It is also relevant here to keep in mind the tainted history of the Special Cell of the Delhi Police, which has been entrusted with the investigations, in obvious disregard of its abysmally poor record in bringing cases to prosecution and securing conviction. We have set up the Syed Kazmi Solidarity Committee as a response to the growing evidence of a serious travesty of justice occurring in his arrest and continuing incarceration. The Committee comprises civil rights activists, lawyers, academics and journalists. The Committee appeals to all democratic minded citizens to join the campaign and ensure justice for Syed Kazmi. Please find here a fact sheet that summarises all available information about Syed Kazmi's arrest and his first bail application, which was rejected by Delhi's Chief Metropolitan Magistrate on April 3. The Committee plans to heighten the campaign by organising mass actions and public meetings and seeks your support towards this. Please write to kazmisolidarity@gmail.com to join the Committee and its actions. Ajit Sahi, Ali Javed, Amitabh Pandey, Anuradha Chenoy, Apoorvanand, Colin Gonsalves, Iftikhar Gilani, Iqbal Ahmed, Javed Naqvi, John Cherian, Kamal Mitra Chenoy, Kuldeep Nayyar, Mahesh Bhat, Mahtab Alam, Manisha Sethi, Mansi Sharma, Mayank Saxena, Nitya Ramakrishnan, Praful Bidwai, Saba Naqvi, Saeed Naqvi, Sandeep Dixit, Sanjay Kapoor, Seema Mustafa, Shahid Akhtar, Shabnam Hashmi, Sohail Hashmi, Sukumar Muralidharan, TK Rajalakshmi, Zafar Agha