KOZHIKODE: Those who shed tears for Stan Swamy, the tribal rights activist who died while incarcerated, conveniently forget the plight of persons jailed in similar circumstances in Kerala, said Thwaha Fazal, who was released on bail following a Supreme Court order last month. He said the Pantheerankavu Maoist case did not finish with his release.
“Two others — Vijith Vijayan and Usman Melethil — arrested in the case are still in jail. We should speak for them too,” he said. He was speaking at the ‘Let’s have tea with Alan and Thwaha’ programme organised by human rights activists here on Wednesday. The name of the programme takes a dig at Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s sarcastic remark that the duo was arrested under UAPA not for having tea.
Recalling his time in jail, Thwaha said the atmosphere was intimidating. “There were unreasonable restrictions citing Covid. We had to struggle to even read newspapers,” he said exhorting the public to speak for all those arrested under draconian laws.
Alan Shuhaib, another accused in the case, said he will stand with all those who are slapped with UAPA. Social activist A Vasu said Alan and Thwaha were arrested as a means to silence the new generation who are politically enlightened. The SC order that allowed bail for the youth should apply to all those arrested on similar charges, he said.