Aakar PATEL

Image Credit: Jholawala Films/WikkiCommons

A writer, journalist, and political activist, Aakar Patel remains subject to bail conditions that restrict his freedom of movement. At the end of the year, Patel’s passport reportedly remained confiscated, with all travel abroad requiring court approval.  

Immigration authorities prevented Patel from travelling from India to the United States on 6 April 2022 to speak at academic conferences on civil society and the potential of social media for social and political change. Two days later, a judge ordered that Patel could not leave the country without prior permission.  

Patel was later informed that the restrictions stem from ongoing litigation related to his former role as head and Chair of the Board of Amnesty International India. The organisation was forced to cease operations in September 2020 following sustained intimidation by the Indian authorities, including raids, a smear campaign, and the freezing of its assets after alleged violations of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA). In December 2023, the CBI named Patel in a supplementary chargesheet connected to its ongoing investigation into Amnesty International India (see Case Lists 2022-2025). 

Born on 15 December 1969, Aakar Patel is a human rights activist, journalist, and writer. He published his first novel, After Messiah, in September 2023, and has authored four non-fiction works, including Price of the Modi Years (2021), a critical assessment of the Indian government’s performance since Narendra Modi’s election, and Our Hindu Rashtra (2020), which charts the rise of Hindu majoritarian nationalism. He also authored The Anarchist Cookbook (2014), a guide to democratic campaigning, and edited and translated Why I Write: Essays by Saadat Hasan Manto into English

Image Credit: Jholawala Films/WikkiCommons