Nearly two months after requesting the European Union to sanction four high-ranking officers of the Delhi police for “exactions” in the NewsClick case, advocacy groups Reporters Without Borders and Guernica 37 Chambers have called on the US government to do the same.

The request comes weeks after NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha granted relief by the Supreme Court which termed his arrest and remand as illegal.

According to RSF’s statement, both the groups urged the US Department of State and Department of Treasury to take on targeted sanctions against the Delhi police officers, who were not held “to account” and which could encourage “similar future abuses”.

The groups’ earlier submission to the EU’s diplomatic service, the European External Action Service, had asked that the matter be referred to member states to adopt “sanctions against four officials of the Delhi police's counter-terrorism unit, who are implicated in an unprecedented crackdown on journalists in the country”.

RSF is a press freedom non-profit headquartered in Paris, while Guernica 37 Chambers is a London-based group of barristers and attorneys with expertise in international law.

RSF and Guernica 37 had urged the EU to implement sanctions under a scheme introduced in December 2020 to address “serious human rights violations in third countries”. “These can range from a ban on entering the European Union to the freezing of assets on that territory and the prohibition of doing business with European entities.”

Newslaundry has reported on the police and agency action against NewsClick from the start. Check out our reportage here.

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