Kashmiri Filmmaker Arfat Sheikh Detained By ICE, Say Reports 

Photo: Free Arfat Sheikh campaign

India-West News Desk

WASHINGTON, DC- Kashmiri filmmaker Arfat Sheikh was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents after landing at Dulles International Airport on September 24, according to filmmaker Tara Dorabji, who was travelling with him.

A campaign launched by Sheikh’s friends and acquaintances is seeking his release. According to the campaign, Sheikh, 42, applied for asylum in the US in 2020 and has been living in Alexandria, Virginia.

Sheikh grew up in the Kashmir Valley and moved to the US in 2019 as a student. His film ‘Saffron Kingdom’ has won awards at several film festivals in the US.

Dorabji, an author and filmmaker, said she and Sheikh were travelling from San Francisco to Dulles and were headed for an “Art as Resistance” event at the well known location of Busboys and Poets.

After the flight landed, Sheikh exited the aircraft before Dorabji. As she came off the plane, she saw him surrounded by several men on the jetway.

Dorabji said the men were dressed in plain clothes and were not wearing uniforms identifying them as federal agents. The men then took him from the jetway onto the tarmac, and he did not resist.

She said he came to the United States legally as a film student and that ‘Saffron Kingdom’ was created to preserve the stories and experiences of people in Kashmir.

Sheikh is the son of Ghulam Nabi Sheikh, a celebrated Kashmiri folk singer who died in 2003 after falling from a train while travelling from Jammu to Delhi with his daughter. Over the years, the family has called the official version of the events surrounding his death into question, the Indian Express noted.