Reports: Defense News correspondent arrested in India

WASHINGTON — Indian authorities have arrested Vivek Raghuvanshi , a defense journalist and longtime correspondent for Defense News, and accused him of espionage, according to mid-May reports in the Indian press.

Raghuvanshi’s arrest drew condemnation from Sightline Media Group, the publisher of Defense News and Military Times.

“We call for the immediate release of freelance reporter Vivek Raghuvanshi following his arrest in India,” said Mike Gruss, Sightline’s editor-in-chief. “Vivek has written about the Indian defense industry for Sightline publications for more than three decades and has shown that he is a journalist of integrity and the highest ethical standards.

“Vivek is deeply respected by his colleagues and by his readers in the defense industry, who know they can rely on him for accurate reporting and fairness,” Gruss continued. “Sightline leaders have not seen any evidence to substantiate these charges and repudiate attacks on press freedom.”

Sightline Media Group is an independent, for-profit U.S. media company with correspondents around the world. It is not affiliated with the U.S. government.

The Indian Express reported that India’s Central Bureau of Investigation arrested Raghuvanshi and a former commander in the Indian Navy, Ashish Pathak, on Tuesday night. The Indian Express quoted a CBI spokesperson who said the bureau had conducted multiple searches.

The National Press Club also called on Indian authorities to release Raghuvanshi.

“We were disappointed to hear of the arrest of journalist Vivek Raghuvanshi in India this week,” National Press Club President Eileen O’Reilly and National Press Club Journalism Institute President Gil Klein said in a statement. “The charges against him of working with a foreign intelligence service are completely at odds with his well-established professional profile. Vivek has a solid reputation and the respect of his colleagues.”

Defense News reporter Jen Judson was the 115th president of the National Press Club.

Raghuvanshi’s arrest comes at a time of increasing concern about the state of press freedoms in India. Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists were among the human rights organizations that issued a statement on World Press Freedom Day earlier this month calling on Indian authorities to stop prosecuting journalists and online commentators for criticizing government policies.

The human rights organizations cited multiple cases in recent years in which press freedoms had been suppressed in India. Those included a March 2022 incident in which airport authorities prevented a prominent female Muslim journalist, Rana Ayyub, from flying from Mumbai to London to speak at a journalism gathering. Ayyub is a critic of the Bharatiya Janata Party, a major political party in India.

The organizations also said three journalists were arrested again by Kashmir authorities in 2022 under a law that allows authorities “to arbitrarily detain people without evidence and thorough judicial review.” At the time of their re-arrests, those three journalists were out on bail on other cases the human rights organizations said were “filed against them in retaliation for their journalism work.”

Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.

华盛顿——据印度媒体5月中旬报道，印度当局逮捕了国防记者、长期担任《防务新闻》通讯员的维韦克·拉古万什，并指控他从事间谍活动。

拉古万什的被捕遭到了《国防新闻》和《军事时报》出版商 Sightline Media Group 的谴责。

“我们呼吁立即释放在印度被捕的自由撰稿人维韦克·拉古万什，”Sightline 总编辑迈克·格鲁斯说。“维韦克​​为 Sightline 出版物撰写有关印度国防工业的文章已有三十多年，他展现了自己是一位正直且恪守最高道德标准的记者。”

格鲁斯继续说道：“维韦克深受国防工业界的同事和读者的尊敬，他们知道可以信赖他提供的准确公正的报道。Sightline的领导层没有看到任何证据来证实这些指控，并谴责对新闻自由的攻击。”

Sightline Media Group是一家独立的美国营利性媒体公司，在全球各地设有记者站。该公司与美国政府没有任何关联。

《印度快报》报道称，印度中央调查局（CBI）于周二晚逮捕了拉古万什和印度海军前指挥官阿希什·帕塔克。《印度快报》援引CBI发言人的话说，该局进行了多次搜查。

国家新闻俱乐部也呼吁印度当局释放拉古万什。

“我们对本周印度记者维韦克·拉古万什被捕的消息感到失望，”美国国家新闻俱乐部主席艾琳·奥莱利和美国国家新闻俱乐部新闻学院院长吉尔·克莱因在一份声明中表示。“对他的指控——与外国情报机构合作——与他一贯的职业形象完全不符。维韦克拥有良好的声誉，并受到同事们的尊重。”

《国防新闻》记者詹·贾德森是国家新闻俱乐部第115任主席。

拉古万什被捕之际，人们对印度的新闻自由状况日益担忧。本月初的世界新闻自由日，包括国际特赦组织、无国界记者组织和保护记者委员会在内的多个人权组织发表声明，呼吁印度当局停止起诉批评政府政策的记者和网络评论员。

人权组织列举了近年来印度多起压制新闻自由的案例。其中包括2022年3月发生的一起事件：机场当局阻止了著名穆斯林女记者拉娜·阿尤布（Rana Ayyub）从孟买飞往伦敦，参加一个新闻界会议并发表演讲。阿尤布是印度主要政党印度人民党的批评者。

这些组织还表示，2022年，克什米尔当局再次逮捕了三名记者，依据的法律允许当局“在没有证据和彻底司法审查的情况下任意拘留民众”。人权组织称，这三名记者在再次被捕时正处于保释期，他们此前还因其他案件被起诉，这些案件是“对他们新闻工作的报复”。

斯蒂芬·洛西是《防务新闻》的空战记者。他此前曾在《空军时报》报道领导层和人事问题，并在Military.com网站报道五角大楼、特种作战和空战。他曾前往中东报道美国空军的行动。