Kashmiri filmmaker Arfat Sheikh released from US ICE detention, campaign says

Award-winning Kashmiri filmmaker Arfat Sheikh was released from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention on bond on Thursday after being detained on September 24, according to a statement by a campaign of his friends and relatives to free him.



Sheikh, whose work has explored conflict in his native India-administered Kashmir, was detained by ICE, part of the Department of Homeland Security, while coming off a plane from California at the Washington Dulles International Airport, the campaign said.



It said Sheikh's bond was granted on Tuesday and he was released on Thursday, adding that the deportation case against him continues.



The campaign said Sheikh, who lived in Alexandria, Virginia, entered the US in 2019 on a student visa to pursue graduate studies in film at Georgia State University and filed for asylum in 2020.



The campaign said he had a pending immigration application and was authorized to work and live in the US.