‘We Are All Thinking of You’: Mamdani's Letter to Imprisoned Indian Activist Sparks International Incident

The Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam case: An international campaign within the realm of possibility

India’s refusal to accept individual complaints under the ICCPR leaves political prisoners without international recourse, unless civil society chooses to act.

‘We Are All Thinking of You’: Mamdani's Letter to Imprisoned Indian Activist Sparks International Incident

Hours after Zohran Mamdani was sworn in as New York City’s first Muslim mayor on January 1, 2026, a handwritten note he had penned weeks earlier went viral, sparking an international incident between the world’s two largest democracies. The undated letter, addressed to Umar Khalid—a former Jawaharlal Nehru University student leader imprisoned in Delhi’s Tihar Jail for nearly five years without trial—was brief but powerful: “Dear Umar, I think of…