Delhi's High Court on Tuesday denied bail to nine individuals accused of conspiracy and of orchestrating the February 2020 riots in the Indian capital and held in custody for roughly five years without a proper trial or conviction on terror charges. 

Prominent student activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam were among those seeking bail. 

"All the appeals are dismissed," the Press Trust of India and other outlets quoted Justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur as saying. 

What's the case about?

Khalid, Imam, Mohd Saleem Khan, Shifa Ur Rehman, Athar Khan, Meeran Haider, Abdul Khalid Saifi, Gulfisha Fatima and Shadab Ahmed were jailed in 2020, accused of orchestrating the Delhi riots in which 53 people were killed and some 700 were injured. 

Considerable public protests against India's new Citizenship (Amendment) Act, or CAA, and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) —both introduced in 2019 — provided the backdrop for these riots. Muslim opponents in particular accused the Hindu nationalist BJP government of tailoring the rule changes to discriminate against them.

The unrest also came as US President Donald Trump, then nearing the end of his first term in office, was making a high-profile visit to see India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, meaning that security was tight and nerves heightened in the capital. 

Khalid and Imam in particular were prominent student activists at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University. Khalid had already been detained in 2016 on sedition charges after a protest at the university against the executions of 2001 Indian Parliament terror attack convcit Afza Guru and Kashmiri separatist Maqbool Bhat.

How can the suspects be held for years without trial?

Police and prosectuors in India argue that the riots were not spontaneous but rather were "planned well in advance" with a "sinister motive" of dividing the country, accusing the defendants of orchestrating a "well thought-out conspiracy." 

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the prosecution, told the court it was a conspiracy to defame India on a global level. 

"If you do anything against your nation, you better be in jail till you are acquitted," he said.

The prosecution's case accuses the defendants of using public speeches protesting the CAA and NRC to rile up rioters and incite violence and unrest. They're accused of repeatedly mentioning evocative topics like the CAA, the destruction of the Babri mosque and the 2019 Supreme Court approval to construct a new Hindu temple on the site, Kashmir, and India's revocation of "triple talaq" divorces as a coordinated strategy. 

The defendants' lawyers, meanwhile, argued that bail should be granted given the long period of incarceration without a proper trial, and on the principle of parity seeing as other co-accused facing similar charges had been granted bail.

The defendants were arrested under Indian anti-terror laws — the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or UAPA — explaining why such lengthy incarceration is possible without conviction.

Khalid is mentioned by the Unites States Commission on International Religious Freedom, which says he was "targeted for leading peaceful protests opposing the religious dicriminatory Citizen Amendment Act (CAA)."

It's not clear when or if the trial will proceed. Police have rejected allegations of the prosecution seeking to delay court proceedings, but have also said the right to a speedy trial was not a "free pass." 

More than a dozen attempts to arrange a bail hearing at India's Supreme Court repeatedly met with postponement, leading to the defendants again trying to appeal to the Delhi High Court instead.

Edited by: Jenipher Camino Gonzalez