The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Monday urged Indian authorities to “immediately and unconditionally” release Muhammad Zubair –an Indian journalist arrested earlier – as the body called for an end to the harassment he has been facing “in relation to his work”.
“The arrest of journalist Mohammad Zubair marks another low for press freedom in India, where the government has created a hostile and unsafe environment for members of the press reporting on sectarian issues,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator, in Washington, D.C.
“Authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Zubair, and allow him to pursue his journalistic work without further interference.”
Delhi police arrested the Muslim co-founder of a fact-checking website called Alt News earlier on Monday, accusing him of insulting religious beliefs on Twitter, a network of digital media organisations had said, condemning it as an attempt to harass him for his journalism.
Alt News’s other co-founder, Pratik Sinha, said on Twitter no notice was given to Zubair before his arrest.
Zubair was arrested based on a complaint from a Twitter account that said he insulted Hindus in a 2018 post commenting on the renaming of a hotel after the Hindu monkey god Hanuman, claimed govt sources.
