The signatories demanded the latest FIR against Zubair be withdrawn immediately and for the Union government to protect free expression
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI – Global human rights organisations have issued a joint statement in support of fact-checker and Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair condemning the sedition case lodged against him by Ghaziabad Police in Uttar Pradesh over his social media post in which he shared a provocative speech by controversial priest Yati Narsinghanand.
“International human rights organisations condemn the criminal complaint lodged against the award-winning journalist and fact-checker Mohammed Zubair and the continued use of sedition to target independent reporting and public interest speech,” reads the statement released on Tuesday.
The rights groups pointed out that “Zubair has long been targeted by the authorities for his fact-checking, journalism and use of social media”.
The statement was signed by organisations like Reporters Without Borders (RSF), International Press Institute (IPI), International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Amnesty International, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Index on Censorship, PEN International, Digital Rights Foundation, Human Rights Watch, Committee to Protect Journalists and IFEX.
“In June 2022, he was arrested by the Delhi and Uttar Pradesh state police for a tweet related to comments made by a BJP spokesperson on national TV and another satirical tweet posted in 2018. Zubair was charged with promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc. and deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs,” the statement reads.
It further added that whenever Zubair was granted bail in one case, another FIR would be lodged against him. Ultimately, six cases were lodged against Zubair, ensnaring him in a 24-day cycle of arrest, bail and re-arrest. The following month, the Supreme Court granted Zubair bail and ordered his release. As a result of Zubair’s journalism and commitment to media freedom, he won the Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression awards in 2023.
The letter quoted an article from an online English media organisation, which reported that 13,000 people were charged with sedition between 2010 and 2021 under the erstwhile Indian Penal Code (IPC), including journalists, protesters and social media users.
It also added that the recent FIR registered against Zubair cites seven different legal provisions, including Section 66 of the Information Technology Act and Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the updated and modernised version of the sedition clause. The Alt News co-founder filed a petition seeking interim bail and quashing of the FIR. On the first day of the hearing on December 3, the Allahabad High Court, under which the matter was listed, recused themselves with a future hearing planned.
The human rights organisations further demanded the withdrawal of the FIR against Zubair and asked the Indian government to protect freedom of expression.
