The UN Chief said people should be allowed to express themselves freely without the threat of any harassment.
Zubair was arrested by the Delhi Police on Monday over an “objectionable tweet" he had posted in 2018 against a Hindu deity.
“I think, first of all, in any place around the world, it is very important that people be allowed to express themselves freely, journalists be allowed to express themselves freely and without the threat of any harassment," Stephane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, said.
“Journalists should not be jailed for what they write, what they tweet and what they say. And that goes for anywhere in the world, including in this room," Dujarric added in response to a question.
Separately, New York-based independent non-profit, non-governmental organisation Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has also condemned Zubair's arrest.
“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 programme coordinator, in Washington, DC.
Zubair's arrest came days after the Gujarat authorities arrested Teesta Setalvad on charges of "criminal conspiracy, forgery and placing false evidence in court to frame innocent people" in the 2002 Gujarat riots.
A court in Ahmedabad on Sunday remanded Setalvad and former state director general of police RB Sreekumar in police custody till July 2 in a case of fabricating evidence to frame innocent persons in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots. Former IPS officer and accused Sanjiv Bhatt, who is serving a life sentence in a custodial death case and is lodged in a jail in Palanpur in Banaskantha district, will be brought to Ahmedabad on a transfer warrant.
Setalvad, Sreekumar, and Bhatt are accused of abusing the process of law by conspiring to fabricate evidence in an attempt to frame innocent people for an offence punishable with capital punishment in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots.
