Amnesty International India on Tuesday said the arrest of Mohammed Zubair, a co-founder of the fact-checking website ALT News, by the Delhi Police was a violation of the right to freedom of expression and an abuse of power by the authorities.
Mr. Zubair was arrested on Monday for allegedly “hurting religious sentiments” and “promoting enmity” via a tweet he had posted in 2018.
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In a statement, Amnesty India chair Aakar Patel said: “The Indian authorities are targeting Mohammed Zubair for his crucial work combating the rise in fake news and disinformation and calling out discrimination against minorities.”
Mr. Patel said Mr. Zubair’s arrest showed that the dangers facing human rights defenders in the country had reached a crisis level. Harassment and arbitrary arrests of human rights defenders had become commonplace.
“We call on the Delhi Police to immediately and unconditionally released Mohammed Zubair and end their relentless harassment of journalists, human rights defenders, and activists. His arrest is a clear violation of the right to freedom of expression, abuse of power by the authorities and sends a message that dissent is not tolerated in the country,” the statement read.
