Editor's Guild, Press Club condemn Zubair's arrest

It demanded that the Delhi Police should immediately release Zubair

The Press Club of India (PCI) and Editors Guild of India (EGI) on Tuesday demanded the immediate release of AltNews co-founder Mohammed Zubair, who was arrested on charges of hurting religious sentiments, with both highlighting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment at an international meet on protecting free speech.

The Press Club described as “ironic” the arrest of Zubair by Delhi Police on a day India joined G7 and four other countries in Germany to "protect freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief and promote interfaith dialogue".

Emphasising that the Delhi Police "hastily" arresting Zubair was a "blatant violation" of the country's commitment made at an international forum, it said it was “disturbing” that the arrest happened around the same time when Prime Minister Modi was associating himself with the “noble declaration” along with world leaders.

“Are the Union Home Ministry and Delhi Police not on the same page with the Prime Minister on the commitment to freedom of expression?" the Press Club asked in a statement, as it condemned Zubair’s arrest for a tweet in 2018. It said freedom of expression is an essential ingredient of democracy.

AltNews as a fact-checking site was acting as an "instrument to cut through the jungle of disinformation", which was being spread through fake news with an aim to create fissures in the society, it said adding that constant vigilance is the price one pays for being a “vibrant, diverse and largest democracy in the world and AltNews was fulfilling that role”.

“It is saddening to know that Zubair had to pay the price for vigilance by his uncalled for arrest for a post made in 2018. It is inexplicable that action is being initiated after years without giving notice for a post which the police describe as highly provocative. The coercive action defies both the law and common sense," it said.

The Press Club of India also said that it saw the arrest of activist Teesta Setalvad as "very disturbing as it also smacks of vendetta".

The Editors Guild said the arrest was "extremely disturbing" because Zubair and AltNews have done exemplary work in identifying fake news and countering disinformation campaigns in a “very objective and factual” manner. "In fact it was an exposure of toxic remarks of a ruling party spokesperson on a TV channel that allowed the party to make amends," it said.

"It is apparent that AltNews’ alert vigilance was resented by those who use disinformation as a tool to polarise the society and rake nationalist sentiments. The EGI demands that the Delhi Police should immediately release Muhammad Zubair. This is necessary to buttress the commitments made by Prime Minister Modi in the G7 meet in Germany to ensure a resilient democracy by protecting online and offline content," it said.

In a "bizarre turn of events", the Editors Guild said Zubair was called in for questioning in a case from 2020, for which he already had a protection against arrest from the Delhi High Court.

However, when Zubair responded to the summons, the Editors Guild said, he was arrested in relation to a criminal investigation initiated earlier in the month, after an anonymous Twitter handle alleged that Zubair’s 2018 post was hurting religious sentiments.