Journalists Should Not Be Jailed For ‘What They Write And Say’: UN Spokesperson On Zubair's Arrest

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres's spokesperson on Tuesday said people should be allowed to express themselves freely without the threat of any harassment. The comment has been made in the context of Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair's arrest in India. 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, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, said, according to a report by news agency PTI.

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 "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.

Meanwhile, another New York-based independent non-profit, non-governmental organisation Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has also criticised 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, reported PTI.

Zubair was arrested days after the Gujarat authorities held social activist Teesta Setalvad on charges of "criminal conspiracy, forgery and placing false evidence in court to frame innocent people" in the 2002 Gujarat riots.

Setalvad and former state director general of police RB Sreekumar will be kept in the police custody till July 2 based on the court order in a case related to 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 lodged in a jail in Palanpur in Banaskantha district, will be taken to Ahmedabad on a transfer warrant.