Interview of Mohammed Zubair, fact-checker arrested by Indian police

In India, fact-checking can put you behind bars.

On June 28, fact-checker Mohammed Zubair was arrested by Indian police. His crime? A 2018 tweet about an old Hindi film, taken by the ruling party as ‘hurting religious sentiment’ in the country.

Several months before his arrest, Forbidden Stories interviewed Zubair about why his fact checking disturbs the Indian authorities. In the interview never released until today, Zubair explained the modus operandi behind the attacks against him and other fact-checkers in India.

“They cannot file a complaint against me for writing a story because we have facts with us in our stories (…) They cannot attack us on the story that we’ve written, so they are looking to attack me for any other unrelated tweet."

On Friday, the Solicitor General of India appeared in Delhi High court on Friday to oppose granting Zubair bail. The court was adjourned for four weeks.

Amnesty International and other press freedom organizations condemned the detention of the fact-checker. “It is apparent that Zubair’s alert vigilance was resented by those who use disinformation as a tool to polarise society and rake up nationalist sentiments.” Editors Guild of India