Hyderabad, June 29 (Agency) The Indian Journalists Union (IJU) on Wedensday strongly condemned the arrest of Altnews co-founder Mohammed Jubair and demanded his immediate release.In a statement here on Wednesday, IJU President K Sreenivas Reddy, Secretary General Balwinder Singh Jammu said it is most ironical that a journalist was arrested in India on a day the Prime Minister of this country signed a commitment to protect the right to freedom of expression abroad.
The arrest of Jubair without providing a copy of FIR to him and making a mockery of the Supreme Court order in Arnesh Kumar by issuing 41A notice in the last minute before arrest by the now infamous Delhi police strongly indicate the hand of ruling political dispensation, the IJU leaders said. That Jubair is a committed journalist engaged in uncovering fake news in the country has made him an enemy of the powers that be. Arrest of Jubair demonstrates the level of Government’s intolerance to truth and the right of people to assert it, the IJU leaders said.