Mohammed Zubair
Fact-checker Mohammed Zubair cites death threats pleading for bail in Supreme Court
New Delhi/IBNS: Arrested fact-checker Mohammed Zubair has cited death threats while making a bail plea in the Supreme Court, which is likely to hear the appeal Friday, media reports said.
Zubair's lawyer Colin Gonsalves argued in the court as quoted by NDTV, "There are death threats against him... People have said that they will kill him. We are worried about his safety. Please see the urgency."
Zubair, a co-founder of fact-checking site ALT News, was arrested over a four-year-old tweet.
He was produced in Delhi's Patiala House Court where appealed for bail.
The arguments in the case were completed and the judge was yet to give any order.
Zubair was arrested by Delhi Police on Jun 27. He was, at first, sent to one-day police custody by a duty magistrate on the same day.
This came just a month after he highlighted a video of suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma's remarks against Prophet Mohammed on a TV show.
During the court hearing, police told the court that they have charged Zubair, who has been accused of hurting religious sentiments, with criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence, and sections of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act or FCRA, the NDTV report said.
A criminal conspiracy charge opens the way for the ED to initiate a money-laundering probe against him.
In Mar 2018, Zubair had shared a meme that used a screengrab from Hrishikesh Mukherjee's classic 'Kissi Se Na Kehna', showing a hotel signboard that read 'Hanuman Hotel' in Hindi, but paint marks indicated it was earlier named 'Honeymoon Hotel'.
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