NEW YORK: UN rights experts expressed their serious concern on the online “misogynistic and sectarian “attacks against prominent Indian investigative journalist Rana Ayyub by far-right Hindu nationalist groups in India, and called on New Delhi to immediately investigate and stop her judicial harassment promptly.
In a statement, the two experts, Ms Irene Khan, Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression and Ms Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, said that Ms Ayyub continues to be the victim of intensifying attacks and threats online by far-right Hindu nationalist groups.
They pointed to the attacks as being a result of her reporting on issues affecting minority Muslims in the country, her criticism of the Government for its handling of the pandemic and her comments on the recent ban on hijabs in schools and colleges in Karnataka.
“In response to Ms Ayyub’s efforts to shine a light on public interest issues and hold power to account through her reporting, she has been maliciously targeted with anonymous death and rape threats by organized groups online,” the experts said.
“The lack of condemnation and proper investigation by the Government, coupled with the legal harassment it has itself inflicted on Ms. Ayyub, has only served to falsely legitimise the attacks and attackers and further endangered her safety.”
Allegations of so-called judicial harassment are baseless & unwarranted. India upholds the rule of law, but is equally clear that no one is above the law.
We expect SRs to be objective & accurately informed. Advancing a misleading narrative only tarnishes @UNGeneva’s reputation https://t.co/3OyHq4HncD— India at UN, Geneva (@IndiaUNGeneva) February 21, 2022
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Ms Ayyub has been subjected to legal harassment by the Indian authorities in relation to her reporting for a number of years, the experts said. On 11 February, for the second time in six months, Ayyub’s bank account and other assets were frozen in response to allegations of money laundering and tax fraud, related to her crowd-funding campaigns to provide assistance to those affected by the pandemic.
As with many of the spurious and defamatory accusations made against Ayyub in retaliation for her reporting, the experts said, the false allegations can be traced back to a far-right social media group.
UN human rights experts have previously written to the Government on a number of occasions to express their concern in relation to the threats against and legal harassment of Rana Ayyub.
“The Government is not only failing in its obligation to protect Ms. Ayyub as a journalist, but through its own investigations of Ms. Ayyub, it is also contributing to and exacerbating her perilous situation. It is imperative that the authorities take urgent measures to protect her from the onslaught of threats and hate online and end the investigation against her,” they added.
