Zubair’s name was discussed but Nobel was not received: Nominated to stop hate speech; 7 cases including inciting religious sentiments against them

This year the Nobel Peace Prize (Nobel Peace Prize 2022) has been given to one individual and two organizations. The award has been jointly given to Belarusian Human Rights Advocate Alice Belyatske, the Russian Human Rights Organization Memorial and the Ukrainian Human Rights Organization Center for Civil Liberties. All work for human rights. The award was announced in the Norwegian capital Oslo. Read full news…

Earlier, Time magazine had mentioned the names of India’s fact checker Prateek Sinha and Mohammad Zubair for the Nobel Peace Prize. Both run a fact checking website called ‘Alt News’. Zubair has been in constant controversies. He was arrested for inciting religious sentiments. After spending 22 days in jail, he is currently out on interim bail from the Supreme Court.

The 2022 Nobel Peace Prize has been jointly awarded to a human rights activist from Belarus and an organization each from Russia and Ukraine.

The names of the Nobel nominees are not disclosed for 50 years
Time magazine may have said that the names of Pratik Sinha and Mohammad Zubair were in the race, but according to the Nobel Prize website, the names of the people who are nominated for the Nobel in any field are not disclosed for the next 50 years. On the website of the Nobel Prize, only the data of the people nominated for it from 1901 to 1971 has been given.

According to the Nobel website, a total of 343 nominations were received for the 2022 Peace Prize. Of these, 251 were individuals and 92 were entities. Last year i.e. in 2021, a total of 329 people were nominated for this. The record for nominations in any single year was set in 2016, when 376 nominations were received for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Mohammad Zubair (left) and Prateek Sinha (right) are the founders of Alt News. Both are also directors of Pravda Media House.

Time magazine wrote – Zubair-Pratik tried to stop hate speech
Giving information about the nominations of Zubair and Prateek, Time Magazine wrote – Prateek Sinha and Mohammad Zubair are constantly fighting misinformation in India. Here the Hindu nationalist party BJP is often accused of discrimination against Muslims. Sinha and Zubair have done the job of debunking the rumors and fake news circulating on social media. At the same time, they have been curbing hate speech.

This is a screenshot taken from a Time magazine article, in which information was given about the nominations of Mohammad Zubair and Prateek Sinha.

The magazine further wrote – Indian authorities arrested Zubair in June for posting a meme, which he had tweeted four years ago. Journalists around the world had condemned the arrest and argued that it was a retaliation against the fact-checking being carried out on their behalf. The Editors Guild of India said in a statement on June 28, “The vigilance of Alt News has been opposed by those spreading propaganda to polarize the society and incite nationalist sentiments.” The Committee to Protect Journalists had demanded Zubair’s release, saying, “This is a big blow to the freedom of the press in India. By doing so, the government has created an unsafe environment for those reporting on communal issues.”

Zubair was arrested for a controversial tweet related to 2018
Zubair had shared a clip of filmmaker Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s film ‘Kisi Se Na Kehna’. In this, a board is visible outside a hotel, on which Hanuman Hotel was written in Hindi. Zubair wrote in the caption of this post Before 2014 Honeymoon Hotel, After 2014 Hanuman Hotel. Through this post, Zubair is accused of inciting religious sentiments. After the FIR in the same case on June 27, the Special Cell of Delhi Police had arrested Zubair on June 28.

Mohammad Zubair tweeted this on March 24, 2018. In this case, he had to stay in jail for 22 days.

Arrest on June 28, interim bail from Supreme Court on July 20
The Special Cell of Delhi Police had arrested on 28 June 2022 under section 153/295 of IPC. On July 20, the Supreme Court had granted interim bail to Zubair with conditions. After being in jail for 22 days, Zubair was granted bail by the court with three conditions. You can read these terms in the graphic below…

Total 7 FIRs on Zubair, out of which 6 were registered only in Uttar Pradesh
A total of 7 FIRs are registered against Zubair, out of which 6 are in Uttar Pradesh. He was sent to custody for the cases registered in Delhi, Sitapur, Hathras and Lakhimpur. Zubair had reached a Delhi court for bail in the 2018 tweet case, but on July 14, Hathras court sent him to 14-day judicial custody for hurting religious sentiments. According to this, Zubair was to remain in jail till July 27. There are 6 cases registered against Zubair in these 5 districts of Uttar Pradesh:

1. Muzaffarnagar: In July 2021, Ankur Rana filed a case of threatening to kill Zubair at Charthaval police station. Mohammad Zubair wrote a social media post on a news of Sudarshan News regarding the Israel-Palestine dispute. Zubair had referred to a graphic as the mosque of Medina, which caused a lot of controversy. In this case, an FIR was registered against Zubair under sections 192, 504 and 506 of IPC.

2. Ghaziabad: In June 2021, a case was registered against Zubair at Loni Border Police Station. It was alleged that Zubair had posted a video of an old Muslim man beating up on the internet and wrote that this man was beaten up by Hindu youths for calling him Jai Shri Ram. Later it was revealed that the man was beaten up by some Muslim youths over a dispute over making amulets. In this case an FIR was registered against Zubair, journalist Rana Ayyub, The Wire, Salman Nizami, Maskoor Usmani, Dr. Sama Mohammed, Saba Naqvi along with Twitter INC, and Twitter Communication India Pvt Ltd. An FIR was registered against them under sections 153, 153-A, 295-A, 505, 120-B and 34 of the IPC.

3. Hathras: In June 2022, a case was registered against Zubair under sections 153A, 295A and 298 of the IPC in a complaint lodged at Kotwali of Hathras. Zubair was accused of inciting religious sentiments.

Hathras: A case was also registered in Sikandararau police station regarding a 2018 case. It is alleged that after Zubair’s provocative post, there was a lot of ruckus after Friday prayers in Purdilnagar. The miscreants had pelted stones at the police. In this case, a case was registered under sections 147, 149, 153A, 353, 188 and 120B of IPC by making Zubair an accused.

4. Lakhimpur Kheri: In May 2021, a local journalist appealed to the court to file a report against Zubair in the controversial tweet case. A report was filed against Zubair on the order of the court. The police had issued a warrant against Zubair to appear in court in 2021 in connection with an FIR registered for promoting enmity. The case against Zubair was registered on November 25.

5. Sitapur: In May 2021, a case was registered under section 295A of IPC and section 67 of IT Act at Khairabad police station. Sitapur Police in Uttar Pradesh had requested for their detention in a case related to allegedly making objectionable tweets against sadhus. Zubair was granted interim bail in this case.

This photo is from when the police was taking Zubair (wearing cap and mask) to produce him in Patiala House Court.

Zubair also accused of destroying evidence, conspiracy
Zubair was earlier booked for inciting riots and hurting religious sentiments. After this, the Delhi Police also accused him of destroying evidence, criminal conspiracy. On July 2, in the Patiala House Court, the Delhi Police’s counsel had said that the accused is a clever and expert in destroying evidence. The accused has erased a lot of evidence from the mobile, due to which the investigation is getting difficult.

On the same day Delhi Police had said that Zubair was getting funding from countries like Pakistan and Syria. After this, a case was registered against him for receiving funds from abroad.

Nupur Sharma had said that threats were received because of Zubair
On May 26, in a TV debate, the then BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma made controversial remarks against Prophet Mohammad. Zubair shared its video on social media. After this there was a lot of ruckus across the country, after which Nupur was suspended by the BJP. On the other hand, Nupur had written a letter to Delhi Police saying that she was being threatened with death because of Zubair. After this, Delhi Police had provided security to Nupur.

Know about the Nobel Prize on the go…