It doesn’t fit…

While Chancellor Olaf Scholz (64, SPD) welcomed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (71) to Munich at the G7 on Monday and Modi sang praises for India’s democracy and signed a protocol on free speech, renowned Indian journalist Mohamad Al Zubair was in India arrested.

Mohamad Al Zubair is the co-founder of the fact-checking website ‘Alt News’, which exposes misinformation in the Indian media. Zubair has been highly critical of Modi and his Hindu nationalist party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Zubair has been arrested under two provisions of the Indian Penal Code relating to “maintaining religious harmony”.

He was arrested for tweets from 2018. Zubair was accused of insulting Hindus on the platform in 2018 – in a post about renaming a hotel with the name of a Hindu god.

Also earlier this month, Zubair criticized the now-suspended BJP’s national spokesman, Nupur Sharma, for comments about the Islamic prophet Mohamed – comments that sparked a diplomatic row.

The BJP government in India and its states has frequently used criminal law to imprison and silence critics of the government over the past eight years.

Since 2014, when Modi’s BJP first came to power, the government has used anti-terrorism laws to detain without trial human rights activists, students, lawyers, trade unionists, intellectuals and journalists, including a disproportionate number of Muslims.

Authorities have also cracked down on Muslim families whose relatives took part in protests against Sharma’s comments, demolishing their homes without trial – accusing them of being built illegally.

Words of praise even in condition

Nevertheless, G7 members warmly welcomed Modi to Munich. Chancellor Scholz also found words of praise.

Scholz: “Today, on the second day of the Elmau Summit, I welcome five partner countries here with us, future and future democracies: India, Indonesia, Senegal, South Africa and Argentina. As democracies we see the world in the same way and it is good, important and necessary that we exchange ideas with each other.”

The Chancellor has remained silent on restrictions on freedom of expression and the repression of minorities in India.

The Committee to Protect Journalists on Monday urged Indian authorities to “immediately and unconditionally release” Zubair and stop “harassing him in retaliation for his work”.