India on Thursday, July 7, came down heavily on Germany for its recent remarks on the arrest of Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair, saying the independence of the country’s judiciary is well recognised and that such “uninformed” comments are “unhelpful and should be avoided”.
‘Uninformed comments unhelpful’, says India after Germany’s remarks on arrest of Mohammed Zubair
— ANI Digital (@ani_digital) July 7, 2022
Read @ANI Story | https://t.co/d9kvRwjXCh
#ZubairArrest #AltNews #Germany #India pic.twitter.com/YwbYkJzhA2
“In itself, it’s a domestic issue. Let me emphasise that there is a judicial process underway in this case and I don’t think it would be appropriate for me, or anyone else, to comment on a case that is sub-judice,” External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at a press briefing.
“I think the independence of our judiciary is well recognised and uninformed comments are unhelpful and should be avoided,” Bagchi asserted.
India’s strong response came after the German foreign ministry spokesperson said in a media briefing criticized the detention of Mohammed Zubair, the co-founder of leftist propagandist portal Alt News who was arrested by the Delhi Police under Section 153, 295 of the Indian Penal Code.
Section 295 deals with deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs while Section 153 concerns wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot.
The arrest came weeks after Mohammed Zubair’s old social media posts mocking and insulting Hindu Gods and Goddesses had gone viral on the internet.
Earlier this week, Germany had unsolicitedly and presumptuously commented on the arrest of Mohammed Zubair, the co-founder of leftist propaganda website Alt News, who was taken into custody for hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus with his offensive comments on Hindu Gods and Goddesses.
“India describes itself as the world’s largest democracy. So one can expect democratic values like freedom of expression and freedom of the press to be given the necessary space there,” an official of the German foreign ministry had said.
MINI THREAD
— Richard Walker (@rbsw) July 6, 2022
German foreign ministry on India’s ongoing detention of journalist Mohammed Zubair
“India describes itself as the world’s largest democracy. So one can expect democratic values like freedom of expression and of the press to be given the necessary space there”
/1 pic.twitter.com/g26gSSKEO7
“Journalists should not be persecuted and imprisoned for what they say and write. We are indeed aware of this specific case and our embassy in New Delhi is monitoring it very closely,” the official had stated.
The German foreign ministry spokesperson added that the European Union has a human rights dialogue with India and the freedom of expression and freedom of the press are a focus of those discussions.
As Germany lectures India, here’s how it sentenced a journalist 3 years in prison for reporting from eastern Ukraine
While Germany has gone above and beyond to lecture India on morality, human rights and the democratic value of freedom of speech and expression, it is worth bearing in mind that nation’s own arbitrary decision to imprison a German independent journalist living in eastern Ukraine’s renegade Donbas area for three years without a trial and labelling her a Russian terrorist for her pro-Russian reporting.
GERMAN journalist Alina Lipp faces 3 years behind bars for her reporting from eastern Ukraine.
— Steve Sweeney (@SweeneySteve) June 29, 2022
Explaining that Ukraine has been killing civilians in the Donbass region for years and calling it a genocide is deemed a crime, she says. https://t.co/NmAWOMrISG pic.twitter.com/ZDYb6YA3HM
In a video shared by Press TV on its YouTube channel on July 6, German journalist Alina Lipp shared how she was hounded and persecuted by the German government for interviewing Ukrainian citizens and reporting her findings.
According to media reports, Alina Lipp was reportedly subjected to a criminal investigation in her own native country because she exposed crimes done by Ukrainian soldiers against people in the war-torn nation’s eastern Donbas region. Lipp’s YouTube channel was closed. Her PayPal account was also blocked. The German authorities went on to freeze her and her father’s bank accounts. On top of that, the German prosecutor allegedly seized €1,600 from her bank account without further ado or any notice or explanation.
Speaking to Press TV journalist Johnny Miller, Alina Lipp stated how she was facing criminal charges from the German government and that she had received a letter from judicial officials in her own nation threatening her with a three-year prison sentence.
“The news that I said was that Ukraine is shelling civilians already for eight years, and I also said that this is a genocide and that people here and Donbas support the special operation of Russia. This reporting turned out to be a criminal act for German, so they took 1,600 euros from my bank account and didn’t even tell me about it,” she said, adding how the German authorities froze her and her father’s bank account without providing any prior information.
“They just want to put me in prison for three years. It’s unbelievable. They opened this case because I’m saying and I’m sharing my opinion, so there’s no free speech anymore in Germany,” the local journalist remarked.
According to the Press TV journalist Johnny Miller, Lipp was not even allowed to defend herself at a court hearing.
In videos shared by Twitter user @Robert17022841, the German journalist is heard saying, “The German authorities have now started to persecute me. First, they deleted my material on the Internet. Then they blocked my bank account, then blocked the bank account of my father, and yesterday I got this letter from German authorities that they opened now a criminal case against me. So, these are the documents, and for Germans the support of the Special Operation in Ukraine is a criminal act, for which you can get three years in prison.
A German journalist living in eastern Ukraine has been sentenced to three years in prison without trial by the German government for interviewing Ukrainian citizens and reporting her findings. pic.twitter.com/rhJrkAEYYG
— Robert Vikan 🇳🇴 (@Robert10722841) July 2, 2022
In the letter they write on the 24th of February I published a report on Telegram saying the de-Nazification began, and that the people of the Donbas region support Russia in the decision to start this Special Operation, and I was also saying the Ukrainians were killing the people here in Donbas already for several years. Also, they are writing that on the 12th of March I published a video in which I said that Ukraine was doing a genocide in Donbas.
What is interesting in the letter is that they are not going to invite me to a hearing, because ‘this would disturb the investigation. So, they are persecuting me, but don’t want to hear me out.
What is happening to me now can happen to all independent journalists and bloggers, and that’s why I would like to propose to you dear colleagues, that we are going to start to work together more, to support each other against the censorship in the west.“
It is shocking how Germany has the nerve to lecture India on human rights and the democratic virtue of freedom of speech and expression when their own journalists are under threat of government persecution for speaking their minds.
