Who is Mohammed Zubair?

Following a tumultuous year when AltNews co-founder Mohammed Zubair was arrested for a series of his tweets, he has now emerged as one of the favourites to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022. The information emerged following the release of a few unofficial shortlists before the announcement of the winner, which is set to be on Friday, October 7.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner will be revealed in Oslo, Norway, and Zubair, along with AltNews co-founder Pratik Sinha and author Harsh Mander are the favourites to win the prestigious award. The list that has described Zubair as one of the favourites to win the Nobel Peace Prize, is from the Times Magazine, which has termed the Indian journalist ‘relentless’ in his fight against misinformation in the country.

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Who is Mohammed Zubair?

Mohammed Zubair is the co-founder of Alt News, an Indian non-profit fact checking website. He was born on December 29, 1988, in Bengaluru, Karnataka.

Zubair was accused of hurting religious sentiments and promoting enmity, under Sections 153 and 295A of Indian Penal Code. 

According to reports, Zubair was summoned by the Delhi police on June 27 in connection with a POCSO case, but he has protection against arrest from the High Court in that case.

The police filed a fresh case against him and registered his arrest. The arrest was registered by Delhi Police’s IFSO (Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations) special cell station, which tackles cyber crimes, including those against women and children.

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In May, the Alt News co-founder was booked by the Uttar Pradesh police for a tweet where he called three controversial Hindu leaders — Yati Narasinghanand, Mahant Bajrang Muni and Anand Swaroop — ‘hatemongers’.

Zubair was booked under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for outraging Hindu sentiments and Section 67 of the Information Technology (IT) Act. These Hindu leaders whom Zubair called hatemongers are known for making provocative and objectionable remarks against Muslims, and Yati Narsinghanand was also jailed in a hate speech case and later given bail.