More than two years after the Supreme Court granted bail and ordered “immediate release” of Mohammed Zubair from prison, the leading Indian fact-checker and journalist is once again back in court.
On Tuesday, the Allahabad high court briefly heard his petition in a fresh case as police in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh seek his arrest, accusing him of “endangering sovereignty, unity and integrity of India”.
The charge is non-bailable and a conviction could mean a minimum of seven years in jail and fine or even life imprisonment.
Zubair, who’s a co-founder of the fact-checking website called AltNews, denies all the accusations against him, says he feels being targeted because of the nature of his work.