March 6, 2022

This Week in Human Rights News

In India, journalist Rana Ayyub faces harassment, threats for her reporting amidst growing anti-Muslim sentiment 

Sources: IFJ, UNOHCHR, NDTV, CARE, Times of India, NPR, The Hindu, Just Security     

*Content warning: Discussion of Islamophobia, gender-based violence

In India, journalist Rana Ayyub continues to face online harassment and violent threats for her reporting. 

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner (UNOHCHR) identified the threats towards Ayyub as coming from far-right Hindu nationalist groups following her reporting on issues affecting minority Muslims, including the recent hijab ban in schools in Karnataka.

Ayyub’s work in journalism has drawn the ire of online harassers for several years, but they have recently been intensifying simultaneously with rising anti-Muslim sentiment in India. 

A report from the Culture-Centered Approach to Research and Evaluation (CARE) released in January 2022 found that 60% of surveyed Muslims living in India had come across anti-Muslim hate speech online. 

The hate speech is occurring amidst the sociopolitical context of elections in five states: Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, and Manipur. There have been instances of several Hindutva (Hindu nationalist) leaders explicitly calling for violence against Muslims in public speeches. 

While the Supreme Court has launched an investigation into the instances of hate speech, President Narendra Modi and his government have been criticised for remaining silent. 

The continuing 2022 election cycle is expected to proliferate more hate speech against Muslims. Indian news publication The Wire noted that online platforms, such as WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and Github, are playing a role in the amplification of such dangerous messages – towards Muslim women journalists such as Rana Ayyub and Muslims in South Asia in general.