Rana Ayyub was supposed to travel to Europe to talk about the various forms of persecution she faces, but the Indian immigration services banned her from boarding the plane on the pretext that she had to answer questions in a alleged money laundering case.
From our correspondent in New Delhi, Sebastien Farcis
Rana Ayyub was to travel to London and then to Italy to speak to two journalism centers and festivals about the various forms of intimidation to which she and other Indian journalists are subjected by the government.
But these authorities precisely prevented it from doing so. The Fraud Enforcement Agency recently opened a money laundering investigation following a complaint filed by a member of a Hindu network.
I was stopped today at the Indian immigration while I was about to board my flight to London to deliver my speech on the intimidation of journalists with @ICFJ . I was to travel to Italy right after to deliver the keynote address at the @journalismfest on the Indian democracy
—Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) March 29, 2022
The journalist, who writes for the washington post, is accused of having embezzled part of the 320,000 euros in donations she collected to help the victims of Covid-19. Rana Ayyub has already proved her innocence before the tax authorities. But the federal agency issued a summons on Tuesday March 29 when she was to take her flight, thus preventing her from leaving.
The Muslim journalist has been the subject of persecution from Hindu circles since she published an investigation describing the possible complicity of the Gujarat state administration then controlled by Narendra Modi, in the anti-Muslim pogroms of 2002.
Rana Ayyub has since been violently harassed online and received support from theUN and of Reporters Without Borders.