[3] His detention raised further concerns about the state of India's press freedom under Narendra Modi's premiership and was widely criticised by journalistic bodies, human rights organisations and the political opposition who allege that the arrest was an act of revenge against his role in Alt News' work of combating disinformation.
[5] In 2020, Pratik Sinha alleged that Zubair is being targeted by right wing government for his work after a number of first information reports (FIR) were lodged against him.
[8] According to Time magazine, Zubair and his Alt News co-founder, Pratik Sinha, were among the favourites to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022.
[15] Nonetheless, Sharma defended her comments and accused Zubair of "heavily [editing]" the clip; she further claimed to have been receiving rape and death threats as a result.
[19] On 27 May 2022, Zubair published a series of tweets slamming prime-time debates on Indian television channels during the ongoing controversy regarding the Gyanvapi mosque.
[20] He added that the Indian TV anchors were doing a better job of speaking against a religion than the hatemongers Yati Narasinghanand Saraswati or Mahant Bajrang Muni or Anand Swaroop.
Later two more of Zubair's tweets were withheld, they were about the provocative comments made by a Hindu priest Mahant Bajrang Muni threatening to kidnap and rape Muslim women.
[25] In 2018, Zubair shared a satirical tweet with a screenshot from the 1983 Indian comedy film Kissi Se Na Kehna by Hrishikesh Mukherjee.
[28][29] On 19 June 2022, an anonymous Twitter user named "Hanuman Bhakt @balajikijaiin" quoted Zubair's tweet from four years earlier, and asked Delhi Police to take action against him, calling it a "direct insult" to Hindus.
[29] Journalist bodies, human rights organisations, and the political opposition perceived the arrest as a revenge against Zubair's role in reporting on the 2022 Muhammad controversy and Alt News' work of fighting disinformation and noted the case as exemplary of diminishing press freedom in India under Modi.
[4] Retired Indian Supreme Court judge, Justice Deepak Gupta noted that in 40 years since the release of the comedy film, nobody had raised objections to the photo, tweeted by Zubair, for which he was arrested.
[29] The Editors Guild of India issued a statement demanding immediate release of Zubair and cited PM Narendra Modi's commitment at G7 meeting in Germany "to ensure a resilient democracy by protecting online and offline content".
Guild noted that Alt News' "alert vigilance" was resented by "those who use disinformation as a tool to polarise the society and rake nationalist sentiments".
[34][35] DIGIPUB, a body of digital news media organisations had condemned Zubair's arrest and demanded the Delhi Police immediately withdraw the case against him.
In response to a query regarding Zubair's arrest, the spokeswoman for the German Foreign Office had stated on 6 July 2022: "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.
Zubair had noted that Sudarshan News used images of Al-Masjid an-Nabawi from Madina and superimposed it on an old picture from Ghaza, with graphics of missiles bombing the mosque, during a broadcast.
[42][43] On 16 July 2022, a court in Uttar Pradesh rejected Zubair's petition for bail in connection to a FIR that was filed against him in 2021 for allegedly inciting animosity.
"Arrest is not meant to be and must not be used as a punitive tool because it results in one of the gravest possible consequences emanating from criminal law: the loss of personal liberty."
[45][3] On 28 August 2023, Muzaffarnagar police registered a case against Mohammed Zubair for posting a video on social media of the incident of a Muslim boy who was slapped by his classmates on the instructions of a school teacher.