LONDON: UN rights experts have called for an end to “misogynistic and sectarian” online attacks against a Muslim Indian woman journalist, asking the authorities to investigate the harassment.
Rana Ayyub, a fierce critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Hindu nationalist ideology of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has been the target of a relentless campaign of online abuse — including death and rape threats.
She is the “victim of intensifying attacks and threats online by far-right Hindu nationalist groups,” the independent rapporteurs, who do not speak for the United Nations but are mandated to report to it, said in a statement Monday.
They said these attacks were in response to Ayyub’s reporting on issues affecting India’s minority Muslims, her criticism of the government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, and her commentary on the recent hijab ban at schools and colleges in the southern state of Karnataka.
The rapporteurs added that the Indian government had failed to condemn or investigate the attacks.
She “has been subjected to legal harassment by the Indian authorities in relation to her reporting,” they said, including the freezing of her bank account and other assets.
Ayyub, 37, began as an investigative journalist and wrote a book accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being complicit in deadly sectarian violence in Gujarat in 2002, when he was state premier.
Investigators cleared Modi of involvement.
She has since become a commentator for The Washington Post and other media.
This week, the Post put out a full-page advert saying Ayyub faces threats almost daily and that the free press is “under attack” in India.
The Indian mission at the UN in Geneva tweeted in response to the rapporteurs’ statement that allegations of “so-called judicial harassment are baseless & unwarranted,” and that advancing “a misleading narrative only tarnishes” the UN’s reputation.
Other journalists have also complained of increased harassment under Modi, whose government has been accused of trying to silence critical reporting.
Media rights group Reporters Without Borders places India at a lowly 142 in its World Press Freedom Index, saying that under Modi, “pressure has increased on the media to toe the Hindu nationalist government’s line.”
“The coordinated hate campaigns waged on social networks against journalists who dare to speak or write about subjects that annoy Hindutva (hard-line Hindu ideology) followers are terrifying and include calls for the journalists concerned to be murdered,” according to RSF.
“The campaigns are particularly violent when the targets are women.”
UN experts slam online attacks on Indian journalist
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UN experts slam online attacks on Indian journalist
- UN human rights activists call for an end to “misogynistic and sectarian” online attacks against a Muslim Indian woman journalist
Paris exhibition marks 200 years of Le Figaro and the enduring power of the press
- The exhibition celebrated the bicentennial of Le Figaro, offering visitors a rare opportunity to step inside the newspaper’s vast historical archive
PARIS: One of France’s most influential newspapers marked a major milestone this month with a landmark exhibition beneath the soaring glass nave of the Grand Palais, tracing two centuries of journalism, literature and political debate.
Titled 1826–2026: 200 years of freedom, the exhibition celebrated the bicentennial of Le Figaro, offering visitors a rare opportunity to step inside the newspaper’s vast historical archive. Held over three days in mid-January, the free exhibition drew large crowds eager to explore how the title has both chronicled and shaped modern French history.
More than 300 original items were displayed, including historic front pages, photographs, illustrations and handwritten manuscripts. Together, they charted Le Figaro’s evolution from a 19th-century satirical publication into a leading national daily, reflecting eras of revolution, war, cultural change and technological disruption.
The exhibition unfolded across a series of thematic spaces, guiding visitors through defining moments in the paper’s past — from its literary golden age to its role in political debate and its transition into the digital era. Particular attention was paid to the newspaper’s long association with prominent writers and intellectuals, underscoring the close relationship between journalism and cultural life in France.
Beyond the displays, the program extended into live journalism. Public editorial meetings, panel discussions and film screenings invited audiences to engage directly with editors, writers and media figures, turning the exhibition into a forum for debate about the future of the press and freedom of expression.
Hosted at the Grand Palais, the setting itself reinforced the exhibition’s ambition: to place journalism firmly within the country’s cultural heritage. While the exhibition has now concluded, the bicentennial celebrations continue through special publications and broadcasts, reaffirming Le Figaro’s place in France’s public life — and the enduring relevance of a free and questioning press in an age of rapid change.
