NEW DELHI: India on Thursday advised Germany to avoid "uninformed comments" on the Mohammed Zubair arrest case and said "such comments are not helpful."
Reacting strongly to Germany's remarks on the arrest of Zubair, the ministry of external affairs said "commenting on a sub-judice matter is inappropriate."
Alt News cofounder Mohammed Zubair was arrested by the Delhi Police on June 27 for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through one of his tweets.
"Zubair's matter is a domestic issue," MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said when asked to comment on German official's statement.
According to a video tweeted by Richard Walker, chief international editor at DW, Germany's global broadcaster, a German foreign ministry official when asked about the Zubair arrest case had said:
"Free reporting is beneficial to any society and restrictions are a cause for concern. 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. We are also in contact on this with our EU partners on the ground the EU has a human rights dialogue with India and freedom of expression and the freedom of press are a focus of those discussions with India."
The official then goes on to say: "India describes itself as world's largest democracy so one can expect democratic values like freedom of expression and freedom of the press to be given the necessary space there."