CPJ, partners urge Indian police to probe threats against journalist Rana Ayyub and her father

The Committee to Protect Journalists and nine partner organizations on November 19 urged Navi Mumbai Police Commissioner Milind Bharambe to investigate death threats made against Indian journalist and Washington Post columnist Rana Ayyub and her father, and to provide immediate protection for both.

In a joint letter, the signatories welcomed the police’s swift registration of Ayyub’s recent complaint but urged Commissioner Bharambe to open a formal investigation paired with visible, adequate protection to send a clear message that journalists in India can work without fear of retaliation or harm.

According to Ayyub, she received death threats on November 2 from an international number. The caller revealed her residential address and her father’s whereabouts and threatened both with violence if she did not publish an article about the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Ayyub, one of India’s most prominent investigative journalists, has for years faced coordinated online abuse, death threats, and doxxing connected to her reporting on sectarian violence and human rights abuses.

CPJ and its partners said the threats against Ayyub demonstrate “a pattern of intimidation that jeopardizes both her safety and the broader climate for independent journalism in India.”

Read the full letter here.