United Arab Emirates (UAE) princess Hend bint Faisal Al Qasim claimed in a tweet on Sunday, 21 November, that after she expressed her disappointment with Zee News’ Sudhir Chaudhary being included as a speaker in an Abu Dhabi chartered accountants event, he was dropped from it.
Qasim had shared a letter on Twitter by members of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) Abu Dhabi Chapter and said in a tweet, “Sudheer Chaudhary dropped from the panel of speakers at the Abu Dhabi Chartered Accountants.” However, it may be noted that the letter states a request that Chaudhary be dropped from the panel of speakers at the event and does not mention that he had been dropped.
The Quint could not independently confirm whether he was dropped or not. Meanwhile, the ICAI's website still carries Chaudhary's name in their event.
The letter shared by Qasim says,
“He (Chaudhary) has been accused of manufacturing and spreading fake news, Islamophobia and communal hatred, doctoring trips, etc. Should we, a prestigious professional body invite and offer a platform and audience to an unprofessional journalist and thereby reduce our dignity and honour?”
Qasim also wrote the following about Chaudhary in another tweet:
“When a criminal spews venom onto a society, that invites violence causing the burning of homes, businesses and mosques. A #MuslimHolocaust is started, together with the abuse of other minorities- Dalits/Sikhs as well. Police sit & watch. I will not welcome such hate in the UAE.”
A First Information Report (FIR) was also filed last year against Chaudhary after his ‘Jihad Chart’ episode was aired on Zee News, explaining the “types of jihad”. Reacting to the FIR, Chaudhary had called it his “Pulitzer Prize for reporting the truth.”
(An earlier version of this story said that Sudhir Chaudhary had been dropped from the ICAI Abu Dhabi event. It has now been updated to reflect that this is only a claim by UAE Princess Hend bint Faisal Al Qasim at the moment and is not confirmed. The error is regretted.)
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