After his Twitter account was withheld in India "in response to a legal demand", activist and columnist Khalid Beydoun, on Saturday, 17 December, took to Instagram to write, "As a constitutional law professor, free speech and fighting authoritarianism hit close to home on a number of fronts. If the BJP and Hindutva zealots think they can cancel me, they’re wrong, I’ll only get stronger."
Beydoun's Twitter account was reportedly withheld on 13 December.
A strong critic of the Narendra Modi administration, the activist has often spoken against the BJP-led Indian government.
This is how Beydoun's account looks when opened by users in India.
And this is Beydoun's full response on Instagram to his account being withheld.
Who Is Khaled Beydoun?
Beydoun is a law professor in the United States of America. Apart from teaching at Wayne State University Law School, his LinkedIn profile describes him as an Affiliated Faculty with the University of California, Berkeley's Islamophobia Research & Documentation Project (IRDP).
Beydoun is also a published author, and has written a book titled 'American Islamophobia: Understanding the Roots and Rise of Fear'. His upcoming book, titled 'The New Crusades: Islamophobia and the Global War on Muslims' is expected to be published in 2023.
A line from the promotional description of the upcoming book reads, "Whether imposed by way of hijab bans in France, state-sponsored hate speech and violence in India, or the network of concentration camps in China, Islamophobia unravels into distinct systems of demonization and oppression across the post-9/11 geopolitical landscape. Lucid and poignant, The New Crusades reveals that Islamophobia is not only a worldwide phenomenon—it stands as one of the world's last bastions of acceptable hate."
Beydoun has also written for publications such as Washington Post and CNN in the past.
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