19 Facts About Rana Ayyub

Rana Ayyub was born on 1 May 1984 and is an Indian journalist and opinion columnist with The Washington Post.

Rana Ayyub is author of the investigative book Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover Up.

Rana Ayyub's father Mohammad Ayyub Waqif, was a writer with Blitz, a Mumbai-based magazine, and a member of the progressive writers movement.

Rana Ayyub's uncle, Abdul Haq Azmi, was a distinguished scholar of Hadith and served as a senior professor at Darul Uloom Deoband.

Rana Ayyub contracted polio at the age of five, leaving her left hand and right leg immobile, and eventually recovered from the disease.

Rana Ayyub graduated in English literature from Sophia College, Mumbai where she was a classmate of Richa Chada and Shuchi Talati.

At Tehelka, Rana Ayyub worked as an investigative journalist and her big assignment was to carry out the sting operation upon which her book Gujarat Files was based.

Rana Ayyub continued to work with Tehelka for several months more.

Rana Ayyub resigned from Tehelka in protest against the organisation's handling of the charge against Tejpal.

In September 2019, Washington Post nominated Rana Ayyub as Contributing Global Opinions Writer with the paper.

In 2021, on the BBC show HARDtalk, Rana Ayyub explained that she is in a position to express critical views about the government because she writes of international media, given that Indian media publications are censoring their journalists.

Rana Ayyub Posing as Maithili Tyagi, a filmmaker from the American Film Institute, and set about befriending her intended targets.

Rana Ayyub spent around ten months in disguise, and got paid a regular monthly salary from Tehelka during this period.

In 2018, Rana Ayyub was awarded the "most Resilient Global journalist" by Dutch non-profit Free Press Unlimited for resisting attempts to stifle her work.

In 2019, Rana Ayyub accompanied Dexter Filkins from The New Yorker on a trip to Kashmir to report on the violence by the government towards the Kashmiri population following the revocation of the special status of Kashmir by the Modi-led Indian government.

ED stated that Rana Ayyub had transferred those funds to other accounts for personal spendings.

The money laundering charges against Rana Ayyub have been described as sham charges by international observers.

In 2022, UN experts have called on the Indian government to stop the judicial harassment against Rana Ayyub, that included twice freezing Rana Ayyub's bank account.

Online violence against Rana Ayyub is primarily driven by Twitter users aligned with Hindu nationalism and the ruling BJP.