Journalist Arvind Dilawar has continued to work as a contributor at The Nation magazine despite facing felony robbery charges for an incident that took place at an anti-Trump protest last fall at New York’s Columbia University.
Dilawar’s first piece for The Nation, “Here’s One Union That Can’t Be Touched by ‘Right to Work’ Laws,” was published on November 6, 2017 — one week after he was was arrested and charged with second-degree robbery, a felony, and possession of stolen property, according to court records. A second piece from Dilawar was published on February 16.
A spokesperson for The Nation declined to comment on Dilawar’s status with the outlet and whether editors were aware of his ongoing criminal case.
Dilawar, a Brooklyn-based journalist whose work has appeared in in Newsweek, Vice and The Guardian, is due to appear in New York Criminal Court next week, according to court records.
Police told the New York Post that on October 30, 2017 Dilawar swiped the cellphone of a woman who was recording a right-wing counter-protester and then ran off with it.
“The defendant forcibly stole property and in the course of the commission of the crime and immediate flight therefrom the defendant or another participant in the crime caused physical injury to a person who was not a participant in the crime,” reads a copy of the official complaint.
Dilawar did not respond to multiple requests for comment and appears to have deactivated his Facebook, Twitter and personal web page. On a Gravatar account that is still available, Dilawar described himself as a “writer/editor/anarchist.”
Dilawar has also contributed to the blog StreetCarnage.com, co-founded by Vice Media co-founder Gavin McInnes. McInnes has since become an icon of alt-right trolls and regularly makes headlines for remarks that many have called racist, sexist, xenophobic and misogynistic.
McInnes folded up the site officially last month.
In one post from 2009 under the name “Arv,” which is attributed to Dilawar’s now deleted Twitter page, the journalist complains of becoming “blackout drunk” at a party and being forced to wear a “gay” t-shirt because he had soiled the one he was wearing with “sweat and booze.”
“If you’ve seen a shirt that can out fag this one, send me pics,” he wrote.
McInnes had only praise for Dilawar. “Great guy,” he told TheWrap. “Good worker. Smart kid. One of the best hires I ever made.”