Index on Censorship

Index on Censorship is one of the world's leading repositories of original, challenging, controversial and intelligent writing on free expression issues. Index on Censorship continues to log free expression abuses in scores of countries world wide in its Index Index section, reports on censorship issues from all over the world, and has added to the debates on those issues.

Sex Crime 2008

08May08 – 16:06

Madonna's SexVisual artists and even pop stars could face prosecution under new British legislation, writes John Ozimek

Collectors looking to make a fast buck by investing in erotica had a nervous awakening this morning. And fans of Madonna were left wondering whether they would need to mutilate one of her most famous books.

The Criminal Justice Bill, which received royal assent today, includes new laws on ‘extreme pornography’. This makes it illegal to possess images that depict ‘explicit realistic extreme acts’ that are also ‘grossly offensive, disgusting or otherwise of an obscene character’. The penalty, if found guilty, is up to three years in prison.

Supporters claim that the target of the bill is very clear. Others are not so sure.

Sex, by Madonna, caused controversy on its publication in 1992. It was shot by respected photographer Steven Meisel. But critics accused it of including hardcore images of sado-masochism and even bestiality. In one photo, Madonna appears threatened by a knife. In another she appears in a sexually suggestive pose with a dog. Sex was banned in Japan.

Up to 100,000 copies may still be owned in the UK. Mint copies of this work are being traded for up to £700 on Amazon.

Confusion reigns. A barrister with expertise in this area argues that at least one of the images in Madonna’s book could pass all three tests set by the new law.
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China: Beyond the village gates

07May08 – 13:13

The estimated 30,000 journalists expected to converge on Beijing for the 2008 Olympiad need to prepare themselves well in advance before they blunder across one of the world’s least understood and most volatile domestic political stages, writes Rohan Jayasekera

The XXIX Olympiad in Beijing will be covered by an expected 20,000 accredited sports media workers — and another 10,000 unaccredited. That’s more than three journalists for every athlete. How will China react to this influx of independent opinion if the focus comes off sport and on to politics?

January 2008 rules introduced for the Games theoretically allow foreign journalists to report freely on Chinese ‘politics, economy, society, and culture’ until next October.

This promised liberalisation came to a sharp halt following the outbreak of violent protests in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa on 10 March. Beijing responded with a news blackout, expelling foreign reporters from Beijing, Tibet and its neighbouring provinces of Gansu, Qinghai, and Sichuan.

The Foreign Correspondents Club of China has recorded more than 230 abuses of the new rules. Until March things were getting better, BBC World News Editor Jon Williams told a conclave of Chinese and Western journalists and media rights activists in Paris in April. ‘Now they’re as difficult as they’ve been for a long time.’
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Russia: Extreme reaction

02May08 – 16:30

The Russian authorities are taking a heavy-handed approach to web monitoring, writes Maria Eismont

‘Error. The website you’ve requested either doesn’t exist, or is overloaded.’ This announcement greeted visitors to the electronic version of Russian independent regional weekly Vyatskiy Nablyudatel, a Kirov newspaper well known for its editorial independence and investigative enterprise, after its website was closed by its Internet provider on April 22. Khostingoviye telesistemi, the Moscow-based ISP, claimed it received an official letter from the Kirov regional police department saying the website contained ‘extremist’ opinion in the readers’ forum, insulting the vice-governor and the government of the region. ‘If you are the owner of this site and think this is a mistake please contact the technical support service,’ continued the announcement on the website.

The law on ‘counteracting extremist activity’ has broadened the definition of extremism to include media criticism of public officials, and carries a custodial sentence of up to three years for journalists, along with the suspension or closure of their publication. It was passed by parliament despite protests from human rights groups, who claimed that the vague language of the law would allow public officials to interpret it widely and use it to target their critics. The Russian prosecutor’s office is currently calling for the Internet to be placed under the same rules as print media.
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Debate: the Kollerstrom question

28Apr08 – 16:14

ucl
Academic Dr Nicholas Kollerstrom was last week stripped of his honorary post at University College London, after his controversial views on the Holocaust and 9/11 were uncovered by bloggers. Was the university right to disassociate itself from him, or is he being punished for a thought crime? Index asked Unity, of Liberal Conspiracy, and Brendan O’Neill of Spiked, to weigh up the argument

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BURMA: REFERENDUM AND REPRESSION

24Apr08 – 14:32

U Attira accepts Index Award
Last Monday, Index on Censorship honoured Burma’s monks for their struggle against the ruling junta. The military regime is now cracking down on dissent as it pushes through a new constitution, writes David Jardine

Burma’s brutal ruling military junta will stage a national referendum on 10 May to rubber stamp a Potemkin constitution that will give the armed forces a guaranteed 25 per cent of seats in the national assembly.

The crucial home affairs ministry will remain in the hands of the junta, thus securing for it permanent control of the media.

The junta, led by General Than Shwe, is boastfully confident that it will secure the Yes vote that the all-out propaganda campaign of the state-controlled media is demanding. Anyone campaigning for a No vote faces arrest and almost certainly a long term of imprisonment in one or other part of the junta’s gulag, including the much hated Insein prison in Rangoon.

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Mohamed Al-Daradji interview

24Apr08 – 13:03

Mohamed Al-Daradji’s film Ahlaam (Dreams) won the Index on Censorship Film Award last Monday. He was interviewed by the BBC World Service’s World Today about the award and the film. Click below to listen.

Mohamed Al-Daradji interview

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Francisco Goldman accepts Index on Censorship TR Fyvel Book Award

23Apr08 – 11:04

Francisco Goldman accepts the Index on Censorship TR Fyvel Book Award for his work, The Art of Political Murder: Who killed Bishop Gerardi?. The culmination of years of investigative journalism, The Art of the Political Murder is an astonishing account of the search for the killers of Guatemalan bishop Juan Gerardi. The book has made a huge impact in Guatamela, even majorly influencing the result of the recent presidential election.

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Why Ahlaam deserved to win

22Apr08 – 12:32

Lemn SissayChoosing which film should win the Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression award was a tough process for the judges, writes Lemn Sissay

I’ve been led down the winding stairs into a gloomy room in the basement of an east London office block. It’s full of locked files and cabinets and boxes. In the centre of the room is a long table and seated are the judges. We’re here to decide the winners of the Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards, announced at a ceremony in London last night. The awards were launched in 2000 to honour those who, often at great personal risk, have given voice to issues and stories that would otherwise have gone unnoticed. There are five awards in total, the TR Fyvel Book award, the Bindmans Law and Campaigning award, the Economist New Media award, the Guardian Journalism award and the Index Film Award, the first to be discussed.
There are four contenders: Battle for Haditha, Ahlaam (Dreams), Black Gold and 12.08 East of Bucharest. Battle for Haditha, directed by Nick Broomfield, is based on real events. But a judge enlightens us that charges against some of the soldiers have recently been dropped. With a QC on the judging panel this became a vote-changing issue. The next film, East of Bucharest, was hilarious but weaker, we felt.

Though we are all respectful of each others’ opinion, there’s only one film I want to win. I forget that the other members are thinking the same thing — but with possibly different winners in mind. One by one we discuss the remaining two films. It’s not easy this. But a consensus is beginning to emerge. The remaining two films are the contenders, not by default but by design.
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Tesco goes to court

18Apr08 – 11:18

London graffitiThe retail giant is displaying a sudden enthusiasm for libel courts, writes Roby Alampay

In the space of five months, four libel suits have been filed by Tesco, one of the world’s biggest retailers, and its subsidiary in Thailand, Tesco Lotus.

The latest of those suits, filed this month in Britain, targets the Guardian for a story on Tesco’s tax filings. The three other defamation charges were all filed between November 2007 and March 2008 in Thailand by Tesco Lotus, Tesco’s subsidiary in that country, and summon to court a former legislator and current consumer advocate, as well as two columnists, who criticised the company’s expansion in the land. At least one of the columnists also raised questions about Tesco Lotus’s accounting and tax filing procedures.

Tesco Lotus’s impact on the Thai retail industry has been a topic of public discussion ever since the company’s entry into the Thai market in 1998.

That the company would now seek damages against advocates and media practitioners signals to some observers an attempt to now simply avoid that continuing debate.

The Thai Journalists Association this week called for an emergency meeting, recognizing the impact Tesco Lotus actions may have on press freedom and free expression in Thailand. The Southeast Asian Press Alliance, of which the TJA is a member, has called the defamation suits ‘pure acts of harassment against civil society and the press’, and warned that the ‘absurd’ damages sought could have a chilling effect on Thai journalists and advocates critical of Tesco.

Indeed, SEAPA notes that Tesco Lotus’ defamation suits test a new law in Thailand that seeks to empower publishing companies, but which may apparently also leave individual journalists feeling more vulnerable.

Thailand’s Press Registration Act of 2006, among other things, removes the requirement of a permit for setting up newspapers and also protects newspaper editors and publishers from automatically sharing in defamation suits brought against their writers. Under the 1941 law the Press Registration Act of 2006 replaces, the editor (and/or the publisher) and the author had to share the liability.

Now entities filing defamation charges have the option to sue just individual writers — which is exactly what Tesco Lotus has done, suing the two Thai columnists for $3.3m each, and the former legislator and current consumer activist for $33m. SEAPA is concerned that the strategy sends a chilling message  as well as divisive attack on the media sector as a whole, resonating with individual journalists while sending the signal to their principals and companies not to get involved.

For more information, visit the SEAPA website at www.seapa.org

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Fanning the flames

15Apr08 – 15:15

Lighting the Olympic torchWould an Olympic boycott really inspire China to improve its human rights record and its dealings with Tibet? Or would it make things worse, asks Nick Young

Tibet’s Himalayan neighbours in Bhutan and Nepal are beginning to build political institutions better fitted to the 21st century, and there is no doubt that Beijing should renegotiate its relationship with Lhasa in keeping with this zeitgeist.

But would an Olympics boycott advance this process or, indeed, advance human rights in China generally? Almost certainly not. Humiliating the government of China is, in this instance if not always, a less astute tactic than campaigners suppose, and is likely to prove counterproductive.

China expected the Olympics to signal the end of a long era of humiliation that began 170 years ago with the Opium Wars. By 2000 it seemed that China had at last emerged from the shadows of western bullying, Japanese invasion, civil war, internecine political struggle and failed development. The political elite saw hosting the Olympics as a celebration of this renaissance. They will take efforts to spoil the Games as a sign that, rather than being ready to accommodate China’s peaceful rise, the west is determined to slap China back down the development ladder.
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