One of the main men behind China’s Great Firewall recently got a taste of his own medicine.
Fang Binxing, credited with building a system which is used to block websites in China, shut down his microblog earlier this week after Chinese netizens, angry at censorship, bombarded his newly-opened microblogging account with angry comments.
Fang, the president of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, reportedly asked Sina, the owner of the very popular twitter-like service weibo, to delete his blog, after several hours of apparently trying to delete the flood of comments as they poured in.
China Digital Times has reproduced some of the more colourful comments left on Fang’s weibo including: “f–-k you 404 times” [ a reference to the ‘404 error’ message which occasionally appears when pages are blocked]; a suggestion that if Fang is unhappy with the comments he could simply block weibo itself now; and “a Twitter user is here to laugh at Eunuch Fang’s Great Firewall.”
The Wall Street Journal said people were alerted to Fang’s weibo account when the 50-year-old professor sent a message to a famous TV anchor Jing Yidan: “Hi, I’m on Weibo now, although I don’t dare be as outspoken as you all, haha.”
Global Times, a local English-language paper, carried the story, but was careful to balance it with comments that cited unnamed sources as saying the censorship was necessary to protect national security.
Index on Censorship calls on Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani, head of the judiciary in Iran, to overturn the sentences handed down this week to the film directors Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof. Jafar Panahi was sentenced this week to six years in prison for “colluding in the gathering and making of propaganda against the regime”. He is also banned from making films, writing scripts, travelling abroad and talking to the media for 20 years. Mohammad Rasoulof also received a prison sentence of six years.
In a letter to Ayatollah Larijani, Index on Censorship’s chief executive John Kampfner says:
We would like to remind you that Iran’s own constitution guarantees the right to freedom of expression, the essential condition for any artist to engage in their work and enjoy the freedom to create. We therefore ask you to guarantee this most fundamental of human rights to Mr Panahi, Mr Rasoulof and all artists, academics and journalists currently facing similar sentences.
Index on Censorship urges the Iranian government to recognise Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof as ambassadors for Iran’s creative culture, instead of treating them as criminals. “The Islamic Republic’s continuing crackdown on artists, journalists and writers can only harm the future of its people,” writes John Kampfner in his letter.
Jafar Panahi is amongst Iran’s leading film directors. His first film The White Balloon won the Camera d’Or at the Cannes film festival in 1995 and he was awarded the Golden Lion in 2000 for his film The Circle.
Speaking in support of Jafar Panahi, documentary filmmaker Kim Longinotto says:
Jafar Panahi has been an inspiration for me and my friends for many years. His poetic, sensitive and gripping films tell complex stories with well-rounded characters that he treats with great affection and respect. His films never tell us what to think, or give easy answers — they allow us to discover things for ourselves. He gives me hope for a future where men and women can truly identify with one another’s experiences.
Trainee accountant Paul Chambers, who was convicted of sending a “menacing communication” after he joked on Twitter that he would blow Doncaster’s Robin Hood Airport “sky high” if his flight was affected by weather, has won the right to appeal the decision, Index on Censorship has learned. (more…)
Belarus Free Theatre co-founder Natalia Koliada sent a message to protestors outside the Belarus Embassy in London on December 21, via Index on Censorship. The message read:
“We pass on our love to all the actors and artists who supported us on December 5 and human rights activists from Index on Censorship. I made a speech in Independence Square in Minsk just 15 minutes before hundreds of protesters were arrested. I told the crowd about your amazing support and all the friends we had from the artistic community in the UK and US.
“You cannot imagine how much your support meant to the tens of thousands of Belarusians protesting in Minsk. It meant an amazing amount to people who wanted a free and fair election. We appeal to all of you to carry on your support.
“Please ask all your friends, artists and actors to continue this campaign. Please make appeals in order to free those political prisoners who are now in jail and who were terribly beaten up and humiliated. The situation here is dreadful. People are arrested in the streets. Doors are smashed, and people dragged screaming from their apartments.
“To all of you who have supported us over the years, you need to call on your government to say clearly ‘this is a dictatorship’ and no longer play geopolitical games and pretending there is any liberalism in our country. You have all seen what is happening on your TV screens.
“Please get friends and colleagues to sign the petition. Please write to your MPs. Please put pressure on your government. We send all our love to you from across Belarus.”
