The Innocence of Muslims is truly the free speech story that keeps on giving. The crude, cheaply made anti-Islam film sparked international outrage when it first appeared on YouTube in September 2012, with even President Obama forced to weigh into the debate after the US Embassy in Cairo issued a tweet “condemning” the video. While ostensibly supporting free speech, the White House did suggest that Google should examine whether the video contravened its own terms of service.
Google eventually blocked the video of its own accord in Libya and Egypt. Meanwhile, in its move to censor the film, Pakistan simply blocked the whole of YouTube.
Now, a US court has ruled that Google should remove the video from YouTube. Not because of blasphemy, but because of copyright. The case against Google and the makers of the film was brought by actress Cindy Lee Garcia, who appears in the film for all of five seconds. Garcia claims that her single line, suggesting that Muhammad was a “child molester” was dubbed, and that she was duped into appearing in the anti-Muslim film, having been told it was a trailer for an adventure movie.
Crucially, she also says that she has a claim to the copyright of the film. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed that she may have a claim, and on 19 February ordered Google to remove the film from its YouTube service.
The court further ordered that the ruling be kept secret until 26 February, when the 37-page opinion on the case was issued “to prevent a rush to copy and proliferate the film before Google can comply with the order.”
Google has said it will appeal the order, saying that not only could the copyright claim of a bit-part actor create havoc for filmmakers of the future, but that service providers could now also be swamped with takedown requests from people who regret appearing in works in the public domain.
Interestingly, it also suggests that the simple removal of the video could constitute a tampering with the historical record. That chimes with an argument Index has made before – we seem far more comfortable with the removal of web content than we do with, say, the pulping of books, even though the intent is the same.
As things stand, Google has complied with the order, and the Innocence of Muslims can no longer be found on YouTube.
In yet another twist, Pakistani web freedom campaigner and Index on Censorship award nominee Shahzad Ahmed has used the removal of the video to pressure his government to lift the YouTube ban.
“We think that now the government of Pakistan has been left with no excuse to continue blocking access to YouTube,” he is reported as saying. “But the ban on YouTube has got more to do with the government’s desires and efforts to impose censorship, content filtering and moral policing and we are fighting against them in court through a constitutional petition.”
Generation Wave has been at the forefront of promoting democratic engagement in Burma, using hip hop, graffiti, film and street art to challenge authoritarianism since 2007 – with a strict policy of non-violence.
The organisation grew out of what became known as the Saffron Revolution – the 2007 protests led by saffron robed monks, which were violently put down by the Burmese military. For four years, the group was outlawed and had to operate underground.
These days, as Burma’s military has relaxed its grip on the country and started the transition to democracy, Generation Wave focuses on direct political activities and political capacity building among youth in the country, and the group has celebrated its last two anniversaries with public events.
Join us 20 March 2014 at the Barbican Centre for the Freedom of Expression Awards
However, the transition is still very much a work in progress. While there have been steps in the right direction, the political situation in Burma remains uncertain and activists like Generation Wave still face challenges. Over 20 members are former political prisoners. A number were released in 2012 as part of a mass presidential pardon, but several face ongoing charges, including co-founder and current president Moe Thway, who has appeared in court more than 130 times.
In 2013 Generation Wave sought official recognition as an institute in order to be able to carry out their activities in the clear light of day, but doing this is less straightforward than it might seem. “Our aim is to register as an organisation, because we don’t want to be an illegal organisation – but during the [registration] process I was told to promise that I wouldn’t work with politics. But that is impossible, because all of our work is concerned with politics,” general director Min Yan Naing said.
Music Freedom Day is a global collaboration to raise awareness of the challenges many musicians face around the world in creating their music. In 2013, 19 musicians were killed, seven abducted and 18 spent time in jail for using their right to free speech to express themselves through music, according to the human rights organisation Freemuse.
Mali is one such country where musicians have faced persecution and censorship for their work.
Documentary filmmaker Johanna Schwartz wrote for Index on Censorship magazine on the censorship and persecution that musicians in Mali have faced from Islamists, with musician Fadiamata Walet Oumar.
In the article they highlighted how music was being driven out of the country, with even those with musical ringtones on their mobile phones facing crackdowns. Many musicians fled Mali during the worst excesses of persecution, as the article charts. Schwartz is an award-winning documentary maker, and she is giving Index readers an exclusive preview of her documentary They Will Have To Kill Us First.
Peter Greste and his colleagues Mohammed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed have been imprisoned in Egypt since 29 December 2013. They are now on trial facing charges related to terrorism, along with six other journalists being tried in absentia. They are among many local Egyptian journalists and media workers who have been detained by the Egyptian authorities.
Please join the world’s press in a Global Day of Action on Thursday 27 February with peaceful demonstrations, silent protests and individual images to demand their release. Send a message to Egypt and the world: if you silence the press, you silence us all.What we can do in the UK:In London – supporters are to meet at Trafalgar Square at midday on 27 February – taping their mouths closed in solidarity.
Across the UK – newsrooms, offices, shops, commuters, tourists – are asked to stop at midday and cover their mouths with whatever is at hand, take a selfie and post it online using the hashtag #FreeAJStaff.
Please sign the Petition, pass the message on and join this Global Day of Action in any way you can:
Find out more about the case by watching Al Jazeera’s Inside Story with Index contributor Shahira Amin, Geoffrey Robertson QC and Index Senior Writer Padraig Reidy
