16 Feb 2017 | Campaigns, Campaigns -- Featured, Statements
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]We, the undersigned, major journalists’ and freedom of expression organisations, are writing to urge the Permanent Council of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe to ensure continuity of the Office of OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media at the end of Ms Dunja Mijatović’s tenure.
We believe strongly in the high value and importance of the Office of the Representative on Freedom of the Media, and in the mandate for the Representative that has been agreed by all OSCE participating states:
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The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media has an early warning function and provides rapid response to serious non-compliance with regard to free media and freedom of expression. The OSCE participating States consider freedom of expression a fundamental and internationally recognized human right and a basic component of a democratic society. Free media is essential to a free and open society and accountable governments. The Representative is mandated to observe media developments in the participating States and to advocate and promote full compliance with the Organization’s principles and commitments in respect of freedom of expression and free media.”
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]Since its inception in 1998, the Office has had a mandate holder without interruption, and successive Representatives on Freedom of the Media have helped to maintain freedom of media on the policy agenda within the OSCE and made a considerable contribution to a number of initiatives related to press freedom in the OSCE region. This was made possible by both the independence conferred on the Office and the profile of the Representatives who have shown determination, vision and steadfastness in fulfilling their mandate.
We understand that the current mandate holder, Ms Dunja Mijatović, is due to leave Office in a month’s time after serving a one year extension of her two three-year terms. And yet, to date, there has been no announcement of her successor just weeks before the position becomes vacant.
This situation is of great concern to media and other stakeholders, including many organisations actively concerned for media freedom in Europe who fear losing a valuable partner and voice. The work of the Representative on Freedom of the Media is more important than ever before, with journalists facing unprecedented pressures on the continent and across the OSCE area as a whole.
We wish therefore to warn against the risk of rolling back the progress achieved in protecting media freedoms, undermining advances into promoting stable, tolerant and accountable societies.
That is why we urge all Participating States to press on the OSCE the need to appoint a new Representative on Freedom of the Media without delay and to ensure the Office’s achievements over the last two decades are not lost.
We also encourage the Participating States to use their collective weight to influence the choice of the new Representative, and by doing so, ensure the best profile possible with a track record of independence and proved commitment to freedom of expression and freedom of the press for this important position.
Brussels, 16 February, 2017
Association of European Journalists (AEJ)
Article 19
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)
International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)
Index on Censorship
International Press Institute (IPI)
Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1487242081444-87bd062c-eeaa-0″ taxonomies=”6380″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
15 Feb 2017 | Index in the Press
It has been almost a year to the day since I began representing Milo Yiannopoulos as his literary agent. I have largely stayed quiet about the controversy that started right before the New Year, when the book deal became public, but I feel compelled to respond to Joy Peskin, whose soapbox “Drawing the Line” appeared in Publishers Weekly on February 6. Read the full article
15 Feb 2017 | Magazine, News and features, Uzbekistan
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Writing for Index on Censorship magazine’s autumn 2015 issue, writer Mamadali Makhmudov explored how his life had been upended by censorship in his native Uzbekistan. Arrested twice and imprisoned for 14 years, he was released in 2013 after an international outcry. He continues to be blacklisted and his works are silenced. Now, after the death of his wife, with his health failing, Makhmudov writes to bring us up to date on the frozen situation for freedom of expression for him and his country.
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Mamadali Makhmudov
In 1943, my father Mahmud Ahmad-oghli, before he left for Great Patriotic War, said the following words to my mother, Saodat Izbosar-qizi: “Take care of my son. I will go to fight against Russian invaders on the German side…” I was a little baby then. But on my passport my age was written incorrectly: December 12, 1940. Place of birth: Boghdon village in Forish District (this name given by Tamerlane was actually named after Paris). The village I was born is situated at the foot of Nurota Mountains.
My father was a mountain-bek. Russian invaders hanged my grandfather Ahmad Aksakal in Narvon village in 1936. This is the detailed story: During its invasion of Boghdon, the wild enemy killed men, raped women, and pulled babies out of women’s wombs. That time, Ahmad Aksakal, together with his supporters, got ready to fight at Otuchganqoya rock. Using a trick, he brought the enemy (400 Russians) to the ambush at the dark ravine and suddenly attacked them, killing part of the enemy. He took 300 hundred Russians as hostages. My grandfather was so furious that he made the enemy to crack each other’s genital organs with stone. He burned them in front of the people, saying they are “unclean blood”. Now, there are three “Russian Hills” in Boghdon.
Though I know that in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, it’s not good to have bitter indignation at someone, I have a very strong desire for revenge. I finished an elementary school in Boghdon with such feelings. Later I studied at the Uchquloch gold mine (14 km far from our village) until the eighth grade.
It was my childhood dream to become a writer. I had a poor living condition, but I used to ask for books by helping people around me. Despite a hard life, I found time to read books. The works by European writers such as Shakespeare, Byron, Goethe, Hugo, Scott, translated from Russian into Uzbek, were my favorite books. May God forgive me, but I sometimes I had to deceive my mother and went to the graveyard, bush or ravines to read books till late evening.
In 1959-1961, I served in the army in Ukraine as a tank commander. In 1962, together with my crew, I went to Russia’s Efremov City in Tula region and worked at a chemistry plant construction. From there I was sent to chemical and automobile industry training in Voronezh for one year. Then I returned to Efremov and worked as mechanic’s assistant.
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May God forgive me, but I sometimes I had to deceive my mother and went to the graveyard, bush or ravines to read books till late evening.
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In 1964, I came back to my homeland. I worked at Chrchiq Chemical Plant as mechanic for almost three years. Simultaneously, I finished evening courses for 10th and 11th grades. In 1966, I entered the Tashkent State University’s Faculty of Journalism. Because of a tough life, I had to study by correspondence. I worked for several newspapers in Guliston, Forish and Pakhtakor Districts as a proofreader and editor.
In 1968, the editor-in-chief of Saodat magazine, the poetess Zulfia, invited me to Tashkent and I have lived there since then.
When I was an eighth-grade schoolboy, I had a clear idea in my mind: “I will fight against Russian invaders not with a gun, but with a pen!” I think my mother, born in Kattaturk village in Samarkand, had encouraged me for such an idea. She once said to me: “Your grandpa Ahmad Aksakal often said the following: ‘Turkistan became a property for Russia. Day and night, they chased after our wealth, divided one nation into five different nations, and gave them five strange names and Cyrillic alphabet…’ You, sonny, should measure up to your grandpa!”
Based on my unchangeable faith and credo, I started writing short stories (Brook and Poplar, Horse, Hawthorn, etc.) to reveal the invader’s main purpose and ideology. They became sensation and were published in many newspapers and magazines, as well as in a collection called My Boghdon in 1971.
A power of liberty able to sweep Russian invaders from Central Asia came out that time, putting Moscow in anxiety and panic. Therefore, the Kremlin started its own propaganda against it. The propaganda was full of lie and slander (whoever believes Russia and China will never be able to correct that mistake). Russia called the freedom seekers “bosmachi” and tried to quickly get rid of them. To stand for it, I wrote my novel called Foggy Days (The Wolf of Boghdon), which also was warmly received by wide public.
Before my work appeared publicly, the USSR falsely described in historical books that “Russia annexed Central Asia.” I wrote it in my novel called Immortal Rocks, published in Sharq Yulduzi magazine in 1981. I wrote that Russia invaded Turkestan in exchange for the blood of millions of people.
For this work, I was dismissed from my work at the Writers’ Union. They took away all copies of the magazine. And I was in the black list of KGB for a long time. If Mr. Sharof Rashidov did not help me through Brezhnev, I would never come out of the prison.
Later, the novel was published in Germany, Turkey and France. I worked as the Secretary of the Writers’ Union and Chairman of Cultural Foundation. My friends know me as a person who fought for liberty.
When dependent nations gained independence thanks to Gorbachyov, a Communist, pro-Russian, ignorant and dictator became our ruler. He (Karimov) left a country full of corruption, with poor economy, agriculture, industry. He turned Uzbekistan into a big prison. He arrested freedom lovers and honest business people. Ethical norms were completely violated in the country. Eight million people left the country because of oppression, hunger and persecution. On fabricated charges (they put heroin, leaflets in my workplace and house) I was sentenced to 17 years in prison for allegedly being a member of Erk Party. I wrote several novels and short stories in the prison, but they took my work away. I hardly was able to get some parts of my novels such as Oynur, Oq Gul, and Bo’z Bo’ri. In 2013, when I was released with the help of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and European humanitarian organizations, I rewrote those books.
Oynur and Oq Gul are about that black history of the USSR and KGB. Bo’z Bo’ri is about the Arab invasion of Turon, their ruthless attacks, destructions of intelligentsia and other oppression. It’s about Muqanna, who bravely fought against those invaders. These books, along with my other articles and essays, are published on websites based in Europe, Canada and the United States.
I lost my health in prison, where hundreds of people die. I have had three heart attacks. I have ulcer in my stomach and my eyes have some other problems (cataract). I have six stones in my kidney. In short, I am in a poor health condition.
First of all, I need to have a stimulator installed in my heart. But I have no money for that, since we barely survive. Within 17 years, my family has been in debt. Despite working for state organisations for 40 years I receive a pension of just 179,000 UZS. And I even had to struggle for that for seven months. I don’t have enough means to buy medicine either. My books are not published in my own country. I am a banned author and I am always under surveillance.
When I was released, some humanitarian organizations in Europe and U.S., PEN Club and my friends supported me and we could get rid of 70% of our debt. Recently, my spouse Gulsara Mahmud died of heart attack. We are again in debt now.
Life is difficult. Nevertheless, I am writing the truth, only truth.
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15 Feb 2017 | Awards
Behrouz Boochani has been shortlisted for a 2017 Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award in the journalism category.
Australia’s Media Entertainment Arts Alliance launched a campaign to open Australia’s borders to the Index Award-shortlisted Kurdish-Iranian journalist Behrouz Boochani, who is currently interned in Papua New Guinea.
The alliance is calling for the Australian government to resettle Boochani, along with actor Mehdi Savari and cartoonist ‘Eaten Fish’, from the Manus Island immigration detention centre to Australia.
“We believe that to continue to detain these three individuals without charge or trial undermines freedom of expression and the right to seek asylum”, according to a statement on the alliance’s website. “We urge you to allow them to be resettled in Australia so that they can live, work and contribute to Australian society.”
Boochani has been shortlisted in the journalism category of the 2017 Index on Censorship’s Freedom of Expression Awards. Winners will be announced in April.
Boochani, who has been held at the detention centre since 2013, fled the city of Ilam in Iran after police raided the magazine he had co-founded, Kurdish Cultural Heritage. After less than a month in Australia he was forcibly relocated to the newly opened “refugee processing centre” in Papua New Guinea.
Preferring not to return home, Boochani reluctantly claimed asylum in Papua New Guinea alongside nearly 1000 other prisoners hoping to make it to Australia’s mainland. He has done his best to continue writing by passionately documenting his life in the restricted detention centre.
“I have never stopped thinking and working as a journalist”, says Boochani. “Despite attempts to silence me, I have not been silenced.”
He circumvented a ban on cell phones until 2016 by trading with the local residents in Papua New Guinea. Boochani was able to write many stories via the messenger app Whatsapp, even finding the time and space to shoot a feature film on his phone.
More than 100 journalists, actors, writers and cartoonists have collaborated in writing to the prime minister and immigration minister requesting that Boochani, Savari and Eaten Fish be resettled in Australia as soon as possible.
“WE, the undersigned, write as journalists, writers, cartoonists and performers to urge you to allow our colleagues Behrouz Boochani, Mehdi Savari, and ‘Eaten Fish’ to be resettled in Australia.
All three men have sought protection as refugees from Iran and are currently detained at the Manus Island Regional Processing Centre in Papua New Guinea which is operated on behalf of the Australian Government.
Well into the fourth year of their ordeal on Manus Island, and with delays and uncertainties in relation to any US resettlement deal, the three men remain in limbo. To varying degrees, the years of detention have severely impacted their mental and physical health.
- Behrouz Boochani, 33, is a Kurdish journalist. He has worked as a journalist and editor for several Iranian newspapers. On February 17, 2013, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps ransacked his offices in Ilam and arrested 11 of Boochani’s colleagues. Six were imprisoned. He has courageously continued to work as a journalist while in detention, and is a regular contributor to publications in Australia and overseas, often reporting on the situation and conditions on Manus Island. He has been recognised as a refugee and we urge you to allow him to reside in Australia to resume his career as a journalist. Boochani is a Main Case of PEN International, and has been recognised as a detained journalist by Reporters Without Borders. (RSF)
- Mehdi Savari, 31, is an Ahwazi Arab performer. As an actor, he has worked with numerous theatre troupes in many cities and villages in Iran, and performed for audiences in open public places. He was also well-known as the host of a satirical children’s TV show before fleeing Iran. Mehdi is a person of short stature and has met with severe discrimination over his life. His dwarfism has been exacerbated by the conditions and his treatment on Manus Island over the last three years, and he continues to suffer a range of physical ailments and indignities, as well as regular bouts of depression and chronic pain. As he has also been recognised as a refugee, we urge you to facilitate his resettlement in Australia. We also refer you to a resolution passed by the International Federation of Actors congress in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in September calling for his release from detention.
- Eaten Fish, 24, is a cartoonist and artist who prefers to be known by his nom-de-plume. He has recently received Cartoonists’ Rights Network International’s 2016 award for Courage in Editorial Cartooning. His application for refugee status has not been assessed. Since he was detained at Manus Island, he has been diagnosed with mental illnesses which have been compounded by his incarceration. We urge you to allow him to live in Australia until the final status of his claim can be determined.
As journalists, cartoonists, writers and performers, we are aware that the rights we enjoy are matched by a responsibility to challenge and confront tyranny and wrongdoing, to bear witness and uphold truth, and to reflect our society, even if sometimes unfavourably. We are privileged that in Australia we are able to pursue these ends without fear of persecution or threat to our personal liberty.
We believe that to continue to detain these three individuals without charge or trial undermines freedom of expression and the right to seek asylum. All three have courageously continued to practice their vocations on Manus Island despite their incarceration. We urge you to allow them to be resettled in Australia so that they can live, work and contribute to Australian society.
MEAA is joined in this letter by the the International Federation of Journalists, the International Federation of Actors, Reporters Without Borders, the Cartoonists’ Rights Network International, PEN International and members of the global network of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange.
We urge you to give the cases for resettlement of these three men serious consideration.”
