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Between 2013 and 2015, 10 Bulgarian municipalities spent a total of 2.7 million Bulgarian lev ($1.54 million) – mainly to media companies and PR agencies – in return for positive coverage of their activities, an investigative series by news site Dnevnik.bg found.
According to the articles, the local governments of the five largest, excluding the capital Sofia, and five of the poorest cities in the country were found to be engaging in “corrupt practices” and displayed a disregard for “journalistic ethics and loyalty to the audience”.
Under the guise of using contracts to create advertisements, “job posting messages and other texts” – not only in publications but also for radio and television broadcasts – all 10 municipalities were found to be buying influence in media outlets and attempting to eliminate criticism, Spas Spasov, the author of the series, told Index on Censorship. The cities reviewed were Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, Ruse, Pleven, Stara Zagora, Shumen, Kazanlak, Blagoevgrad, Vratsa and Montana.
The data, which was obtained through freedom of information requests, does not claim to be exhaustive but provides an indication of administrative control over news in the cities covered by the investigative reports. “The idea behind the project was to reveal the deep crisis in which freedom of the press finds itself in Bulgaria,” Spasov said.
One visible trend in the series is that media content is sold at a discount to local governments who buy “wholesale”.
“The results of my investigation show that virtually all the media in the analysed municipalities are dependent on the public funding they get,” Spasov told Index. The lack of an advertising market outside the capital only strengthens this dependence on handouts from local government, he added.
This article is a case study drawn from the issues documented by Mapping Media Freedom, Index on Censorship’s project that monitors threats to press freedom in 42 European and neighbouring countries.
He found that in many cases the money private media outlets receive from municipal administrations often covers the entirety – or at least a significant portion – of their budgets. In one case a source told Spasov that the entire salary of a journalist was covered by Vratsa municipal funding.
In the city of Varna some advertising contracts were signed by municipal companies that are monopolies that were not in need of advertising. Spasov said that this is a way to buy political and institutional influence in a media outlet.
Many municipalities were found to be contracting “advertising” and “promotional activities” through private media despite the fact that almost every municipality has its own municipal media, through which they already publish official announcements.
“Of course, there is nothing vicious in the practice of municipal administrations buying advertising in private media,” Spasov said. He does, however, stress that in order to avoid buying media influence, local administrations and government institutions should publish their advertisements only in media outlets that comply with the Ethical Code of the Bulgarian Media.
“This code clearly stipulates that all text covered by the contracts will be marked as sponsored content but this is not the current practice,” he said, adding that vague wording–phrases such as “other texts”–helps to disguise sponsored articles published as editorial content.
This is possible because Bulgaria has no law requiring print and online media outlets to label sponsored content they are publishing. Existing regulation only addresses television advertisements.
“Transparency of sponsored content is crucial for a functioning free press. It is vital that existing legislation on advertisers be reformed swiftly to include all media outlets in order to protect the public,” Hannah Machlin, project officer for Index on Censorship’s Mapping Media Freedom, said.
The investigation went on to find that many media outlets from smaller municipalities were created by political entities with the purpose of bullying their opponents in local government.
Spasov told Index that if the remainder of the country’s 256 municipalities were also to be investigated, “there should be no doubt” that the findings would be similar to the 10 which were analysed in his investigation.
Turkey Uncensored is an Index on Censorship project to publish a series of articles from censored Turkish writers, artists and translators.
Jailed Turkish journalist Ahmet Altan.
If made out of the right stuff a journalist is a tough nut. Some of us are, you may say, born that way. Our profession lives in our cells. We are compelled to do what our DNA instructs us to do.
Yet, these days, I can’t help waking up each morning in a state of gloom.
Never before have we, Turkey’s journalists, been subjected to such multi-frontal cruelty. Each and every one of us have at least one — usually more — serious issue to wrestle with. Many have already faced unemployment. According to Turkey’s journalist unions, more than 2,300 media professionals have been forced to down pens since the coup attempt. The silenced face a dark destiny: they will never be rehired by a media under the Erdogan yoke.
More than 120 of my colleagues are in indefinite detention – and that number does not include 19 already sentenced to prison. The latest to be added to the list are the novelist and former editor of daily Taraf, the renowned journalist Ahmet Altan and his brother, Mehmet Altan, a commentator and scholar.
The grim pattern of arrests comes with a note attached: “To be continued…”
Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk recently and eloquently summed up what Turkey is becoming: “Everybody, who even just a little, criticises the government is now being locked in jail with a pretext, accompanied by feelings of grudge and intimidation, rather than applying law. There is no more freedom of opinion in Turkey!”
Some of those who are still free, either at home or abroad, may consider themselves lucky – or at least be perceived as such. But the reality is that each and every one of us faces immense hardship.
Being forced into an exile, as I have been, is not an easy existence. Many like me have an arrest warrant hanging over their heads. Others are simply anxious or unwilling to return home.
Pressured by financial strains, a journalist in exile bears the burden of the country they have been torn from while remaining glued to the agony of others.
But there is more. Last week I offered one of my news analyses to a tiny, independent daily — one of the very few remaining in Turkey. Waiving any fee, I asked the editor — who is a tough nut — to consider publishing it. Soon, the text was filed and the initial response was: “This one is great, we will run it.”
Then came a telephone call. Because the editor and I have a friendly relationship, he was open when he told me this: “As we were about to go online with it, one editor suggested we ask our lawyer. I thought he was right in feeling uneasy because everything these days is extraordinary. Then, the lawyer strongly advised against it. Why, we asked. He said that since Mr Baydar has an arrest warrant, publishing a text with his byline or signature would, according to the decrees issued under emergency rule, give the authorities to the right to raid the newspaper, or simply to shut it down. Just like that. Tell Mr Baydar this, I am sure he will understand.”
I did understand. No sane person would want to bear the responsibility for causing the newspaper’s employees to be rendered jobless, to be sent out to starvation.
This incident is but one in a chain, hidden in Turkey’s relative freedom. It’s a cunning and brutal system of censorship that aims to sever the ties between Turkey’s cursed journalists and their readership. It is a deliberate construction of a wall between us and the public. It is putting us in a cage even if we are breathing freedom elsewhere.
It’s enough to make George Orwell turn in his grave.
But there is some consolation. Thankfully we, the censored among Turkey’s journalists, have space to write about the truth, make comments and offer analysis in spaces like Index on Censorship. Thankfully, we have the internet, which is everybody’s open property, even if the sense of defeat when you awake some mornings leaves you convulsing in the gloom.
You know you have to chase it away and get on with what you know best: to inform, to exchange views, offer independent opinion, promote diversity, and hope that one day it will contribute to democracy.
In mobster movies the bad guys always kidnap the wife of the protagonist. They’ll phone the husband to say: “We have your wife. Do as we tell you otherwise she’s gone.”
I had not imagined that a state could become no better than a criminal syndicate. But the Turkish state has become one.
On Saturday 3 September my wife’s passport was confiscated by the police at the airport as she was en route to Berlin. She was not accused of anything criminal. She was not being searched for or tried and had no obstacles preventing her from travelling abroad. There was no legitimate reason to prevent her journey and no explanation has been given.
It is with me that they had an issue. I had broadcast footage of Turkish state intelligence smuggling arms into a neighbouring country by illegal means. They could not deny it and say: “No such thing has happened.” What they said was: “This is a state secret.”
For uncovering the state’s dirty secrets, I was given five years and ten months in prison. We had appealed the conviction to a higher court but after the coup attempt a state of emergency was declared and the rule of the law was completely suspended.
To expect justice to be served by a judiciary under the complete control of the government would have been as naive as expecting mercy from the “mob”.
I went abroad and said that I would not return until the state of emergency was lifted and the rule of the law was restored.
Then the mob took my wife hostage. We are not the only people to face such relentlessness.
The 64-year-old mother-in-law of one of the supposed coup plotters was taken to a prison in a wheelchair. The father of another accused, who was not caught, was taken into custody as he left prayer in a mosque. The passports of wives and daughters have been confiscated and hundreds of families have been forcefully separated without trial.
These are direct violations of the principle of individual responsibility for crime.
Guilt by association allows such mob-like lawlessness prevails in a country that is a member of the Council of Europe.
It was the present government that brought the coup plotters who tried to overthrow it into the state, tasked them with cleansing its opponents and made a giant out of them.
When they had a dispute over distribution of spoils and dissolved their partnership, there remained within the state a well rooted and gargantuan parallel organisation.
Then the conflict peaked on July 15 when Frankenstein’s monster attacked its creator.
The violent coup attempt was put down because the military headquarters did not lend it support and the people took to the streets. But Erdogan has treated the event — in his own words — as “a godsend”. Using the tactics used by US senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s, he has started a witch hunt that will incarcerate all opposition.
More than 40,000 people have been taken into custody while 80,000 civil servants have been removed from their duties. Dozens of journalists have been arrested. Nearly 100 media outlets have been shut down.
Yet the rage of the government has not been quelled. Now it is taking it out on the relatives of those “witches” it did not catch.
It says: “We have your wife. Come back or she’s gone.”
But we all know that at the end of the movie the bad guys are defeated, the hostages are freed and families are reunited.
I have no doubt that this is what will happen in Turkey. Those who have made a mob out of the state will be tried. Families will get back together and celebrate the end of the witch hunt and the return of freedom, democracy and justice.
We are well aware of this and we labour to make that day come true.
Nominations are open from 12 September to 11 October 2016
Beginning today, nominations for the Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards Fellowship are open. Now in their 17th year, the awards honour some of the world’s most remarkable free expression heroes. Previous winners include Chinese digital activists GreatFire, Syrian cartoonist Ali Farzat and Angolan investigative journalist Rafael Marques de Morais.
Index invites the general public, civil society organisations, non-profit groups and media organisations to nominate anyone (individuals or organisations) who they believe should celebrated and supported in their work tackling censorship worldwide.
There are four categories in Index on Censorship’s Freedom of Expression Awards:
Arts for artists (any form) and arts producers whose work challenges repression and injustice and celebrates artistic free expression.
Campaigning for activists and campaigners who have had a marked impact in fighting censorship and promoting freedom of expression.
Digital Activism for innovative uses of technology to circumvent censorship and enable free and independent exchange of information.
Journalism for courageous, high impact and determined journalism (any form) that exposes censorship and threats to free expression.
Relevant nominees are also eligible for the Music in Exile Fellowship, whichsupports musicians whose work is under threat.
As awards fellows, all winners receive one residential week of networking, advanced training and consultancy in London (April 2017) followed by 12 months of bespoke support to amplify and sustain their valuable work for free expression worldwide.
Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of Index, said: “The Freedom of Expression Awards not only showcase but also strengthen groups and individuals doing brave and brilliant work to enhance freedom of expression around the world. These are true heroes – people who often have to overcome immense obstacles and face great danger just for the right to express themselves. I urge everyone to nominate their free expression champion – make sure their voice is heard.”
The 2017 awards shortlist will be announced in late January. The winners will be announced in London at a gala ceremony on 19 April 2017 at The Unicorn Theatre.
For more information on the awards and fellowship, please contact sean@indexoncensorship.org or call +44 (0)207 963 7262.
Each week, Index on Censorship’s Mapping Media Freedom project verifies threats, violations and limitations faced by the media throughout the European Union and neighbouring countries. Here are five recent reports that give us cause for concern.
Former french president Nicolas Sarkozy is back on the campaign trail but fundraising from his 2012 run for office is raising questions. A new documentary investigating these finances was due to air on 29 September but following pressure from Michel Field, the head of news at France Télévisions, a French public national television broadcaster, it now won’t show until after the primary elections of Sarkozy’s Republicans party at the end of November.
On 6 September, the satirical and investigative newspaper Le Canard Enchaîné revealed that in mid-July, Field told Elise Lucet, the new director of Envoyé Special, that the documentary must be delayed. The publication also revealed that Field was in talks with Sarkozy, who had agreed to be the first guest on a new political programme by France Télé, but that Sarkozy’s team would prevent his appearance if the documentary was to air.
According to Le Canard, Field also tried to have a heavily-edited version of the documentary air 8 September, which Lucet refused to comply with. Lucet accused Field of censorship and the director of France Télévisions, Delphine Ernotte Cunci, is taking some time to decide whether to air the documentary or not.
In court, Geriev said that on 16 April he was kidnapped from a public bus on his way to Grozny. He added that he was taken to the woods, where he was beaten and tortured, and then taken to a local cemetery. There, according to the prosecutors, he was arrested for possession of 160 grams of marijuana and admitted he was guilty.
Kavkazski Uzel issued a statement saying that they believe that the case against Geriev is fabricated and motivated by his professional activities.
If passed, this law would allow the “relevant public authorities” to obtain journalists’ communications data with the aim of identifying or confirming the identity of anonymous sources.
The news agency Unian, citing the State Emergency Services division, reported: “At 16:31 on Sept. 4, Kyiv Emergency Situations Service operators received a call about a fire that had broken out at a building of a TV channel at 26 Schuseva Street. Upon arrival at the scene, firefighters discovered two piles of tyres had been set ablaze during a rally outside the building and an external source of ignition brought [into the building] had caused a fire on the first floor…and second floor.”
Thirty people were evacuated and one journalist suffered a broken leg and smoke inhalation.
Dilek Dundar, the wife of prominent Turkish journalist and former editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet newspaper Can Dundar was prevented from leaving the country at the Ataturk International airport on 3 September. She was on her way to Berlin, Germany, when airport officials confiscated her passport and informed her that it had been cancelled.
Can Dundar said of the situation: “This … is an excellent example of authoritarian rule. The new legal order … treats the whole family as criminals.”
Index on Censorship, a global organisation that campaigns for free expression, fully supports the action of Norway’s Aftenposten newspaper in refusing a request from Facebook to remove an iconic photo of the Vietnam War that features a naked child running from a napalm attack.
Aftenposten, Norway’s largest newspaper by circulation, said in a front-page editorial on 9 September that Facebook emailed the newspaper to demand the removal of a documentary photograph from the Vietnam War made by Nick Ut of The Associated Press. “Less than 24 hours after the email was sent, and before I had time to give my response, you intervened yourselves and deleted the article as well as the image from Aftenposten’s Facebook page,” Aftenposten’s editor in chief said in the editorial, written as a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Index is shocked and disturbed by the behaviour of Facebook in this matter. We understand that Facebook, as a private company, has the right to impose terms of service as it sees fit and this includes policies with which we may not agree – such as its policies on nudity. However, its actions in this case demonstrate the crucial role that context plays in assessing what content should be removed. As Aftenposten editor Espen Egil Hansen writes: Facebook rules “don’t distinguish between child pornography and famous war photos”.
Furthermore, Facebook’s decision undermines media freedom by removing from an independent media outlet’s own page an image and article that that organisation has made the considered decision to publish. This calls into question the entire model of Facebook as a social media platform. If Index, for example, is not able to freely publish articles on our own Facebook page that we feel to be important, what purpose is there for us to use Facebook at all? Facebook ceases in this scenario to be a champion, or even a conduit, of free speech.
Finally, Facebook should be a platform for debate. We understand from Aftenposten that when Norwegian author Tom Egeland challenged a decision by Facebook to remove the picture of Phan Thi Kim Phuc from a post he made, he was excluded from Facebook. This, again, flies in the face of the notion that Facebook is a platform for open debate.
Open debate, including the viewing of images and stories that some people may find offensive, is vital for democracy. Platforms such as Facebook can play an essential role in ensuring this. We urge Facebook not just to overturn this decision but to renew its commitment to providing a platform that allows for public debate. This means supporting the free sharing of legal information no matter how offensive it may appear to others.
The appalling scene on the strand in Nice on Bastille Day. The dead at the airport and in the Metro in Brussels in March. Terrorist attacks, designed to inflict the highest possible level of fear and apprehension among ordinary citizens, is now ordinary in Europe.
The stakes were raised in earnest in January 2015 with the carnage at the editorial offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris, where 10 staffers were brutally murdered by terrorists.
How can such atrocities be avoided or squelched? That is the question.
We know Europeans want something to be done. Living in a perpetual state of fear is not the natural consequence of living in 21st century liberal democracies.
But neither is living in a police state, where personal privacy gives way to the exigencies of war, however unlike this war compares to ones of the past; where mere idle chatter can be misconstrued to the point that it becomes the criminal offense of glorifying terrorism.
Simply put, do our rights to personal privacy and free expression and free association vanish in order to provide a safer physical environment for our residents?
The answer, or answers are not easily arrived at; the debates are nuanced and people of good will and good character can find themselves on opposite sides of issues while both hoping for a similar outcome: peace, security and an open society that respects the inherent rights of individuals to live freely.
Under these difficult circumstances, I think it is important to make the case, once again, to protect individual rights in times of civil turmoil. To do so, I issued a statement earlier this month, as the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media setting out the arguments in favour of protection.
First and foremost, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the world’s largest regional security body, appears fully on board with the notion of protection of these individual rights. The participating States, in the Astana Declaration of 2010, reiterated the commitment to comprehensive security and related the maintenance of peace to respect for human rights.
And in a Ministerial Council Decisions on Preventing and Countering Violent Radicalization that Lead to Terrorism and on Counter-terrorism that was adopted in 2015, the States confirmed the notion “..that respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law are complementary and mutually reinforcing with effective counter-terrorism measures, and are an essential part of a successful counter-terrorism effort.”
Furthermore, any counter-terrorism measures restricting the right to free expression and free media must be in compliance with international standards, most notably Article 19 of the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rightsand strictly adhere to the principles of legality, necessity and proportionality and implemented in accordance with the rule of law.
Read alone, these pronouncements ought to put an end to any notion that the rights and values inherent in an open society should not survive the fight against terrorism. But it has not. Across the OSCE region, which comprises 57 countries from North America to Mongolia, governments are considering laws that chip away at those fundamental rights.
As a result, I have suggested that lawmakers of OSCE participating States give ample weight and consideration to the following when addressing any legislation that would affect, in law or in practice, the right of people to exercise their human rights:
Ensure journalists’ freedom and safety at all times, including while reporting on terrorism.
Recognize that free expression and the use of new technologies are also tools to fight terrorism by creating social cohesion and expressing alternative narratives.
Clearly and appropriately define, in line with international human rights law, the notions of violent extremism, terrorism, radicalisation and other terms used in legislation, programs and initiatives aimed to prevent and counter terrorism.
Acknowledge that the media has a right to report on terrorism. Requests for media blackouts of terrorist activities must be avoided and media should be free to consider, based on ethical standards and editorial guidelines, available information to publish in the public interest.
Fully respect the right of journalists to protect sources and provide a legal framework securing adequate judicial scrutiny before law enforcement and intelligence agencies can access journalists’ material in terror investigations.
Refrain from indiscriminate mass surveillance because of its chilling effect on free expression and journalism. Targeted surveillance should be used only when strictly necessary, with judicial authorization and independent control mechanisms in place.
Acknowledge that anonymity and encryption technologies may be the only guarantee for safe and secure communications for journalists and therefore are a prerequisite for the right to exercise freedom of expression. Blanket prohibitions are disproportionate and therefore unacceptable, and encryption regulation introducing “backdoors” and “key escrows” to give law enforcement and intelligence access to “the dark web” should not be adopted.
Only restrict content that is considered a threat to national security if it can be demonstrated that it is intended to incite imminent violence, likely to incite such violence and there is a direct and immediate connection between the expression and the likelihood of occurrence of such violence.
Review applicable laws and policies on counter-terrorism and bring them in line with the above principles.
Adherence to these simple rules is necessary because limiting the space for free expression and civic space advances the goals of those promoting, threatening and using terrorism and violence.
If we give up on our fundamental freedoms we will erode the very substance of democracy and the rule of law.
[vc_row full_width=”stretch_row_content_no_spaces” css=”.vc_custom_1478499289940{padding-top: 250px !important;padding-bottom: 250px !important;background-image: url(https://www.indexoncensorship.org/newsite02may/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/2016-logo-1460×490-1.png?id=80259) !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][vc_column][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1472525914065{margin-top: -150px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_row_inner equal_height=”yes” content_placement=”middle”][vc_column_inner el_class=”awards-inside-desc” width=”1/2″][vc_custom_heading text=”FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AWARDS 2016″ use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]Index on Censorship’s Freedom of Expression Awards exist to celebrate individuals or groups who have had a significant impact fighting censorship anywhere in the world.
Awards were offered in four categories: Arts, Campaigning, Digital Activism and Journalism
Anyone who has had a demonstrable impact in tackling censorship is eligible
Winners were honoured at a gala celebration in London at the Unicorn Theatre
Winners joined Index’s Awards Fellowship programme and received dedicated training and support
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MUWHhTYVAg”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row equal_height=”yes” el_class=”awards-4grid” css=”.vc_custom_1472549004786{margin-top: 20px !important;margin-bottom: 20px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1/4″ css=”.vc_custom_1472461150656{background-color: #cb3000 !important;}”][vc_custom_heading text=”Arts” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]for artists and arts producers whose work challenges repression and injustice and celebrates artistic free expression[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″ css=”.vc_custom_1472461193991{background-color: #d98c00 !important;}”][vc_custom_heading text=”Campaigning” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]for activists and campaigners who have had a marked impact in fighting censorship and promoting freedom of expression[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″ css=”.vc_custom_1472461232330{background-color: #cb3000 !important;}”][vc_custom_heading text=”Digital Activism” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]for innovative uses of technology to circumvent censorship and enable free and independent exchange of information[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″ css=”.vc_custom_1472461222655{background-color: #d98c00 !important;}”][vc_custom_heading text=”Journalism” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]for courageous, high-impact and determined journalism that exposes censorship and threats to free expression[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row el_class=”text_white” css=”.vc_custom_1472549018179{margin-top: 20px !important;margin-bottom: 20px !important;background-color: #cb3000 !important;}”][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”The Index Awards Fellowship” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]In recognising individuals and organisations, often working in dangerous and difficult conditions, Index makes a commitment to them. Through a year-long fellowship we work with our awards winners – both during an intensive week in London, and the rest of the awarding year – to provide longer term, structured assistance to enhance the work they are already doing.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” css=”.vc_custom_1481803717893{margin-top: 0px !important;margin-bottom: 20px !important;background-color: #f2f2f2 !important;}”][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”FELLOWS” font_container=”tag:h1|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1472608304034{margin-top: 0px !important;}”][vc_column_text el_class=”container680″]
Through the Index Awards Fellowship we work with our winners – both during an intensive week in London and the rest of the awarding year – to provide longer term, structured support.
The goal is to help winners maximise their impact, broaden their support and ensure they can continue to excel at fighting free expression threats on the ground.
Criteria – Anyone involved in tackling free expression threats – either through journalism, campaigning, the arts or using digital techniques – is eligible for nomination.
Any individual, group or NGO can nominate or self-nominate. There is no cost to apply.
Judges look for courage, creativity and resilience. We shortlist on the basis of those who are deemed to be making the greatest impact in tackling censorship in their chosen area, with a particular focus on topics that are little covered or tackled by others.
Nominees must have had a recognisable impact in the past 12 months.
Where a judge comes from a nominee’s country, or where there is any other potential conflict of interest, the judge will abstain from voting in that category.
Panel – Each year Index recruits an independent panel of judges – leading world voices with diverse expertise across campaigning, journalism, the arts and human rights.
The judges for 2016, chaired by Index on Censorship’s CEO Jodie Ginsberg are:
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][staff name=”Wole Soyinka” title=”Playwright, poet, novelist and essayist” color=”#28a7cc” profile_image=”80242″]Born and educated in Nigeria, Wole Soyinka is a playwright, poet, novelist and essayist who was Nobel Laureate for Literature in 1986 – the first African to be honoured in that category.
Soyinka has published more than thirty works, and is involved in numerous international artistic and Human Rights organizations.
Soyinka is currently Professor Emeritus in Comparative Literature at Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria, Fellow of the Black Mountain Institute at the University of Nevada, and a Hutchins Fellow at Harvard University.[/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][staff name=”Maria Teresa Ronderos” title=”Journalist and programme director OSF” color=”#28a7cc” profile_image=”80240″]An award-winning Colombian journalist, María Teresa Ronderos is currently Director of the Program on Independent Journalism at the Open Society Foundation.
Before joining OSF in 2014, Ronderos was an editor and investigative reporter for Semana, Colombia’s leading news magazine. She also created and was editor-in-chief of VerdadAbierta.com, a website that has covered armed conflict in Colombia since 2008.
In 2014, Ronderos won Colombia’s Simon Bolivar National Award for her highly acclaimed book Guerras Recicladas, a history of the paramilitary forces in Colombia.[/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][staff name=”Nabeel Rajab” title=”Human rights campaginer” color=”#28a7cc” profile_image=”80241″]A past winner of Index’s Freedom of Expression Award for Campaigning (2012), Nabeel Rajab is president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights.
A prominent international human rights activist and leading campaigner against civil rights abuses in his country, Rajab has been repeatedly arrested and incarcerated. He is currently prohibited from leaving Bahrain.
Rajab is also co-founder and former director of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, Deputy Secretary General for the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), a member of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa Advisory Committee and former chairman of CARAM Asia.[/staff][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][staff name=”Kirsty Brimelow QC” title=”Public and criminal international, constitutional and human rights law” color=”#28a7cc” profile_image=”80239″]The first Chairwoman of the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales, Kirsty Brimelow is an expert in public and criminal international, constitutional and human rights law.
Brimelow’s recent work includes an alleged Boko Haram child terrorist case in Nigeria, presenting evidence to the UN of sexual violence against Tamils by Sri Lanka and representing Amnesty against the UK security services.
As a mediator, Brimelow facilitated an apology from President Santos of Colombia to the San José de Apartadó peace community in 2013 that was described as an “historic moment” in the country’s history.[/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][staff name=”James Rhodes” title=”Pianist” color=”#28a7cc” profile_image=”80238″]Until the age of 14, British concert pianist James Rhodes had no formal academic musical education. Aged 18 he stopped playing the piano entirely for a decade.
Since returning to the piano, Rhodes has released five chart-topping albums, performed in venues around the world and presented numerous TV series and acclaimed documentaries including Notes for The Inside and Don’t Stop The Music.
Rhodes’ memoir Instrumental was recently published – almost banned, the Supreme Court overthrew an injunction against its release in May 2015.[/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][staff name=”Bindi Karia” title=”Tech entrepreneur” color=”#28a7cc” profile_image=”80237″]Previously vice president at Silicon Valley Bank, “queen of startups” Bindi Karia has worked in and around technology for most of her career.
Raised in Canada, Karia has also been Venture Capital/Emerging Business lead at Microsoft UK, a Tech London advocate and an active mentor and supporter of many of London’s top Incubators including Seedcamp, TechStars, Startupbootcamp, WAYRA and Level39.
Karia is currently setting up a new venture NewCo.[/staff][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row_content_no_spaces” css=”.vc_custom_1473325605190{margin-top: 20px !important;margin-bottom: 20px !important;padding-top: 20px !important;padding-right: 15px !important;padding-bottom: 20px !important;padding-left: 15px !important;background-color: #f2f2f2 !important;}”][vc_column][vc_row_inner content_placement=”middle” el_class=”container container980″][vc_column_inner][awards_news_slider name=”NEWS” years=”2016″][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1473325552363{margin-top: 0px !important;margin-bottom: 20px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;padding-right: 15px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;padding-left: 15px !important;}”][vc_column css=”.vc_custom_1473325567468{margin-top: 0px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”][awards_gallery_slider name=”GALLERY” images_url=”74912,74870,74858,74854,74850,74849,74848,74847,74846,74845,74844,74843,74842,74841,74839,74838,74836,74835,74834,74833,74832,74831″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” css=”.vc_custom_1481798563375{background-color: #f2f2f2 !important;}”][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”2016 SHORTLIST” font_container=”tag:h1|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]
Drawn from more than 400 nominations, the Index awards shortlist celebrates 20 artists, writers, journalists and campaigners tackling censorship and fighting for freedom of expression against incredible obstacles.
for artists and arts producers whose work challenges repression and injustice and celebrates artistic free expression
[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][staff name=”Belarus Free Theatre” title=”Belarus” profile_image=”82684″]Belarus Free Theatre have been using their creative and subversive art to protest the dictatorial rule of Aleksandr Lukashenko for a decade.
Facing pressure from authorities since their inception, the group nonetheless thrived underground, performing in apartments, basements and forests despite continued arrests and brutal interrogations. In 2011, while on tour, they were told they were unable to return home. Refusing to be silenced, the group set up headquarters in London and continued to direct projects in Belarus.
In this anniversary year, the group staged a solidarity concert watched by over half a million people online, mounted a two week retrospective and launched the Ministry of Counterculture, an online platform aiming to widen the understanding of art’s role in affecting social change.
“The very existence of BFT is a challenge to the repression and injustice of the dictatorship in Belarus.” — Natalia Kaliada, co-founder Belarus Free Theatre
Full profile: Belarus Free Theatre battles censorship and oppression by the Belarusian regime[/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][staff name=”#YoTambienExijo and Tania Bruguera” title=”Cuba” profile_image=”82700″]Tania Bruguera is an American-Cuban artist who was arrested after attempting to stage her performance piece #YoTambienExijo in Havana in late 2014. Mounted soon after the apparent thaw in US-Cuban relations, Bruguera’s piece offered members of the public the chance of one minute of ‘censor-free’ expression in Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución.
The banning of the show, and Bruguera’s subsequent detention, caused an international outcry and sparked a worldwide solidarity movement for free expression in Cuba. Leading venues and artists around the world have been re-staging #YoTambienExijo all year, drawing attention to the ongoing persecution of artists in Cuba. Bruguera estimates that over 20,000 Cubans have been involved in the project to date.
“I truly believe that in totalitarian regimes like Cuba, art has the privilege to open doors. It can serve as an escape from fear and from a life of lies.” — Tania Bruguera, founder #YoTambienExijo
Full profile: Tania Bruguera’s #YoTambienExijo ignites a worldwide movement[/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][staff name=”Good Chance Theatre” title=”Calais” profile_image=”82688″]Built in 2015, this innovative temporary space in the infamous jungle refugee camp in Calais aims to be more than just a theatre.
Founders Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson, two young British playwrights, came up with the idea after working in the camp as volunteers: “We were struck by everyone’s willingness to tell their story. In many cases this willingness was a need.”
Good Chance offers a safe place where refugees can express themselves, share their stories, and come together as a community. Backed by some of the biggest names in British theatre, Good Chance looks set to continue touching the lives of some of those most in need.
“We are here for 6000 unacknowledged people, each of whom have an individual voice. Our duty is to those voices, as it is those voices that will help deepen and complicate our understanding of this refugee crisis.” — Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson, co-founders Good Chance Theatre
Full profile: Good Chance Theatre gives refugees a place to be heard[/staff][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][staff name=”Sakdiyah Ma’ruf” title=”Indonesia” profile_image=”82699″]Sakdiyah Ma’ruf is a stand-up comedian from Indonesia whose routines challenge Islamic fundamentalism.
Born to a conservative Muslim family in Java, Ma’ruf went against her father’s wishes and started using comedy to speak about religious based violence and extremism, ethnic extremism and xenophobia, as well as fear, terror and violence against women.
One of the very few female stand-up comedians in the country to appear on national TV, she has often been asked to censor her jokes for TV performances, but continues to refuse.
“Good comedy makes you laugh. Great comedy makes you cry.” — Sakdiyah Ma’ruf
Full profile: Indonesian Sakdiyah Ma’ruf carves a name for herself in comedy[/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][staff name=”Winner: Murad Subay” title=”Yemen” profile_image=”82695″]Artist Murad Subay uses his country’s streets as a canvas to protest Yemen’s war, institutionalised corruption and forced “disappearings”.
Since beginning a street art protest in 2011 Subay has launched five campaigns to promote peace and encourage discussion of sensitive political issues. All his painting is done in public during the day and he encourages fellow Yemenis to get involved. Subay has often been targeted by the authorities, painting over his works or restricting him from painting further.
“I found that the soul of the Yemeni people was broken because of war… I found that the buildings and the streets were full of bullets, full of damage. So I went on Facebook and said I would go on to the streets to paint the next day and I did.” — Murad Subay
Learn more about the 2016 Arts fellow Murad Subay[/staff][awards_fellows][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/EHVgJHWTT8Y”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” css=”.vc_custom_1481798587833{background-color: #f2f2f2 !important;}”][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”CAMPAIGNING” font_container=”tag:h1|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]
For activists and campaigners who have had a marked impact in fighting censorship and promoting freedom of expression.
[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][staff name=”Abduljalil Al-Singace” title=”Bahrain” profile_image=”82683″]Dr. Abduljalil Al-Singace is a Bahraini human rights activist, academic and blogger who worked tirelessly to call attention to his country’s human rights practices until, during a crackdown on activists in 2011, authorities imprisoned him and 13 others.
Ever since then, Al-Singace has felt the brunt of the practices against which he has spent his life campaigning. In prison he has not been silenced despite being verbally and physically abused, sexually assaulted and kept in solitary confinement for months on end. He has also been denied access to medication, his family, and even pens and paper. In March last year, Al-Singace began a 313 day hunger strike in protest at the collective punishment and acts of torture that police inflicted upon prisoners. He is still being held.
“Be careful when you use the words ‘change’, ‘dream’ and ‘democracy’. Those things don’t come so easily to us here in Bahrain.” — Dr Abduljalil Al-Singace
Full profile: Dr Abduljalil Al-Singace has not let prison silence him[/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][staff name=”Vanessa Berhe” title=”Eritrea” profile_image=”82701″]Nineteen-year-old Vanessa Berhe is fighting for the release of her uncle, journalist Seyoum Tsehaye, who has been imprisoned in Eritrea for the last 15 years. She also launched the campaign Free Eritrea to draw the world’s attention to a little-reported country with one of the worst track records for free speech.
Starting when she was 16 and still at school, Berhe has since given a speech in front of the Pope, launched petitions, utilised social media, video and web platforms and orchestrated protests in order to spread her message. Born in Sweden to Eritrean parents and currently studying in the USA, Berhe has taken the plight of this small country to the world stage.
“With one man’s name and story, we aim to dismantle the cover that has been hiding the oppression that has ravaged the Eritrean people for years.” — Vanessa Berhe, founder One Day Seyoum
Full profile: Vanessa Berhe is fighting for freedom of expression in Eritrea[/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][staff name=”Winner: Bolo Bhi” title=”Pakistan” profile_image=”82685″]Bolo Bhi are a digital campaigning group who have orchestrated an impressive ongoing fight against attempts to censor the internet in Pakistan.
The all-women management team have launched internet freedom programmes, published research papers, tirelessly fought for government transparency and run numerous innovative digital security training programmes.
In 2015 the group turned their attention to the draconian Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill, organising an extraordinary campaign of events, lobbying, press conferences and online actions. They brought international attention to a landmark bill that would otherwise have been pushed through with little public attention.
“This case alone could change everything for free speech in Pakistan.” — Farieha Aziz, co-director Bolo Bhi
Learn more about the 2016 Campaigning fellow Bolo Bhi[/staff][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][staff name=”Nkosilathi Emmanuel Moyo” title=”Zimbabwe” profile_image=”82696″]Growing up in a small mining town in Zimbabwe, human rights campaigner and writer Nkosilathi Emmanuel Moyo saw first-hand how young people in his community were being manipulated by politicians to perpetuate political violence. To fight this, he set up the Zimbabwe Organization For Youth In Politics and has since trained 80 human rights defenders and now works with over 2,500 youths.
A prolific writer, 28-year-old Moyo has published three bestselling books. All are highly critical of the Mugabe regime, the last written while he was sheltering in the Netherlands for his safety and published immediately on his return. Moyo’s latest stunt was to send President Mugabe a prison uniform present for his 92nd birthday – fearing for his life he is now back in hiding.
“I refuse to allow my dissenting voice to be silenced. Never shall I put my pen down it is the only weapon I have.” — Nkosilathi Emmanuel Moyo, founder Zimbabwe Organization For Youth In Politics
Full profile: Nkosilathi Emmanuel Moyo campaigns against political corruption[/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][staff name=”Pu Zhiqiang” title=”China” profile_image=”82698″]A student activist who took part in the 1989 pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square, Pu Zhiqiang has long fought for China’s human rights, becoming one of the most influential human rights lawyers in his country and fighting famous cases like that of artist Ai Weiwei, who has been targeted by the country’s government.
In 2015, after attending a Tiananmen memorial event, Zhiqiang was arrested on the charge of “creating a disturbance”. The next few months saw him imprisoned while fresh charges were brought against him for comments posted on social media. With his high-profile trial culminating in December last year, all eyes were on China. A three-year suspended sentence has effectively gagged him.
“Given that this is someone with a strong belief in the right to free speech, and a human rights lawyer who has chosen to devote his professional life to free speech cases, it is a great irony that Pu Zhiqiang has been convicted of a crime because of his own speech.” — Professor Hu Yong, Peking University School of Journalism
Full profile: Pu Zhiqiang is unwavering in support of free speech[/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/fhoOR6Ft1eg”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” css=”.vc_custom_1481798600606{background-color: #f2f2f2 !important;}”][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”DIGITAL ACTIVISM” font_container=”tag:h1|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]
For innovative uses of technology to circumvent censorship and enable free and independent exchange of information.
[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][staff name=”Dokuz8 Haber and Gökhan Biçici” title=”Turkey” profile_image=”82686″]Gökhan Biçici is a Turkish reporter who faced police brutality during the anti-government Gezi Park protests of 2013 when he was severely beaten and dragged down the street. The footage of his arrest went viral and, after his release, the idea for Dokuz8 Haber was born.
Since the protests, Biçici has been working to build a new kind of news organisation, which combines the dynamism of citizen journalism with the skills of professionals. Dokuz8 Haber’s citizen contributors from around the country are helping prepare for a future where Turkey’s journalists are free to report and citizens can live under a democratic constitution.
“Hundreds of thousands of citizen journalists cannot be censored.” — Gökhan Biçici, founder Dokuz8 Haber
Full profile: Gökhan Biçici launched citizen news agency Dokuz8Haber after Gezi Park protests[/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][staff name=”Winner: GreatFire” title=”China” profile_image=”82689″]Set up by anonymous individuals, GreatFire is at the forefront of the fight against China’s severe web censorship.
Using a variety of tools, the organisation tracks China’s censorship infrastructure, hosts mirror sites to make censored material available and, in March 2015, launched an app that allows users to browse the officially forbidden web. Previously, the group created FreeWeibo, an uncensored version of the Chinese social platform. Despite ‘the Great Cannon’, a major cyber-attack by Chinese authorities in 2015, GreatFire has continued the fight for online freedom.
“Our goal is to bring transparency to online censorship in China.” — GreatFire
Learn more about the 2016 Digital Activism fellow GreatFire China[/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][staff name=”Love Matters” title=”International” profile_image=”82692″]International discussion platform Love Matters has dedicated itself to opening up conversation about sexual health in countries where such subjects are censored or taboo.
With autonomous local branches in Egypt, Mexico, India, Africa and China, they’ve now had over 100 million page views since their inception in 2009. Between organising a comedy gig about sexual health in Cairo, music awards for songs about sexuality in Kenya and campaigning against partner violence in India, their impact has been huge. The very act of reading their content can put you in grave danger in some of the countries they call home.
“Access to good information on sexual and reproductive health is a human right – but one which is often thwarted in many countries.” — Vithika Yadav, founder Love Matters India
Full profile: Love Matters opens up conversations about sexual health[/staff][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][staff name=”Méxicoleaks” title=”Mexico” profile_image=”82694″]A whistleblowing website, Méxicoleaks launched last year with the mission to build a more transparent and democratic Mexico.
Days after its launch, Méxicoleaks gained prominence when well-known journalist Carmen Aristegui was fired from her popular talk show after the station axed two of her colleagues because of their involvement in the effort. The international outcry put Méxicoleaks in the spotlight, and the innovative anonymous news-sharing platform has since received a number of tip-offs that allowed its founders – nine independent news outlets in Mexico – to uncover a series of high-profile corruption scandals.
In a country where, between drug cartels and the government, censorship and self-censorship is rife, Méxicoleaks is on the forefront of the fight against corruption.
Full profile: Méxicoleaks seeks to bring more transparency to Mexico[/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][staff name=”Hebib Muntezir” title=”Azerbaijan” profile_image=”82691″]In a country where social media has been hailed as the last hope for free speech, Azerbaijani activist and blogger Hebib Muntezir has used his huge online presence to call out ingrained corruption.
Müntezir is one of the founders of Meydan TV, one of the few media outlets publishing content critical of Azerbaijan’s government. The Meydan team has faced intense pressure from the authorities: employees have been arrested and detained. Even family members have been harassed. However, Müntezir and Meydan TV have continued to build huge online audiences who thirst for information in a country suffering from an ongoing media crackdown.
“Many people in Azerbaijan are afraid to talk, but citizens still reach out to me to share content and offer support.” — Hebib Muntezir, social media manager, Meydan TV
Full profile: Hebib Muntezir mobilises social media to share uncensored news about Azerbaijan[/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/E1JvZdjAPvI”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” css=”.vc_custom_1481798610425{background-color: #f2f2f2 !important;}”][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”JOURNALISM” font_container=”tag:h1|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]
For courageous, high-impact and determined journalism that exposes censorship and threats to free expression.
[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][staff name=”Winner: Zaina Erhaim” title=”Syria” profile_image=”82702″]While journalists and citizens fled, Syrian-native Zaina Erhaim returned to her war-ravaged country and the city of Aleppo in 2013 to ensure those remaining were not forgotten. She is now one of the few female journalists braving the twin threat of violence from both ISIS and the president, Bashar al-Assad.
Erhaim has trained hundreds of journalists, many of them women, and set up independent media outlets to deliver news from one of the world’s most dangerous places. In 2015 Erhaim filmed a groundbreaking documentary, Syria’s Rebellious Women, to tell the stories of women who are helping her country survive its darkest hour.
“In 10 years time, I want a young woman who looks on the internet to find out what happened in Syria to find evidence of the roles women played.” — Zaina Erhaim
Learn more about the 2016 Journalism fellow Zaina Erhaim[/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][staff name=”Mada Masr” title=”Egypt” profile_image=”82693″]Founded in 2013 by a group of young journalists after newspaper Egypt Independent was censored into bankruptcy, Mada Masr was launched as a media co-operative that aims to hold those in power accountable.
Despite the high-profile arrest of one of its journalists in 2015, Mada Masr continues to grow, recently developing a network of citizen journalists to cover news from Egypt’s governorates. Through innovative fundraising it has managed to remain financially independent.
“I want us, down the line, many many years to come, to be a reference of what happened.” — Lina Attalah, chief editor Mada Masr
Full profile: Mada Masr offers an alternative narrative to Egypt’s official media [/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][staff name=”Hamid Mir” title=”Pakistan” profile_image=”82690″]Journalist Hamid Mir has worked tirelessly to take on unchallenged powers in Pakistan. With a 30-year-career punctuated by numerous threats, beatings, abductions and assassination attempts, he has become one of the country’s best-known reporters and hosted Pakistan’s popular political Geo TV show Capital Talk for the last 13 years.
The past year has been one of the hardest yet for Mir following an assassination attempt in 2014 in which he was shot six times and left for dead. He returned to work as soon as he left the hospital, but is confined to a life under armed-guard without his family who have been sent abroad for their safety.
“It’s very dangerous and risky to stay in Pakistan, but I am doing it only because majority of common people are with me.” — Hamid Mir
Full profile: Hamid Mir has been targeted for taking on unchallenged power[/staff][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][staff name=”Pravit Rojanaphruk” title=”Thailand” profile_image=”82697″]Pravit Rojanaphruk is a Thai reporter who in 2015 was arrested, interrogated and forced out of his job for a series of tweets criticising Thailand’s military government.
Soon after he was released three days later, he was asked to resign from his job of 23 years. Despite ongoing government pressure, Rojanaphruk continues to write and post messages calling out corruption and censorship, recently taking up a new post at Khaosod English News.
A long-time opponent of his country’s lèse majesté law, which prevents any kind of criticism of the monarchy, Rojanaphruk had tweeted: “Freedom can’t be maintained if we are not willing to defend it.”
“It’s both an honour and a great responsibility to continue to stand for freedom of expression.” — Pravit Rojanaphruk
Full profile: Pravit Rojanaphruk has been targeted for speaking against Thailand’s military rule[/staff][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][staff name=”Ferit Tunç” title=”Turkey” profile_image=”82687″]A Kurdish journalist who set up an independent newspaper in eastern Turkey, Ferit Tunç has been repeatedly targeted with sanctions and lawsuits for publishing articles critical of local authorities.
Pushed to bankruptcy, Tunç, who also ran for office on an anti-corruption platform this year, fought back by publishing satirical cooking recipes on his front pages – each with a hidden message – an inventive protest against media censorship.
“People talk about how rotten Turkey’s press is at the top, but it’s rotten all the way through… People in this city have lost the right to talk about issues that matter to them.” — Ferit Tunç, founding editor Yӧn Gazetesi
A delegation of international civil society organisations visited Istanbul to demonstrate solidarity with writers, journalists and media outlets in Turkey.
The failed coup of 15 July, in which at least 265 people were killed, has traumatised the Turkish population and the government must bring those responsible for the violence to account. However, this must be done on the basis of specific, individual evidence of involvement in a crime and with full respect for international standards on the right to freedom of expression, the right to liberty and security and the right to a fair trial, to which Turkey has committed as a member of the Council of Europe.
The delegation condemns the Turkish authorities’ abuse of the state of emergency to suppress diversity and dissent, and calls upon the government to immediately and unconditionally release all journalists detained in Turkey without evidence and to cease its harassment of the few remaining independent and opposition media outlets.
The mission led by ARTICLE 19, included representatives from Danish PEN, the European Federation of Journalists, German PEN, Index on Censorship, My Media, the Norwegian Press Association, the Norwegian Union of Journalists, Norwegian PEN, PEN International, Reporters Without Borders and Wales PEN Cymru. The representatives were in Turkey from 31 August to 2 September.
Meetings with journalists, representatives of media outlets, lawyers and human rights advocates undertaken during the mission give cause for alarm.
Dissenting voices have long been stifled in Turkey; however, the state of emergency, introduced in response to the failed coup attempt of 15 July, is now being used to legitimise an unprecedented crackdown on independent and opposition media.
Under the state of emergency decrees, an individual may be detained for up to 30 days without charges. This provision is being abused to arbitrarily detain journalists of diverse backgrounds and affiliations. As the mission departed Turkey, local media rights advocate, Punto 24, estimated that 114 journalists were in detention. At least 15 journalists were detained during the three days the delegates spent in Turkey.
Detention purely on the grounds of affiliation with the Gülenist movement, accused of being behind the coup, is in itself problematic, occurring without any individualised evidence of involvement in a criminal act. Moreover, the decree is also being used to arbitrarily detain journalists with absolutely no link to the Gülenist movement, including many representatives from opposition and minority groups.
Those detained are held for several days without charge, often without access to a lawyer or their family. There are worrying reports of poor conditions in detention, including beatings, severe overcrowding and a lack of access to essential medicines.
While a few independent media outlets continue to publish, this has created an atmosphere of pervasive self-censorship, depriving the population of free and diverse debate at a time when this is critically needed.
The state of emergency must not be abused to suppress freedom of expression. We call upon Turkey to demonstrate its commitment to democratic principles and to support full and broad public debate, by immediately and unconditionally releasing those held without evidence, and ceasing its harassment of independent media.
Supporting organisations
ARTICLE 19
Danish PEN
European Federation of Journalists
German PEN
Index on Censorship
My Media
Norwegian Press Association
Norwegian Union of Journalists
Norwegian PEN
PEN International
Reporters Without Borders
Wales PEN Cymru
Nabeel Rajab, right, Bahrain Center for Human Rights – winner of Bindmans Award for Advocacy at the Index Freedom of Expression Awards 2012 with then-chair of the Index on Censorship board of trustees Jonathan Dimbleby
Bahrain’s Public Prosecutor today charged prominent human rights activist, Nabeel Rajab, after the New York Times published his letter from prison. Mr. Rajab has been held in detention on charges related to his online freedom of expression since 13 June and is already facing 15 years’ imprisonment. The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain, the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and Index on Censorship condemn all the charges against Mr. Rajab and call for his immediate release.
On 4 September, the New York Times published a letter by Mr. Rajab, written during his time in detention. In the letter, he states that he was threatened into silence after being released from detention in July 2015. He also exposed how a meeting with the US Secretary of State John Kerry led to him being interrogated by Bahrain’s cyber crimes unit.
Mr. Rajab was called into interrogation by the Criminal Investigations Directorate on 4 September and questioned by officials regarding the article. He was further interrogated today by the Public Prosecutor. He was denied access to a lawyer on both occasions.
A statement published by the Public Prosecution Office today announced that Mr. Rajab has been charged with “intentionally broadcasting false news and malicious rumours abroad impairing the prestige of the state”. The charge could lead to an additional one-year prison sentence.
Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, the Director of Advocacy at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy said, “Anyone can read the words of Nabeel Rajab on the New York Times to see how pathetic this charge–which is completely contrary to the principle of free expression–is. During a time where authorities are punishing anyone with a contrary opinion, its attacks on the most basic universal freedoms have only caused further instability”.
The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy spoke to Mr. Rajab’s lawyers who stated that the Public Prosecution refused to allow them to attend the interrogation. Despite inquiring about the interrogation at the Public Prosecution office, while Mr. Rajab was there being interrogated, officials denied that he was being questioned. The lawyer was not informed of Mr. Rajab’s interrogation by the Criminal Investigation Directorate.
Jodie Ginsberg, the CEO of Index on Censorship said, “Index on Censorship is appalled at this latest move by Bahrain to suppress Nabeel Rajab’s free speech. Bahrain’s allies – especially the United Kingdom – need to speak out now, publicly condemn this charge and call for Nabeel’s immediate release.”
Since 2011, Mr. Rajab has faced multiple prosecutions and prison sentences for his vocal activism. He was placed on a travel ban in 2014 and has been unable to leave the country. He faces other charges of “insulting a statutory body”, “insulting a neighbouring country”, and “disseminating false rumours in time of war”. These are in relation to remarks he tweeted and retweeted on Twitter in 2015 about torture at Bahrain’s Jau prison and the humanitarian crisis caused by the Saudi-led war in Yemen. He may face up to 16 years in prison if convicted. His trial was postponed again today to 6 October 2016 for ruling and the judge refused renewed requests to release him. At the court Rajab informed the sitting judge that he considered the charges against him “malicious” and that his arrest came as consequences of his meeting with John Kerry.
Husain Abdulla, the Executive Director of Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain said, “The entire case against Nabeel Rajab has been a sham from the start, and this new charge further shows it to be nothing but an attack against free peaceful expression. Its time for Washington to send a strong message to its ally that it will not tolerate such blatant repression by suspending all arms sales with the Al Khalifa regime”.
As a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Bahrain has an obligation to uphold individuals’ rights to freedom of expression. This includes free expression online. Everyone accused of crimes must also be afforded the right to a fair trial including access to a lawyer. Access to justice is a basic principle of the rule of law and all persons should be entitled to access a lawyer of their choice at all stages of judicial proceedings.
The school kids issue of Oz magazine lead to one of the longest conspiracy trials in England (Image: OZ/Wikimedia Commons)
Richard Neville, who co-founded the 1960s counterculture magazine Oz, has died in Australia aged 74.
The satirical magazine, which was first published on April Fool’s Day in 1963, poked fun at socially-conservative Austrailia and tackled taboo subjects such as abortion, homosexuality, sexism and racism.
The editors of the London edition – Neville, along with Jim Anderson and Felix Dennis – were prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act in 1971 for a schoolkids issue (edited by teenage schoolchildren). Particular offence was caused by a cartoon of Rupert Bear having sex – in a collage created by schoolboy contributor Vivien Berger. The editors were found guilty and the convictions provoked an outcry. Hundreds demonstrated outside the Old Bailey in London, including John Lennon and Yoko Ono. The verdict was later quashed on appeal.
The last Oz was published in 1973.
In 2008, the English barrister John Mortimer spoke to Index about defending the editors of Oz magazine and taking on one of the most infamous obscenity cases on the 1970s.
Index: What were the grounds for prosecution?
John Mortimer: Well, it was sort of the birth of that particular Obscene Publications Act [1959], which was Roy Jenkins’s doing [Jenkins was principal sponsor of the bill as a backbench MP]. It was meant to be liberalising, because it allowed defences of literary merit and scientific merit and all sorts of ‘bits’ of merit. It was a test of that and the Obscene Publications Act, which was meant to be a work of great liberality. It would test obscenity, which was something that would tend to deprave and corrupt the people who were likely to read it. But then there were numerous defences – that it was of literary merit or historical merit or scientific merit and so on. It seemed rather strange you could be depraved and corrupted, and on the other hand you knew more about history – that could be a defence. So it never ever seemed to me to be a particularly sensible piece of legislation.
Index: What did you think of it first of all, when you discovered what the charges were?
John Mortimer: It was the schoolkids Oz and nobody wanted to do it. Everybody turned it down. They thought it was disgraceful, defending the schoolkids Oz like that. Numerous QCs turned it down.
Nabeel Rajab during a protest in London in September (Photo: Milana Knezevic)
On Monday, 5 September a Bahraini court delayed the trial of Index award-winning human rights campaigner Nabeel Rajab for a third time. The new trial date is now 6 October 2016.
“Once again, Bahrain’s repression of freedom of expression is on display for all the world to see. Nabeel has committed no crimes. He is held for expressing opinions that people around the world take for granted. We ask Bahrain to end its judicial harassment of Nabeel and renew our call for UK Prime Minister Theresa May to urge Nabeel’s release,” Jodie Ginsberg, CEO, Index on Censorship said.
Rajab faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of spreading “false or malicious news, statements, or rumours” under article 133 of Bahrain’s penal code; a further two years imprisonment if convicted under article 215 of the penal code for “offending a foreign country [Saudi Arabia]” for tweets related to the Saudi-led war in Yemen and an additional three-year sentence if convicted of “offending a statutory body” under article 216 of the penal code for comments criticising conditions in Bahrain’s Jau prison.
In addition to these charges, he may also face a trial on charges of “spreading false news” for similar statements made during televised interviews last year. That case has not yet been referred to court, but is believed to have served, among others, for his arrest on 13 June.
Arrested on 13 June 2016 at his home, Rajab was held in filthy conditions and solitary confinement that have exacerbated heart and other health issues. Originally scheduled to appear in court on 12 July, the case was moved to 2 August when it was rescheduled for 5 September.
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Index on Censorship, a global organisation that campaigns for free expression, fully supports the action of Norway’s Aftenposten newspaper in refusing a request from Facebook to remove an iconic photo of the Vietnam War that features a naked child running from a napalm attack.
