Meltem Arikan — Turkey<\/h2>\n![\"Meltem](\"http:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/meltem_forindex1.png\")
Meltem Arikan<\/p><\/div>\n
Arikan is a writer who has long used her work to challenge patriarchal structures in society. He latest play “Mi Minor” was staged in Istanbul from December 2012 to April 2013, and told the story of a pianist who used social media to challenge the regime. Only a few months after, the Gezi Park protests broke out in Turkey. What started as an environmental demonstration quickly turned into a platform for the public to express their general dissatisfaction with the authorities — and social media played a huge role. Arikan was one of many to join in the Gezi Park movement, and has\u00a0written a powerful personal account of her experiences<\/a>. But a prominent name in Turkey, she was accused of being an organiser behind the protests, and faced a torrent of online abuse from government supporters. She was forced to flee, now living in exile in the UK.<\/p>\nI realised that we were surrounded, imprisoned in our own home and prevented from expressing ourselves freely<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nAnabel Hern\u00e1ndez — Mexico<\/h2>\n![\"(Image:](\"http:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/am.png\")
Anabel Hern\u00e1ndez (Image: YouTube)<\/p><\/div>\n
Hern\u00e1ndez is a Mexican journalist known for her investigative reporting on the links between the country’s notorious drug cartels, government officials and the police. Following the publication of her book Los Se\u00f1ores del Narco (Narcoland)<\/a>, she received so many death threats that she was assigned round-the-clock protection. She can tell of opening the door to her home only to find a decapitated animal in front of her. Before Christmas, armed men arrived in her neighbourhood<\/a>, disabled the security cameras and went to several houses looking for her. She was not at home, but one of her bodyguards was attacked and it was made clear that the visit — from people first identifying themselves as members of the police, then as Zetas<\/a> —\u00a0was because of her writing.<\/p>\nMany of these murders of my colleagues have been hidden away, surrounded by silence<\/a> \u2013 they received a threat, and told no one; no one knew what was happening…We have to make these threats public. We have to challenge the authorities to protect our press by making every threat public \u2013 so they have no excuse.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nAmira Osman — Sudan<\/h2>\n![\"A](\"http:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Screen-Shot-2013-09-16-at-10.34.18.png\")
<\/a>Amira Osman (Image: YouTube)<\/p><\/div>\n
Amira Osman, a Sudanese engineer and women’s rights activist was last year arrested<\/a> under the country’s draconian public order act, for refusing to pull up her headscarf. She was tried for \u201cindecent conduct\u201d under Article 152 of the Sudanese penal code, an offence potentially punishable by flogging.\u00a0Osman used her case raise awareness around the problems of the public order law. She recorded a powerful video, calling on people to join her at the courthouse, and \u00a0\u201cput the Public Order Law on trial\u201d. Her legal team has challenged the constitutionality of the law<\/a>, and the trial as been postponed for the time being.<\/p>\nThis case is not my own,\u00a0it is a cause of all the Sudanese people<\/a> who are being humiliated in their country, and their sisters, mothers, daughters, and colleagues are being flogged.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nFadiamata Walet Oumar — Mali<\/h2>\n![\"Fadiamata](\"http:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/fad.png\")
Fadiamata Walet Oumar with her band Tartit (Image: YouTube)<\/p><\/div>\n
Fadiamata Walet Oumar is a Tuareg musician from Mali<\/a>. She is the lead singer and founder of Tartit, the most famous band in the world performing traditional Tuareg music. The group work to preserve a culture threatened by the conflict and instability in northern Mali<\/a>. Ansar Dine, an islamists rebel group, has imposed one of the most extreme interpretations of sharia law in the areas they control, including a music ban. Oumar believes this is because news and information is being disseminated through music. She fled to a refugee camp in Burkina Faso, where she has continued performing — taking care to hide her identity, so family in Mali would not be targeted over it. She also works with an organisation promoting women’s rights.<\/p>\nMusic plays an important role in the life of Tuareg women. Our music gives women liberty…Freedom of expression is the most important thing in the world, and music is a part of freedom. If we don’t have freedom of expression, how can you genuinely have music?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Khadija Ismayilova — Azerbaijan<\/h2>\n![\"khadija\"](\"http:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/khadija.jpg\")
Khadija Ismayilova<\/p><\/div>\n
Ismayilova is an award-winning Azerbaijani journalist, working with Radio Free Europe\/Radio Liberty. She is know for her investigative reporting on corruption connected to the country’s president Ilham Aliyev. Azerbaijan has a notoriously poor record on human rights, including press freedom, and\u00a0Ismayilova\u00a0has been repeatedly targeted over her work. She was blackmailed<\/a> with images of an intimate nature of her and her boyfriend, with the message to stop\u00a0\u201cbehaving improperly\u201d. This February, she was taken in for questioning by the general prosecutor several times, accused of handing over state secrets<\/a>\u00a0because she had met with visitors from the US Senate. In light of this, she posted a powerful message on her Facebook profile<\/a>, pleading for international support in the event of he arrest.<\/p>\nWHEN MY CASE IS CONCERNED, if you can, please support by standing for freedom of speech and freedom of privacy in this country as loudly as possible. Otherwise, I rather prefer you not to act at all.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Jillian York — US<\/h2>\n![\"(Image:](\"http:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/jy.jpeg\")
Jillian York (Image: Jillian C. York\/Twitter)<\/p><\/div>\n
Jillian York is a writer and activist, and Director of Freedom of Expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). She is a passionate advocate of freedom of expression in the digital age, and has spoken and written extensively on the topic. She is also a fierce critic of the mass surveillance undertaken by the NSA <\/a>and other governments and government agencies. The EFF was one of the early organisers of The Day We Fight Back<\/a>, a recent world-wide online campaign calling for new laws to curtail mass surveillance.<\/p>\nDissent is an essential element to a free society<\/a> and mass surveillance without due process — whether undertaken by the government of Bahrain, Russia, the US, or anywhere in between — threatens to stifle and smother that dissent, leaving in its wake a populace cowed by fear.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nCao Shunli — China<\/h2>\n![\"(Image:](\"http:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/cn22.png\")
Cao Shunli (Image: Pablo M. D\u00edez\/Twitter)<\/p><\/div>\n
Shunli is an human rights activist who has long\u00a0campaigned for the right to increased citizens input<\/a> into China’s Universal Periodic Review — the UN review of a country’s human rights record — and other human rights reports. Among other things, she took part in a two-month sit-in outside the Foreign Ministry. She has been targeted by authorities on a number of occasions over her activism, including being sent to a labour camp on at least two occasions<\/a>. In September, she went missing after authorities stopped her from attending a human rights conference in Geneva. Only in October was she formally arrested, and charged for “picking quarrels and promoting troubles”. She has been detained ever since. The latest news is that she is seriously ill, and being denied medical treatment<\/a>.<\/p>\nThe SHRAP [State Human Rights Action Plan, released in 2012] hasn\u2019t reached the UN standard to include vulnerable groups. The SHRAP also has avoided sensitive issue of human rights in China<\/a>. It is actually to support the suppression of petitions, and to encourage corruption.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nZainab Al Khawaja — Bahrain<\/h2>\n![\"zainab-al-khawaja](\"http:\/\/www.indexoncensorship.org\/newsite02may\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/zainab-al-khawaja-2.jpg\")
Zainab Al Khawaja<\/p><\/div>\n
Al Khawaja is a\u00a0Bahraini human rights activist, who is one of the leading figures in the Gulf kingdom’s ongoing pro-democracy movement<\/a>. She has brought international attention to human rights abuses and repression by the ruling royal family, among other things, through her Twitter account<\/a>. She has also taken part in a number of protests, once being shot at close range with tear gas<\/a>.\u00a0Al Khawaja\u00a0has been detained<\/a>\u00a0several times over the last few years, over “crimes” like allegedly tearing up a photo of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. \u00a0She had been in jail for nearly a year when she was released in February, but she still faces trials over charges like “insulting a police officer”. \u00a0She is the daughter of prominent human rights defender\u00a0Abdulhadi Al Khawaja, who is currently serving a life sentence.<\/p>\nBeing a political prisoner in Bahrain, I try to find a way to fight from within the fortress of the enemy, as Mandela describes it. Not long after I was placed in a cell with fourteen people\u2014two of whom are convicted murderers\u2014I was handed the orange prison uniform. I knew I could not wear the uniform without having to swallow a little of my dignity. Refusing to wear the convicts’ clothes because I have not committed a crime, that was my small version of civil disobedience<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Meltem Arikan<\/p><\/div>\n
Arikan is a writer who has long used her work to challenge patriarchal structures in society. He latest play “Mi Minor” was staged in Istanbul from December 2012 to April 2013, and told the story of a pianist who used social media to challenge the regime. Only a few months after, the Gezi Park protests broke out in Turkey. What started as an environmental demonstration quickly turned into a platform for the public to express their general dissatisfaction with the authorities — and social media played a huge role. Arikan was one of many to join in the Gezi Park movement, and has\u00a0written a powerful personal account of her experiences<\/a>. But a prominent name in Turkey, she was accused of being an organiser behind the protests, and faced a torrent of online abuse from government supporters. She was forced to flee, now living in exile in the UK.<\/p>\n I realised that we were surrounded, imprisoned in our own home and prevented from expressing ourselves freely<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Anabel Hern\u00e1ndez (Image: YouTube)<\/p><\/div>\n Hern\u00e1ndez is a Mexican journalist known for her investigative reporting on the links between the country’s notorious drug cartels, government officials and the police. Following the publication of her book Los Se\u00f1ores del Narco (Narcoland)<\/a>, she received so many death threats that she was assigned round-the-clock protection. She can tell of opening the door to her home only to find a decapitated animal in front of her. Before Christmas, armed men arrived in her neighbourhood<\/a>, disabled the security cameras and went to several houses looking for her. She was not at home, but one of her bodyguards was attacked and it was made clear that the visit — from people first identifying themselves as members of the police, then as Zetas<\/a> —\u00a0was because of her writing.<\/p>\n Many of these murders of my colleagues have been hidden away, surrounded by silence<\/a> \u2013 they received a threat, and told no one; no one knew what was happening…We have to make these threats public. We have to challenge the authorities to protect our press by making every threat public \u2013 so they have no excuse.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Amira Osman (Image: YouTube)<\/p><\/div>\n Amira Osman, a Sudanese engineer and women’s rights activist was last year arrested<\/a> under the country’s draconian public order act, for refusing to pull up her headscarf. She was tried for \u201cindecent conduct\u201d under Article 152 of the Sudanese penal code, an offence potentially punishable by flogging.\u00a0Osman used her case raise awareness around the problems of the public order law. She recorded a powerful video, calling on people to join her at the courthouse, and \u00a0\u201cput the Public Order Law on trial\u201d. Her legal team has challenged the constitutionality of the law<\/a>, and the trial as been postponed for the time being.<\/p>\n This case is not my own,\u00a0it is a cause of all the Sudanese people<\/a> who are being humiliated in their country, and their sisters, mothers, daughters, and colleagues are being flogged.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Fadiamata Walet Oumar with her band Tartit (Image: YouTube)<\/p><\/div>\n Fadiamata Walet Oumar is a Tuareg musician from Mali<\/a>. She is the lead singer and founder of Tartit, the most famous band in the world performing traditional Tuareg music. The group work to preserve a culture threatened by the conflict and instability in northern Mali<\/a>. Ansar Dine, an islamists rebel group, has imposed one of the most extreme interpretations of sharia law in the areas they control, including a music ban. Oumar believes this is because news and information is being disseminated through music. She fled to a refugee camp in Burkina Faso, where she has continued performing — taking care to hide her identity, so family in Mali would not be targeted over it. She also works with an organisation promoting women’s rights.<\/p>\n Music plays an important role in the life of Tuareg women. Our music gives women liberty…Freedom of expression is the most important thing in the world, and music is a part of freedom. If we don’t have freedom of expression, how can you genuinely have music?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Khadija Ismayilova<\/p><\/div>\n Ismayilova is an award-winning Azerbaijani journalist, working with Radio Free Europe\/Radio Liberty. She is know for her investigative reporting on corruption connected to the country’s president Ilham Aliyev. Azerbaijan has a notoriously poor record on human rights, including press freedom, and\u00a0Ismayilova\u00a0has been repeatedly targeted over her work. She was blackmailed<\/a> with images of an intimate nature of her and her boyfriend, with the message to stop\u00a0\u201cbehaving improperly\u201d. This February, she was taken in for questioning by the general prosecutor several times, accused of handing over state secrets<\/a>\u00a0because she had met with visitors from the US Senate. In light of this, she posted a powerful message on her Facebook profile<\/a>, pleading for international support in the event of he arrest.<\/p>\n WHEN MY CASE IS CONCERNED, if you can, please support by standing for freedom of speech and freedom of privacy in this country as loudly as possible. Otherwise, I rather prefer you not to act at all.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Jillian York (Image: Jillian C. York\/Twitter)<\/p><\/div>\n Jillian York is a writer and activist, and Director of Freedom of Expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). She is a passionate advocate of freedom of expression in the digital age, and has spoken and written extensively on the topic. She is also a fierce critic of the mass surveillance undertaken by the NSA <\/a>and other governments and government agencies. The EFF was one of the early organisers of The Day We Fight Back<\/a>, a recent world-wide online campaign calling for new laws to curtail mass surveillance.<\/p>\n Dissent is an essential element to a free society<\/a> and mass surveillance without due process — whether undertaken by the government of Bahrain, Russia, the US, or anywhere in between — threatens to stifle and smother that dissent, leaving in its wake a populace cowed by fear.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Cao Shunli (Image: Pablo M. D\u00edez\/Twitter)<\/p><\/div>\n Shunli is an human rights activist who has long\u00a0campaigned for the right to increased citizens input<\/a> into China’s Universal Periodic Review — the UN review of a country’s human rights record — and other human rights reports. Among other things, she took part in a two-month sit-in outside the Foreign Ministry. She has been targeted by authorities on a number of occasions over her activism, including being sent to a labour camp on at least two occasions<\/a>. In September, she went missing after authorities stopped her from attending a human rights conference in Geneva. Only in October was she formally arrested, and charged for “picking quarrels and promoting troubles”. She has been detained ever since. The latest news is that she is seriously ill, and being denied medical treatment<\/a>.<\/p>\n The SHRAP [State Human Rights Action Plan, released in 2012] hasn\u2019t reached the UN standard to include vulnerable groups. The SHRAP also has avoided sensitive issue of human rights in China<\/a>. It is actually to support the suppression of petitions, and to encourage corruption.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Zainab Al Khawaja<\/p><\/div>\n Al Khawaja is a\u00a0Bahraini human rights activist, who is one of the leading figures in the Gulf kingdom’s ongoing pro-democracy movement<\/a>. She has brought international attention to human rights abuses and repression by the ruling royal family, among other things, through her Twitter account<\/a>. She has also taken part in a number of protests, once being shot at close range with tear gas<\/a>.\u00a0Al Khawaja\u00a0has been detained<\/a>\u00a0several times over the last few years, over “crimes” like allegedly tearing up a photo of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. \u00a0She had been in jail for nearly a year when she was released in February, but she still faces trials over charges like “insulting a police officer”. \u00a0She is the daughter of prominent human rights defender\u00a0Abdulhadi Al Khawaja, who is currently serving a life sentence.<\/p>\n Being a political prisoner in Bahrain, I try to find a way to fight from within the fortress of the enemy, as Mandela describes it. Not long after I was placed in a cell with fourteen people\u2014two of whom are convicted murderers\u2014I was handed the orange prison uniform. I knew I could not wear the uniform without having to swallow a little of my dignity. Refusing to wear the convicts’ clothes because I have not committed a crime, that was my small version of civil disobedience<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nAnabel Hern\u00e1ndez — Mexico<\/h2>\n
Amira Osman — Sudan<\/h2>\n
<\/a>Fadiamata Walet Oumar — Mali<\/h2>\n
Khadija Ismayilova — Azerbaijan<\/h2>\n
Jillian York — US<\/h2>\n
Cao Shunli — China<\/h2>\n
Zainab Al Khawaja — Bahrain<\/h2>\n