From left: Co-founder Superflux and Freedom of Expression Awards Judge Anab Jain, finalist Maati Monjib, music executive and Freedom of Expression Awards Judge Stephen Budd, tech expert Nicole Yershon, global publishing director Ziyad Marar, president and founder of the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation Bianca Jagger, CNN London Bureau chief Tommy Evans, comedian and actor Katy Brand, cartoonist Martin Rowson, Index CEO Jodie Ginsberg, Turkey Blocks’ Alp Toker, Poet Shane Solanki, Turkey Blocks’ Isik Mater, artist Bob and Roberta Smith, wife and campaigning partner of Ildar Dadin Anastasia Zotova, Maldives Independent’s Ahmed Naish, Freedom of Expression Awards Judge and Barrister Caoilfhionn Gallagher QC, Maldives Independent’s Zaheena Rasheed (Photo: Elina Kansikas for Index on Censorship) High resolution images are available for download on Flickr
A Chinese political cartoonist forced into exile and a Russian prisoners and LGBT rights activist convicted under the country’s draconian anti-protest law were among the winners of the 2017 Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards.
The winners, announced on Wednesday evening at a gala ceremony in London, also included a crusading news organisation battling corruption in the Maldives and a group tracking Turkey’s internet shutdowns.
Awards were presented in four categories: Arts, Campaigning, Digital Activism and Journalism.
“These winners are free speech heroes who deserve global recognition,” said Index on Censorship CEO Jodie Ginsberg. “They, like all of those nominated, face huge personal and political hurdles in their fight so that others can express themselves freely.”
Drawn more than 400 public nominations, the winners were presented with their awards at a ceremony at the Unicorn Theatre, London, hosted by comedian Katy Brand.
Winners were presented with cartoons created by Aseem Trivedi, an Indian political cartoonist and activist, known for his Cartoons Against Corruption campaign.
Each of the award winners becomes part of the third cohort of Freedom of Expression Awards fellows. They join last year’s winners — Zaina Erhaim (Journalism), Bolo Bhi (Campaigning), GreatFire (Digital Activism), Murad Subay (Arts), Smockey (Music in Exile) — as part of a world-class network of campaigners, activists and artists sharing best practices on tackling censorship threats internationally.
Through the fellowship, Index works with the 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.
Judges included Harry Potter actor Noma Dumezweni, Hillsborough lawyer Caoilfhionn Gallagher QC, former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown, as well as Anab Jain, TED fellow and co-founder of Superflux, and Stephen Budd, chairman of the Music Managers Forum.
Awards judge Tina Brown said: “At a time when freedom of expression and press are facing continuous and unprecedented threats around the globe, I am more than ever inspired by the boundless courage and sacrifices of Rebel Pepper, Ildar Dadin, Maldives Independent and Turkey Blocks. Ridiculed, persecuted, imprisoned, tortured, banned or exiled, these writers and activists are putting their lives on the line every day in order to protect basic human rights and fight injustice everywhere.”
This is the 17th year of the Freedom of Expression Awards. Former winners include activist Malala Yousafzai, cartoonist Ali Ferzat, journalists Anna Politkovskaya and Fergal Keane, and Bahrain Center for Human Rights.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row_content_no_spaces” content_placement=”middle”][vc_column][vc_column_text]
From left: Cartoonist Martin Rowson accepting the Arts Award on behalf of Chinese cartoonist Rebel Pepper; Alp Toker of Digital Activism Award-winner Turkey Blocks; Isik Mater of Digital Activism Award-winner Turkey Blocks; Anastasia Zotova, wife and campaign partner of Campaigning Award-winner Ildar Dadin; Ahemd Naish, editor of Journalism Award-winning Maldives Independent; Zaheena Rasheed, former editor of Journalism Award-winning Maldives Independent. (Photo: Elina Kansikas for Index on Censorship) High resolution images are available for download on Flickr
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_text_separator title=”2017 Freedom of Expression Journalism Award “][vc_column_text]Maldives Independent and Zaheena Rasheed have been named the winner of the 2017 Freedom of Expression Journalism Award.
Website Maldives Independent, which provides news in English, is one of the few remaining independent media outlets in a country that ranks 112 out of 180 countries on the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index. In August 2016 the Maldives passed a law criminalising defamation and empowering the state to impose heavy fines and shut down media outlets for “defamatory” content. In September, Maldives Independent’s office was violently attacked and later raided by the police, after the release of an Al Jazeera documentary exposing government corruption that contained interviews with editor Zaheena Rasheed, who had to flee for her safety. Despite the pressure, the outlet continues to hold the government to account.
Doughty Street Chambers Barrister and 2017 Freedom of Expression Awards judge Caoilfhionn Gallagher QC said: “Maldives Indpendent under the stewardship of Zaheena Rasheed has faced attacks from all sides in recent years and despite all that they’ve continued to do what they do best: tell stories, expose corruption, expose human rights abuses and attacks on a free press.”
Zaheena Rasheed, former editor, Maldives Independent said: “This award feels like a lifeline. Most of our challenges remain the same, but this recognition and the fellowship has renewed and strengthened our resolve to continue reporting, especially on the bleakest of days. Most importantly, we no longer feel so alone. Tonight I want to honour my colleague, Ahmed Rilwan – who embodies the spirit of speaking truth to power, even in the face of the gravest threats. He’s been missing for nearly 1,000 days now. I want to say tonight, that no matter how long it may take, we will continue the search for him and fight for him.”
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Turkey Blocks is a digital transparency project documenting internet blackouts in a country marked by increasing authoritarianism, a strident crackdown on press and social media and numerous human rights violations.Turkish-British technologist Alp Toker brought together a small team to investigate internet restrictions and using Raspberry Pi technology they built an open source tool able to reliably monitor and report both internet shut downs and power blackouts in real time. Using their tool, Turkey Blocks have since broken news of 14 mass-censorship incidents during several politically significant events in 2016. The tool has proved so successful that it has been implemented elsewhere globally.
Designer and 2017 Freedom of Expression Awards judge Anab Jain said: “Alp Toker and Turkey Block’s work is important because it is going to have impact not just in Turkey but across the world wherever we start to see internet shutdowns.”
Alp Toker, founder of Turkey Blocks, said: “Turkey Blocks has developed new technology that can pinpoint and validate reports of shutdowns in real time. Through 2016 we uncovered evidence of over a dozen major blackouts during national emergencies, arrests of opposition party members and a devastating attempted military coup. We provided the data that enabled media, local press and international communities to report with confidence and push back to keep the internet on. We encouraged the government to become more transparent and limit use of their telecommunications kill-switch. Today our cause crosses political lines and resounds throughout Turkey’s polarised society.”
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A Russian prisoners and LGBT rights activist, Dadin was the first, and only, person to be convicted under a notorious 2014 public assembly law. Aimed at punishing anyone who breaks strict rules on protest, the law was enacted to silence dissent after a wave of demonstrations following President Vladimir Putin’s last election victory. Dadin’s crime was to stage a series of one-man pickets, often standing silently with a billboard, attempting to duck the cynical law and push for free expression. For his solo enterprise, Dadin was arrested and sentenced to three years imprisonment in December 2015. In November 2016, website Meduza published a letter smuggled from Dadin to his wife, exposing torture he suffered alongside fellow prisoners. In February 2017, a Russian court quashed his conviction and Dadin was released.
Barrister and 2017 Freedom of Expression Awards judge Caoilfhionn Gallagher QC said: “Ildar Dadin has stood up to the Russian authorities in circumstances where we know how risky that can be: It has cost individuals their lives in recent years. It can even lose you a presidential election, as we now know. But Ildar, despite that, has continued to speak out and he continues to speak out even in the worst of circumstances.”
Speaking on behalf of Ildar Dadin, his wife and campaigning partner Anastasia Zotova said: “Tonight I tell you, that in Russia, there are no human rights. It is a society ruled through levels of cruelty and bigotry where Russians are forced to worship the great leader and any and all dissidents are stoned. Maybe I cannot join you in London but I can refuse to be silent. And you, friends, can refuse to be silent too. You can refuse to let these people silence me. Together, we can refuse to look away.”
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Cartoonist Wang Liming (aka Rebel Pepper) was presented with the Index 2017 Freedom of Expression Award Arts award for satirising Chinese Premier Xi Jinping and lampooning the ruling Communist Party. For his efforts Rebel Pepper has been repeatedly persecuted. In 2014, he took exile in Japan after serious threats against him were posted on Chinese government-sanctioned online forums. The Chinese state has since disconnected him from his fan base by repeatedly deleting his social media accounts, conversations with friends and family are under state surveillance, and exile has made him isolated, bringing significant financial struggles. Nonetheless, Rebel Pepper keeps drawing, ferociously criticising the Chinese regime.
Journalist and 2017 Freedom of Expression Award judge Tina Brown said: “Rebel Pepper was cut off from his family, cut off from all his friends and he wasn’t even able to go back for his mother’s funeral after she died from cancer, which is a very, very cruel fate for someone who simply wanted to tell the truth. At a time when the president of China is going off to Davos and making big statesmen-like speeches about how China is a big open society now, everybody come and trade, the fact is that it’s a really repressive and dark regime.”
In his acceptance speech, delivered by video, Wang Liming said: “Political cartoons are significant as I can use my works to peel away the mask of false perfection put on by the Chinese government. The humour and satire employed in my works can also help lighten the mood and dispel the fear that the Chinese people have towards the administration. I feel that these are the key reasons why political cartoons play such an important role in China. Ever since I came to Japan, I have been able to relish freedom of speech to the fullest. As such, my works are no longer limited by any external restrictions save for the boundaries of my own imagination.”
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Jodie Ginsberg, chief executive, Index on Censorship (Photo: Elina Kansikas for Index on Censorship)
“I hope you are indeed having an extraordinary evening. It’s extraordinary because of the individuals and groups we have honoured here tonight and it’s extraordinary because you make it so.
“Many of you are old friends of Index. Others are new acquaintances. For those of us who are new to us – and the old friends who may have forgotten – I want to take this opportunity to tell, or remind, you a little bit about us and what we do.
“Index was founded 45 years ago to tell the stories of dissidents behind the Iron Curtain and beyond – from the very first magazine we featured stories from across the world by and about censored writers and artists: from Brazil to Greece to Bangladesh. We were concerned then, as now, not just with the written word but all forms of expression. And we have continued to publish this magazine – the only of its kind in the world – ever since.”
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]High-resolution images are available for download on Flickr.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_media_grid grid_id=”vc_gid:1494001232704-44285c22-af33-2″ include=”89695,89694,89693,89692,89691,89690,89689,89688,89687,89686,89685,89684,89683,89682,89681,89680,89679,89678,89677,89676,89675,89673,89672,89671,89669,89667,89666,89665,89663,89662,89582,89581,89580,89578,89577,89576,89575,89574,89552,89551,89550,89549,89548,89547,89546,89545,89544,89543,89542,89540,89539,89538,89537,89536,89535,89534,89533,89532,89531,89530,89529,89528,89527,89523,89522,89520,89519,89518,89517,89515,89514,89513,89512,89511,89510,89509,89508,89491,89490,89489,89488,89487,89484,89706″][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”12″ style=”load-more” items_per_page=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1494001233011-308855d4-4b96-8″ taxonomies=”8935, 8734″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
François Fillon, presidential candidate for Les Républicains, and Marine Le Pen, the Front National candidate. Credit: Prachatai / Flickr
“No revelation on François Fillon for several minutes,” a headline from the French satirical website Le Gorafi read in March 2017. Although untrue, it captured well the spirit of a campaign marred by a steady flow of allegations of political corruption. Fillon, the presidential candidate for the conservative Les Républicains party, is one of many to face allegations. In response, he has attempted to discredit the press.
“We saw the campaigns upend and attacks on journalists have been used to try to reunite the voting base,” journalist Aurore Gorius, who has been covering the campaign for news website Les Jours, told Mapping Media Freedom.
At the end of January, Le Canard Enchaîné, a satirical weekly featuring investigative journalism, claimed Fillon’s wife Penelope had been paid to be her husband’s parliamentary assistant while there was no record of her doing any work. Other revelations include Fillon employing his underage children as parliamentary assistants, a €50,000 loan received by a businessman friend, a €13,000 gift of two suits given by a political adviser specialising in France-Africa relations and a second position held by his wife.
As soon as revelations emerged, Fillon began to discredit the outlets involved, including Envoyé Spécial, Mediapart and Le Canard Enchaîné. Recently, he claimed he knew exactly who had leaked information to Le Canard Enchaîné and threatened to sue “all of those who were at the origin” of the revelations.
Revelations of corruption also hit the Front National candidate Marine Le Pen’s chief of staff. In a similar fashion to Fillon, the party tried to discredit media outlets which broke the scandal. It also violently expelled journalists asking questions about the allegations of corruption during political meetings and blocked certain media outlets from attending altogether.
For Arnaud Mercier, a professor at Institut Français de la Presse at Pantheon-Assas University and head of the French-language version of The Conversation, “it’s not an exaggeration to talk of a trumpisation of Fillon’s campaign. Trump was an outsider and had a very aggressive attitude towards the media throughout his campaign whereas Fillon was the favourite and ended up being pushed to the side. That’s when he started adopting the same tactic.”
“The first abuses date from the 2012 Nicolas Sarkozy campaign. At the end of it, probably around the time Sarkozy realised he would lose, he radicalised his campaign,” Gorius said. Echoing Sarkozy’s attitude five years ago, Fillon and his political allies have elaborated a narrative claiming the media had fomented a plot against him, making it harder for journalists to cover the campaign. At a meeting in Poitiers on 9 February, former Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin appeared to thank journalists, while the crowd booed them. A few moments later, Fillon lashed at the media, which he said was responsible for his difficulties. Party supporters followed in politicians’ steps, often more violently.
At the same meeting, Hugo Clément, a journalist for TV show Quotidien, interviewed a Fillon supporter who told him: “You’re not a journalist, you’re a shit digger. You partake in the enterprise of destruction. You want to exterminate. You were driving trains that took people to Auschwitz.” Around a month later, France Inter radio journalist Guillaume Meurice spoke to Fillon supporters during a meeting in Paris and recorded them denouncing a media plot against the conservative candidate. Meurice recorded a supporter saying: “The whole country is submitted to the gulag of the left and the media.”
“Right-wing voters think that all journalists are left-wing. Since I have been covering campaigns, this narrative keeps coming back. I’ve covered three François Fillon meetings and I have seen militants complaining to journalists, occasionally tackle them, telling them to be objective,” Gorius said. Journalists covering the conservative party have spoken up about high levels of aggression against them and difficulties to follow the candidate who travels with a handful of carefully selected journalists. On occasions, the attacks have taken a more personal or more violent turn. Mediapart co-founder Edwy Plenel wrote a short blog post to clear his daughter, who had been accused of holding a fake job by a far-right pro-Fillon website. On 6 April, Mediapart and Le Canard Enchaîné received a letter containing death threats and a bullet which had also been sent to magistrates. There were violent incidents in the weeks preceding the first turn.
Gorius and French Journalists’ Union spokesperson Vincent Lanier both pointed out that on previous presidential campaigns left-wing candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon has been known to have an uneasy relationship with the media, which he often claimed was biased against him. There was little of that this time, even if Mediapart recently pointed out that the candidate has refused the news website’s invitation to appear in one of their political show for a year, claiming it is linked to the fact he disliked some of their coverage.
On the conservative side, there were stranger attacks. On 10 March, Les Républicains MP Jean-François Mancelpresented a law proposal aimed at restricting the confidentiality of journalists’ sources. “The proposal has no chance whatsoever of being turned into a law, as this principle is a cornerstone of democracy – these are mere gesticulations,” legal journalist Marc Rees explained. But he said there had been more insidious threats to the principle of sources confidentiality. “France adopted a new antiterrorist legislation last year. The text includes protection for four professions – magistrates, lawyers, MPs and journalists – who cannot be submitted to surveillance while performing their mandate. Except that when a journalist is under surveillance it’s hard to know what falls within their mandate or doesn’t. This disposition clearly opened a gaping hole, which could be abused by whoever is to come to power,” Rees said.
In March, the French journalists’ union made a statement denouncing attacks against journalists. Lanier said they had received an incredible amount of abuse following this. “It’s clear something is broken. And it’s not new. There’s a lack of trust between the media and the public. There’s serious problems within the media. Direct broadcasting playing on a loop, experts who are not experts. This creates a situation where people don’t believe in the media. This time, among young journalists there’s an awareness that they have to be more thorough”, he said.
But this very uncertain campaign has prompted a massive interest with newspapers sale rising in February after the first revelations on Fillon started. According to Gorius: “10 million people were watching the first debate between candidates on TF1. That’s as much as for a huge football match. I feel there is enormous curiosity, as voters feel we are at a turning point. There’s also disappointment. The debate about ideas has failed to take place.” [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”12″ style=”load-more” items_per_page=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1492586488812-a75617ed-73cc-10″ taxonomies=”6564″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
In 2005 the winners of the Index Law Award went to the Center for Constitutional Rights, a non-profit legal advocacy organisation based in New York City. Founded in 1966 by attorneys who represented civil rights movements, the CCR actively work to uphold and protect the rights of people guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
In 2004 the CCR gained significant attention when they won a landmark case in the United States Supreme Court, allowing some detainees at Guantanamo Bay detainment camp the rights to challenge their status in courts and gain legal representation. As a result, they have continued to provide legal assistance for people imprisoned in Guantanamo and had many released who were unlawfully detained. On the frontline of social justice, Guantanamo is only one of several issues that CCR covers. From mass incarceration and government surveillance to corporate human rights abuses, CCR’s work goes beyond the courtrooms, supporting grassroots organisations that work with directly impacted communities.
One of their current cases is a federal lawsuit in which CCR is representing Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), a non-profit LGBT advocacy organisation in Uganda. SMUG is suing Scott Lively, a US-based anti-gay extremist, for his active role in the persecution of LGBT people in Uganda. Lively is accused, together with the Ugandan government and religious leaders, of depriving the LGBT community of their fundamental human rights.
CCR is also dedicated to helping those who have fallen victim of discriminatory profiling, torture, and illegal detentions in the US as a result of the “war on terror”. This year, the CCR urged a federal appeals court to reinstate a lawsuit against the FBI for retaliating against Muslim American citizens who refused to become informants by placing them on the No Fly List.
Profiling of Muslims is a contentious topic following President Trump’s attempts to ban citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US. After Trump’s second executive order in March, CCR issued a statement highlighting the dangers of state discrimination: “Trump’s hateful rhetoric has triggered a predictable spike in xenophobic and anti-Muslim acts of violence and harassment. State discrimination inevitably sends a signal of social acceptance for hate crimes and makes entire communities open targets to the nationalist rage Trump is fomenting.” CCR’s work is more important now than ever, as they continue to protect the legal rights of people, by using law and education as a positive force for social change.
Isabela Vrba Neves is a member of Index on Censorship’s Youth Advisory Board. She is a freelance writer and recent masters graduate from the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he studied Political Theory.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”85476″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2016/11/awards-2017/”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]
Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards
Seventeen years of celebrating the courage and creativity of some of the world’s greatest journalists, artists, campaigners and digital activists
Drawn from more than 400 crowdsourced nominations, this year’s nominees include artists, journalists, campaigners and digital activists tackling censorship and fighting for freedom of expression. Many of the 16 shortlisted are regularly targeted by authorities or by criminal and extremist groups for their work: some face regular death threats, others criminal prosecution.
The gala takes place Wednesday 19 April at the Unicorn Theatre in London and will be hosted by comedian, actor and writer Katy Brand. If you aren’t lucky enough to be attending, you can catch the night’s events by tuning into coverage and a live Periscope stream @IndexCensorship beginning at 7:30PM BST.
We will be live tweeting throughout the evening on @IndexCensorship. Get involved in the conversation using the hashtag #IndexAwards2017.
Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards nominees 2017
Arts
Luaty Beirão, Angola
Rapper Luaty Beirão, also known as Ikonoklasta, has been instrumental in showing the world the hidden face of Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos’s rule. For his activism Beirão has been beaten up, had drugs planted on him and, in June 2015, was arrested alongside 14 other people planning to attend a meeting to discuss a book on non-violent resistance. Since being released in 2016, Beirão has been undeterred attempting to stage concerts that the authorities have refused to license and publishing a book about his captivity entitled “I Was Freer Then”, claiming “I would rather be in jail than in a state of fake freedom where I have to self-censor”.
Rebel Pepper, China
Wang Liming, better known under the pseudonym Rebel Pepper, is one of China’s most notorious political cartoonists. For satirising Chinese Premier Xi Jinping and lampooning the ruling Communist Party, Rebel Pepper has been repeatedly persecuted. In 2014, he was forced to remain in Japan, where he was on holiday, after serious threats against him were posted on government-sanctioned forums. The Chinese state has since disconnected him from his fan base by repeatedly deleting his social media accounts, he alleges his conversations with friends and family are under state surveillance, and self-imposed exile has made him isolated, bringing significant financial struggles. Nonetheless, Rebel Pepper keeps drawing, ferociously criticising the Chinese regime.
Fahmi Reza, Malaysia
On 30 January 2016, Malaysian graphic designer Fahmi Reza posted an image online of Prime Minister Najib Razak in evil clown make-up. From T-shirts to protest placards, and graffiti on streets to a sizeable public sticker campaign, the image and its accompanying anti-sedition law slogan #KitaSemuaPenghasut (“we are all seditious”) rapidly evolved into a powerful symbol of resistance against a government seen as increasingly corrupt and authoritarian. Despite the authorities’ attempts to silence Reza, who was banned from travel and has since been detained and charged on two separate counts under Malaysia’s Communications and Multimedia Act, he has refused to back down.
Two-tailed Dog Party, Hungary
A group of satirists and pranksters who parody political discourse in Hungary with artistic stunts and creative campaigns, the Two-tailed Dog Party have become a vital alternative voice following the rise of the national conservative government led by Viktor Orban. When Orban introduced a national consultation on immigration and terrorism in 2015, and plastered cities with anti-immigrant billboards, the party launched their own mock questionnaires and a popular satirical billboard campaign denouncing the government’s fear-mongering tactics. Relentlessly attempting to reinvigorate public debate and draw attention to under-covered or taboo topics, the party’s efforts include recently painting broken pavement to draw attention to a lack of public funding.
Campaigning
Arcoiris, Honduras
Established in 2003, LGBT organisation Arcoiris, meaning ‘rainbow’, works on all levels of Honduran society to advance LGBT rights. Honduras has seen an explosion in levels of homophobic violence since a military coup in 2009. Working against this tide, Arcoiris provide support to LGBT victims of violence, run awareness initiatives, promote HIV prevention programmes and directly lobby the Honduran government and police force. From public marches to alternative awards ceremonies, their tactics are diverse and often inventive. Between June 2015 and March 2016, six members of Arcoiris were killed for this work. Many others have faced intimidation, harassment and physical attacks. Some have had to leave the country because of threats they were receiving.
Breaking the Silence, Israel
Breaking the Silence, an Israeli organisation consisting of ex-Israeli military conscripts, aims to collect and share testimonies about the realities of military operations in the Occupied Territories. Since 2004, the group has collected over 1,000 (mainly anonymous) statements from Israelis who have served their military duty in the West Bank and Gaza. For publishing these frank accounts the organisation has repeatedly come under fire from the Israeli government. In 2016 the pressure on the organisation became particularly pointed and personal, with state-sponsored legal challenges, denunciations from the Israeli cabinet, physical attacks on staff members and damages to property. Led by Israeli politicians including the prime minister, and defence minister, there have been persistent attempts to force the organisation to identify a soldier whose anonymous testimony was part of a publication raising suspicions of war crimes in Gaza. Losing the case would set a precedent that would make it almost impossible for Breaking the Silence to operate in the future. The government has also recently enacted a law that would bar the organisation’s widely acclaimed high school education programme.
Ildar Dadin, Russia
A Russian opposition and LGBT rights activist, Ildar Dadin was the first, and remains the only, person to be convicted under a notorious 2014 public assembly law. Aimed at punishing anyone who breaks strict rules on protest, the law was enacted to silence dissent after a wave of demonstrations following Putin’s last election victory. Dadin’s crime was to stage a series of one-man pickets, often standing silently with a billboard, attempting to duck the cynical law and push for free expression. For his solo enterprise, Dadin was arrested and sentenced to three years imprisonment in December 2015. In November 2016, website Meduza published a letter smuggled from Dadin to his wife, exposing torture he claimed he was suffering alongside fellow prisoners. The letter, a brave move for a serving prisoner, was widely reported. A government investigation was prompted, and Dadin was transferred – against his will – to an undisclosed new location. A wave of public protest led to Dadin’s new location in a Siberian prison colony being revealed in January 2017. In February 2017, Russia’s constitutional and Supreme Courts suddenly quashed Dadin’s conviction, ruling he should be released and afforded opportunity for rehabilitation.
Maati Monjib, Morocco
A well-known academic who teaches African studies and political history at the University of Rabat since returning from exile, Maati Monjib co-founded Freedom Now, a coalition of Moroccan human rights defenders who seek to promote the rights of Moroccan activists and journalists in a country ranked 131 out of 180 on the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index. His work campaigning for press freedom – including teaching investigative journalism workshops and using of a smartphone app called Story Maker designed to support citizen journalism – has made him a target for the authorities who insist that this work is the exclusive domain of state police. For his persistent efforts, Monjib is currently on trial for “undermining state security” and “receiving foreign funds.”
Digital Activism
Jensiat, Iran
Despite growing public knowledge of global digital surveillance capabilities and practices, it has often proved hard to attract mainstream public interest in the issue. This continues to be the case in Iran where even with widespread VPN usage, there is little real awareness of digital security threats. With public sexual health awareness equally low, the three people behind Jensiat, an online graphic novel, saw an an opportunity to marry these challenges. Dealing with issues linked to sexuality and cyber security in a way that any Iranian can easily relate to, the webcomic also offers direct access to verified digital security resources. Launched in March 2016, Jensiat has had around 1.2 million unique readers and was rapidly censored by the Iranian government.
Bill Marczak, United States
A schoolboy resident of Bahrain and PhD candidate in computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, Bill Marczak co-founded Bahrain Watch in 2013. Seeking to promote effective, accountable and transparent governance, Bahrain Watch works by launching investigations and running campaigns in direct response to social media posts coming from activists on the front line. In this context, Marczak’s personal research has proved highly effective, often identifying new surveillance technologies and targeting new types of information controls that governments are employing to exert control online, both in Bahrain and across the region. In 2016 Marczak investigated several government attempts to track dissidents and journalists, notably identifying a previously unknown weakness in iPhones that had global ramifications.
#ThisFlag and Evan Mawarire, Zimbabwe
In May 2016, Baptist pastor Evan Mawarire unwittingly began the most important protest movement in Zimbabwe’s recent history when he posted a video of himself draped in the Zimbabwean flag, expressing his frustration at the state of the nation. A subsequent series of YouTube videos and the hashtag Mawarire used, #ThisFlag, went viral, sparking protests and a boycott called by Mawarire, which he estimates was attended by over eight million people. A scale of public protest previously inconceivable, the impact was so strong that private possession of Zimbabwe’s national flag has since been banned. The pastor temporarily left the country following death threats and was arrested in early February as he returned to his homeland.
Turkey Blocks, Turkey
In a country marked by increasing authoritarianism, a strident crackdown on press and social media as well as numerous human rights violations, Turkish-British technologist Alp Toker brought together a small team to investigate internet restrictions. Using Raspberry Pi technology they built an open source tool able to reliably monitor and report both internet shut downs and power blackouts in real time. Using their tool, Turkey Blocks have since broken news of 14 mass-censorship incidents during several politically significant events in 2016. The tool has proved so successful that it has begun to be implemented elsewhere globally.
Journalism
Behrouz Boochani, Manus Island, Papua New Guinea/Australia
Iranian Kurdish journalist Behrouz Boochani fled the city of Ilam in Iran in May 2013 after the police raided the Kurdish cultural heritage magazine he had co-founded, arresting 11 of his colleagues. He travelled to Australia by boat, intending to claim asylum, but less than a month after arriving he was forcibly relocated to a “refugee processing centre” in Papua New Guinea that had been newly opened. Imprisoned alongside nearly 1000 men who have been ordered to claim asylum in Papua New Guinea or return home, Boochani has been passionately documenting their life in detention ever since. Publicly advertised by the Australian Government as a refugee deterrent, life in the detention centre is harsh. For the first 2 years, Boochani wrote under a pseudonym. Until 2016 he circumvented a ban on mobile phones by trading personal items including his shoes with local residents. And while outside journalists are barred, Boochani has refused to be silent, writing numerous stories via Whatsapp and even shooting a feature film with his phone.
Daptar, Dagestan, Russia
In a Russian republic marked by a clash between the rule of law, the weight of traditions, and the growing influence of Islamic fundamentalism, Daptar, a website run by journalists Zakir Magomedov and Svetlana Anokhina, writes about issues affecting women, which are little reported on by other local media. Meaning “diary”, Daptar seeks to promote debate and in 2016 they ran a landmark story about female genital mutilation in Dagestan, which broke the silence surrounding that practice and began a regional and national conversation about FGM. The small team of journalists, working alongside a volunteer lawyer and psychologist, also tries to provide help to the women they are in touch with.
KRIK, Serbia
Crime and Corruption Reporting Network (KRIK) is a new independent investigative website which was founded by a team of young Serbian journalists intent on exposing organised crime and extortion in their country which is ranked as having widespread corruption by Transparency International. In their first year they have published several high-impact investigations, including forcing Serbia’s prime minister to admit that senior officials had been behind nocturnal demolitions in a Belgrade neighbourhood and revealing meetings between drug barons, the ministry of police and the minister of foreign affairs. KRIK have repeatedly come under attack online and offline for their work –threatened and allegedly under surveillance by state officials, defamed in the pages of local tabloids, and suffering abuse including numerous death threats on social media.
Maldives Independent, Maldives
Website Maldives Independent, which provides news in English, is one of the few remaining independent media outlets in a country that ranks 112 out of 180 countries on the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index. In August 2016 the Maldives passed a law criminalising defamation and empowering the state to impose heavy fines and shut down media outlets for “defamatory” content. In September, Maldives Independent’s office was violently attacked and later raided by the police, after the release of an Al Jazeera documentary exposing government corruption that contained interviews with editor Zaheena Rasheed, who had to flee for her safety. Despite the pressure, the outlet continues to hold the government to account.
Maldives Independent and Zaheena Rasheed have been named the winner of the 2017 Freedom of Expression Journalism Award.
Arcoiris, Honduras
Jensiat, Iran