Comedian Shappi Khorsandi, the host of this year’s Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards, understands the effects of censorship first hand.
Her father, Iranian writer and comic Hadi Khorsandi, was forced to flee to Britain in 1979 with his family, including a young Shappi, following the Iranian revolution and his criticism of the new regime. Even in the UK, Khorsandi continued to receive death threats.
“During the 1979 revolution against the Shah, there were crowds calling for my father’s execution because of his satirical writings. The only way to stay in Iran was to toe the party line. He chose exile, a profound experience for a writer,” Khorsandi says.
Khorsandi speaks movingly of the effects of exile on writers, saying: “They have to leave their home country to be able to express themselves freely in their native language. Censorship was a huge thing in my family.”
Once in Britain, Hadi Khorsandi continued writing and also published a satirical newspaper: “Because of this there was a plot to assassinate him in 1984,” says his daughter.
Many of those shortlisted for this year’s freedom of expression awards have experienced similar attempts to silence them. Lirio Abbate, an Italian journalist who faces constant threat of attack because of his investigations into the mafia, has 24-hour police protection. Others, like Angolan journalist Rafael Marques de Morais, Moroccan rapper El Haqed, or Ecuadorian cartoonist Bonil, are repeatedly threatened with jail for challenging powerful government and business interests.
Index on Censorship magazine featured Hadi Khorsandi’s work in two of its 1986 issues, describing his humour as “aimed at the follies and absurdities of the present Iranian regime and giving the reader a vivid picture of life in a country where ideology and zeal have been allowed to reign unchecked.” The October issue in which Hadi Khorsandi’s work features also includes an essay by Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
“I’ve known about Index on Censorship for years – there were always Index logos in our house because of my father’s work,” says Khorsandi. “It’s quite an honour to have been asked to host the awards, one I accept on my father’s behalf.”
The 15th Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards were held on March 18 at the Barbican, London.
These are people who have dedicated their time and energy to serve on the frontline of the fight for human rights. Leyla Yunus helps those who have been forcibly evicted from their home and works with activists in the South Caucasus region, including Armenia, the country with which Azerbaijan is locked in a frozen conflict. Rasul Jafarov was behind Sing For Democracy, a campaign to highlight rights abuses as Baku hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 2012. Intigam Aliyev has represented victims before the European Court of Human Rights. Seymur Hezi provided critical coverage both as a reporter for Index award winning newspaper Azadliq, and in the online show Azerbaijan Hour. Khadija Ismayilova has on multiple occasions uncovered corruption connected to the ruling Aliyev clan.
Today, they are all languishing behind bars, on trumped up charges ranging from treason to tax evasion. The whole sorry affair is perhaps most aptly summed up by the dark irony of Leyla Yunus and Jafarov being in the process of compiling a list of political prisoners, when they themselves were added to it.
It is estimated that some 100 people are currently jailed in Azerbaijan over their political beliefs. Because it is worth remembering that while the past months’ crackdown has seemed especially ruthless, comprehensive and unapologetic in its bid to silence critical voices, these tactics are not new. For years, those daring to speak out against the ruling elite have been threatened, harassed, arrested and even killed.
Index board member and director of Sage Publications David McCune presented the special award at the ceremony in London (Photo: Alex Brenner for Index on Censorship)
Journalist and activist Idrak Abbasov was brutally beaten by security forces and police in a 2012 attack. He accepted the special award from Oslo, where he now lives in exile, on behalf of his compatriots. “In Azerbaijan, not a single television or radio channel is free. In effect, all media are under government control with the exception of a few newspapers and the Internet. There is no freedom of expression or association,” Abbasov said in a pre-recorded speech. “There are no free elections. The country is ruled by a terrible regime. Freedom of speech has been completely stifled. Our colleagues have been murdered. Elmar Huseynov was killed in 2005. Novruzali Mamedov was murdered in prison in 2009. Rafiq Tagi was killed in 2014. No one has been called to account. Many journalists have been brutally and repeatedly beaten, and no one has been punished. This is Azerbaijan. This is the horrific way the country is being ruled.”
The eyes of the world will soon again be fixed on Azerbaijan. The inaugural European Games – organised by Europe’s Olympic Committees – are coming to Baku this summer, not long after the capital last hosted an international mega-event, the 2012 Eurovision final. The line pushed by the regime, and parroted by their supporters at home and abroad, is that this is young and developing democracy on the right path. But three years on, the situation has not improved; on the contrary. This award is for Azerbaijanis continuing their struggle for freedom, rights and dignity – in the hopes that it will soon be won.
Idrak Abbasov summarised his hopes for the future in his closing remarks: “I call upon the world community to help Azerbaijan and freedom of speech in Azerbaijan. So that our colleagues might be released. So that our country might become a normal country in which we and others might live freely.”
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]2015 Freedom of Expression Arts Journalism-winner Safa Al Ahmad has spent the last three years covertly filming a mass uprising in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province that had, until her film, gone largely unreported.
The ensuing documentary, Saudi’s Secret Uprising, drew widespread attention to a story that would otherwise have been lost to a media blackout.
“Winning the award has brought more exposure – both for credible investigative journalism from Saudi Arabia, and for my work.”[/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:1501490894083-4f5433f2-0fb9-0″ taxonomies=”6932″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
This week we will be showcasing our shortlisted nominees from the journalism category. This year’s nominees include Lirio Abbate, an Italian journalist whose investigations into the mafia mean he requires round-the-clock police protection; Safa Al Ahmad, whose documentary exposed details of an unreported mass uprising in Saudi Arabia; radio station Echo of Moscow, one of Russia’s last remaining independent media outlets; and Rafael Marques de Morais, an Angolan reporter repeatedly prosecuted for his work exposing government and industry corruption.
Tuesday: Documentary maker Safa Al Ahmad
Wednesday: Investigative journalist Lirio Abbate
Thursday: Journalist and human rights activist Rafael Marques de Morais
Friday: Radio station Ekho Moskvy
In 2003, internationally recognised journalist Fergal Keane was the first to win an award under the journalism category, however, the previous year Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was killed in 2006, won the Defence of Free Expression award. In 2001 the same award was given to Iranian journalist, Mashallah Shamsolvaezin.
2015 Freedom of Expression Arts Journalism-winner Safa Al Ahmad has spent the last three years covertly filming a mass uprising in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province that had, until her film, gone largely unreported.