Prominent Bahraini rights activist Abdulhadi Alkhawaja ended his hunger strike yesterday (28 May), according to his lawyer, Mohammad Al-Jishi. Alkhawaja, who was on hunger strike for 110 days, started his hunger strike on 8 February saying that he would strike until “freedom or death”. The former head of Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) was brought to a hearing last Tuesday in a wheelchair, where he told the court about being force-fed during his hunger strike. He is currently serving a life sentence for his involvement in anti-government protests last year. Al-Jishi used the social networking site Twitter to announce the end of the strike, saying that it had “generally achieved its results to shed the light on the case of the detainees in Bahrain”.
Prominent rights activist and head of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), Nabeel Rajab was released on bail this morning according to his lawyer. Rajab was arrested upon his arrival to Manama’s international airport earlier this month. The activist was released on bail of 300 BD (£500), but still faces charges of “insulting an authority” on the social networking site Twitter, as well as “organising illegal protests”. Earlier this year, Rajab accepted the Index on Censorship Advocacy Award in London on behalf of the BCHR.
A new book by controversial Muslim author and activist Irshad Manji was banned in Malaysia this week. Copies of Manji’s new book, Allah, Liberty, and Love, were confiscated from a Kuala Lumpur bookshop by the Federal Territory Islamic Affairs Department (JAWI). Deputy Home Minister Datuk Abu Seman Yusop condemned the book for being blasphemous to Islam and Prophet Muhammad in a statement released yesterday. The Minister said the ban was made in accordance with the Printing Presses and Publication Act 1984, which allows books to be banned for causing “disturbance to the public”. The Malaysian publishers of the book believe that the confiscations were illegal, since it took place without a court order.
Manji, who advocates for progressive reforms in Islam, first rose to fame with her book The Trouble with Islam Today, which is also banned in Malaysia. The 2003 book sparked much criticism of the openly gay writer, who reportedly faced death threats and harassment for her calls for the incorporation of more liberal values into modern Islam.
Manji is currently on tour with her new book, and also faced harassment in the neighbouring Indonesia earlier this month, where demonstrations forced authorities to shut down parts of her tour. Religious extremists eventually attacked a book discussion with the author, and beat a colleague of Manji with a metal bar.
Manji took to Twitter to release a statement about the country’s decision to ban and confiscate the book:
Anonymous renowned Tunisian caricaturist _Z_ is under fire. His bold caricaturist style, no stranger to his fans, has landed him in trouble.
For years, his caricatures mocked Ben Ali’s autocratic and corrupt regime. The regime censored his caricatures, but did not succeed in tracking him down and exposing his identity. In 2009, police arrested blogger Fatma Riahi, and accused her of being behind _Z_.
More than 18 months after the fall of the regime, _Z_ still desires to conceal his identity. His caricatures now target the Islamists of Tunisia. _Z_ knows no boundaries, no red lines. For him anything can be caricatured and ridiculed. Something, many in Tunisia will not like, especially when it comes to what they consider as “sacred”, and “immoral”.
On 18 May, Facebook removed two cartoons by _Z_ following complaints the social networking site received. The cartoonist wrote about the decision on his blog the same day:
“Two caricatures published on my Facebook page DEBA Tunisie have just been censored. Each caricature contains little bit of sex, little bit of politics, and little bit of religion. There will always be an orthodox Tunisian who would snivel about them [caricatures] to Zuckerberg. My friends, according to our morality guardians there is inevitably a boundary that should not be crossed when it comes to tackling the Saint Trinity of the three Tunisian taboos: politics, sex, and God”
One of _Z_’s censored caricatures ridicules the members of Tunisia’s constitutional assembly, showing them taking part in various distracting activities during a meeting, apart from actually drafting the country’s constitution. Two MPs are shown having anal sex, and others are shown masturbating, playing chess and gambling. Another shows a lively party where a “cleric” says: “have sex, enjoy, and have fun. Paradise is down here. Up there is only bla bla bla!”
Some of _Z_’s caricatures also depict god and Prophet Muhammad, considered to be forbidden in Sunni Islam, leading to the launch of a fierce social media campaign against the artist. Tunisian journalist Thameur Mekki, believed by some to be the anonymous artist, has been the target of death threats meant for _Z_.
Both _Z_ and Mekki have denied these allegations. Mekki told Mag14.com that “this is a murder incitement matter” and said he would “lodge a complaint against those who are disseminating lies”.
