Cartoonists Under Threat

CRNI monitors threats against cartoonists: physical violence; criminalisation; forced displacement; censorship; litigation; online harassment; verbal or physical abuse, intimidation etcetera.

Ashraf Hamdi: 150 days a prisoner

Arrested on January 25th 2021 and like all prisoners experiencing heightened risk to his well-being due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Egyptian animator Ashraf Hamdi has been in jail for one-hundred-and-fifty days. Cartoonists Rights Network International and Cartooning for Peace call for his immediate release.

A still image from the since-deleted cartoon “نهاية الثورة المصرية The End of Egyptian Revolution”, originally posted to YouTube in 2013.
The joint statement reads as follows:

On January 25th 2021 Ashraf Hamdi, celebrated creator of the Egyptoon brand of animated satirical social media content, was arrested at his home in Giza, Egypt. He posted a brief comment – “They are coming.” – to his Facebook page shortly after re-posting a link to an old animated cartoon that made a humorous observation about the 2011 revolutionary movement, Jan. 25th having been the tenth anniversary of that event. The comment has since been deleted and the cartoon in question removed from YouTube.

Although no official, public acknowledgement has ever been published concerning Hamdi’s status nor of any charges against him his family and lawyers have established that he is being held within the penal system. A petition posted on a public forum by his Egyptoon colleagues in late March made reference to charges of “misdemeanour number 5535” and went on to clarify that Hamdi “is an artist who would always support his country and stand behind its leaders.”

June 24th marks one-hundred-and-fifty days without progress; Cartooning for Peace and Cartoonists Rights Network International ask those responsible for Hamdi’s detention to heed the call made in the March petition and without further delay release Ashraf Hamdi, with especial consideration given to his well-being in the midst of the pandemic.

The consensus is clear. Amnesty International have warned that the global prison population are the forgotten victims of COVID-19 and demanded that all prisoners of conscience be released. Freemuse, Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders have all raised concerns about human rights abuses under pre-trial detention, again exacerbated by the pandemic which has had a delaying effect on judicial processes.

Under normal circumstances Egyptian law permits up to two years of pre-trial detention but it is now commonplace to see this extended yet further. Such an outcome must be avoided, particularly while the pandemic continues.

Bearing in mind that the only crime in question was to (re)post an animated video and that a full public apology has been made on his behalf, we call for his immediate release.

Let this one-hundred-and-fiftieth day be the last; show clemency and release Ashraf Hamdi.

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network International

Alarming backslide in Malaysia: two cartoonists questioned by police

As leading press freedom and human rights organizations sound a note of alarm about deteriorating conditions in Malaysia, two veteran cartoonists – Fahmi Reza and Zunar – find themselves facing the possibility of criminal investigation once again.

UPDATE – MAY 08 2021: Zunar reports more than one hundred attempted cyber attacks during the course of a two-hour online panel discussion on human rights, featuring himself and cartoonists from around the ASEAN region.
UPDATE – MAY 07 2021: after a delay of five days, Zunar has traveled to the Kedah district for police questioning as instructed; he confirms via Twitter that a cell phone was confiscated and tells CRNI that this is the sixth device he has lost to police in as many years.
UPDATE – MAY 06 2021: Fahmi Reza is summoned again for police questioning, the third such session to occur this year, and confirms via Instagram that a total of five strands of investigation have been filed against him.
UPDATE – MAY 05 2021: Fahmi Reza tells his followers that his primary Twitter account is to be seized by police; those who demonstrated in protest over his arrest on April 24 may face criminalisation themselves, including parliamentarian Ahmad Fahmi Mohamed Fadzil.

In March CRNI was aware that the celebrated graphic artist and satirist Fahmi Reza (aka kuasasiswa) had been questioned by police over images posted to Twitter. In the hours immediately afterward he was in defiant mood, stating that “This latest round of investigations won’t stop me from designing and producing my artwork, because it is part of my responsibility both as a graphic designer and a Malaysian. Whatever I post is part of me expressing my freedom, as a Malaysian, to comment on the current events and as a graphic designer, I make these remarks through my satirical and parodic artworks and designs.”

Fahmi certainly has plenty of past experience dealing with Malaysian prosecutors; he faced criminal charges in 2016 and was finally acquitted in 2018 after the general election that year saw the downfall of Najib Razak’s notoriously corrupt and vindictive federal government.

On the evening of April 23rd multiple police officers came to Fahmi’s home in Kuala Lumpur, broke his door to gain entry, placed him under arrest and seized his electronic devices. As in the 2016 case he is being accused of crimes under the Sedition Act except this time the substance of the case is not quite a piece of visual artwork but rather the title and header image he amended to a playlist created on the Spotify music streaming platform. The Coconuts KL pop culture website explains the context as follows: “[it] appears to be taking a jab at Queen Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah, who recently teased someone on social media after bragging about getting the vaccine. The playlist, titled This is Dengki Ke (Jealousy), quoted part of the comment she posted online and featured 101 songs with the word ‘Jealous’ in the title.”

At the time of writing the playlist was certainly available outside of Malaysia (despite reports that hundred of strikes against it were sent to Fahmi) and it can be heard below.

On the morning of April 25th police requested four days’ remand but a magistrate denied their petition, saying the cartoonist should be released on bail twenty-four hours after arrest. While his belongings remained confiscated and the investigation continues – specifically, under Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act – Rahmi was able to meet supporters outside the police station and once again affirmed his dedication to freedom of expression. A note written while still detained and passed to his lawyers said: “In this country where a graphic designer is censored, arrested and locked up for his artwork, it is very important for this creative expression — parody and satire as a form of protest — to be continued to be practiced and to be continued to be defended.” Somewhat reassuringly, comments from the relevant ministry over the weekend indicate that this will be solely a police matter.

Note written by Fahmi Reza while detained by police, April 24th 2021

In a preview of a forth-coming interview with Vice Asia, Fahmi reflects on these most recent events, saying; “I like to think that my art and activism shines a spotlight on the wrongdoings in our country. But what was my crime? Creating a Spotify playlist. And now I’m being censored for it. It was clearly a show of force on the part of the authorities who came down harder on me this time round, using the kind of tactics reserved for serious criminals.”

Fahmi Reza pictured after 24 hours’ police remand, Kuala Lumpur, April 24th 2021

Another cartoonist all too familiar with the details of Malaysia’s Sedition Act and who had cause to believe his troubles were over at the end of the last decade was Zunar, a past winner of CRNI’s Courage in Cartooning Award.

Earlier today news broke that Zunar will be required to report for police questioning in the capital of the Kedah region’s Padang Terap district, Kuala Nerang on May 2nd. Under scrutiny is a cartoon of the regional governor Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor that Zunar posted in January when controversy was caused by the cancellation of a Hindu festival. The cartoon garnered complaints from the local youth wing of the ruling PAS party. It has been reported that formal complaints about Fahmi Reza have come from much the same political quarter.

Zunar’s cartoon dated January 23rd 2021

Speaking today with The Vibes news, Zunar is quoted as saying: “The cartoon was posted long ago – in fact, five months ago – but only now they (police) act? However, we can say this is politically motivated. My cartoon is open to interpretation; it’s something visual where I am commenting on a current issue. But I am not responsible for how people interpret it. Again, we don’t know the actual issue, but this is what the police require. Whatever it is, I have to follow (their instructions).”

In an exchange with CRNI last year Zunar expressed worries about the near future and it looks like these were well-founded; we will monitor what occurs next very closely.

Zunar reiterates his history as a persecuted and prosecuted cartoonist, April 28th 2021

These events come at the end of a few bad months for Malaysia’s reputation on the world stage. The consensus of leading human rights campaigners is that the new government formed in the aftermath of 2020’s “Sheraton Move” crisis has been disastrous for free speech and personal liberties. In their world reports Human Rights Watch said “freedom of expression came under attack immediately after the change in government” and Freedom House said they “invoked the COVID-19 pandemic to justify crackdowns on free speech and movement […] Additionally, a number of journalists, activists, and others were charged during the year with sedition, defamation, or violation of [law] for speech critical or perceived as critical of authorities.” Reporters Without Borders’ appraisal was dire, knocking Malaysia down eighteen places on their World Press Freedom Index.

“I am concerned and saddened by the news we are receiving from Malaysia. It’s become apparent that any ground gained in the brief rule of Parkatan Harapan has now been lost. The heavy-handed actions of Malaysian police and the extent to which they appear to be taking instruction from partisans are shameful and in some instances quite absurd. By definition seditious acts are those committed with the intent of destroying a nation. I refuse to accept that any reasonable interpretation of sedition can include rearranging existing pop songs on Spotify and as such trust the bizarre case made against Fahmi Reza will collapse given time. It remains to seen what specifics await Zunar in his interview with police on May 2nd. We will rally to his defense once more, should it prove necessary.”

Terry Anderson, Executive Director, CRNI

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network International

As a probe into allegations begins, time to ask: “Who Tortured Kishore?”

A Dhaka court has ordered an inquiry into allegations of torture made by the cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore, following his release on bail after ten months in prison. CRNI demands an independent and impartial investigation amid sustained levels of criticism directed at Bangladesh’s government.

UPDATE – MARCH 19 2021: KISHORE REPORTED TO HOSPITAL FOR A MEDICAL EXAMINATION YESTERDAY AS INSTRUCTED BY THE COURT, BUT FURTHER TESTS ARE REQUIRED THIS WEEKEND. ACCORDINGLY, AN APPLICATION HAS BEEN MADE TO EXTEND THE DEADLINE OF THE OFFICIAL INQUIRY.

As Ahmed Kabir Kishore recovers from surgery to help heal an infected ear injury, a wound that has permanently damaged his hearing, we welcome the news that there is to be an investigation into his allegations of torture while detained by police last May. However given the results of a similar procedure after the untimely death of Kishore’s co-accused, the writer Mushtaq Ahmed, we are not optimistic about the prospects of justice for the victim. There must be no cover-up, no bland obfuscation.

In a remarkable, harrowing account given to the press two weeks ago, Ahmed Kabir Kishore described torture, attempts to plant evidence at his home and a period of detention that predates the officially logged time of his arrest and entry into police custody.

“They hit me on the leg with a thick stick with a steel knob on the tip. There were four sticks displayed in the front to hit me with […] A person got up and slammed both sides of my head with his palms. They hit me at the back of the head […] They asked me for the passwords of my email and social media accounts. But by then I was not hearing anything in my right ear, which was bleeding.”

Ahmed Kabir Kishore describes physical injuries sustained during police interrogation.

While in court in February, prior to the death of Ahmed and successful bail of Kishore the pair attempted to draw attention to their treatment; the writer spoke out on behalf of his ailing companion and the cartoonist manged to pass a note to his legal representative. Within was a description of his alleged torture. Those responsible must be found, given an opportunity to account for themselves and, if found to have broken the law, receive the due penalties.

Even if one agrees that the Digital Security Act 2018 provides proportionate powers to combat truly criminal activity – and few do – it must be accepted that those arrested under the act are entitled to due process and can expect to receive a fair hearing without suffering injury or death while in the custody of the state. Yet Ahmed Kabir Kishore barely survived the past ten months and he has yet to learn when his actual trial will begin. Tragically, Mushatq Ahmed didn’t make it.

We note that criticism of Bangladesh and the government led by prime minister Sheikh Hasina has continued unabated since the death of Mushtaq Ahmed. Today, Human Rights Watch have been scathing in their call for clarification from Commonwealth Secretary-General Baroness Patricia Scotland after she praised the Bangladeshi leader’s pandemic response, saying “It is hard to understand what criteria the Commonwealth used to conclude that Sheikh Hasina should be lauded for her leadership and singled out as an inspiring figure. Baroness Scotland should clarify her statements and stand with victims against abuses in Bangladesh, including those carried out as part of the response to the Covid-19 pandemic.”

We quite agree. The only way to recover from the reputational damage of the last several weeks is for Bangladesh to respond swiftly, transparently and fairly to the grave transgressions that have been committed under the Digital Security Act.

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network International

Kishore bailed for six months; release from custody expected soon

CRNI together with Cartooning For Peace (making the same statement in French) welcomes this morning’s decision of the High Court in Dhaka to grant bail to cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore, ending his ten months of imprisonment. But questions remain about the death of his co-accused Mushtaq Ahmed, Kishore’s allegations of physical abuse and, more broadly, the future of the Digital Security Act (DSA) used to detain them and countless others in Bangladesh.

Kishore & Ahmed – Ronmac Cartoons

UPDATE – MARCH 10 2021: KISHORE ENTERS FORMAL COMPLAINT AGAINST ALLEGED TORTURERS.

UPDATE – MARCH 4 2021: KISHORE RELEASED FROM PRISON, CONFIRMED BY CRNI.

Following the grim news of last week it is with some relief we can report that Ahmed Kabir Kishore may, according to his lawyer, expect to be released from custody after processing of the court’s instructions and within the next two to three days.

The death of writer Mushtaq Ahmed resulted in four days of continued protest in Dhaka, some of it met with police brutality. Earlier this week the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet intervened, saying “There needs to be an overhaul of the Digital Security Act under which Ahmed was charged – and all those detained under this Act for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and opinion must be released.”

Last week the EU parliamentary sub-committee on human rights took evidence on Bangladesh and the unraveling situation there, mere hours before Mushtaq Ahmed’s death, prompting chair Maria Arena to say “I call for Ahmed Kabir Kishore’s immediate release.”

Today we expect Karima Bennoune, special rapporteur for cultural rights, to highlight Kishore’s circumstances as she is given the floor at the 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council. She has already said in her written submission on violations occurring in the midst of the pandemic that she is “deeply concerned about the jailing” citing it as an example of artists “targeted for work through which they critically assess official and public responses to the pandemic.”

Yesterday Law Minister Anihul Huq appeared to signal a willingness to co-operate on the matter of the DSA, saying: “I am discussing it with the UN Human Rights Council. We are comparing the law with (similar laws in) the rest of the world. We are working on how to develop a check and balance system to prevent any misuse or abuse, and how that can be incorporated within this law.”

Executive Director of CRNI Terry Anderson said: “Ahmed Kabir Kishore is not yet safe. I expect him to be released without further harm to his person, demand that his allegations of torture be impartially and independently investigated and that anyone implicated in the death of Mushtaq Ahmed is held accountable. I look forward to Kishore’s eventual acquittal and hope that the entire Digital Security Act soon becomes a thing of the past. The weight of the world’s human rights community is now fully against it.”

A statement from the president of Cartooning for Peace, the editorial cartoonist KAK, endorses this view, adding: “Being a press cartoonist myself, I will never come to terms with the idea that a citizen expressing his or her opinion and sensibility in a few strokes on a piece of paper should have to face that level of repression.”

MR ANDERSON SPOKE TO PRX “THE WORLD” PRIOR TO THE COURT’S DECISION; LISTEN HERE.

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network International

BANGLADESH: release Ahmed Kabir Kishore before he dies in custody

What now for detained cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore as allegations of mistreatment and torture surface and his co-accused, the writer Mushtaq Ahmed is reported DOA at a hospital outside Dhaka?

UPDATE – FEBRUARY 28 2021: according to local press and confirmed by Kishore’s lawyer, a Dhaka magistrate has rejected a “remand prayer” (in essence, an effort by the police to interrogate the cartoonist once again) and his seventh bail request will be heard in the High Court tomorrow, March 1st. Meanwhile an official application has been made to open an investigation into Kishore’s physical mistreatment and allegations of torture. Protests over the death of Mushtaq Ahmed have continued over the last forty-eight hours, prompting severe counter-measures from police, and the heads of thirteen diplomatic missions have written to Bangladesh’s government voicing their grave concern.

Readers of this website over the past year will know that Ahmed Kabir Kishore, the winner of our Robert Russell Courage in Cartooning Award, has been languishing in jail since May 2020 when his cartoons about the Bangladeshi government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic led to his arrest under the Digital Security Act, a law widely and very recently criticised by Article 19, Committee to Protect Journalists, and Human Rights Watch Asia experts as an unjust, vague and overly broad law that grants Bangladesh’s government latitude to “essentially arrest anyone they want based on any online activity”.

Kishore was among eleven co-accused arrested last year. The ten months since have entailed a convoluted saga that at times has strained the limits of credibility in its detail. But of all those involved in the amorphous and poorly-articulated case the state proposes against the group, the two most egregiously mistreated have been Kishore and writer Mushtaq Ahmed. Both were seized by the notorious Rapid Action Battalion shock-troopers, both put in a maximum security facility, both denied bail six times while others were set free amid the oncoming pandemic and neither were ever out of the frame as eight others named in the case were, albeit briefly.

According to local press both men were visibly underweight earlier this month. On February 23rd Kishore made a brief appearance at a magistrate court hearing and while there passed a note to a lawyer, who then passed them to his family. We have heard directly from Kishore’s brother Ahsan Kabir and his defence barrister Jyotirmoy Barua. For some time the Kabir family had warned that they feared he was being tortured during his time in custody but this past week offered their first opportunity to get any detail. They have reported a shocking and extensive deterioration in his physical health.

He is an insulin dependent diabetic and we had long expected he would not fare well in custody while unable to confidently and freely take adequate injections. But the reported issues with his eyesight and infected wounds in his ears and on his left leg as well as loss of weight cannot be easily explained merely by insulin rationing. Indeed Kishore has put in writing the allegation that he is a victim of physical abuse and offered descriptions from memory of the two police officers he alleges are responsible.

While weighing the ramifications of these developments news broke that Mushtaq Ahmed perished on the evening of February 25th. The official line is that he simply collapsed in his cell at the Kashimpur jail and was dead on arrival at the hospital in Gazipur. CPJ has the fullest account at this early stage but it is safe to say that explanations of Ahmed’s cause of death will not be taken at face value by most observers unless coming from an impartial source.

From the outset we have expressed deep concerns about Ahmed Kabir Kishore’s welfare, sentiments that were echoed by a host of organisations and experts through the course of last year. But we are now quite convinced that the cartoonist is in imminent danger of death. His immediate release is absolutely essential.

As CPJ, HRW and other leading freedom of expression organisations take note of what has occurred we expect a critical mass of support to coalesce behind Ahmed Kabir Kishore. The only question is whether Bangladesh’s government, police and judiciary will at last do the decent and humane thing and drop the entire case against him or through their inaction make tacit admission that they are content to risk the death of a cartoonist, a citizen who simply had the temerity to post some drawings on Facebook.

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network International

“Egyptoon” creator still missing, assumed detained

One month has passed since the last piece of public communication from the highly popular Egyptian cartoonist and animator Ashraf Hamdi, who posted a message on Facebook January 25th stating he was being arrested. Local sources confirmed as much later the same week though CRNI has seen no official legal proceedings against him.

Still image from “نهاية الثورة المصرية The End of Egyptian Revolution”, Egyptoon on YouTube

As we reported in January Hamdi was apparently arrested after the re-publication to Facebook of a seven year old animated video, intended as a tribute to the January 2011 protestors on their 10th anniversary. The relevant post was removed although the video itself remains in its original form on YouTube.

According to sources in Egypt Hamdi is accused of “spreading false information and misusing social networks”. However to our knowledge no-one has been given an official reason for the arrest and no charges have been articulated; according to the details set out by Amnesty International this fits with a pattern of mass-scale arbitrary detention in Egypt.

Ashraf Hamdi founded the Egyptoon series of animated web cartoons in 2013 and previously was a well-known press cartoonist in Egypt. The dedicated YouTube channel has more than three million subscribers and its most popular individual video has been viewed twenty-eight million times; the brand’s Facebook page has over 900,000 “likes” and thousands follow on Instagram and Twitter too. To say the very least, his continued absence is being noticed.

We repeat the call we made a month ago, that Ashraf Hamdi is a prolific, successful and talented cartoonist whose freedom of expression and human rights must be respected. We demand his immediate safe return and the cessation of any legal action against him.

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network International

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