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UK Parliament debates freedom of speech in Turkey

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Freedom of expression in Recep Erdoğan’s Turkey has been raised in the UK’s Parliamentary proceedings for the second time this year.


Cartoon by KAP

As reported by English PEN, MPs debated the state of affairs in Turkey on Thursday afternoon in Westminster Hall and specifically the impact on human rights of measures taken since last summer’s attempted coup.

The debate, called for by Joan Ryan MP, followed on from Stewart McDonald MP’s Early Day Motion noting the deterioration of press freedom within the country.

Shadow Minister of State for Europe, Fabian Hamilton MP said that the level of interest from both parliamentarians and members of the public indicated that a full debate in the House of Commons was warranted.

UPDATE: a transcript of the debate is now available via Hansard.

Readers of this site will now that CRNI’s particular concern is focused upon the wellbeing and liberty of cartoonist Musa Kart and his colleagues from Cumhuriyet newspaper who face their 130th day in prison on remand without trial.

The paper reports today that a formal application has been made to the European Court of Human Rights in an attempt to secure their release.

“The investigation is political, not legal. Ruling circles, uncomfortable with what Cumhuriyet publishes, want to stop it from appearing.”

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network International

Iran issues prison sentence to CRNI board member

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A CRNI board member has been sentenced in absentia to four years in prison by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court.

Iranian cartoonist Nik Kowsar has lived in exile since 2003 when he fled the country after receiving a death threat. Over the weekend he learned he’s been sentenced to four years in prison for “Insulting Ayatollah Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei and for causing unrest in the minds of the public by spreading untruthful material.”

According to the detail of the court’s ruling, which is unclear, the cartoonist and activist has two months to appeal the verdict.

Kowsar received the news on Sunday afternoon through an Iranian opposition website. The court also sentenced Googoosh, the pop music diva who left Iran in the 1990s and has pursued a career outside her homeland ever since, to sixteen years in prison.

This latest development is an echo of the events that first brought Kowsar to the wider world’s attention. He was arrested in February 2000 and spent six days in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison after mocking a powerful pro-violence Islamist Ayatollah and was charged with undermining national security and insulting said Ayatollah. Later other charges, such as spreading untruthful material causing public unrest and making fun of religious scripture were added.

Nik Kowsar Crocodile

The cartoon that first led to Nik Kowsar’s arrest in 2000.

As a result he was the recipient of our Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award in 2001.  After leaving Iran he joined the board of our organisation and has worked tirelessly to assist those who find themselves in the same distressing circumstances he and his family faced, or worse.

Unbowed, Kowsar is in typically combative mode in his response, telling CRNI:

“I feel insulted by such a small verdict! I have asked a lawyer in Tehran to sue the judge on my behalf for insulting me! Only four years for all the many cartoons I’ve drawn of Ayatollah Khomeini and the Supreme Leader? This is humiliating!”

“The whole thing is absurd and I find it very funny; I’ve been out of the country for almost fourteen years (possibly the age of the Islamist judge’s wife when they tied the knot) and now reside in Washington DC, far away from the judge and his court, and yet he invites me to appeal the verdict by going to his office.”

“I plan to revoke my Iranian citizenship until the day this Islamic State type of regime is no longer in charge. My soul is Iranian. My heart is Iranian, and that’s good enough for me.”

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network International

Turkey contends criticism as Musa Kart languishes in prison

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As cartoonist Musa Kart and his colleagues near the end of their fourth month in an Istanbul prison without indictment on charges of lending support to terrorism, we offer an update on where things stand pertaining to the case.

The Council of Europe’s Commissioner on Human Rights, Nils Muižnieks reported on the overall situation in Turkey last week, saying “Democratic debate in Turkey has shrunk alarmingly following increased judicial harassment of large strata of society, including journalists, members of parliament, academics and ordinary citizens, and government action which has reduced pluralism and led to self-censorship.”  Turkey’s response to the report, restating their dedication to human rights but maintaining that last summer’s attempted coup warrants the use of emergency security measures, can be read here.

The report follows a visit to Turkey by the Venice Commission, the constitutional consultative body of the Council of Europe, during which Musa Kart’s case was raised as cause for concern in a wider discussion about dire conditions for the press. The Commission Deputy Chairman Herdis Kjerulf Thorgeirsdottir, along with a delegation, had meetings with the representatives of various political parties at Turkey’s parliament. Opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Group Deputy Chairman Erkan Akçay made mention of Musa Kart as exemplary case and the pro-Kurdish HDP MP Idris Baluken listed over one hundred and fifty journalists who are currently behind bars.

Readers may recall that the United Nation’s special rapporteur David Kaye’s findings after a visit to Turkey in November around the time of Musa Kart’s arrest, saying: “Across the board, the Government is imposing draconian measures that limit freedom of expression […] the measures are not only drastic and disproportionate, but they lack any form of transparency.”

The wives and children of the remanded Cumhuriyet journalists met recently with the leader of the Republican Peoples’ Party (CHP), Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu who appealed to prosecutors, saying “Do not be somebody’s slave or vassal; do not be the rulership’s cudgel.”  Cumhuriyet notes that the Constitutional Court has not examined complaints made on behalf of those in remand and if it does not examine and rule on those shortly an appeal will be possible to the European Court of Human Rights.

Musa Kart’s representatives have told us that he continues to be held under the kind of restricted circumstances normally reserved for those convicted of a crime. While he and his  journalist colleagues have access to paper and pen, nothing is permitted to leave and nor may they receive letters. They may see their lawyers once a week for one hour and up to three of their family members, also for one hour a week. Inmates and visitors are separated by glass during family visits or accompanied by a prison officer doing lawyer visits and at all times any discussion is audio-recorded. Inmates are permitted a phone call once in fifteen days for a duration no longer than ten minutes. They cohabit in groups of three and aren’t allowed to see their peers. They are given access to a 3×5 metre yard with very high walls to get air and exercise. They do have a television and get the daily newspapers but there are limitations on books. Deputies from the CHP visit them often, as is their right, and share their messages with the public.

CRNI are dismayed at the length of time the Turkish state are taking to present their case on what they claim to be urgent matters of national security. Musa Kart is guilty of no such crime in our view, but while his release is not forthcoming  the Turkish government and court must not ignore the various appeals and petitions being made in his defence.
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 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network International

Eaten Fish Ends Hunger Strike

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CRNI can report that, after 19 days on hunger strike, Eaten Fish has decided to end his protest. He currently weighs 46 kg.

I m going to start eating just now and end the protest…
I wanted to protest and keep doing it but but hunger strike…

Posted by Mr. EatenFish Arts on Friday, 17 February 2017

On its face the strike’s end is good news but it will have had a deleterious affect on Eaten Fish’s health and it is clear that his thoughts dwell on self-destruction. In an earlier Facebook message the cartoonist described feelings of fatigue and despair and once again made plain that the reason for his drastic action was the series of sexual assaults he says occurred during his time on Manus Island, claims that have been rejected and remain uninvestigated by the authorities.

Share these important words please… 🙏

I’ve seen the cartoons of those cartoonists and artists friends…
I see that…

Posted by Mr. EatenFish Arts on Friday, 17 February 2017

We note that Eaten Fish has seen and taken comfort from some of the many cartoons that have been posted under the #AddAFish banner and we encourage that campaign to continue until there is a positive solution to this shameful blot on Australia’s human rights record.

With typical gallows humour, Eaten Fish suggests there’s an upside to being on hunger strike.

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network International

Eaten Fish cited in Australian Senate

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Earlier today co-deputy leader of the Australian Greens and senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam spoke in the senate chamber about the plight of Eaten Fish.


Video of the statement: portion concerning Manus Island and Eaten Fish commences at 13:17 mark.

After a statement about climate change and the current heatwave and flooding in Australia the senator moved on to displaced people generally and Eaten Fish in particular:

“What I find most perverse is that the same people working hardest to prevent clean energy companies from getting a start in Australia are the same ones who are the most horrified at the idea of giving safe harbour to refugees.

It’s about the most brutal failure to put two and two together imaginable. Here’s one really obvious example. There are around 170 million people living in Bangladesh; say about 7 times the population of Australia. Most of these men and women and children, sisters, brothers, grandparents, grandchildren, live on alluvial floodplains on the edge of the Indian Ocean. Conservatively, 10% of the land area will be inundated if the sea level rises one meter. Not in a slow and gradual manner, but given effect by violent storm surges and hurricanes.

How many people do you think will realistically be on the move by mid-century?

Like many people I’m at risk of becoming numb to the statistics of suicides, murders, mental illness, sexual assault and rape on the island internment camps that are Australia’s national shame. It is essential that we don’t turn away from the horrors being inflicted in our name, because the way we treat desperate people forced to flee their homes will be the issue that defines whether the human family survives this century or not.

Last week the Government began forcibly deporting people from Manus Island.

The UN Refugee Agency has said that no deportations should take place, because there are concerns about how people’s refugee claims have been assessed. Asylum seekers on the island have provided dozens of examples of mistakes, inconsistencies and perverse decisions. Legal avenues for the asylum seekers have not been exhausted, with many having not yet been subject to judicial review.

The detention centre in Manus Island was declared illegal 10 months ago. The PNG Supreme Court ruled in April that the indefinite detention of asylum seekers on Manus Island was unconstitutional and but nothing has been done to close it down.

Today the Liberal and Labour parties washed their collective hands of responsibility, refusing to support a Greens motion opposing forced deportations.

I said I would avoid statistics, so let us learn a little more of one individual. Iran, the theocracy that the United States Government set in place when the CIA overthrew a democratically elected Government in 1953 has long refused to accept any person who is repatriated involuntarily. This means that these poor people face the prospect of indeterminate detentions or worse when they are forced to return.

One such person is the Iranian asylum seeker and cartoonist known by pen name Eaten Fish. He’s 25-year-old. His real name is Ali. He suffers severe mental illness. He has been on a hunger strike for 16 days today. He’s bleeding from his stomach and he is becoming more and more unwell. His ability to be lucid is deteriorating and he’s desperate.

Eaten Fish has received a deportation notice, but he wants people to know that he’s not on hunger strike for that reason. He’s on hunger strike because he’s been the victim of sexual assault, chronic sexual harassment and abuse in Australia’s immigration prison camp. He can’t bear the suffering anymore.

He’s petrified of being moved from his supported accommodation back into the general area, and petrified of being returned to Iran and executed.

His refugee determination status process was an absolute joke. During the determination he was so unwell that he was unable to present his case.

All of this has been documented. It’s taken Eaten Fish a year to talk about his experience but now he wants people to know what’s going on.

The Australian government has been petitioned many times both from within Australia and internationally asking that Eaten Fish be brought to Australia for medical treatment.

Cartoonists Rights Network International is one such group, and writes:

‘It is with profound alarm and sadness that [we] learn that our friend and colleague, cartoonist Mr. Eaten Fish, currently held in an Australian refugee rendition camp in Papua New Guinea has decided to undertake a hunger strike… He is a man who has given up hope, cannot struggle any longer, cannot face the future that is being forced on him, and he would rather die than submit to the indignities of further inhuman treatment.’

Today the Greens stand, once again, against this unacceptable treatment of asylum seekers by this government, and the ALP. We urge you to transfer this critically ill young man to Australia, or risk another death.

I also take this opportunity to also say that we will never forget the young men who have died in our care on this death camp.

Reza Barati – 24, Iranian, died from head injuries after bashing by security guards

Hamid Kehazaei – 24, Iranian, died from medical neglect after a treatable foot infection

Faysal Ishak-Ahmed – 27, Sudanese, fell ill and died on Christmas Eve 2016, after seeking medical
treatment 13 times in 2 months

On the death of Faysal, Manus detainee Abdul Aziz Adams said ‘This system is designed to kill us one by one’.

Friends, this system shames us one by one.”

A former graphic designer and illustrator, Sen. Ludlam is a long-term critic of the government’s policy concerning detention of immigrants in off-shore camps. We and all working to secure Eaten Fish’s release and humane treatment in Australia thank him and his colleagues for their interest and vocal support.

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network International

UPDATED: Global action in support of Eaten Fish

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As Eaten Fish endures the third week of his hunger strike in Australia’s detention centre on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, activists in the region and elsewhere have stepped up their efforts to end his ordeal.

The International Criminal Court will now consider whether or not Australia’s policy of detaining boat-borne migrants in off-shore camps is a crime against humanity after receiving a petition from the Global Legal Action Network and Stanford International Human Rights Clinic, The Guardian reports.

In addition to a letter to Australia’s High Commissioner to the UK, the Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation have along with colleagues at France-Cartoons been encouraging Twitter users to contribute simple cartoon fish to from a “virtual shoal” in the hope that this show of solidarity and support will lift Eaten Fish’s spirits. If you wish to contribute, use the hashtag #AddAFish and be sure to copy in the Australian border force @DIBPAustralia

UPDATE 15/02/17: The story’s been picked up by HuffPo Australia, Mashable UK and the BBC World Service in the last 24 hrs.

UPDATE 18/02/17:  Further coverage by Good Magazine NZ and Independent Australian as well as further news in The Guardian that the Manus Island camp will be closed by the end of the year.

 The cross-org petition from IFEX, IFJ an MEAA is still online, calling upon the Australian government to offer safe haven to Eaten Fish and two other detainees.  The hashtag for that campaign is #Bring ThemHere

Poet and comic artist Jini Maxwell compiled a zine entitled Dear Eaten Fish to raise money for a refugee art project. It  has been placed online at the SaveEatenFish campaign’s site.

Eaten Fish himself continues to update followers on his condition via Facebook.  We remain in close contact with those advocating on his behalf in Australia.

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network International

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