Award-Winner Updates

Latest developments on past winners of the Robert Russell Courage in Cartooning Award.

Zunar free at last as sedition charges are dropped

Malaysian media confirmed news of the acquittal on July 30th.

As long-time followers will recall our Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award winner in 2011 had for the last several years laboured under nine counts of sedition. However the recent change in Malaysia’s government had given us all reason to hope that the case would be dismissed.

Coming shortly after the end to his travel ban, this means Zunar can now resume his international career free from worry of extradition or imprisonment.

The only matters remaining from his previous woes under the Najib Razak regime are his own complaints concerning confiscation of artwork and seizure of books. We hope he is a successful in these court proceedings as his defence has been and that thereafter this long period of strife will fully become a thing of the past.

A jubilant Zunar leaves court.

Meanwhile we turn our attention to this year’s award recipient, to be announced in September, and those other past winners still facing threat such as Musa Kart, expected back in court to appeal his conviction on charges of abetting terrorism. The sorry tale of his persecution and prosecution by the Turkish government took a bizarre twist earlier this month when the travel agent Kart was accused of contacting as a means to reach religious fundamentalists was made a minister in President Erdoğan’s cabinet.

Corruption is everywhere and cartoonists who speak truth to power are easy targets. We’ll continue to work in their defence.

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network

Zunar: “Now they have changed the government, what am I going to draw?”

Zunar is back on the road again after his travel ban was lifted and passport returned.

Hard to believe it was as long as two years ago that we shared Zunar’s last Tweet from Kuala Lumpur airport when he reported the seizure of his documents and the imposition of a travel ban.

As he heads off to the UK, an excellent article in The Observer details his feelings after the change in Malaysian government and the loss of both his arch tormentors and chief muse in the form of Najib Razak and Rosmah Mansor.

Safe travels, Zunar!

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network

Ramón: “I never felt alone, but cannot forget the moans of people who were being tortured.”

In a letter CRNI’s Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award winner for 2017, Ramón Nsé Esono Ebalé extends his thanks to all who supported him during his recently ended imprisonment and provides a harrowing account of life inside Malabo’s notorious Black Beach Prison.

June 2018

Dear friends,

Thank you for your support and encouragement during a difficult period in my life.

I never felt alone, as I knew you believed in me and defended my innocence, even though you did not know me. I owe you more than even I can imagine.

While the past eight and a half months in Equatorial Guinea have been a nightmare for me, your advocacy, your art, and your positive thought all helped me remain hopeful.

I’m grateful for your commitment to justice.

After all charges were dropped against me, and once I was released from Black Beach prison, I was very happy. I knew I would finally hug my daughter and wife again. I had not seen them for six months, and parts of me were dying as the days went by. My son, who directly experienced the nightmare with me never gave up hope, despite his youthful age. He joined the advocacy for my release and learned first hand that one can never be indifferent to injustice.

In prison I met many people unjustly convicted and forgotten by the judicial authorities. Thirty or more inmates filled cells built for two prisoners. I still vividly remember the cries of my prison companions on November 28th as they were being horribly tortured by armed and masked guards. That day the torture lasted for four long hours, from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m., when the guards finally got tired of beating them. I also cannot forget the moans of people who were being tortured in “Guantanamo,” the central jail where I was detained before I was transported to Black Beach prison. In Black Beach three people were left to die when the guards denied them medical attention. Others, companeras and comparers of the Ciudadanos por la Inovación political party, were referred to by the nickname of “broken hands,” given what the intense torture sessions had done to their limbs. I saw them in Black Beach before they were transported in metal cargo containers to the city of Bata. It is a painful and very personal realisation that there is no justice in today’s Equatorial Guinea. I will never forget my prison companions, as I understand that while my life was spared and my freedom secured thanks to the networks that brought you and I together, most people in my country do not have this luxury.

I kept myself busy in prison by drawing on cardboard scraps with the only pen they allowed me to have. Now I have access to endless amounts of paper and dozens of pens, pencils, and markers. I plan to use this larger arsenal to shine a light on the injustices and impunity that still besiege my country.

What you did for me, we can now do again for many others in my country. So, I am asking you to continue supporting me, EG Justice, and some courageous lawyers in Equatorial Guinea, as we work to free other political prisoners and hold government officials accountable for corruption. I do not have economic means, but now, with you and my pencils, I feel I have both the moral strength and the necessary resources to make a difference. Together, let’s keep alive the hope that many others in Equatorial Guinea will be free and they too can again hug their children and spouses.

Nothing would make me happier than turning Black Beach into a museum for human rights to commemorate those who perished and those who continue to suffer gross injustices in that prison.

In Solidarity,

Nsé Ramón

Ramón’s story exemplifies bravery in the face of extreme threats. We will recognise another courageous cartoonist later this year. To submit a nomination for the 2018 award click here.

Please support EG Justice as they continue to work on behalf of the Black Beach prisoners.

To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network

Ramón Nsé Esono Ebalé is free

Nine months on, Ramón has left Equatorial Guinea behind.

The cartoonist is safe and well with friends in Madrid, Spain.

Earlier this year we reported that Ramón Nsé Esono Ebalé aka Jamón y Queso, recipient of 2017’s Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award, had been cleared of all criminal charges levelled against him in Equatorial Guinea.

Despite his proven innocence Ramón was not given his passport upon release from police custody. Hence he was still in effect a prisoner. He is an E.Guinean citizen but his home and family are in El Salvador.

Today we are happy to report that Ramón’s documents were returned and he is free at last.

A statement released today and co-singed by CRNI reads as follows.

(Nairobi, May 29, 2018)—The Equatorial Guinean artist Ramón Esono Ebalé left the country on May 28, 2018, after being imprisoned for six months on apparently false charges and then waiting three months for travel documents, 13 rights organizations said today.

“Ramón Esono Ebalé’s nine-month saga shows how many tools the Equatorial Guinean government has at its disposal to silence critics,” said Sarah Saadoun, of Human Rights Watch. “But it also is a powerful example of how solidarity and activism can confront abuses.”

Esono Ebalé, a prominent artist and cartoonist often critical of the government, who traveled to Equatorial Guinea to request a passport, was arrested on September 16, 2017 in Malabo, the capital, and charged almost three months later with counterfeiting around US$1,800 worth of the local currency. The line of questioning during the interrogation and a lack of evidence raised serious concerns that the allegations were politically motivated. These concerns were bolstered during the trial, when the government’s sole witness admitted on the stand that he was just following his bosses’ orders.

The judge dismissed the case on February 27, and Esono Ebalé was freed, but he remained effectively trapped in the country because he lacked the proper travel documents. He was finally issued a passport on May 23 and left the country five days later.

Throughout this ordeal, dozens of cartoonists’ rights and human rights organizations and advocates worked to publicize the case internationally, including with the United Nations and global policymakers. The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights wrote a letter of appeal to the Equatorial Guinean government, and US Senator Richard Durbin remained actively engaged with the case.

“We, the #FreeNseRamon coalition, hundreds of artists, journalists, activists, rights defenders and supporters from around the world, celebrate that Ramón will finally be able to see his loved ones after an ordeal that lasted almost nine months,” said Tutu Alicante, executive director of EG Justice, a group that monitors the government’s human rights record. “Many critical voices remain silenced and imprisoned in Equatorial Guinea, but today, we rejoice that one of those talented activists is free and can go back to drawing truth to power.”

The human rights groups and advocates are APIM, Arterial Network, Committee to Protect Journalists, CRNI, Caoilfhionn Gallagher QC, Jonathan Price, Paul Mason, International Media Defence Panel, Doughty Street Chambers, EG Justice, FIDH, within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, FREEMUSE, Human Rights Watch, Index on Censorship, PEN International, and Reporters without Borders.

We commend Tutu Alicante and EG Justice as well as all the other organisations who have worked tirelessly on Ramón’s behalf since his detention last September.

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network International

A statement on Musa Kart and the oppression of journalists in Turkey

The oft-repeated statement “an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us” applies to political cartoonists worldwide after Turkish cartoonist Musa Kart was sentenced to prison. Why should Americans care about the fate of a satirist who mocked his president in a country half way around the world? Because it can happen here.

It wasn’t that long ago Turkey was a beacon of democracy with a relatively freewheeling press. In a part of the world known for strongmen and monarchies, Turkish institutions were working hard to liberalize and guarantee individual freedoms, such as freedom of speech and freedom of the press. But with the ascension of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, all that changed.

Erdogan used an attempt to oust him for his autocratic tendencies as an excuse to crack down on his opponents. Thousands were fired from universities, tens of thousands from government positions, and 50,000 were arrested, including his critics in the media.

One of those arrested on trumped-up charges was Musa Kart, whose cartoons depicting Erdogan as a corrupt strongman surely irritated the Turkish president, whose base of support comes from the country’s religious conservatives—a group not known for being friendly to humor or a free press.

In a travesty of a trial, Kart — along with 13 fellow journalists and staff members of his newspaper — was found guilty of “aiding terrorist organizations” and sentenced to almost four years in prison. Last week the Geneva-based foundation Cartooning for Peace gave Kart its International Editorial Cartoons Prize. “The jury has chosen Musa Kart, iconic cartoonist of the Istanbul newspaper Cumhuriyet, for his talent and courage in defense of freedom of expression,” a statement from the group said.

While we’re sure Mr. Kart was honored, he could not accept the award in person because the Turkish government has banned him from traveling abroad.

In normal times it would be unthinkable that American journalists and satirists would fear for their freedom. These are not normal times. The current occupant of the White House has repeatedly attacked the press, even reviving the Stalinist phrase “enemy of the people” to describe us, all while encouraging violence against his opponents. It’s no longer unthinkable that one who irritates the leading political figure in America won’t be made to pay a price.

The dark path Turkey has taken is one that we in the United States must guard against.

—The AAEC Board

http://news.editorialcartoonists.com/aaec/2018/05/a-statement-on-musa-kart-and-the-oppression-of-journalism-in-turkey.html

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