Cartoonists Under Threat

Ecuadorian Cartoonist Bonilla verbally assaulted by President

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Xavier Bonilla, aka "Bonil"

Xavier Bonilla, aka “Bonil”

On December 26, 2013 in Quito, Ecuador, twelve policemen entered the home of Fernando Villavicencia. As the parliamentary advisor of the opposition to Rafael Correa’s regime, he was searched and accused of alleged espionage against President Correa and other officials.
This story was picked up by Xavier Bonilla, a well-known cartoonist for several media outlets in Ecuador. Using his pen name “Bonil”, he went on to publish a cartoon about the controversy in the national newspaper, El Universo. [full story]

Jabeur Mejri hoping for release in Tunisia

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Tunisian cartoonist Jabeur Mejri

Tunisian cartoonist Jabeur Mejri

In May 2012 we posted the story of Tunisian bloggers Jabeur Mejri and Ghazi Beji. At the time Jabeur had just been sentenced to a prison term of seven years for insulting Islam as a result of materials, including a cartoon, he posted to his blog about the prophet Mohammed, and other comments about the religion. Mr. Mejri and Mr. Beji had also declared themselves to be atheists.
In Mr. Beji’s case, rather than being charged with insulting Islam, he was accused and convicted of . . . [full story]

Zunar Loses In Appeals Court

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Malaysian cartoonist Zunar

Malaysian cartoonist Zunar

On November 1, Malaysian cartoonist Zunar, recipient of CRNI’s 2011 Award for Courage In Editorial Cartooning, received the decision of the Appeals Court of Malaysia concerning his challenge to an earlier ruling that had upheld his 2010 arrest on charges of sedition, and the seizure of his book “Cartoon-O-Phobia”.  Justices Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim, Mohd Arif Md Yusof and David Wong unanimously upheld the arrest and detention, as well as the earlier court’s decision that the seizure of Zunar’s books in 2010 was unlawful.
The arrest and seizure had and continue to have … [full story]

What Is Akram Raslan’s Status?

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Syrian cartoonist Akram Raslan

Syrian cartoonist Akram Raslan

Since our most recent posting there have been reports that Akram Raslan is alive, others claiming otherwise. While we hope it is the former, his current status remains unclear. CRNI is working every day with a number of sources to verify that he is alive and relatively well.
Akram Raslan was CRNI’s 2013 winner of the Award for Courage in Editorial Cartooning. Past award winners have hailed from Malaysia, South Africa, Turkey, Palestine, Iran, and India, including last year’s winner, Ali Ferzat, also from Syria. [full story]

Singapore Police Investigating Leslie Chew

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Leslie Chew (self-portrait)

Leslie Chew (self-portrait)

Leslie Chew is one of the best known Singaporean cartoonists, with over 27,400 Facebook followers of his controversial “Demon-cratic Singapore” cartoon strip.
According to an August 6 article in the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Chew has been under police investigation since April for potential wrongdoing in several cartoons he drew for his Facebook comic strip, which he describes as a “totally fictional comic.” Police arrested Mr. Chew on April 19 and questioned him over alleged sedition after a citizen filed a police complaint against the cartoonist for certain comic strips that the person said were racially insensitive. These were not … [full story]

Trial Delayed for Akram Raslan

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Syrian cartoonist Akram Raslan

Syrian cartoonist Akram Raslan

Further to our continuing stories about missing Syrian cartoonist Akram Raslan, it was reported by a reliable source that Mr. Raslan’s trial for sedition due to begin on June 3, 2013 has been indefinitely postponed.

Cartoonists Rights Network International will continue to monitor Mr. Raslan’s situation closely, and once again calls on the Syrian government to drop all charges against Mr. Raslan, and release him immediately to his family.

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