CARTOONISTS RIGHTS NETWORK INTERNATIONAL

April 2017 – #FreeTurkeyMedia

Share

In the month preceding World Press Freedom Day on May 3rd, human rights and freedom of expression organisations everywhere call upon journalists and cartoonists to support their colleagues in Turkey as part of the #FreeTurkeyMedia campaign.

The intiative is being led by Amnesty International, saying:

Journalists and media organisations are being asked to join Amnesty International’s call to secure the release of more than 120 journalists in Turkish jails.

Turkey has earned an accolade which holds no glory: according to the Committee for the Protection of Journalists, it is the biggest jailer of journalists in the world. Globally, one third of all imprisoned journalists, media workers and executives are in Turkey’s prisons, with the vast majority among them waiting to be brought to trial.

More than 160 newspapers and TV stations have been closed with the loss of thousands of jobs in a crackdown on freedom of expression following last summer’s coup attempt and the declaration of a state of emergency.

Kate Allen, Director of Amnesty International UK, said:
“The detention of so many journalists, often for many months without trial, is completely unjustified and seems intended to create a climate of fear in which people censor their thoughts.

“This, combined with the closure of so many media outlets, is happening at a critical time in Turkey’s history, when a referendum will decide whether to change the country’s constitution and create an executive presidency.

“Given such events, the irony is that right now Turkey needs a free press more than ever before.”

Amnesty is asking journalists around the world to join a Twitter action for the release of Turkish media workers – similar to the campaign fought on behalf of the three Al Jazeera reporters detained for nearly two years in Egypt.

Online appeals to the Turkey’s Justice Minister, Bekir Bozdağ can be made here.

Amnesty will also be asking editors and publishers to run editorials and full-page ads highlighting the plight of the detained Turkish journalists on World Press Freedom Day on 3 May.

Please follow the Free Turkey Media campaign on social media:

Journalists are encouraged to post selfies, cartoonists to draw cartoons on the topic of press freedom in Turkey.  Use the hashtag #FreeTurkeyMedia in English or #GazetecilikSuçDeğildir in Turkish.

CRNI’s friends will be unsurprised to hear that our primary concern over this period is the cartoonist Musa Kart, in prison now for over 150 days.

NB – bear in mind that this is intended to be a positive campaign in solidarity with colleagues who are suffering. Invective that could potentially be (mis)used by prosecutors to make life harder for those already in a vulnerable position will not be endorsed by the campaign.

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network International

Australian High Commission sees cartoon protest for Eaten Fish

Share
CRNI’s Northern Europe representative joined members of the UK’s Professional Cartoonists Organisation (PCO) in London yesterday to protest against the Australian government’s detention of refugee cartoonist Eaten Fish on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea.

The cartoonists documented the day’s activities on Twitter.

A statement from Eaten Fish reads as follows:

“My name is Eaten Fish. I am an exiled cartoonist who has been detained in detention centres run by Papua New Guinea and Australian governments on Christmas Island and an island in the Pacific Ocean called Manus since July 2013. My cartoons are my diaries. I’ve been suffering so much from different illnesses such as OCD, panic attacks, seizures, muscle spasms, depression, anxiety and self harming. I have been under too much pressure from the immigration department and also sexual assault and ongoing sexual harassment for a long time and been beaten by the PNG Royal Police. After suffering so much, to protect myself,  I’m living in an isolated compound for more than a year and do not feel safe to live in this country any more, where you get beaten if you complaint about sexual harassment. Everything about my situation has been documented. I need nothing but peace and safety. My rights have been taken away from me. I need to be in a safe place where no-one insults me because of the way I look.”

Once more we call upon the Australian government to meet its commitments under international law, attend to Eaten Fish’s urgent medical needs and grant him asylum.

CRNI extend out thanks to the committee at PCO for their leadership on the #AddAFish campaign, its members and all cartoonists around the world who contributed.

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network International

Osama Nazzal’s studio raided

Share

CRNI’s regional representative in Palestine Mohammed Saba’aneh reports of an Israeli military raid on the home of fellow cartoonist Osama Nazzal.

Saba’aneh says he received a call from Nazzal after soldiers broke in to his home, ransacked his studio and confiscated cartoons. More than 30 soldiers are said to have surrounded his work space at his father’s home and questioned his family about him. Osama lives in Ramallah city but his studio is in the village of Kafr Ni’ma to the west.

Nazzal is quoted as follows:

“The Israeli military attacked my house yesterday morning at 3 am, they destroyed my workshop, my painting area, they surrounded my family and held them in a room and they took my art works, Yaser Arafat photo, work by Naji al-Ali and Baha Boukhari. I wasn’t there, thanks everyone for asking about me throught Facebook or email or phone.”

IMEMC News has the story.

Nazzal was one of several cartoonists subjected to online harassment by the European Institute Against Incitement last year.

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network International

Zunar in court: hearing proceeds

Share

Malaysian cartoonist and CRNI Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award winner Zunar reports that he’ll be in court next week to contest his ongoing travel ban.

The hearing follows the recusal of a judge in February.  Despite the multiple restrictions placed upon him Zunar continues to draw and distribute cartoons focusing on Prime Minister Najib Razak and wife Rosmah Mansor and the excesses of their government. Readers of this blog will know that Zunar’s cartoons have drawn the ire of various figures of authority, from cabinet minsters to the inspector general of police, as well as ruling party loyalists.

A fellow cartoonist in Malaysia criticised Zunar at an event earlier this week, saying his focus is too narrow.  CRNI’s friend and colleague Prof. Dr Muliyadi Mahamood was there to provide context for Zunar’s choice of subject matter.

Zunar has published his own riposte, saying:

“This is what cartoonists around the world do – exposing corruptions and injustices. I do not create trouble, I am just performing my duty. The authorities are the ones who cause trouble because they cannot laugh at themselves when the read my cartoons. That said, that is their problem, for I do not change my style in any way to accommodate them. In a country where the freedom of expression is limited and the muzzling of mainstream medias is at large, cartoons can be a tool to tell the truth because it is one of the most powerful media to break the hegemony.”

UPDATE: Kuala Lumpur High Court has fixed 14 April as the date for a decision on Judicial Review of Zunar’s leave application, this being the first step before the main challenge can be proceed.

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network International

Interview: Nik Kowsar On Iranian Court Sentence

Share

In a video interview CRNI Executive Director Dr Robert Russell talks with Iranian cartoonist Nik Kowsar about the guilty verdict recently issued to him in absentia.

Kowsar is a member of our board of directors and a past recipient of our Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award. He talks about his reaction to the proclamation of the Islamic Revolutionary Court, how it relates to the strife that forced him to leave his home several years ago and the way his experiences have been brought to bear in his subsequent work with our organization, supporting cartoonists who find themselves in similarly dire straits.

Dr Russell reminds viewers that CRNI depends upon reporting of threat to cartoonists via our international network as well as those who follow cartoonists’ work. Use the links below to assist in that effort.

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network International

Iranian Refugee Cartoonist Testifies From Turkey

Share
A former cartoonist forced to flee Iran has written to CRNI detailing his circumstances as a refugee in Turkey.

“Meisam” formerly worked as a cartoonist for conservative Iranian publications.

 

Meisam’s work as it appeared in the Iranian press prior to his flight.

He drew a cartoon on US-Iran relations during the P5+1 negotiations in 2014/15 that was deemed unacceptable by his peers. Meisam claims he was then harassed, threatened with death and finally beaten by men loyal to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who took umbrage at his “independent minded” cartoons. A CRNI contact in Iran can verify that an assault did indeed take place. Thereafter he fled the country.

He has successfully escaped his persecutors but the situation for refugees in Turkey is far from easy. Meisam hasn’t been able to continue in cartooning professionally and makes ends meet through piecemeal work in the black labor market, all while enduring the rising hostility toward outsiders under an increasingly authoritarian government which itself has a poor record with regard to freedom of speech. What little opportunities he has to draw are done with limited materials and shared via short periods of time in internet cafes.

This sequence of cartoons offers a visual narrative of his experiences. CRNI will lend support as Meisam tries to find a permanent solution to his troubles.

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network International

Categories

Archives