CARTOONISTS RIGHTS NETWORK INTERNATIONAL

Zunar receives compensation from Malay gov’t

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Supporters of cartoonist Zunar were cheered to hear of a small but significant victory in his ongoing legal battles with the government, ruling political party, judiciary and police force in Malaysia today.

He has won financial compensation for damage to personal property during a police raid on his office.  As he explains, of more importance than the sum awarded is the message this decision sends to those in the country who continue to suppress freedom of expression.

The full text reads:

“The government of Malaysia, bound by the court order today has agreed to pay RM18,000 (about USD 4,000) as a compensation for destroying my orginal political cartoon seven years ago. When the police raided my office and arrested me under the Sedition Act on 24th September 2010, they laso confiscated the drawing which depicted PM Najib and his wife Rosmah, along with then newly-published book “Cartoon-O-Phobia”.

In November 2014, upon my suit, the Court of Appeal maintained the decision by the High Court in July 2012 which had instructed the police to return the drawing and the books to me.  The original drawing was badly damaged when I received it.

STATEMENT

1. The confiscation of cartoon artworks under the criminal law the Sedition Act is a gross violation of  cartoonist’s rights and freedom of expression.

2. To keep the artwork under the police custody for five years and damaging it is a more serious offence. It is clearly an act of intimidation and lack of respect of the work of art.

3. Today’s decision is not about the quantum, but as a lesson to the police and the Malaysian government that using criminal law arbitrarily to confiscate and destroy cartoon works is unacceptable, and was done in bad faith. It is also a clear proof that my book’s title, “Cartoon-O-Phobia” is a right word to discribe the character of the Malaysian government.

4. I would also like to remind that there are currently more than 40 of my cartoon works still under police custody in Penang since November 2016, which are also being investigated under the Sedition Act. I will take legal action for the police to return them at they are. The has to be responsible for damages, if any.

5. This goes the same for the 1,300 books which was confiscated by the Kuala Lumpur police, also in November 2016, because according to the police, it is “Detrimental to Parliamentary Democracy.”

Zunar’s damages relate to the incidents that first brought him to CRNI’s attention and earned him our Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award in 2011.

At the end of this week Zunar is due to hear a judge’s decision on his challenge to his on-going travel ban.

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network International

CRNI with students at Arab American University

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CRNI’s regional representative in Palestine, Mohammad Saba’aneh led a workshop on political cartooning for students at Arab American University, Ramallah this week.

The university website’s summary of the event reads:

“Hosting a representative of CRNI, the Department of Arabic Language & Information at the Faculty of Arts at the Arab American University organized an introductory meeting for its students on the art of political cartooning  and its techniques and its Palestinian history.

The meeting was opened by Media Professor in the Department of Arabic Language and Information, Saeed Abu Maala who welcomed the audience and stressed the importance of the cartooning in the delivery of  political messages, noting that this type of art played an important role as a tool for communication between communities, different schools of thought and transcending languages ​​and nationalities. He spoke of cartoon artists who have been attacked and others who have given their lives for their art, Naji Al Ali being the most well-known example.

[Editor’s note: CRNI has also reported of late on the trouble experienced by Osama Nazzel and his family.]

 

In turn, cartoonist Mohammad Saba’aneh provided a definition of caricature and cartooning, noting that this art is unparalleled in its dialectical power and an important indicator of the limits of freedom in any society. He touched on challenges facing cartoonists both local and global, crises, arrests and more, stressing the importance of supporting freedom of expression and to stand with the cartoonists trouble. He explained that CRNI plays a significant role in the protection of the cartoonists and the support and advice they can provide to those who need it.

For his part, the cartoonist and researcher Ramzi Al-Taweel discussed the techniques of cartooning and the history of this art in Palestine. He pointed out that art has been linked to political awareness since the days of the Ottoman Empire through the Mandate until the present time, pointing to historical cases of cartooning as a form of political resistance, firstly to the British occupation and then the Israeli occupation.  He noted that the Palestinian record is full of creative people who were killed or imprisoned, all in the hope that a new generation of artists can complete the march of great cartoonists who carried forward the Palestinian cause.”

We thank Arab American University for the use of their facilities and extend our best wishes to all who participated in the session.

Readers may be interested to note that Saba’aneh’s debut volume of political cartoons entitled White & Black was recently published by Just World Books.

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network International

Musa Kart indicted, faces 29 years in prison

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After five months of imprisonment Turkey has finally, formally indicted the staff from Cumhuriyet newspaper including cartoonist Musa Kart who, if found guilty, faces a twenty-nine year sentence.

As widely reported across Middle-Eastern media and by human rights organisations around the world yesterday,  a total of nineteen names appear in the indictment with a variety of charges and proposed sentences for each suspect.

Musa Kart is accused of “helping an armed terrorist organization while not being a member” and “abusing trust” and prosecutors have stipulated a maximum sentence of twenty-nine years.  His family have confirmed that the reporting of the charges is correct.

The essence of the government’s case against Cumhuriyet is that the paper conducted itself as a fifth column, “[starting] an intense perception operation, targeting the government of the Turkish Republic and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan by using asymmetrical war tactics” and “[providing] a basis for illegal politics.”

The International Press Institute has dismissed the content of the indictment as “nonsense” and in a bullish editorial Cumhuriyet says the details are “nothing but imaginary accusations and aspersions.”

The news comes as the #FreeTurkeyMedia campaign gets underway to highlight the plight of journalists in the county, all though the month preceding World Press Freedom Day.

Musa Kart is a past winner of our Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award, having twice over been taken to court for cartoons deemed insulting by President Erdoğan.  His work is often critical of Erdoğan’s increasingly authoritarian regime, but also of Fethullah Gülen, the alleged leader of last summer’s attempted coup, and of terrorism and extremism in Turkey overall.  The substance of his work belies the government’s contention that he’s a Gülen Movement or PKK stooge.

 

In a 2004 cartoon published in Cumhuriyet, Kart depicts Fethulla Gülen as having infiltrated the Turkish military after the 1980 coup d’état – “Date 12 September 1980 – We have found ideal/suitable ground to climb up!” – Kart is accused by the current regime of supporting Gülen.

CRNI leadership responds:

“It is with the growing alarm that we read about the indictment just released against the Cumhuriyet journalists, including our friend, colleague and excellent cartoonist Musa Kart.

We absolutely condemn this embarrassing effort on the part of the Turkish government to further disappoint its own people. This indictment should be quashed and put on a shelf to gather dust. It is not worthy of the people of Turkey.

Every freedom loving country in the world should watch events in Turkey with care and see how an apparent slide into tyranny has continued step-by-step over time with apparent ease and impunity. This can happen in any country when freedom of speech, especially investigative and critical journalism, is throttled and the court system’s independence is eliminated.

We call on President Erdoğan to remember his early years when so many people in Turkey had such great hopes and faith in their own future. Membership in the European Union was making steady and effective progress, and all the world was watching with such anticipation.

We send our deepest level of support to these brave journalists, especially to Mr. Kart and his devoted and patient family who suffer along with their missing husband, father and grandfather.”

Dr. Robert Russell
Executive Director

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network International

Norway: cartoon exhibition attacked, cover-up alleged

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CRNI has received word from Arifur Rahman, a Bangladeshi cartoonist now based in Norway and the publisher of ToonsMag, saying that pieces of his work were stolen from a public exhibition and that the local officials sought to cover up the incident.

ArtsFreedom have the story that has also been covered extensively by the Amta newpaper in Drøbak, where the incident took place.

According to Rahman an unidentified individual, apparently an asylum seeker, entered the exhibition venue on March 1st, tore down twenty-five cartoons and left with four, saying that the work was “blasphemous”. Rahman was not present at the time and did not hear about it until two days later. He further alleges that he was told not to report the incident as it would jeopardise the outcome of the attacker’s case for asylum in Norway.

The Amta paper too claims to have received notification from officials against reporting the story.  In an editorial that ran on March 9th they say:

“In today’s newspaper we try to correct the mistake we committed. This time, you get the whole story, although several have tried to stop both Amta and others from talking loudly about this. The newspaper is not looking for scapegoats. We wish that the municipality should learn from their mistakes.It is important to emphasize that this is done by a person and the event must not lead to judge refugees in general. We guess that this may have been the motive for why the municipal employees handled this matter in a reprehensible manner. They did not want to create xenophobia. We cannot tolerate to have a society where truth is absent and one glosses over to paint a picture that fits into how we want our society to be.”

In 2008 Rahman fled his home after a cartoon also deemed blasphemous led to six months’ imprisonment.  After resettling in Norway have has gone on to build an online publishing platform for international cartoonists as well as a major contest, this year themed around Freedom of Expression.

He is quoted as saying:

“I find the religiously motivated theft of my exhibition drawings as a hard blow to the heart. What’s next? Can I continue to be safe here in Drøbak when municipal employees allow the theft to happen without intervening? And why did it go two whole days before I received a phone call after what happened? And that only happened after I had called my friends here in town. [Local authorities] do not understand how I feel. I feel that the event is trivialized and that they ignore my concern. I feel that they care more about this man than about how I feel. It seems as if they are trying to put a lid on the case. They discourage me to report the incident for the sake of their future in this country. Another argument is that it will affect people’s views on all new refugees in the municipality.”

Rahman’s cartoon about the attack on his exhibition, published in the Drøbak local paper.

CRNI’s executive director responds to news of this incident:

“For this to happen in Drøbak is highly disturbing as it is the Safe Haven City for cartoonists in trouble in the ICORN network.

It’s nearly a month later and only recently has the newspaper admitted their mistake in not reporting it. If the municipality’s reluctance to have it reported was because they wanted to protect the attacking refugee’s status, I would warn them to watch this refugee carefully for any violent actions he may take in the future once his refugee status is approved. Had the incident been reported to the proper authorities either by the municipality or the newspaper I’m sure the refugee would’ve found his way back to his home country, and possibly prevent a more violent and horrible situation in Norway sometime in the future.

I am deeply disturbed by this situation, very disturbed that municipal authorities would ignore it, and we are disappointed at the possibly of Drøbak being reconsidered as a safe haven city. Incidents like this can happen anywhere and Drøbak’s local authorities are probably not responsible for it happening, but they are certainly responsible for tolerating it and initiating a cover-up. This was an attack against the Norwegian people. If recent immigrants do not recognize their obligation to learn about and observe the local culture they have sought refuge in, then perhaps Norway is not the destination for them.”

Dr. Robert Russell
Executive Director, CRNI

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network International

April 2017 – #FreeTurkeyMedia

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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

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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

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