CARTOONISTS RIGHTS NETWORK INTERNATIONAL

Rebel Pepper at Risk of Repatriation

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Exiled Chinese cartoonist Wang Liming, aka Rebel Pepper faces possible repatriation and the risk of imprisonment or worse.

In a distressing Google+ post last week the cartoonist detailed problems with the renewal of his Japanese visa and alleged possible involvement of CPC agents.  He fears that given his recently published work and continuing criticism of Xi Jingping’s government, any subsequent action to deport him could lead to his detention by Chinese authorities.

(The CPC has form in this regard. Long-time readers of the CRNI blog will recall that Chinese agents seized dissident cartoonist Jiang Hefei in suspicious circumstances in December 2015, while he was being held by Thai authorities.)

We are in direct contact with Wang and will provide an update on his status in due course.

 To Report a Cartoonist in Danger  Email Cartoonists Rights Network International

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

Bulgaria: Prass-Press magazine curtailed

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Attempts to launch a new satirical paper in the style of Charlie Hebdo have been stymied according to cartoonists in Bulgaria.

The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network has the story, detailing an unexplained failure in delivery of some 90% of the Prass-Press‘ ten thousand copies to newsstands around the country.

The new title was launched on March 1st but readers are finding it impossible to buy a copy via the usual outlets.  In response, a voluntary effort is being organised to sell the paper directly at street level .

Two of the cartoonists involved are duo Alla and Chavdar Georgievi.  On their Facebook page (post above) they describe attempts to publicise and distribute Prass-Press in Sofia yesterday as the “most dramatic moments in our lives.”

Bulgarians go to the polls in a parliamentary election at the end of the month.  Co-publisher of Prass-Press, journalist Ivan Bakalov has been quoted as saying that a businessman running for re-election as an MP, Delyan Peevski, may be responsible for the apparent seizure of the paper: “[he] controls the sales; the distribution companies are his.”

 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

“Satire under fire” in South Africa & around the world

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Our friends at Africartoons have been interviewed  about the state of play for satirists as South Africa considers new legislation on hate speech.


Madam & Eve by Stephen Francis and Rico Schachergl

The article at Media Update quotes cartoonists Jonathan Shapiro aka Zapiro, writing at the time of the Charlie Hebdo attack, as well as David Jenkins and Rico Schachergl:

“In speaking truth to power, [cartoonists] often find common ground with audiences across political persuasions. In instances where cartoonists take a stand on an issue where their readers might disagree with them, their cartoons act as excellent catalysts for discussion and debate.”

“History demonstrates that cartoonists should be made aware of how the power of their medium could advance racism and other forms of bigotry. However, there are also opportunists who seize every opportunity to cry ‘racism’ or ‘bigotry’ where there is none, in the hope of quieting the cartoonists’ pen.”

The advent of the Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill in South Africa comes at the same time as Turkey has used insults against religious faith and persons within government as a pretext to close down satirical publications and arrest opposition journalists and cartoonists.

Meanwhile the existing anti-hate speech statute in Australia has become a bête noire of the right, who say clause 18C of the The Racial Discrimination Act is too easily used to stifle free speech.  The cartoons of Bill Leak have been regarded by many as a test case.  However it’s worth remembering that the very next clause of the same law protects artists and 18C itself does not create a criminal offence.  In other words, it’s impossible to be sent to jail in Australia over a cartoon.

Last year we reported on Ted Rall’s law suit against his former employer the Los Angeles Times.  Pre-trial proceedings begin at the end of the month, according to Rall’s syndicated column. The cartoonists seeks damages for “defamation, wrongful termination, blacklisting” and other charges. The circumstances that led to Rall’s dismissal are complex; the whole story is laid out in detail on his GoFundMe page which he has used to raise cash for his legal expenses. Many cartoonists in the States will watch what ensues with interest, considering it a timely test of the First Amendment.

Any democracy that embraces restriction of the press in reponse to turbulent times risks slipping into authoritarianism.  As ever cartoonists are canaries in the coal mine and South Africa’s canaries, among others, are disquieted.

 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

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