Cartoonists Rights

Ahead of a court of appeal hearing on 28 May, IFEX-TMG urges judiciary to quash the seven-year prison terms handed down to Ghazi Ben Mohamed Beji and Jaber Ben Abdallah Majri for online publishing.

UPDATE: The president of IFEX member Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), Nabeel Rajab, was re-arrested and sentenced to three years in prison on 16 August. Many other human rights defenders remain in prison, including BCHR’s founder Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, and his daughter, Zainab Al-Khawaja.

The winners are Ali Ferzat from Syria and Aseem Trivedi from India.

One of the most troubling trends today in many countries is the use of technological advancements to imprison for long terms not only cartoonists, but also non-media individuals who do nothing more than post a cartoon on a blog or Facebook page, says CRNI.

“This workshop has demonstrated clearly that in Tunisia editorial cartoonists will be on the cutting edge of free speech,” said CRNI Executive Director Robert Russell.

Twenty-seven IFEX members appeal for end to impunity in recent brutal attacks on journalists in Kazakhstan, including near-fatal attack on Luqpan Akhmedyarov in April.

In advance of the Formula 1, 50 IFEX members and partners call for detained activists and human rights defenders to be freed, including blogger and activist Abduljalil Al-Singace and human rights activist Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, founder of IFEX member the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, who is ailing in prison since starting a hunger strike on 8 February.

The IFEX-TMG is alarmed at attacks and prison sentences based on religious morality charges, as well as the use of force by police on demonstrators.