14 Nov 2011 | News and features
MURDERED NOVEMBER 2007 (dates of deaths unknown)
Seif Yehia, Musician and Ibraheem Sadoon, Artist — Iraq
Join us in demanding justice for Seif Yehia and Ibraheem Sadoon. In November 2007, Yehia, 23, was beheaded for singing western songs at weddings, and Sadoon, a painter, was shot dead as he drove through Baghdad. According to the Iraqi Artists’ Association, in the first five years of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, at least 115 singers, 65 actors and 60 painters were killed – many by Islamic radicals determined to eradicate all culture associated with the West. Cinemas, art galleries and concert halls were targeted in grenade and mortar attacks in Basra and Baghdad.
Out of fear, people stopped listening to music in public, a fellow Iraqi singer told the “Guardian” at the time. Pop music, in particular, was no longer being played. Remaining artists tried to get themselves and their families to safety. In 2008, the Iraqi Ministry of Culture estimated that about 80 per cent of artists had fled.
International Day to End Impunity is on 23 November. Until that date, we will reveal a story each day of a journalist, writer or free expression advocate who was killed in the line of duty.
13 Nov 2011 | News and features
MURDERED 13 NOVEMBER 2008
José Armando Rodríguez Carreón, Reporter, “El Diario de Ciudad Juárez” — Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.
Join us in demanding justice for crime reporter José Armando Rodríguez Carreón, 40, who was shot at least eight times in a company-owned car parked inside his garage on 13 November 2008. His 8-year-old daughter, who was in the backseat, was uninjured. Rodríguez had recently written an article accusing the local prosecutor’s nephew of having links to drug traffickers. Earlier that year, as a result of threats to “tone it down,” Rodríguez was temporarily transferred to El Paso, Texas, for his safety. But on his return he insisted on resuming work without any special protection. He said, “The risks here are high and rising, and journalists are easy targets. But I can’t live in my house like a prisoner. I refuse to live in fear.”
In July 2009, the lead investigator on Rodriguez’s murder was shot to death. Less than a month later, his replacement was also murdered. Not one of the three cases has been solved. Drug-related violence has reportedly killed more than 35,000 in Mexico since the government launched an armed offensive against drug cartels five years ago. And as reported often by IFEX members, more journalists have been killed in Mexico than anywhere else in Latin America
International Day to End Impunity is on 23 November. Until that date, we will reveal a story each day of a journalist, writer or free expression advocate who was killed in the line of duty.
12 Nov 2011 | News and features
MURDERED 12 NOVEMBER 2004
Gene Boyd Lumawag Photo Editor, MindaNews news service — Jolo, Philippines
Join us in demanding justice for Gene Boyd Lumawag, shot in the head and killed instantly by an unidentified gunman in Jolo, Sulu, on 12 November 2004. Lumawag was preparing a story on good governance in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao.
The exact motive for Lumawag’s murder was unclear. Army investigators and the head of the local anti-terrorism unit said they suspected members of the Abu Sayyaf, the Islamic separatist group linked to al-Qaeda that has made headlines in recent years with high-profile kidnappings for ransom. In late 2004, charges were filed against members of Abu Sayyaf, but the case remains unsolved. Military officials claimed that the suspects were killed in one of their operations against Abu Sayyaf.
Take Action: Write a letter demanding justice for Gene Boyd Lumawag
International Day to End Impunity is on 23 November. Until that date, we will reveal a story each day of a journalist, writer or free expression advocate who was killed in the line of duty.
11 Nov 2011 | Uncategorized
A father of three from Nuneaton, UK, appeared in the High Court yesterday to face libel allegations over a book review he wrote on Amazon.
Vaughan Jones, 28, appeared at the Royal Courts of Justice yesterday for a hearing to defend himself against the libel suit from online entrepreneur Chris McGrath.
McGrath, author of “The Attempted Murder of God: Hidden Science You Really Need to Know,” undertook libel action against Jones, after he published a review of the book on Amazon, and comments regarding the book and Mr McGrath himself on Richard Dawkins’s website during September and October 2010. Jones also outed McGrath as the author of the book, which had been written under the pseudonym “Scrooby”.
McGrath is not only suing Jones for his allegedly defamatory comments, but Amazon, Richard Dawkins himself, and the Richard Dawkins Foundation.
Presided over by His Honour Judge Maloney QC, Jones was joined by legal representation for Amazon and the Richard Dawkins Foundation to ascertain if there is a case to answer.
Entrepreneur turned author McGrath believes that Amazon and the Richard Dawkins Foundation did not respond appropriately to the alleged defamatory statements on the respective websites, and thus they are also liable for a defamation suit.
John Kampfner, the Chief Executive of Index on Censorship, said: “That a family man from Nuneaton can face a potentially ruinous libel action for a book review on Amazon shows how archaic and expensive our libel law is.”
Kampfner added that the Libel Reform Campaign, which is underway with English Pen and Sense about Science, is hoping to commit to a bill in the next Queen’s speech to reform the chilling effect libel has on freedom of speech.
The hearing continues today
