23 Jun 17 | Event Reports, Mapping Media Freedom, News and features
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiBVfpI05Z0″][vc_column_text]Index on Censorship officially launched its Mapping Media Freedom platform at the London residence of Swedish Ambassador Torbjörn Sohlström on Wednesday 22 June.
Mapping Media Freedom is a database tracking threats and violations against press freedom across 42 European countries. The data is mapped to help raise awareness of the pressure journalists face as they do their jobs and help officials to take action to protect press freedom across Europe.
The event attracted journalists and internet rights activists to representatives from organisations devoted to freedom of expression, who were welcomed to the launch by Sohlström had received a special invitation from the ambassador.
Melody Patry, Index on Censorship’s head of advocacy, introduced the MMF tool and reminded the audience of why this project is necessary. She quizzed the audience on headlines mapped during the last month, asking them to guess which country offences took place in. Patry said that these offences take place throughout Europe, not just in countries with authoritarian governments. “It’s a way of highlighting problems, it’s a way of bringing people into the conversation,” Ambassador Sohlström said about the new tool.
Chair of Index on Censorship and Times columnist David Aaronovitch, who participated in a panel discussion with fellow journalists, former head of Swedish Pen Ola Larsmo and Director of BBC World Service Group Francesca Unsworth, said that the media are facing a crisis of authority. “Both everybody and nobody can be believed.” According to Aaronovitch, this state of authority crisis tends to create a demand for new forms of censorship and problems journalists.
The journalists participated in a discussion, chaired by Index on Censorship CEO Jodie Ginsberg, that examined threats against journalists, hate speech and internet censorship. Unsworth suggested that the world is becoming more authoritarian regarding free speech rights, while Larsmo added that rights were generally moving in a “three steps forward, two steps back,” pattern, and we are living in a moment of retreat.
“People crave the kind of impartial journalism offered by mainstream media,” Unsworth said, noting that there is still a role for journalists.
Larsmo emphasised that common people should understand that their freedom is linked to freedom of the press and freedom of expression.
With thanks to Edwardian Hotels London[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”12″ style=”load-more” items_per_page=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1498211658950-6ccf6854-da7e-3″ taxonomies=”6564″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
13 Jun 17 | Bahrain, Bahrain Letters, Campaigns, Campaigns -- Featured, Statements
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Nabeel Rajab, BCHR – winner of Bindmans Award for Advocacy at the Index Freedom of Expression Awards 2012 with then-Chair of the Index on Censorship board of trustees, Jonathan Dimbleby
We, the undersigned, are writing to express our deep concern over the continued detention of prominent Bahraini human rights defender Nabeel Rajab, and urge you to call for his immediate release and all charges against him to be dropped.
One year ago, Rajab was arrested and remains detained despite a court order to release him on 28 December 2016. He faces three separate legal cases, the trials for two of which have been postponed a total of 22 times. In all cases, Rajab is being prosecuted for exercising his right to freedom of expression and he faces up to 18 years behind bars.
The 2012 Freedom of Expression Campaigning Award-winning Rajab is the President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, Founding Director of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, Deputy Secretary General of FIDH and a member of the Human Rights Watch’s Middle East Division advisory committee. Rajab has raised awareness of the practice of torture in Bahraini prisons and protested the inability of foreign NGOs, such as Human Rights First and Reporters Without Borders, to access Bahrain. Exercising freedom of speech has earned Rajab several charges. In one case, in which he faces up to 15 years in prison, Rajab is charged in relation to his social media posts with “insulting a statutory body”, “spreading rumours in war time” and “insulting a neighbouring country.” In a second case, Rajab faces up to three years in prison on charges of “spreading false news”, in relation to interviews given to the media. In September 2016, he was charged again with “spreading false news” after the New York Times published a letter attributed to him from jail.
Rajab has spent at least six of the past twelve months in solitary confinement. The UN Committee Against Torture in May 2017 named Rajab’s case as one of concern and called for his release, alongside all human rights defenders and journalists detained and imprisoned for their work.
We are particularly concerned about Rajab’s health, which continues to deteriorate due to poor conditions and mistreatment in detention. On Wednesday, 5 April 2017, Rajab underwent major surgery at a military hospital to remove some ulcerated tissue from his lower back. Against medical recommendations, he was returned to his cell at East Riffa Police Station two days later, before being rushed to the police clinic for emergency treatment. On 7 June, he underwent minor surgery on the back again. Rajab’s health is also preventing him from attending his court hearings and the judge has persistently refused all requests submitted by his lawyers to release him on bail, despite the length of his detention period in solitary confinement and clear evidence about the deteriorating condition of his health.
We request your support in ending the inhumane detainment of Nabeel Rajab and calling for his immediate release. Only through urgent international advocacy is his release feasible.
As Rajab’s son, Adam notes: “I believe that without international pressure we will not see him walk out of prison anytime soon.”
Please hold the Bahraini justice system accountable and call for the immediate release of human rights defender Nabeel Rajab.
Sincerely,
Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain
ARTICLE 19
Bahrain Centre for Human Rights
Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy
English PEN
European Centre for Democracy and Human Rights
FIDH, within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
Gulf Centre for Human Rights
IFEX
Index on Censorship
Reporters Without Borders
World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights
Read this statement in Arabic[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”91338″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”12″ style=”load-more” items_per_page=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1497944455833-e03d2b20-4041-9″ taxonomies=”3368, 716″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row_content_no_spaces” content_placement=”middle”][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”91122″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2017/05/stand-up-for-satire/”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
06 Jun 17 | Events, Volume 46.02 Summer 2017 Extras
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Join Index on Censorship for a summer party to launch its upcoming issue exploring the impact of the Russian revolution of 1917 on our freedoms today.
We’re launching the magazine at Calvert 22 Space, which celebrates the culture and creativity of the New East – eastern Europe, the Balkans, Russia and Central Asia.
There’ll be pop-up provocations looking at contemporary influences of the Russian revolution on propaganda, culture and politics from around the globe, alongside live readings of speeches tracing the political rhetoric from Lenin to Putin.
Speakers include Don Guttenplan, Editor-at-Large for the Nation on the cultural cold war, Katya Rogatchevskaia, lead Curator of Central and East European collections at the British Library on Russian propaganda, and Adam Cathcart, a specialist and lecturer in Chinese history at Leeds University on the impact of Soviet art on North Korean art and culture.
We’ll be serving beer from Flying Dog Brewery and all attendees will receive a free copy of the latest magazine.
This issue has reports from all corners of the globe including Uzbekistan, China, Russia, Cuba and Turkey. Writers for this issue include David Aaronovitch on film, Khrushchev’s great-granddaughter Nina Khrushcheva on living in the USA, and an interview with author Margaret Atwood on science censorship and her childhood in the wilderness.
[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”91222″ img_size=”full” onclick=”custom_link” link=”http://calvert22.org/”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]Calvert 22 Space is hosting the summer 2017 Index on Censorship magazine launch.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”91220″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
When: Tuesday 27 June, 7 – 9pm
Where: Calvert 22 Space, 22 Calvert Avenue, London, E2 7JP
Tickets: Free. Registration required. RSVP to [email protected]
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