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The title of the play Crimea, 5am refers to the time in the morning the authorities choose to raid the homes of activists in the Russian-occupied territory. It is a time of fear and horror for the Crimean Tatars whose voices make up the text of this verbatim play, taken from the testimonies of the men now held in Putin’s prisons and the families waiting at home for them.
Crimea 5am brings to life one of the lesser-known aspects of the brutal war in Ukraine, which began not in February 2022 but in March 2014. It draws on the oral history of the suppression of the Tatar Muslim minority, who returned to the peninsula in the 1990s following independence after years of exile from their homeland.
Much of what we know of life in Crimea since 2014 has come from activists turned citizen journalists. This is one of the reasons the Russian authorities have cracked down so hard on Tatars, characterizing them either as political extremists or Islamist terrorists linked to the group Hizb-ut-Tahrir.
Two examples from the play show how ordinary Tatars went from being activists, to journalists to dissidents in the face of Russian repression.
Tymur Ibrahimov, 38, moved back to Crimea from Uzbeksitan at the age of six in 1991 after the death of his father. In the play, his wife Diliara, explains his transformation from computer repairman to enemy of the state: “It used to be different, until 2014, you know, back then he would make home videos, he would take pictures of nature, like, of the bees and butterflies on flowers, just like that. It all changed in 2015 and he began making footage of what was going on in Crimea. That is, all the searches, court hearings, “Crimean Solidarity” meetings.” For the crime of recording the resistance of his people Tymur was sentenced to 17 years in prison.
Narminan Memedeminov, 39, also moved back to Crimea from Uzbekistan in 1991. After graduating in economics he became involved in human rights activism and media coordinator for the Crimean Solidarity movement. “Here’s an example: I went and took a video of somebody helping out a prisoner’s family, like, basic stuff, they would take the child to the hospital, help them hang the wallpaper, fix the plumbing, send off the parcels to the detention centre and so on… And in the end, everybody involved was at risk: those who took videos, those who helped, those who did anything at all.”
Index editor at large Martin Bright (left) taking part in a post-play discussion.
The stories have been brought together by two Ukrainian writers, Natalia Vorozhbyt and Anastasiia Kosodii and the project is backed by the Ukrainian Institute and the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a way of bringing the situation to international attention. I had the privilege of watching a reading of of the play at the Kiln Theatre, Kilburn in London last week with professional actors alongside non-professional activists and supporters. Directed by Josephine Burton and produced by Dash Arts, the play focuses on the domestic lives of the families of the Tatar political prisoners and particularly the women.
Burton told Index that until the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Crimea has drifted from international attention. “Helped by a media blackout, we forgot that the peninsula has been occupied by Russians for almost nine years now and its Tatar community oppressed,” she said. “Determined to fight this silence, the community has relentlessly documented this oppression – filming and uploading searches, arrests and court cases of its people by the Russian Security Forces. And for this act, these “Citizen Journalists” have been arrested themselves and given insanely long sentences, some for up to 20 years in penal colonies.”
Crimea 5am focuses on the everyday lives of Tatar dissidents, drawn from many hours of recordings with the families of 11 political prisoners. “It builds a beautiful and powerful portrait of a community, ripped apart by this tragedy, but also woven with stories of love and resilience through the prism of the wives left behind. It is this mix of tenderness and humour alongside the unfathomable darkness which enables its impact. We the audience become invested in their lives and feel the impact of their tragedy deeply.”
Dash Arts is looking for further opportunities to perform Crimea 5am: https://www.dasharts.org.uk/
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”116016″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]In December, Index appealed to the public to send messages of support to six people who have been unjustly incarcerated for their activities in support of freedom of expression around the world.
Six activists were chosen, each of them currently in prison for their activism or simply doing their jobs as journalists.
The situation for each of the campaigners is dire and for some, seems to have worsened over the turn of the new year.
Golrokh Emrahimi Iraee, who was jailed for writing an unpublished story critical of the practice of stoning in Iran in 2016, has experienced yet another downturn in fortunes in her time in prison.
A spokesperson for her legal team told Index: “She was jailed in Ward 8 of Qarchak prison until 13 December. On that day, prison guards used stun guns and beat inmates in that ward and dragged Ms Iraee by her hair out of the prison. She was transferred to ward 2 of Evin Prison, which is run by the intelligence arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
“We are concerned that this may be an indication Iran intends to extend her July 2019 prison sentence of three years and seven months for “propaganda against the state” and “insulting the Supreme Leader”.
Women’s rights campaigner Loujain al-Hathloul opposed the so-called male guardianship system in Saudi Arabia and is known for her activism in regard to the women to drive movement in the country. She was kidnapped in 2018 from the United Arab Emirates and reportedly tortured by Saudi authorities.
On 28 December last year, she was sentenced to nearly six years in prison. The campaign for her release put out the following statement.
“The sentence includes a suspension of 2 years and 10 months in addition to the time already served (since May 2018) which would see Loujain’s release in approximately two months,” they said.
“Loujain Al-Hathloul was charged with terrorism and labelled a traitor after her and other Saudi Activists were forcibly imprisoned after the driving ban was lifted by the Saudi Kingdom in May 2018.”
“The Saudi authorities instead of recognising Loujain and other activists for their efforts in pushing for reforms labelled them as traitors in a public campaign without any evidence in May 2018. During her time in prison Loujain has been subjected to multiple forms of torture to include waterboarding, flogging, electrocution and sexual assault”.
Aasif Sultan, who was arrested in Kashmir after writing about the death of Buhran Wani has been under illegal detention without charge for more than 800 days.
A spokesperson for the campaign for his release told Index: “Currently, because of the pandemic, no family member has been allowed to meet Aasif since March. The prison authorities allow the inmates to make telephone calls twice a month.”
“His family continues to be worried about his health and well-being amidst a raging pandemic. Srinagar Central Jail was once a Covid hotspot.”
The actions of the state in Turkish prisons remains alarming. Former newspaper editor Hatice Duman has been in jail since 2002 and is now serving a life sentence for being a member of the Marxist Leninist Communist Party. Duman and fellow prisoners have experienced violent raids and beatings from prison guards.
Duman’s brother gave the newspaper Alınteri an update on Hatice’s condition. In it, he said: “After the raid, I could only talk on the phone. Hatice said she was well and worried about her other battered friends.”
“According to the information I received from other families who visited, some detainees had serious health problems after the raid. We, families, are concerned that these raids will continue and violations of rights against our relatives will increase.”
Yury Dmitriev, the historian who sought to unearth mass graves from the killings of Stalin, continues to serve a 13-year sentence.
Dmitriev was found guilty of sexually abusing his adopted daughter, a charge his supporters claim was fabricated. Of his most recent status, little is known, except for a letter written to MBC Media in late September in which Dmitriev said he has “no intention of folding his hands”.
Algerian journalist Khaled Drareni appealed to his supporters in a strong message to “keep morale up”. He has been in prison since March 2020 for simply covering the Hirak protest movement.
Drareni, held in Koléa Prison, Tipaza and serving a two-year sentence told the Casbah Tribune (of which he is a founder) said: “From a young age, I have always had a foolproof mind and neither the prison of El-Harrach, in which I spent one night, nor that of Koléa, where I have been imprisoned for nine months, can damage my morale.”
His family says he is morally strong despite the verdict but says he has lost weight because of the meagre rations offered in prison which the family cannot supplement because of Covid. However, he has no health problems and is being treated well by all accounts.
There are rumours that Drareni’s name is on a list of people Algeria’s President Tebboune may pardon but nothing is certain, not least Tebboune’s health.
We are now calling for your final messages of support for these six activists and journalists who are #JailedNotForgotten. Please join us in this campaign today.
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”115786″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][vc_column_text]Today we once again marked Human Rights Day. A day that gives us an opportunity to reflect on how far we’ve come as a society of nations and yet how far we still have to go before the aspiration of protected human rights is universally applied.
On the 10th December 1948, 72 years ago, the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In theory, the UDHR gives everyone of us, wherever we live, an expectation of minimum rights. It outlines a framework of what we as citizens can and should expect from our political leaders. And it sets the rules for nation states about what is and is not acceptable.
As Eleanor Roosevelt stated when she addressed the UN Assembly on that fateful day:
“We stand today at the threshold of a great event both in the life of the United Nations and in the life of mankind, that is the approval by the General Assembly of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recommended by the Third Committee. This declaration may well become the international Magna Carta of all men everywhere. We hope its proclamation by the General Assembly will be an event comparable to the proclamation of the Declaration of the Rights of Man by the French people in 1789, the adoption of the Bill of Rights by the people of the United States, and the adoption of comparable declarations at different times in other countries.”
Index lives and breathes the UDHR. Our fight against censorship is based on Article 19 of the Declaration. We exist to promote and defend the basic human rights that were espoused that day.
Unfortunately, we remain busy.
There are still too many daily examples of egregious breaches of our basic human rights throughout the world. Index was established to provide hope to those people who lived in repressive regimes, so that they knew their stories were being told, not to be a grievance sheet but rather a vehicle of hope. But too many repressive governments are ignoring their obligations and persecuting their citizens. And too many democratic governments seemingly believe that the spirit of the UDHR (never mind their own legal frameworks) don’t necessarily apply to them.
This year alone we have learnt of the appalling Uighur camps in Xinjiang province, China; we’ve seen the Rohingya denied the right to vote in Myanmar; we’ve watched in horror as Alexander Lukashenko attempted to fix his re-election and then tried to crush the opposition in Belarus. We’ve seen journalists arrested in the USA for covering the Black Lives Matter protests; human rights activists imprisoned in Egypt and dancers arrested in Iran for daring to dance with men.
When you see the scale of the battles ahead in the fight to defend our human rights it is easy to feel overwhelmed. But there are things that each one of us can do to make a difference. As we approach the end of 2020 we’re asking you to send a message of hope to six people who are currently imprisoned for exerting their rights to free speech. Included in our #JailedNotForgotten campaign are the following brave individuals:
We may not be able to send a message to every person currently being persecuted for exercising their right to free expression, but we can send a message of hope to Aasif, Golrokh, Hatice, Khaled, Loujain and Yuri. We will use our voices as much as possible to try and ensure they are not still in prison for the 2021 World Human Rights Day.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][/vc_column][/vc_row]