16 Mar 10 | Uncategorized
Abdel Salam Hassan Abdel Salam, who was murdered in London last weekend, was a guiding light of Sudan’s human rights movement.
A poet and lawyer – in that order, he would have said – and an unbowed secularist, he was also an equally committed student of Islam and classical Arabic, who coined the term al mashru’ al medani, “the civil project,” as a deliberate riposte to the Islamists’ so-called al mashru’ al hadhari or “civilization project”.
The motto served well for his work in exile from Sudan, in London as a leading human rights activist and champion of rights for women and non-Muslims, northern and southern Sudanese alike.
He was found dead in his home in south London, apparently stabbed to death in the early hours of 12 March. Police told the Guardian newspaper they are probing any connections between his death and his work promoting human rights in Sudan and helping torture victims seek redress.
Formerly chairman of the Sudan Human Rights Organization, re-founded in exile, he was among the first to step up and make the case for human rights and democracy as integral to a lasting peace as the Sudanese civil war ground to its bitter end.
After working to ensure Sudanese human rights with Justice Africa and later the Redress Trust a south London rights organisation which helps torture victims around the world, he was able to return to Khartoum again, and lay plans to end his long exile and resume his work at home.
During his time with Justice Africa, they and he shared office space with Index on Censorship in north London. Henderson Mullin, Index CEO and publisher at the time recalled him as a “gentle giant” much liked by all. “He was a warm hearted and quietly intelligent man whose work for peace and democracy in Sudan kept him passionate but rarely angry, committed but never intransigent.”
Colleague and friend Alex de Waal described him as an unflinching advocate for human rights. Abdel Salam was, he said, “one of a remarkable generation of Sudanese intellectuals… who possessed a vivid curiosity about the complexities and paradoxes of their country.” He had a keen sense of the social and political context for making those rights real, ready to both dispute and mock both the excesses of Islamist zealots, and those who were intimidated by them.
And colleagues from the Redress Trust said they would “greatly miss his depth of knowledge and commitment and the conviviality with which he enriched our daily lives.” He was divorced and leaves an adult daughter.
02 Dec 09 | Index Index, minipost, News and features
A 16-year-old schoolgirl in Sudan has been given 50 lashes after a judge ruled that her knee-length skirt was indecent. Silva Kashif is a Christian from the south of the African country. The lashing was issued by authorities in the north where strict Islamic law is enforced. The ruling follows the high-profile case of Lubna Hussein, a female journalist who was sentenced to 40 lashes for wearing trousers. Hussein recently thanked Londoners when she visited the capital at the weekend to highlight the plight of women in hardline Islamic nations. Kashif and her family are planning to sue authoritites. Read more here
25 Jan 23 | Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium, Botswana, Burma, China, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Index Index, Ireland, Laos, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Netherlands, News and features, Nicaragua, North Korea, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Sudan, Swaziland, Switzerland, Syria, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United States, Yemen
A major new global ranking index tracking the state of free expression published today (Wednesday, 25 January) by Index on Censorship sees the UK ranked as only “partially open” in every key area measured.
In the overall rankings, the UK fell below countries including Australia, Israel, Costa Rica, Chile, Jamaica and Japan. European neighbours such as Austria, Belgium, France, Germany and Denmark also all rank higher than the UK.
The Index Index, developed by Index on Censorship and experts in machine learning and journalism at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), uses innovative machine learning techniques to map the free expression landscape across the globe, giving a country-by-country view of the state of free expression across academic, digital and media/press freedoms.
Key findings include:
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The countries with the highest ranking (“open”) on the overall Index are clustered around western Europe and Australasia – Australia, Austria, Belgium, Costa Rica, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland.
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The UK and USA join countries such as Botswana, Czechia, Greece, Moldova, Panama, Romania, South Africa and Tunisia ranked as “partially open”.
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The poorest performing countries across all metrics, ranked as “closed”, are Bahrain, Belarus, Burma/Myanmar, China, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Laos, Nicaragua, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, South Sudan, Syria, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
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Countries such as China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates performed poorly in the Index Index but are embedded in key international mechanisms including G20 and the UN Security Council.
Ruth Anderson, Index on Censorship CEO, said:
“The launch of the new Index Index is a landmark moment in how we track freedom of expression in key areas across the world. Index on Censorship and the team at Liverpool John Moores University have developed a rankings system that provides a unique insight into the freedom of expression landscape in every country for which data is available.
“The findings of the pilot project are illuminating, surprising and concerning in equal measure. The United Kingdom ranking may well raise some eyebrows, though is not entirely unexpected. Index on Censorship’s recent work on issues as diverse as Chinese Communist Party influence in the art world through to the chilling effect of the UK Government’s Online Safety Bill all point to backward steps for a country that has long viewed itself as a bastion of freedom of expression.
“On a global scale, the Index Index shines a light once again on those countries such as China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates with considerable influence on international bodies and mechanisms – but with barely any protections for freedom of expression across the digital, academic and media spheres.”
Nik Williams, Index on Censorship policy and campaigns officer, said:
“With global threats to free expression growing, developing an accurate country-by-country view of threats to academic, digital and media freedom is the first necessary step towards identifying what needs to change. With gaps in current data sets, it is hoped that future ‘Index Index’ rankings will have further country-level data that can be verified and shared with partners and policy-makers.
“As the ‘Index Index’ grows and develops beyond this pilot year, it will not only map threats to free expression but also where we need to focus our efforts to ensure that academics, artists, writers, journalists, campaigners and civil society do not suffer in silence.”
Steve Harrison, LJMU senior lecturer in journalism, said:
“Journalists need credible and authoritative sources of information to counter the glut of dis-information and downright untruths which we’re being bombarded with these days. The Index Index is one such source, and LJMU is proud to have played our part in developing it.
“We hope it becomes a useful tool for journalists investigating censorship, as well as a learning resource for students. Journalism has been defined as providing information someone, somewhere wants suppressed – the Index Index goes some way to living up to that definition.”
06 Jan 23 | Afghanistan, Belarus, China, Iran, Mexico, Russia, Ruth's blog, South Sudan, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States
Happy New Year!
I think we can all agree, regardless of where we live, that 2022 was a tumultuous year. There was seemingly a new crisis every day. Totalitarian regimes moving against their populations became increasingly normal, from Iran to China. The ongoing rise (and occasional fall) of populist politics. The Russian invasion of Ukraine. The rise of energy and food costs and the impact on some of the world’s poorest. The attempted murder of Sir Salman Rushdie. And to be parochial just for a moment, complete political insanity in the UK.
I really hoped that 2023 would mark the end, or at least a pause, of that wonderful Chinese saying – we live in interesting times. Even for just a few months I had dreamed of a period of calm, of quiet, of dullness. Or at least a few weeks so we could all catch up on life and enjoy the world we live in, rather than being anxious at turning on the news.
It is only the sixth day of the year and my wish for calm has already been broken. This week we have seen political dysfunction in the USA; Belarus has commenced trials against many of their high-profile detainees who were arrested during the demonstrations against Lukashenka; there have been deadly riots in Mexico and the news is filled with the gloom of Covid (and China’s censoring of news on it), flu and inflation. It’s day six…
We knew that this year would see significant world events, as the impact of the war in Ukraine continues to be felt. But China is also likely to seek to exploit this global diplomatic distraction for their own nefarious wants. And of course the protests in Iran, Afghanistan, South Sudan and Mexico continue apace – even as they evolve.
Index will remain busy in the months ahead as we seek to shine a spotlight on the actions of totalitarian regimes and make sure that you hear from the people behind the headlines. From the women now banned from attending university in Afghanistan, from the democracy activists imprisoned in Belarus, from the Rohingya mothers held in camps as they flee Myanmar, from the journalists who fight to be heard and stay alive in Mexico. Index will keep providing a platform for the persecuted, so they can tell their stories and you can hear them.
Happy New Year in these interesting times.
