Global heroes battling censorship announced in Index Freedom of Expression Awards shortlist

07 Feb 17 | Awards, News and features, Press Releases

  • Judges include actor Noma Dumezweni; former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown
  • Sixteen courageous individuals and organisations who fight for freedom of expression in every part of the world

A Zimbabwean pastor who was arrested by authorities last week for his #ThisFlag campaign, an Iranian Kurdish journalist covering his life as an interned Australian asylum seeker, one of China’s most notorious political cartoonists, and an imprisoned Russian human rights activist are among those shortlisted for the 2017 Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards.

Drawn from more than 400 crowdsourced nominations, the shortlist celebrates artists, writers, journalists and campaigners overcoming censorship and fighting for freedom of expression against immense obstacles. Many of the 16 shortlisted nominees are regularly targeted by authorities or by criminal and extremist groups for their work: some face regular death threats, others criminal prosecution or exile.

“The creativity and bravery of the shortlist nominees in challenging restrictions on freedom of expression reminds us that a small act — from a picture to a poem — can have a big impact. Our nominees have faced severe penalties for standing up for their beliefs. These awards recognise their courage and commitment to free speech,” said Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of campaigning nonprofit Index on Censorship.

Awards are offered in four categories: arts, campaigning, digital activism and journalism.

Nominees include Pastor Evan Mawarire whose frustration with Zimbabwe’s government led him to the #ThisFlag campaign; Behrouz Boochani, an Iranian Kurdish journalist who documents the life of indefinitely-interned Australian asylum seekers in Papua New Guinea; China’s Wang Liming, better known as Rebel Pepper, a political cartoonist who lampoons the country’s leaders; Ildar Dadin, an imprisoned Russian opposition activist, who became the first person convicted under the country’s public assembly law; Daptar, a Dagestani initiative tackling women’s issues like female genital mutilation that are rarely discussed publicly in the country; and Serbia’s Crime and Corruption Reporting Network (KRIK), which was founded by a group of journalists to combat pervasive corruption and organised crime.

Other nominees include Hungary’s Two-tail Dog Party, a group of satirists who parody the country’s political discourse; Honduran LGBT rights organisation Arcoiris, which has had six activists murdered in the past year for providing support to the LGBT community  and lobbying the country’s government; Luaty Beirão, a rapper from Angola, who uses his music to unmask the country’s political corruption; and Maldives Independent, a website involved in revealing endemic corruption at the highest levels in the country despite repeated intimidation.

Judges for this year’s awards, now in its 17th year, are Harry Potter actor Noma Dumezweni, Hillsborough lawyer Caiolfhionn Gallagher, former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown, designer Anab Jain and music producer Stephen Budd.

Dumezweni, who plays Hermione in the stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, was shortlisted earlier this year for an Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress. Speaking about the importance of the Index Awards she said: “Freedom of expression is essential to help challenge our perception of the world”.

Winners, who will be announced at a gala ceremony in London on 19 April, become Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards Fellows and are given support for their work, including training in areas such as advocacy and communications.

“The GreatFire team works anonymously and independently but after we were awarded a fellowship from Index it felt like we had real world colleagues. Index helped us make improvements to our overall operations, consulted with us on strategy and were always there for us, through the good times and the pain,” Charlie Smith of GreatFire, 2016 Freedom of Expression Awards Digital Activism Fellow.

This year, the Freedom of Expression Awards are being supported by sponsors including SAGE Publishing, Google, Vodafone, media partner CNN, VICE News, Doughty Street Chambers, Psiphon and Gorkana. Illustrations of the nominees were created by Sebastián Bravo Guerrero.

Notes for editors:

  • Index on Censorship is a UK-based non-profit organisation that publishes work by censored writers and artists and campaigns against censorship worldwide.
  • More detail about each of the nominees is included below.
  • The winners will be announced at a ceremony at The Unicorn Theatre, London, on 19 April.

For more information, or to arrange interviews with any of those shortlisted, please contact: Sean Gallagher on 0207 963 7262 or [email protected]. More biographical information and illustrations of the nominees are available at indexoncensorship.org/indexawards2017.

Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards nominees 2017

Arts

 

Luaty Beirão, Angola

Rapper Luaty Beirão, also known as Ikonoklasta, has been instrumental in showing the world the hidden face of Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos’s rule. For his activism Beirão has been beaten up, had drugs planted on him and, in June 2015, was arrested alongside 14 other people planning to attend a meeting to discuss a book on non-violent resistance. Since being released in 2016, Beirão has been undeterred attempting to stage concerts that the authorities have refused to license and publishing a book about his captivity entitled “I Was Freer Then”, claiming “I would rather be in jail than in a state of fake freedom where I have to self-censor”.  

Rebel Pepper, China

Wang Liming, better known under the pseudonym Rebel Pepper, is one of China’s most notorious political cartoonists. For satirising Chinese Premier Xi Jinping and lampooning the ruling Communist Party, Rebel Pepper has been repeatedly persecuted. In 2014, he was forced to remain in Japan, where he was on holiday, after serious threats against him were posted on government-sanctioned forums. The Chinese state has since disconnected him from his fan base by repeatedly deleting his social media accounts, he alleges his conversations with friends and family are under state surveillance, and self-imposed exile has made him isolated, bringing significant financial struggles. Nonetheless, Rebel Pepper keeps drawing, ferociously criticising the Chinese regime.

Fahmi Reza, Malaysia

On 30 January 2016, Malaysian graphic designer Fahmi Reza posted an image online of Prime Minister Najib Razak in evil clown make-up. From T-shirts to protest placards, and graffiti on streets to a sizeable public sticker campaign, the image and its accompanying anti-sedition law slogan #KitaSemuaPenghasut (“we are all seditious”) rapidly evolved into a powerful symbol of resistance against a government seen as increasingly corrupt and authoritarian. Despite the authorities’ attempts to silence Reza, who was banned from travel and has since been detained and charged on two separate counts under Malaysia’s Communications and Multimedia Act, he has refused to back down.

Two-tailed Dog Party, Hungary

A group of satirists and pranksters who parody political discourse in Hungary with artistic stunts and creative campaigns, the Two-tailed Dog Party have become a vital alternative voice following the rise of the national conservative government led by Viktor Orban. When Orban introduced a national consultation on immigration and terrorism in 2015, and plastered cities with anti-immigrant billboards, the party launched their own mock questionnaires and a popular satirical billboard campaign denouncing the government’s fear-mongering tactics. Relentlessly attempting to reinvigorate public debate and draw attention to under-covered or taboo topics, the party’s efforts include recently painting broken pavement to draw attention to a lack of public funding.

Campaigning

Arcoiris, Honduras

Established in 2003, LGBT organisation Arcoiris, meaning ‘rainbow’, works on all levels of Honduran society to advance LGBT rights. Honduras has seen an explosion in levels of homophobic violence since a military coup in 2009. Working against this tide, Arcoiris provide support to LGBT victims of violence, run awareness initiatives, promote HIV prevention programmes and directly lobby the Honduran government and police force. From public marches to alternative awards ceremonies, their tactics are diverse and often inventive. Between June 2015 and March 2016, six members of Arcoiris were killed for this work. Many others have faced intimidation, harassment and physical attacks. Some have had to leave the country because of threats they were receiving.

Breaking the Silence, Israel

Breaking the Silence, an Israeli organisation consisting of ex-Israeli military conscripts, aims to collect and share testimonies about the realities of military operations in the Occupied Territories. Since 2004, the group has collected over 1,000 (mainly anonymous) statements from Israelis who have served their military duty in the West Bank and Gaza. For publishing these frank accounts the organisation has repeatedly come under fire from the Israeli government. In 2016 the pressure on the organisation became particularly pointed and personal, with state-sponsored legal challenges, denunciations from the Israeli cabinet, physical attacks on staff members and damages to property. Led by Israeli politicians including the prime minister, and defence minister, there have been persistent attempts to force the organisation to identify a soldier whose anonymous testimony was part of a publication raising suspicions of war crimes in Gaza. Losing the case would set a precedent that would make it almost impossible for Breaking the Silence to operate in the future. The government has also recently  enacted a law that would bar the organisation’s widely acclaimed high school education programme.

Ildar Dadin, Russia

A long-term opposition and LGBT rights activist, Ildar Dadin was the first, and remains the only, person to be convicted under Russia’s 2014 public assembly law that prohibits the “repeated violation of the order of organising or holding meetings, rallies, demonstrations, marches or picketing”. Attempting to circumvent this restrictive law, Dadin held a series of one-man pickets against human rights abuses – an enterprise for which he was arrested and sentenced to three years imprisonment in 2015. In November 2016, website Meduza published a letter smuggled to his wife in which Dadin wrote that he was being tortured and abuse was endemic in Russian jails. The letter, a brave move for a serving prisoner, had wide resonance, prompting a reaction from the government and an investigation. Against his will, Dadin was transferred and disappeared within the Russian prison system until a wave of public protest led to his location being revealed in January 2017. Dadin was released on February 26 after a supreme court order.

Maati Monjib, Morocco

A well-known academic who teaches African studies and political history at the University of Rabat since returning from exile, Maati Monjib co-founded Freedom Now, a coalition of Moroccan human rights defenders who seek to promote the rights of Moroccan activists and journalists in a country ranked 131 out of 180 on the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index. His work campaigning for press freedom – including teaching investigative journalism workshops and using of a smartphone app called Story Maker designed to support citizen journalism – has made him a target for the authorities who insist that this work is the exclusive domain of state police. For his persistent efforts, Monjib is currently on trial for “undermining state security” and “receiving foreign funds.”

Digital Activism

Jensiat, Iran

Despite growing public knowledge of global digital surveillance capabilities and practices, it has often proved hard to attract mainstream public interest in the issue. This continues to be the case in Iran where even with widespread VPN usage, there is little real awareness of digital security threats. With public sexual health awareness equally low, the three people behind Jensiat, an online graphic novel, saw an an opportunity to marry these challenges. Dealing with issues linked to sexuality and cyber security in a way that any Iranian can easily relate to, the webcomic also offers direct access to verified digital security resources. Launched in March 2016, Jensiat has had around 1.2 million unique readers and was rapidly censored by the Iranian government.

Bill Marczak, United States

A schoolboy resident of Bahrain and PhD candidate in computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, Bill Marczak co-founded Bahrain Watch in 2013. Seeking to promote effective, accountable and transparent governance, Bahrain Watch works by launching investigations and running campaigns in direct response to social media posts coming from activists on the front line. In this context, Marczak’s personal research has proved highly effective, often identifying new surveillance technologies and targeting new types of information controls that governments are employing to exert control online, both in Bahrain and across the region. In 2016 Marczak investigated several government attempts to track dissidents and journalists, notably identifying a previously unknown weakness in iPhones that had global ramifications.

#ThisFlag and Evan Mawarire, Zimbabwe

In May 2016, Baptist pastor Evan Mawarire unwittingly began the most important protest movement in Zimbabwe’s recent history when he posted a video of himself draped in the Zimbabwean flag, expressing his frustration at the state of the nation. A subsequent series of YouTube videos and the hashtag Mawarire used, #ThisFlag, went viral, sparking protests and a boycott called by Mawarire, which he estimates was attended by over eight million people. A scale of public protest previously inconceivable, the impact was so strong that private possession of Zimbabwe’s national flag has since been banned. The pastor temporarily left the country following death threats and was arrested in early February as he returned to his homeland.

Turkey Blocks, Turkey

In a country marked by increasing authoritarianism, a strident crackdown on press and social media as well as numerous human rights violations, Turkish-British technologist Alp Toker brought together a small team to investigate internet restrictions. Using Raspberry Pi technology they built an open source tool able to reliably monitor and report both internet shut downs and power blackouts in real time. Using their tool, Turkey Blocks have since broken news of 14 mass-censorship incidents during several politically significant events in 2016. The tool has proved so successful that it has begun to be implemented elsewhere globally.

Journalism

Behrouz Boochani, Manus Island, Papua New Guinea/Australia (he is an Iranian refugee)

Iranian Kurdish journalist Behrouz Boochani fled the city of Ilam in Iran in May 2013 after the police raided the Kurdish cultural heritage magazine he had co-founded, arresting 11 of his colleagues. He travelled to Australia by boat, intending to claim asylum, but less than a month after arriving he was forcibly relocated to a “refugee processing centre” in Papua New Guinea that had been newly opened. Imprisoned alongside nearly 1000 men who have been ordered to claim asylum in Papua New Guinea or return home, Boochani has been passionately documenting their life in detention ever since. Publicly advertised by the Australian Government as a refugee deterrent, life in the detention centre is harsh. For the first 2 years, Boochani wrote under a pseudonym. Until 2016 he circumvented a ban on mobile phones by trading personal items including his shoes with local residents. And while outside journalists are barred, Boochani has refused to be silent, writing numerous stories via Whatsapp and even shooting a feature film with his phone.

Daptar, Dagestan, Russia

In a Russian republic marked by a clash between the rule of law, the weight of traditions, and the growing influence of Islamic fundamentalism, Daptar, a website run by journalists Zakir Magomedov and Svetlana Anokhina, writes about issues affecting women, which are little reported on by other local media.  Meaning “diary”, Daptar seeks to promote debate and in 2016 they ran a landmark story about female genital mutilation in Dagestan, which broke the silence surrounding that practice and began a regional and national conversation about FGM. The small team of journalists, working alongside a volunteer lawyer and psychologist, also tries to provide help to the women they are in touch with.

KRIK, Serbia

Crime and Corruption Reporting Network (KRIK) is a new independent investigative website which was founded by a team of young Serbian journalists intent on exposing organised crime and extortion in their country which is ranked as having widespread corruption by Transparency International. In their first year they have published several high-impact investigations, including forcing Serbia’s prime minister to admit that senior officials had been behind nocturnal demolitions in a Belgrade neighbourhood and revealing meetings between drug barons, the ministry of police and the minister of foreign affairs. KRIK have repeatedly come under attack online and offline for their work –threatened and allegedly under surveillance by state officials, defamed in the pages of local tabloids, and suffering abuse including numerous death threats on social media.

Maldives Independent, Maldives

Website Maldives Independent, which provides news in English, is one of the few remaining independent media outlets in a country that ranks 112 out of 180 countries on the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index. In August 2016 the Maldives passed a law criminalising defamation and empowering the state to impose heavy fines and shut down media outlets for “defamatory” content. In September, Maldives Independent’s office was violently attacked and later raided by the police, after the release of an Al Jazeera documentary exposing government corruption that contained interviews with editor Zaheena Rasheed, who had to flee for her safety. Despite the pressure, the outlet continues to hold the government to account.

Honduran journalist Cesario Padilla facing detention after student protests

22 Jun 16 | Honduras, mobile, News and features

Cesario Padilla

Honduran journalist Cesario Padilla

Honduran journalist Cesario Padilla is facing immediate detention and a possible five-year jail term after being present at student protests at the National Autonomous University of Honduras in Tegucigalpa.

A warrant was issued for his arrest on 7 June. He and five others have been charged with “usurpation” of university property during protests, which saw buildings occupied and classes shutdown at UNAH’s two campuses in Tegucigalpa and in San Pedro Sula. The students were protesting against the introduction of higher pass grades and rising fees, as well as calling for the student body to play more of a role in the university’s governance.

Padilla said he was at the protests to observe as a reporter. The other accused students – Moisés David Cáceres, Sergio Luis Ulloa, Josué Armando Velásquez, Dayanara Elizabeth Castillo and Izhar Asael Alonzo Matamoros – were reportedly not present at the protests, but it is thought they are being accused of playing an organisational role.

Padilla works alongside former Index on Censorship awards nominee Dina Meza on the news website she launched in April 2015, Pasos de Animal Grande (Steps of a Big Animal).

Padilla was also interviewed in a 2014 piece Meza wrote for Index on Censorship magazine about the struggles young journalists in Honduras face when entering a profession where fear and corruption have become the driving forces.

In 2014, Padilla and five UNAH students, including Cáceres, Castillo and Ulloa, were suspended from the university after taking part in similar protests. They were subsequently re-admitted after a ruling by the Honduran Supreme Court of Justice in February 2015.

Padilla is a member of Pen Honduras. Read Pen International’s call to action here.

Related:

Homofobia en Honduras: el aumento de atracos y asesinatos de activistas LGBT

Homophobia in Honduras: growing attacks on LGBT activists

Homophobia in Honduras: growing attacks on LGBT activists

20 Apr 16 | Americas, Honduras, Magazine, mobile, Volume 45.01 Spring 2016

[This article is also available in Spanish]

A year after returning from exile, Honduran gay rights activist Donny Reyes still fears a murderous attack at any minute.

“I’ve been imprisoned on many occasions. I’ve suffered torture and sexual violence because of my activism, and I’ve survived many assassination attempts,” he said, in an interview with Index on Censorship.

Activists in Honduras must contend with a constant barrage of threats and, often fatal, attacks. Reyes, the coordinator of the Honduran lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender advocacy group Arcoíris (Rainbow), had spent 10 months abroad for his own safety, but felt an obligation to return to the frontline of the fight against discrimination.

“To be able to continue with my personal life and my work I have to be conscious that [death] could come at any moment,” he said. “The truth is it doesn’t worry me anymore. What worries me is that things won’t change.”

Dozens of LGBT Hondurans are murdered each year, with few of the killers brought to justice, according to figures from respected Honduran NGO Cattrachas. Journalists and activists who speak out are often attacked. One of these was Juan Carlos Cruz Andara who died after being stabbed 25 times by unknown assailants last June.

Arcoíris reported 15 security incidents against its members during the second half of 2015, including surveillance, harassment, arbitrary detentions, assaults, robberies, theft, threats, sexual assault and even murder. Other LGBT activists have experienced forced evictions, fraudulent charges, defamation, enforced disappearances and restrictions of right to assembly.

The activists consulted by Index all said that the level of homophobic violence exploded after the ousting of liberal President Manuel Zelaya in the military coup of 2009. The election of right-wing candidate Porfirio Lobo Sosa the following year coincided with the militarisation of Honduras, a rise in gang-related violence, and a clampdown on human rights.

The records from Cattrachas show that on average two LGBT people were murdered each year in the country from 1994 to 2008. After the 2009 coup that rate rocketed to an average 31 murders per year, according to figures from Arcoíris. In early 2016 there were signs the situation was escalating further with the murder of Paola Barraza, a member of Arcoiris’s group, on 24 January. In reality though it is impossible to know precisely how many people have been killed because of their sexuality because the vast majority of cases remain unsolved.

Erick Martínez Salgado, who volunteers with LGBT advocacy group Kukulcanhn, told Index that gay activists protested heavily against discrimination and the coup. He believes the government came to view his group as a threat to the traditional social order and started targeting them to “send a message” to other protesters.

One of the most prominent gay rights activists of the time, Walter Tróchez, was killed in a drive-by shooting in December 2009. Human rights groups noted that he had previously been kidnapped, beaten and threatened for demonstrating against the coup and advocating for gay rights. Four years later, Tróchez’s friend and fellow gay rights activist Germán Mendoza was arrested and charged with his murder.

Mendoza told Index he was held in deplorable conditions and repeatedly tortured in a bid to make him plead guilty. Eventually he was released after proving his innocence last year. Mendoza believes he was arrested because the government wanted to use him “as a scapegoat to wash their hands of the responsibility” for Tróchez’s death, which remains unsolved. The Honduran government did not respond to requests for comment.

Gang warfare was a massive contributor to Honduras status as the nation with the world’s highest murder rate in 2012, however the gay community’s main concern is not gangs, but the state security forces.

“The police constitute the primary perpetrator of violations of the rights of the LGBT community,” the Coalition Against Impunity, an alliance of 29 Honduran NGOs, warned last year, citing alleged “police policy of frequent threats, arbitrary arrests, harassment, sexual abuse, discrimination, torture and cruel or degrading treatment”.

As a result many vulnerable activists are reluctant to ask for protection, for fear that contact with the police would expose them to greater security risks or reprisals.

The journalists who document homophobic violence in Honduras also risk their lives. Dina Meza, an independent investigative reporter who has covered the issue extensively, was nominated for an Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award in 2014 for her journalism. Meza said the country’s mainstream media often portrays the LGBT community in a negative light.

Meza, who launched the independent news site Pasos de Animal Grande last year to draw attention to the hardships facing the most vulnerable sectors of society, said reporters who cover violence against the LGBT community are also targeted. She said not only do journalists get physically assaul-ted by the security forces and expelled from public events, but they are also targets of government-led smear campaigns.

“It’s extremely common here for them to link human rights defenders to drug trafficking and organised crime, in a bid to sow doubts in people’s minds about the work that we’re doing,” she explained. “If we speak out at an international level they say we’re trying to undermine Honduras, discourage investment and see the country burn.”

Peter Tatchell, director of the London-based LGBT campaigning group the Peter Tatchell Foundation, called for the world to pay more attention to the killings. He said: “This extensive, shocking mob violence against LGBT Hondurans is almost unreported in the rest of the world. The big international LGBT organisations tend to focus on better-known homophobic repression in countries like Egypt, Russia, Iran and Uganda. What’s happening in Honduras is many times worse. Is this neglect because it is a tiny country with few resources and no geo-political weight? The UN, Organisation of American States and foreign aid providers need to do more to press the Honduran government to crackdown on anti-LGBT hate crime and to educate the public on LGBT issues to combat prejudice.”

Meza and the activists interviewed by Index also believe that Catholic and Evangelical Christian groups have become increasingly influential in Honduran society. Reyes from Arcoíris described the state, the church and the mainstream media as a triumvirate which has fuelled “impunity, fundamentalism, machismo and misogyny” across the country, with disastrous consequences for the LGBT community.

“At home and at school are the first two places where we’re attacked and discriminated. We flee home at very young ages because the family is built on religious values. Our families punish us in a cruel manner and this has a terrible psychological impact,” Reyes said. “Our educational and employment opportunities are diminished every day. We can be sex workers or street vendors, or stay in the closet in the hope of getting a job, but if they find out about your sexual orientation you’ll almost certainly be fired.”

Despite the risks he and his fellow activists face, Reyes said the drastic need for change is what gives them the strength to keep fighting discrimination: “We need a Honduras that’s free from violence and homophobia. We believe it’s our responsibility to fight for this so the next generation have a space to live in a better world.”

honduras english NEW

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Homofobia en Honduras: el aumento de atracos y asesinatos de activistas LGBT

20 Apr 16 | Americas, Honduras, Magazine, mobile, Volume 45.01 Spring 2016

[This article is also available in English]

Un año tras volver del exilio, Danny Reyes, un activista homosexual hondureño aún teme ser asesinado en cualquier momento. “Yo estaba encarcelado en muchas ocasiones, he sido víctima de tortura y violencia sexual y todo a causa del activismo. En muchas ocasiones he sobrevivido persecuciones e intentos de sicarios,” dijo, en una entrevista con Index on Censorship.

Activistas en Honduras tienen que lidiar con constantes amenazas y atracos, a menudo fatales. Reyes, el coordinador del grupo activista para lesbianas, hombres homosexuales, bisexuales y transexuales Arcoíris, estuvo 10 meses en el extranjero por su propia seguridad pero se vio obligado a volver a estar a la vanguardia en la lucha contra la discriminación.

“Para poder continuar con mi vida personal y con mi trabajo, tengo que estar consciente de que eso [la muerte] puede ocurrir en cualquier momento.” Cada año se asesinan docenas de hondureños LGBT y muy pocos de los asesinatos son llevados ante la justicia, según las cifras del respetado ONG hondureño Cattrachas. Los periodistas y activistas que se pronuncian son atracados. Uno de ellos fue Juan Carlos Cruz Andara que murió tras ser apuñalado 25 veces por agresores desconocidos en junio del año pasado.

Arcoíris denunció 15 incidentes de seguridad contra sus miembros durante la segunda mitad de 2015, incluyendo vigilancia, acoso, detenciones arbitrarias, atracos, robos, amenazas, agresión sexual e incluso asesinato. Otros activistas LBGT han experimentado deshaucios, cargos falsos, difamación, desapariciones forzadas y restricciones del derecho de reunión.

Todos los activistas consultados por Index dijeron que el nivel de violencia homófoba aumentó desde la expulsión del presidente liberal Manuel Zelaya en el golpe militar de 2009.

La elección del candidato de la derecha Porfirio Lobo Sosa al año siguiente coincidió con la militarización de Honduras, un aumentó en el número de casos de violencia relacionada con las pandillas, y una restricción de los derechos humanos.

Los documentos de Cattrachas muestran que de media dos personas LGBT fueron asesinadas cada año en el país entre 1994 y 2008. Tras el golpe de 2009 el número ha subido vertiginosamente a una media de 31 asesinatos al año, según las cifras de Arcoíris. A principios de 2016 había indicaciones de que se intensificaba más la situación con el asesinato de Paola Barraza, un miembro de Arcoíris, el 24 enero. En realidad es muy difícil conocer exactamente cuántas personas han perdido la vida a causa de su sexualidad porque la gran mayoría de los casos siguen sin resolverse.

Eric Martínez Salgado, que trabaja como voluntario con el grupo activista LGBT Kukulcanhn, contó a Index que los activistas homosexuales protestaron firmemente contra la discriminación y el golpe de estado. Cree que el gobierno consideraba su grupo como una amenaza al orden social tradicional y que empezó a amenazarles para “enviar un mensaje” a otros manifestantes.

Uno de las figuras más prominentes del activismo homosexual de todos los tiempos, Walter Tróchez, fue asesinado en un tiroteo desde un coche en 2009. Los grupos de derechos humanos notaron que había sido secuestrado anteriormente, batido y amenazado por manifestarse contra el golpe de estado y abogar por derechos para homosexuales. Cuatro años más tarde, un amigo de Tróchez y también activista homosexual Germán Mendoza fue detenido y acusado de su asesinato.

Mendoza contó a Index que le guardaban en condiciones deplorables y fue torturado repetidas veces. Finalmente lo soltaron tras probar su inocencia el año pasado. Mendoza cree que fue detenido porque el gobierno quería utilizarlo “como cabeza de turco para lavarse las manos de la responsabilidad” de la muerte de Tróchez, que sigue sin resolverse. El gobierno hondureño no respondió cuando se le pidió un comentario respecto al tema.

Las guerras de las pandillas fueron un enorme factor que influyeron en el estatus de Honduras como el país con el mayor número de asesinatos en 2012, sin embargo la principal preocupación de la comunidad homosexual no son las pandillas sino el estado de las fuerzas de seguridad.

“La policía y otros agentes se constituyen en el principal perpetrador de violaciones a los derechos de la comunidad LGBT,” advirtió el año pasado la Coalición contra la Impunidad, un pacto entre 29 ONG hondureños, citando presunta “política de policía de frecuentes amenazas, detenciones arbitrarias, acoso, agresión sexual, discriminación, tortura y tratamiento cruel o degradante.”

Como resultado muchos activistas vulnerables son reacios a pedir protección, por miedo a que el contacto con la policía pueda generar mayores riesgos en la seguridad o represalias. Los periodistas que escriben sobre la violencia homofóbica en Honduras también arriesgan la vida. Dina Menza, una investigadora independiente que ha escrito mucho sobre el tema fue nominada a los premios Libertad de Expresión en 2014 otorgado por Index on Censorship por su trabajo. Meza dijo que los medios principales del país retratan la comunidad LGBT bajo una luz negativa.

Meza, que lanzó el sitio de noticias Pasos de Animal Grande el año pasado para llamar la atención sobre las dificultades que sufren los sectores más vulnerables de la sociedad, dijo que periodistas que escriben sobre la violencia contra la comunidad LGBT también han sido objeto de persecuciones. Dijo que los periodistas no sólo son agredidos físicamente por las fuerzas de seguridad y echados de eventos públicos sino son también objeto de campañas de desprestigio gubernamentales.

“Aquí el vincularnos como defensores de derechos humanos con el crimen organizado y el narcotráfico, eso es lo más normal para desprestigiar nuestra labor y para sembrar la duda en la gente sobre el trabajo que estamos haciendo,” Meza explicó. “Si vamos a nivel internacional y hablamos, dicen que tenemos una campaña en contra del estado de Honduras y que promovemos que no venga inversión, que queremos incendiar el país.”

Peter Tatchell, director del grupo activista LGBT the Peter Tatchell Foundation en Londres, pide que el mundo preste atención a los asesinatos. Dijo: “Esta violencia, extendida y escandalosa contra la comunidad LGBT hondureña apenas se reporta en el resto del mundo. Las grandes organizaciones LGBT tienden a centrase en casos de homofobia más conocidos como los de Egipto, Irán y Uganda. Lo que está pasando en Honduras es mucho peor. ¿Esta negligencia es porque es un país pequeño con pocos recursos y poco peso geopolítico? La ONG, Organización de Estados Americanos y proveedores de ayuda internacional deben hacer más para presionar al gobierno hondureño a erradicar crímenes contra la comunidad LGBT y sensibilizar al público sobre el tema a fin de combatir los prejuicios”.

Meza y los activistas entrevistados por Index también sostienen que los grupos católicos y evangélicos tienen cada vez más influencia en la sociedad hondureña. Reyes de Arcoíris ha descrito el estado, la iglesia y los medios principales como un triunvirato que ha alimentado “la impunidad, el fundamentalismo, el machismo y la misoginia” en todo el país con consecuencias desastrosas para la comunidad LGBT.

“La familia y la escuela son los primeros lugares donde nos violentan y nos discriminan. Salimos de casa a muy tempranas edades, huyendo porque la familia está construida con valores religiosos. Nos castigan de una forma cruel y la afectación psicológica es terrible,” dijo Reyes. “Las oportunidades que tenemos de trabajo o educación cada día son menos. Podemos ser trabajadores sexuales o comerciantes vendiendo en la calle o meternos en el closet para poder conseguir un trabajo, pero si se enteran de nuestra orientación sexual es casi seguro que nos despiden.”

A pesar de los riesgos a los que se enfrentan tanto él como sus amigos, Reyes dijo que la necesidad de un cambio drástico es lo que le da la fuerza para seguir luchando contra la discriminación: “Necesitamos encontrar un Honduras que esté libre de violencia y homofobia. Creemos que es nuestra responsabilidad luchar por eso, para que las próximas generaciones tengan un espacio donde vivir en un mundo mejor.”

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Traducido por Caoimhin Logue. Este reportaje es de la nueva edición de la revista Index on Censorship.  Se puede probar la edición digital aquí.