Pen International Writers in Prison Committee Caselist

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Pen International Writers in Prison Committee Caselist PEN INTERNATIONAL WRITERS IN PRISON COMMITTEE CASELIST January-December 2014 PEN International Writers in Prison Committee 50/51 High Holborn London WC1V 6ER United Kingdom Tel: + 44 020 74050338 Fax: + 44 020 74050339 e-mail: [email protected] web site: www.pen-international.org PEN INTERNATIONAL CHARTER The P.E.N. Charter is based on resolutions passed at its International Congresses and may be summarised as follows: P.E.N. affirms that: 1. Literature knows no frontiers and must remain common currency among people in spite of political or international upheavals. 2. In all circumstances, and particularly in time of war, works of art, the patrimony of humanity at large, should be left untouched by national or political passion. 3. Members of P.E.N. should at all times use what influence they have in favour of good understanding and mutual respect between nations; they pledge themselves to do their utmost to dispel race, class and national hatreds, and to champion the ideal of one humanity living in peace in one world. 4. P.E.N. stands for the principle of unhampered transmission of thought within each nation and between all nations, and members pledge themselves to oppose any form of suppression of freedom of expression in the country and community to which they belong, as well as throughout the world wherever this is possible. P.E.N. declares for a free press and opposes arbitrary censorship in time of peace. It believes that the necessary advance of the world towards a more highly organized political and economic order renders a free criticism of governments, administrations and institutions imperative. And since freedom implies voluntary restraint, members pledge themselves to oppose such evils of a free press as mendacious publication, deliberate falsehood and distortion of facts for political and personal ends. Membership of P.E.N. is open to all qualified writers, editors and translators who subscribe to these aims, without regard to nationality, ethnic origin, language, colour or religion. PEN INTERNATIONAL Writers in Prison Committee PEN International promotes literature and freedom of expression and is governed by the PEN Charter and the principles it embodies: unhampered transmission of thought within each nation and between all nations. Founded in London in 1921, PEN International – PEN’s Secretariat – connects an international community of writers. It is a forum where writers meet freely to discuss their work; it is also a voice speaking out for writers silenced in their own countries. Through Centres in over 100 countries, PEN operates on five continents. PEN International is a non-political organisation which holds Special Consultative Status at the UN and Associate Status at UNESCO. PEN International is a registered charity in England and Wales with registration number 1117088. www.pen- international.org The Writers in Prison Committee of PEN International was set up in 1960 as a result of mounting concern about attempts to silence critical voices around the world through the detention of writers. It works on behalf of all those who are detained or otherwise persecuted for their opinions expressed in writing and for writers who are under attack for their peaceful political activities or for the practice of their profession, provided that they did not use violence or advocate violence or racial hatred. Member centres of PEN International are active in campaigning for an improvement in the conditions of persecuted writers and journalists. They send letters to the governments concerned and lobby their own governments to campaign for the release of detained writers and for investigations in cases of torture and killings. Through writing to the families and, where possible, directly to prisoners, they provide encouragement and hope. PEN International has consultative status with the United Nations and with UNESCO. Information sources The WiPC gathers its information from a wide variety of sources. It seeks to confirm its information through two independent sources. Where its information is unconfirmed, it will either take not action, or send an appeal worded to reflect the fact that the information is as yet incomplete. Sources include press reports, reports from individuals in the region in question, reports from other human rights groups, PEN members themselves, embassy officials, academics, prisoners’ families, lawyers and friends, and exile groups. It also partners with international NGOs, such as Article 19 and Index on Censorship. It is a founder member of IFEX – the International Freedom of Expression Exchange. IFEX is a collaborative, on-line service in which national, regional and international organisations involved in the campaign for free expression pool information and amplify each others’ voices. For further details see the IFEX website www.IFEX.org Our work would be impossible without our Sponsors who include: OXFAM/NOVIB, Swedish International Development Foundation, Norwegian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Swedish Ministry of Culture, the Fritt Ord Foundation, individual donations and membership fees from PEN members CONTENTS 1. Explanation of terms 2. List of cases by country Africa The Americas Asia and the Pacific Europe Middle East and North Africa 3. List of Centres with Honorary Members 4. Case statistics The Writers in Prison Committee of PEN International records of persecuted writers are updated daily. For up-to-date information on a particular country (or countries), contact the PEN International secretariat in London. The last report was dated December 2013 EXPLANATION OF TERMS USED Important: Please Read KILLED – A writer or journalist killed in the period of this case list. PEN is certain the individual was a writer/journalist targeted for their writing KILLED: MOTIVE UNKNOWN – A writer or journalist killed in this period, but it is unclear if the individual was targeted for their writings KILLED: IMPUNITY – The killing did not occur in the period of this case list, but there is ongoing impunity for the killing i.e. there has been no conclusion of the case or no investigation has taken place EXECUTED: Executed by the state after a death sentence was imposed by a court for freedom of expression ‘offences’. Does not include executions of writers for criminal offences unless there were fair trial concerns. DEATH IN CUSTODY: Writer died in custody (including in hospital while under guard) in circumstances where treatment in prison is believed to have contributed to death (eg torture or lack of medical care) ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE – PEN is certain the individual is a writer/journalist and that their disappearance was carried out by the authorities or with their acquiescence ABDUCTED – PEN is certain the individual is a writer/journalist and that non-state actors are responsible for their disappearance REPORTED MISSING – A writer or journalist may have been abducted, but it is unclear who was responsible. May include cases where the individual was killed, but a body has never been found IMPRISONED - MAIN CASE – PEN is certain he/she is a writer/journalist who is serving a prison sentence after conviction in relation to their writings and as far as we know has not used violence or advocated racial hatred IMPRISONED - INVESTIGATION – Under PEN investigation. Serving a prison sentence, where one or more of the following is unclear: if they are a writer; if they have been detained or persecuted for their writings; if they have advocated racial hatred DETAINED – MAIN CASE – PEN is certain he/she is a writer/journalist and is being detained pending charge/trial or where there is no intention to charge them. Includes those held in administrative detention and unofficial house arrest. Can also include individuals in detention who are facing charges or are under judicial investigation DETAINED – INVESTIGATION – Under PEN investigation. Detained, but where one or more of the following is unclear: if they are a writer; if they have been detained or persecuted for their writings; if they have advocated racial hatred ON TRIAL – Including individuals facing charges, appealing sentence, but not currently detained or imprisoned JUDICIAL CONCERN – PEN has no position on the criminal charges against the writer/journalist in question but is concerned about reported irregularities in the trial or legal process or about torture allegations or the death penalty BRIEF DETENTION – Will be recorded as a brief detention where they were held for over 48 hours, but the individual is released without charge. There is no definite time limit, but it could up to a couple of months, depending on the region and context. DEATH THREAT ATTACKED – Indicates a use of force or violence causing physical damage to the individual or destruction of personal property e.g. arson THREATENED – where individuals have received threats intended to make them desist from writing (including ‘in hiding’) HARASSED – Including intimidation, brief detentions of fewer than 48 hours, dismissal from employment where it is linked to their work, etc. JUDICIAL HARASSMENT – for example, repeated arrests or summons for questioning where the period of detention is less than 48 hours or investigations suspended which can be reopened at any time, acting as a form of deterrence on the writer SENTENCED – where a writer/journalist has reached the end of the judicial process, has been sentenced, but has not yet been imprisoned CONDITIONAL RELEASE - Including suspended sentence RELEASED – including acquitted, end of sentence CASE CLOSED – A case may be closed when PEN has no access to updated information for six to twelve months, or case dropped due to new information – e.g. case not linked to their writings, use of violence, civil proceedings, etc. Further information on categories Main Cases In these cases, the Writers in Prison Committee will take all possible action for their release or for compensation. In cases where a prisoner is held without charge or trial for a considerable length of time, the Writers in Prison Committee will consider them to be a main case until and unless information is provided which shows that they have used violence or advocated racial hatred.
Recommended publications
  • East Tower Inspiration Page 6
    The newspaper for BBC pensioners – with highlights from Ariel online East Tower inspiration Page 6 AUGUST 2014 • Issue 4 TV news celebrates Remembering Great (BBC) 60 years Bing Scots Page 2 Page 7 Page 8 NEWS • MEMORIES • CLASSIFIEDS • YOUR LETTERS • OBITUARIES • CROSPERO 02 BACK AT THE BBC TV news celebrates its 60th birthday Sixty years ago, the first ever BBC TV news bulletin was aired – wedged in between a cricket match and a Royal visit to an agriculture show. Not much has changed, has it? people’s childhoods, of people’s lives,’ lead to 24-hour news channels. she adds. But back in 1983, when round the clock How much!?! But BBC TV news did not evolve in news was still a distant dream, there were a vacuum. bigger priorities than the 2-3am slot in the One of the original Humpty toys made ‘A large part of the story was intense nation’s daily news intake. for the BBC children’s TV programme competition and innovation between the On 17 January at 6.30am, Breakfast Time Play School has sold at auction in Oxford BBC and ITV, and then with Channel 4 over became the country’s first early-morning TV for £6,250. many years,’ says Taylor. news programme. Bonhams had valued the 53cm-high The competition was evident almost ‘It was another move towards the sense toy at £1,200. immediately. The BBC, wary of its new that news is happening all the time,’ says The auction house called Humpty rival’s cutting-edge format, exhibited its Hockaday.
    [Show full text]
  • CTC Sentinel Objective
    NOVEMBER 2010 . VOL 3 . ISSUE 11-12 COMBATING TERRORISM CENTER AT WEST POINT CTC Sentinel OBJECTIVE . RELEVANT . RIGOROUS Contents AQAP’s Soft Power Strategy FEATURE ARTICLE 1 AQAP’s Soft Power Strategy in Yemen in Yemen By Barak Barfi By Barak Barfi REPORTS 5 Developing Policy Options for the AQAP Threat in Yemen By Gabriel Koehler-Derrick 9 The Role of Non-Violent Islamists in Europe By Lorenzo Vidino 12 The Evolution of Iran’s Special Groups in Iraq By Michael Knights 16 Fragmentation in the North Caucasus Insurgency By Christopher Swift 19 Assessing the Success of Leadership Targeting By Austin Long 21 Revolution Muslim: Downfall or Respite? By Aaron Y. Zelin 24 Recent Highlights in Terrorist Activity 28 CTC Sentinel Staff & Contacts l-qa`ida in the arabian AQAP has avoided many of the domestic Peninsula (AQAP) is currently battles that weakened other al-Qa`ida the most successful of the affiliates by pursuing a shrewd strategy at three al-Qa`ida affiliates home in Yemen.3 The group has sought to Aoperating in the Arab world.1 Unlike its focus its efforts on its primary enemies— sibling partners, AQAP has neither been the Yemeni and Saudi governments, as plagued by internecine conflicts nor has well as the United States—rather than it clashed with its tribal hosts. It has also distracting itself by combating minor launched two major terrorist attacks domestic adversaries that would only About the CTC Sentinel against the U.S. homeland that were only complicate its grand strategy. Some The Combating Terrorism Center is an foiled by a combination of luck and the analysts have argued that this stems independent educational and research help of foreign intelligence agencies.2 from the lessons the group learned from institution based in the Department of Social al-Qa`ida’s failed campaigns in countries Sciences at the United States Military Academy, such as Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
    [Show full text]
  • Terrorist Rehabilitation Terrorist
    Terrorism / Political Violence Gunaratna Angell “This is a story of an effort to address the very fundamental challenge in this conflict, deradicalization … both in large mass populations, in small cells, in cliques and ultimately into the individual’s own thought process.” —Maj. Gen. Douglas Stone (retired) (from the Foreword) TERRORIST REHABILITATION Because terrorists are made, not born, it is critically important to world peace that detainees and inmates in uenced by violent ideology are deradicalized and rehabilitated back into society. Exploring the challenges in this formidable endeavor, Terrorist Rehabilitation: The U.S. Experience in Iraq demonstrates through the actual experiences of military personnel, defense contractors, and Iraqi nationals that deradicalization and rehabilitation programs can succeed and have the capability to positively impact thousands of would-be terrorists globally if utilized to their full capacity. Custodial and community rehabilitation of terrorists and extremists is a new frontier in the ght against terrorism. This forward-thinking volume: • Highlights the success of a rehabilitation program curriculum in Iraq • Encourages individuals and governments to embrace rehabilitation as the next most logical step in ghting terrorism • Examines the recent history of threat groups in Iraq • Demonstrates where the U.S. went awry in its war effort, and the steps it took to correct the situation • Describes religious, vocational training, education, creative expression, and Tanweer programs introduced to the detainee population • Provides insight into future steps based on lessons learned from current rehabilitation programs It is essential that we shift the focus from solely detainment and imprisonment to addressing the ideological mindset during prolonged incarceration. It is possible to effect an ideological transformation in detainees that qualies them to be reclassied as no longer posing a security threat.
    [Show full text]
  • Prémio Sakharov Para a Liberdade De Pensamento
    PRÉMIO SAKHAROV PARA A LIBERDADE DE PENSAMENTO uma edição: www.carloscoelho.eu por Carlos Coelho Deputado ao Parlamento Europeu, Membro da Comissão das Liberdades Cívicas, Justiça e Assuntos Internos PRÉMIO SAKHAROV PARA A LIBERDADE DE PENSAMENTO Nesta pequena edição divulgo o Prémio Sakharov que é um dos instrumentos da União Europeia para promover os Direitos do Homem no Mundo. O Prémio Sakharov recompensa personalidades excepcio- nais que lutam contra a intolerância, o fanatismo e a opres- são. A exemplo de Andrei Sakharov, os laureados com este Pré- mio são ou foram exemplos da coragem que é necessária para defender os Direitos do Homem e a Liberdade de ex- pressão. 2 3 E QUEM FOI ANDREI SAKHAROV? Prémio Nobel da Paz em 1975, o físico russo Andrei Dmitrievitch Sakharov (1921-1989) foi, antes de mais, o inventor da bomba de hidrogénio. O QUE É Preocupado com as consequências dos seus trabalhos para o futuro da humanidade, O PRÉMIO SAKHAROV? procurou despertar a consciência do perigo da corrida ao armamento nuclear. Obteve um êxito parcial com a assinatura do Tratado O “Prémio Sakharov para a Liberdade de Pensamento” é contra os Ensaios Nucleares em 1963. atribuído todos os anos pelo Parlamento Europeu. Criado em 1988, reconhece e distingue personalidades ou entidades Considerado na URSS como um dissidente que se esforçam por defender os Direitos Humanos e as com ideias subversivas, cria, nos anos setenta, liberdades fundamentais. um Comité para a defesa dos direitos do Homem e para a defesa das vítimas políticas. No dia 10 de Dezembro (ou na data mais próxima), o Os seus esforços viriam a ser coroados com o Parlamento Europeu entrega o seu Prémio no valor de Prémio Nobel da Paz em 1975.
    [Show full text]
  • Iranian Strategy in Syria
    *SBOJBO4USBUFHZJO4ZSJB #:8JMM'VMUPO KPTFQIIPMMJEBZ 4BN8ZFS BKPJOUSFQPSUCZ"&*ŦT$SJUJDBM5ISFBUT1SPKFDUJ/45*565&'035)&456%:0'8"3 .BZ All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. ©2013 by Institute for the Study of War and AEI’s Critical Threats Project Cover Image: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, and Hezbollah’s Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah appear together on a poster in Damascus, Syria. Credit: Inter Press Service News Agency Iranian strategy in syria Will Fulton, Joseph Holliday, & Sam wyer May 2013 A joint Report by AEI’s critical threats project & Institute for the Study of War ABOUT US About the Authors Will Fulton is an Analyst and the IRGC Project Team Lead at the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute. Joseph Holliday is a Fellow at the Institute for the Study of War. Sam Wyer served as an Iraq Analyst at ISW from September 2012 until February 2013. The authors would like to thank Kim and Fred Kagan, Jessica Lewis, and Aaron Reese for their useful insights throughout the writing and editorial process, and Maggie Rackl for her expert work on formatting and producing this report. We would also like to thank our technology partners Praescient Analytics and Palantir Technologies for providing us with the means and support to do much of the research and analysis used in our work. About the Institute for the Study of War The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) is a non-partisan, non-profit, public policy research organization. ISW advances an informed understanding of military affairs through reliable research, trusted analysis, and innovative education.
    [Show full text]
  • Report on Imprisoned Journalists
    REPUBLICAN PEOPLE’S PARTY REPORT ON IMPRISONED JOURNALISTS WORLD’S BIGGEST PRISON FOR JOURNALISTS: TURKEY NURETTİN DEMİR VELİ AĞBABA ÖZGÜR ÖZEL MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT (MUĞLA) MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT (MALATYA) MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT (MANİSA) REPUBLICAN PEOPLE’S PARTY PRISON EXAMINATION AND WATCH COMMISSION REPORT ON IMPRISONED JOURNALISTS WORLD’S BIGGEST PRISON FOR JOURNALISTS: TURKEY NURETTİN DEMİR VELİ AĞBABA ÖZGÜR ÖZEL MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT (MUĞLA) (MALATYA) (MANİSA) CONTENTS PREFACE, Ercan İPEKÇİ, General Chairman of the Union of Journalists in Turkey ....... 3 1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 11 2. JOURNALISTS IN PRISON: OBSERVATIONS AND FINDINGS .................. 17 3. JOURNALISTS IN PRISON .......................................................................... 21 3.1 Journalists Put on Trial on Charges of Committing an Off ence against the State and Currently Imprisoned ................................................................................ 21 3.1.1Information on a Number of Arrested/Sentenced Journalists and Findings on the Reasons for their Arrest ........................................................................ 21 3.2 Journalists Put on Trial in Association with KCK (Union of Kurdistan Communities) and Currently Imprisoned .................................... 32 3.2.1Information on a Number of Arrested/Sentenced Journalists and Findings on the Reasons for their Arrest .......................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • SAKHAROV PRIZE NETWORK NEWSLETTER 10/2015 Raif Badawi Is the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought's Newest Laureate 29/10/2015
    SAKHAROV PRIZE NETWORK NEWSLETTER 10/2015 Raif Badawi is the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought's newest laureate 29/10/2015 the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought for 2015 has been awarded to Saudi blogger Raif Badawi. EP President Schulz called Badawi ‘a hero in our modern internet world who is fighting for democracy and facing real torture’ as he announced the decision taken by the Conference of Presidents. ‘I have asked the King of Saudi Arabia to pardon Badawi and release him to give him the chance to receive the Sakharov Prize here in the European Parliament’, the EP President and Sakharov Prize Network co-chair said. Badawi was shortlisted as a finalist for the Prize together with the Democratic Opposition in Venezuela and murdered Russian opposition politician and activist Boris Nemtsov by a vote of the Foreign Affairs and Development Committees. The initial list of nominees included also Edna Adan Ismail, Nadiya Savchenko, and Edward Snowden, Antoine Deltour and Stéphanie Gibaud. Link: President Schulz press point Flogging of Raif Badawi to resume, wife warns 27/10/2015: Ensaf Haidair, the wife of Saudi blogger, 2015 SP laureate, Raif Badawi, said she has been informed that the Saudi authorities have given the green light to the resumption of her husband's flogging. In a statement published on the Raif Badawi Foundation website, Haidar said that she received her information from the same source who had warned her about Badawi’s pending flogging at the beginning of January 2015, a few days before Badawi was flogged. Link: Fondation Raif Badawi Xanana Gusmao and DEVE Delegation at Milan EXPO on Feeding the Planet 15/10/2015: 1999 Sakharov Prize laureate and first President of Timor-Leste, Xanana Gusmão, and a delegation of the EP’s DEVE Committee led by Chairwoman and SPN Member Linda McAvan tackled the right to food, land rights and the use of research for the effective realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals during an intensive two day-programme in Milan.
    [Show full text]
  • PEN (Organization)
    PEN (Organization): An Inventory of Its Records at the Harry Ransom Center Descriptive Summary Creator: PEN (Organization) Title: PEN (Organization) Records Dates: 1912-2008 (bulk 1926-1997) Extent: 352 document boxes, 5 card boxes (cb), 5 oversize boxes (osb) (153.29 linear feet), 4 oversize folders (osf) Abstract: The records of the London-based writers' organizations English PEN and PEN International, founded by Catharine Amy Dawson Scott in 1921, contain extensive correspondence with writer-members and other PEN centres around the world. Their records document campaigns, international congresses and other meetings, committees, finances, lectures and other programs, literary prizes awarded, membership, publications, and social events over several decades. Call Number: Manuscript Collection MS-03133 Language: The records are primarily written in English with sizeable amounts in French, German, and Spanish, and lesser amounts in numerous other languages. Non-English items are sometimes accompanied by translations. Note: The Ransom Center gratefully acknowledges the assistance of the National Endowment for the Humanities, which provided funds for the preservation, cataloging, and selective digitization of this collection. The PEN Digital Collection contains 3,500 images of newsletters, minutes, reports, scrapbooks, and ephemera selected from the PEN Records. An additional 900 images selected from the PEN Records and related Ransom Center collections now form five PEN Teaching Guides that highlight PEN's interactions with major political and historical trends across the twentieth century, exploring the organization's negotiation with questions surrounding free speech, political displacement, and human rights, and with global conflicts like World War II and the Cold War. Access: Open for research. Researchers must create an online Research Account and agree to the Materials Use Policy before using archival materials.
    [Show full text]
  • A Guide to Defending Writers Under Attack
    A guide to defending writers under attack The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN ‘I have personally known writers who have chosen to raise forbidden topics purely because they were forbidden. I think I am no different. Because when another writer in another house is not free, no writer is free. This, indeed, is the spirit that informs the solidarity felt by International PEN, by writers all over the world’ Orhan Pamuk A guide to defending writers under attack: The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN Contents Introduction 3 Part One: What is International PEN? 6 International PEN Charter 7 Part Two: An introduction to the Writers in Prison Committee 8 How does the Writers in Prison Committee work? 9 Part Three: Joining the Writers in Prison Committee 12 Part Four: Who does the Writers in Prison Committee work for? 14 Case List 15 Part Five: The Writers in Prison Committee Activities & Resources 17 Honorary Members 17 Rapid Action Network 23 Writing Offi cial Appeals 27 Biennial Conferences 32 Campaign and Focus Actions 32 The Day of the Imprisoned Writer & other international days 34 Meetings with Ambassadors and Governments 36 Embassy Visits 37 Visits to your foreign ministry 37 Trial observations and other missions 38 Working with other NGOs 38 Approaching Intergovernmental organisations 38 Working with Writers in Exile 39 PEN Emergency Fund 39 Awards 40 Part Six: Media and Publicity: raising public awareness and infl uencing opinion 40 Part Seven: The Writers in Prison Committee and International PEN 44 Part Eight: Resources and Glossary 47 2 A guide to defending writers under attack: The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN September 2010 Dear colleagues in International PEN, It is a great pleasure to be able to present to you, at the 76th Congress of International PEN in Tokyo, printed copies of the Writers in Prison Committee’s handbook, A guide to defending writers under attack.
    [Show full text]
  • World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development: 2017/2018 Global Report
    Published in 2018 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization 7, place de Fontenoy, 7523 Paris 07 SP, France © UNESCO and University of Oxford, 2018 ISBN 978-92-3-100242-7 Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO (CC-BY-SA 3.0 IGO) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo/). By using the content of this publication, the users accept to be bound by the terms of use of the UNESCO Open Access Repos- itory (http://www.unesco.org/open-access/terms-use-ccbysa-en). The present license applies exclusively to the textual content of the publication. For the use of any material not clearly identi- fied as belonging to UNESCO, prior permission shall be requested from: [email protected] or UNESCO Publishing, 7, place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP France. Title: World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development: 2017/2018 Global Report This complete World Trends Report Report (and executive summary in six languages) can be found at en.unesco.org/world- media-trends-2017 The complete study should be cited as follows: UNESCO. 2018. World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development: 2017/2018 Global Report, Paris The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authori- ties, or concerning the delimiation of its frontiers or boundaries. The ideas and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors; they are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit the Organization.
    [Show full text]
  • 2014-2015 Impact Report
    IMPACT REPORT 2014-2015 INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S MEDIA FOUNDATION ABOUT THE IWMF Our mission is to unleash the potential of women journalists as champions of press freedom to transform the global news media. Our vision is for women journalists worldwide to be fully supported, protected, recognized and rewarded for their vital contributions at all levels of the news media. As a result, consumers will increase their demand for news with a diversity of voices, stories and perspectives as a cornerstone of democracy and free expression. Photo: IWMF Fellow Sonia Paul Reporting in Uganda 2 IWMF IMPACT REPORT 2014/2015 INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S MEDIA FOUNDATION IWMF BOARD OF DIRECTORS Linda Mason, Co-Chair CBS News (retired) Dear Friends, Alexandra Trower, Co-Chair We are honored to lead the IWMF Board of Directors during this amazing period of growth and renewal for our The Estée Lauder Companies, Inc. Cindi Leive, Co-Vice Chair organization. This expansion is occurring at a time when journalists, under fire and threats in many parts of the Glamour world, need us most. We’re helping in myriad ways, including providing security training for reporting in conflict Bryan Monroe, Co-Vice Chair zones, conducting multifaceted initiatives in Africa and Latin America, and funding individual reporting projects Temple University that are being communicated through the full spectrum of media. Eric Harris, Treasurer Cheddar We couldn’t be more proud of how the IWMF has prioritized smart and strategic growth to maximize our award George A. Lehner, Legal Counsel and fellowship opportunities for women journalists. Through training, support, and opportunities like the Courage Pepper Hamilton LLP in Journalism Awards, the IWMF celebrates the perseverance and commitment of female journalists worldwide.
    [Show full text]
  • Six Flaws in the Case Against Three Jailed Al-Jazeera Journalists
    Six flaws in the case against three jailed al-Jazeera journalists During the trial of Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed the Guardian witnessed a litany of faults in prosecution Patrick Kingsley in Cairo theguardian.com, Wednesday 25 June 2014 00.36 AEST Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed have been sentenced to between seven and 10 years in jail. Photograph: Hamada Elrasam/AP Three al-Jazeera journalists were jailed in Egypt this week for endangering Egyptian national security – and the country's foreign ministry insists that "due process was adhered to" in their trial. But the Guardian – the only newspaper to attend and report on each of the trial's 13 sessions – witnessed a litany of flaws. As Amnesty International, who also observed every session, notes: "the prosecution failed to produce a single shred of solid evidence". Retraction of key prosecution claims The prosecution's claim that the journalists had endangered national security rested on the testimony of a committee of "experts" from state television, who made the assertion in writing before the trial began. But under cross-examination in the trial's 10th hearing, the committee's three representatives admitted they did not know whether the journalists' work had endangered national security – collapsing the prosecution's case, and raising the question of whether the committee had written their own report in the first place. Irrelevant evidence To prove that the journalists had fabricated news, prosecutors presented dozens of videos and recordings – taken from various hard drives and phones owned by the defendants – that had no relevance either to Egypt or al-Jazeera.
    [Show full text]