‘Our dear Masha, we all hope that you will be alright!’ said Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, leader of trio of women who led 2020 protests
The jailed Belarusian opposition leader Maria Kolesnikova has been admitted to intensive care and undergone surgery, her allies have said.
“Maria is in the emergency hospital in Gomel, in the intensive care unit,” said the press service of Viktor Babaryko, another opposition politician.
Continue reading...Attenders say actions of Egyptian authorities are threatening their participation at conference
Members of civil society attending Cop27 have described how surveillance and intimidation by the Egyptian authorities is threatening their participation in the climate conference.
Problems reported by attenders include overt surveillance, control of their meetings by conference staff and problems with accommodation.
Continue reading...Full extent of injuries from ‘brutal attack’ on Satanic Verses author in New York state in August revealed
Salman Rushdie has lost sight in one eye and the use of one hand after the attack he suffered while preparing to deliver a lecture in New York state two months ago, his agent has confirmed.
The 75-year-old author, whose received death threats from Iran in the 1980s after his novel The Satanic Verses was published, was stabbed in the neck and torso as he came on stage to give a talk on artistic freedom at the Chautauqua Institution on 12 August.
Continue reading...Independent media and human rights groups report arrests and physical assault as authorities try to suppress news of protests
As nationwide protests enter their fourth week in Iran, the government is increasing its crackdown on activists and journalists. On 22 September Niloofar Hamedi, an Iranian journalist, was arrested after posting a picture she took of the parents of Mahsa Amini hugging each other in a Tehran hospital on the day of their daughter’s death.
Amini, 22, died in police custody on 16 September after she was arrested for not wearing her hijab properly, which sparked the protests that then spread across the country.
Continue reading...Brian Eno, Ahdaf Soueif and Miriam Margolyes sign open letter about exhibition opening shortly before Cop27
Campaigners including the musician Brian Eno, the author Ahdaf Soueif and the actor Miriam Margolyes have criticised BP’s sponsorship of an exhibition of Egyptian artefacts at the British Museum.
The exhibition opens shortly before the critical Cop27 climate summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el Sheikh this November.
Continue reading...The Bahraini activist who is serving a life sentence in prison for his role in anti-government protests was chosen to share the PEN Pinter prize by Malorie Blackman
The academic, activist and blogger Abduljalil al-Singace from Bahrain has been named this year’s international writer of courage by Malorie Blackman. Al-Singace is serving a life sentence in prison for his role in Bahrain’s 2011 anti-government protests.
The award is part of the PEN Pinter prize, which goes to an author deemed to have fulfilled Harold Pinter’s aspiration to “define the real truth of our lives and our societies”. This year’s PEN Pinter winner was Blackman, the first children’s writer to be awarded the prize. She chose al-Singace as the international writer of courage, an award for an author who has been persecuted for speaking out about their beliefs, with whom she will share her prize.
Continue reading...Former legislator, who fled to Australia last year, said earlier that any sentence would not harm his reputation or lobbying work
A Hong Kong court has sentenced pro-democracy figure in exile Ted Hui to three-and-a-half years in jail over charges related to the 2019 protest movement.
The ruling in Hong Kong’s high court on Thursday, reported by local media, is the first time someone has been sentenced in absentia over the protests.
Continue reading...King’s College London finds 65% believe campuses places of ‘robust debate’ – but growing number disagrees
Most UK students say their universities are places of free speech and debate – although a growing number are aware of free speech being restricted on campus, a study published by King’s College London has found.
The analysis, by KCL’s Policy Institute, found that 65% of students agreed that “free speech and robust debate are well protected in my university”, a higher proportion than the 63% who felt that way in a survey three years ago.
Continue reading...Books depicted sheep fleeing from invading wolves, which judge found aimed to incite hatred against China
A court in Hong Kong has convicted five speech therapists of producing “seditious publications” in the form of a series of illustrated children’s books that depicted sheep trying to defend their village from wolves.
The convictions are the latest using a colonial-era sedition offence that authorities have deployed alongside a new national security law to stamp out dissent.
Continue reading...Former student leader among 29 pro-democracy activists entering same plea on subversion charges after more than a year in jail
Joshua Wong and a group of 28 Hong Kong pro-democracy activists charged under a controversial national security law have entered guilty pleas, in the largest joint prosecution in the territory in recent years.
A total of 47 defendants, aged 23 to 64, were charged with conspiracy to commit subversion under the sweeping national security law. They were detained in 2021 over their involvement in an unofficial primary election in 2020 that authorities said was a plot to paralyse Hong Kong’s government. At the time, the primary showed strong support for candidates willing to challenge the Beijing-backed local government.
Continue reading...‘Terrifying tool’ under scrutiny as Salma al-Shehab’s tweets suggest widely available phone app was used to report her
The Saudi woman who was sentenced to 34 years in prison for a tweet appears to have been denounced to Saudi authorities through a crime-reporting app that users in the kingdom can download to Apple and Android phones.
A review of Leeds PhD student Salma al-Shehab’s tweets and interactions shows she was messaged by a person using a Saudi account on 15 November, 2020 after she posted a mildly critical tweet in response to a Saudi government post about a new public transportation contract.
Continue reading...Canadian-Chinese businessman Xiao Jianhua will finally stand trial in case linked to President Xi’s corruption drive
China has formally put Canadian-Chinese tycoon Xiao Jianhua on trial, more than five years after his alleged abduction in Hong Kong, which rattled the city and sparked fears about residents being forcibly disappeared.
The Canadian embassy in Beijing confirmed on Monday that Xiao’s trial had begun this week. “Canadian consular officials are monitoring this case closely, providing consular services to his family and continue to press for consular access,” it said in a statement, without providing the location of the trial and charges against him.
Continue reading...Chinese president says ‘one country, two systems’ will endure and democracy flourishes after unprecedented unpicking of freedoms
Xi Jinping has hailed China’s rule over Hong Kong as he led 25th anniversary celebrations of the city’s handover from Britain, insisting democracy was flourishing despite a political crackdown that has silenced dissent.
After swearing in a new hardline chief executive, John Lee, in a solemn ceremony on Friday morning, the Chinese president laid out his vision for the city and its administrators.
Continue reading...Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitry Muratov will sell 23-carat gold medal in US on Monday, donating proceeds to charity
The editor of the Russian independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta is auctioning his Nobel peace prize medal, with the proceeds to go to helping children displaced by the war in Ukraine.
Dmitry Muratov led one of the last major independent media outlets critical of Vladimir Putin’s government after others either closed or had their websites blocked after the invasion of Ukraine. In March, Novaya Gazeta announced it was suspending operations for the duration of the war after it became a crime to report anything on the conflict that veered from the government line.
Continue reading...Analysis: Ruling bucks trend for wealthy individuals to suppress public interest reporting via courts
The decision by a high court judge to dismiss a libel claim brought against the Observer and Guardian journalist Carole Cadwalladr by the multimillionaire Brexit backer Arron Banks is a timely shot in the arm for public interest journalism.
Concerns have long been mounting that the legal landscape in England and Wales places excessive restrictions on reporting, with London – where the high court is situated – often described as the libel capital of the world.
Continue reading...Historian taking part in debate at Hay festival says he is labelled an activist to ‘delegitimise’ his voice
Historian and TV presenter David Olusoga has said that rightwing newspapers characterise him as an activist and critical race theorist to “delegitimise” his voice, despite there being no basis for these claims.
Olusoga, whose work has explored black Britishness and the legacy of empire and slavery, said that people “feel perfectly comfortable making these comments about me without being able to point to a single reference or footnote in my books”. He said that in reality he is “an old-fashioned empirical historian who fundamentally tells stories and tries to create empathy and a public understanding of history”.
He told an audience at Hay festival: “Why the need to describe me as a critical race theorist? Why the need to describe me as an activist rather than a historian? These are all about delegitimising people’s voices.”
Olusoga was speaking as part of a debate on “how cancel culture has become a blood sport”, but said that the phrase did not capture his experience, since it is usually attributed to students, who he thinks are falsely accused of fomenting “cancel culture”, when in reality it reflects “a growing intolerance” in rightwing newspapers.
He was also asked for his views on the response to historian David Starkey’s comments that slavery was not genocide. Starkey subsequently resigned from his post at the University of Cambridge’s Fitzwilliam College.
Olusoga said he was “conflicted” because while what Starkey had said was “appalling” and “inaccurate”, he felt “it’s sad that somebody who is a great historian was getting into those debates”.
He blamed Starkey’s tone on the influence of the Moral Maze, BBC Radio 4’s provocative show that has run since 1990, for “elevating opinion over expertise”. “It’s taken some who have great expertise away from that expertise and into that carnivalesque world of commentary,” he said.
BJP’s Tejasvi Surya’s comments come as Muslim student associations, religious groups and academics protest his visit
An Indian politician visiting Australia called the Muslim conquest of India “the bloodiest chapter in the history of the world” and appeared to equate it with the Holocaust amid a controversial speaking tour.
Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) MP Tejasvi Surya, in Australia to take part in a series of events, including the Australia India Youth Dialogue (AIYD), told an audience in Parramatta on Monday that the history of Islam is “writ large with bloodshed and violence.”
Continue reading...Jignesh Mevani accused prime minister of idolising Nathuram Godse, killer of Mahatma Gandhi
A state lawmaker in India was arrested for criticising the prime minister, Narendra Modi, in a tweet, officials have said, raising concerns over freedom of speech in the world’s largest democracy.
His arrest coincided with the arrival of the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, in the country.
Continue reading...Terry Xu was convicted last year after publishing a letter alleging ‘corruption at the highest echelons’
The editor of a now-closed Singaporean news outlet has been jailed for three weeks for defamation over a letter published on the site that alleged corruption among government ministers.
Terry Xu, the former editor of the Online Citizen, was convicted last year for the publication of a letter that said there was “corruption at the highest echelons”.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Junta detained at least 26 intellectuals last year as it sought to suppress opposition
Myanmar jailed more writers and public intellectuals in crackdowns last year than any other country, according to a freedom of expression advocacy group.
PEN America’s annual census of detained writers, the Freedom to Write Index, found Myanmar’s junta detained at least 26 writers in 2021 as it sought to suppress opposition after seizing power from the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
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