Roya Nobakht, a UK-Iranian citizen who was jailed in Iran over criticizing government on Facebook, was released on Friday, August 25, 2017, after serving 5 years in prison. She is currently subjected to a 2-year travel ban until her reduced 7 years imprisonment sentence will be completed. Roya Saberinejad (also spelled “Saberi-Negad”) Nobakht is a 49-year-old Iranian-British woman, who served time…
Iranian cartoonist “Eaten Fish” has been detained in the Australian-run Manus Island detention centre since 2013. As Canberra aims to close the controversial site in Papua New Guinea in October, activists are campaigning for his resettlement; but his fate remains unclear. Trauma tends to mute the most piercing of ordeals. But Iranian cartoonist Eaten Fish still manages to draw the unspeakable,…
Celebrated Turkish cartoonist Musa Kart’s arrest is a symbol of Turkey’s media purge orchestrated by President Erdoğan. As his trial is put on hold, his fellow cartoonists call for an end to censorship, It has long been the duty of cartoonists to analyse, mock, and satirise the world’s political events – especially those concerning the powerful. But in some parts…
Troubling news coming out of Syria about the death of Bassel Khartabil, the Wikipedian and Head of Creative Common in Syria, who has been imprisoned in Syria since March 15, 2012. Bassel was reportedly executed shortly after his disappearance in 2015, but no formal information was ever given to his family and loved ones. Bassel is a Palestinian Syrian national whom his…
In advance of the Iranian presidential elections on 19 May, which will take place in a largely restrictive environment, we, the undersigned organisations, urge that the Iranian government to fulfil its international human rights obligations and cease the systematic targeting of human rights defenders (HRDs). Scores of HRDs have been arrested and remain in prison on arbitrary charges, simply for…
Dr. Stella Nyanzi, a 72-year-old Ugandan university lecturer and activist, is being held behind bars in a maximum-security prison in Kampala for criticizing the President on her Facebook page. Nyanzi was arrested on April 7, 2017, two months after she had described President Yoweri Museveni as “pair of buttocks”. She was charged under the Computer Misuse Act of 2011 with cyber-harassment and offensive communication. Nyanzi pleaded…
Thayyib Shaheem, a news editor and a political activist, was arrested on March 16 in the Maldives for criticizing a development project in the country on Twitter. Shaheem, who has about 22K followers on Twitter, was accused of “spreading panic and disinformation on social media” and now may face charges punishable by up to a year and 3 months in prison. Shaheem is a vocal…
