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…
Sina Dehghan, a 21-year-old man, was sentenced in Iran to death over criticizing Islam. He was arrested by security forces on October 21, 2015, at a military barracks in Tehran. Dehghan was charged under article 262 of Iran’s Islamic Penal Code for ‘insulting the prophet’ of Islam; a criminal charge which is punishable by death. Dehghan was convicted at the Penal Court of the…
Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee, an Iranian 36-year-old human rights activist and writer, was sentenced to six years in prison over charges of ‘insulting Islamic sanctities’ and ‘spreading propaganda against the system’ for her Facebook posts supporting political prisoners in Iran. Golrokh was arrested at her home by Iranian security forces without official summons on October 24, 2016. She was taken to the notorious Evin prison, where…
Faisal Hayyat, a prominent blogger and sports journalist, was sentenced on November 29 by a Bahraini court to 3 months imprisonment for ‘insulting a sect and a religious figure’ on Twitter. Hayyat was arrested on October 9, a few days after posting tweets critical to the Bahraini government. On his tweets Hayyat commented on events from early Islamic history. The conviction was based on article 209 of the…
Two women were sentenced by Saudi court in Jeddah to 10 days in prison and 20 lashes each, over using bad language while arguing with each other on WhatsApp. The messages were ruled to contain ‘impermissible expressions’. The women were warned by court that they would face worse punishment if they repeat their use of bad language. The case was brought to court two…
