Index on Censorship weekly round-up

[link removed]
[link removed] Donate ([link removed])
[link removed] Subscribe ([link removed])
Friday, 27 October 2023
[link removed]
Matiullah Wesa, the co-founder of Pen Path, before he was arrested in Afghanistan

We’re used to dealing with political prisoners, silenced authors and journalists under threat. So, it’s a rare day in the world of free expression when we start an Index meeting with good news. And this piece of news is really, really good.

Matiullah Wesa, winner of the campaigning category of the Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards ([link removed]) , has just walked out of prison in Afghanistan.

The messages came in yesterday, first that good news was on the way, and then that Wesa had been released. His brother told us that he seems in good spirits, and even joked about asking him on the phone, “How was prison?”

For those who didn’t follow our Freedom of Expression Awards last week, here’s a quick recap: Matiullah Wesa is the co-founder of Pen Path, which has been working since 2009 to forge paths into education for young people across Afghanistan, and in recent years (since the Taliban takeover) that focus has particularly been on education for girls. Wesa campaigns for schools to be reopened, he takes home education to areas with no access to classrooms and — perhaps most impressively — he drives around on a motorbike kitted out as a classroom.

Wesa spent seven months in prison in Afghanistan. After his arrest in March on his way home from evening prayers, his house was raided. His brother and Pen Path co-founder Attaullah Wesa, who accepted the campaigning award last week on his brother’s behalf, spoke to us about the release ([link removed]) .

Wesa wasn’t the only awards nominee to be released from an Afghan prison this week. Mortaza Behboudi ([link removed]) , nominated in the journalism category, also found his freedom ([link removed]) , in no small part due to fierce campaigning from Reporters Without Borders. The dual-national French-Afghan journalist, who co-founded the first refugee and French-led news media in France, Guiti News, had been detained by the Taliban in Kabul since January this year.

Behboudi attributed his release to media coverage, even quoting one of his interrogators as saying: “We’re not going to do anything to you [...] we can’t kill you, because you’re everywhere in the media.”

Behboudi’s ordeal is another reminder of why injustices need to go under the spotlight, and why we need to keep putting pressure on authorities that silence dissenters. Wesa and Behboudi went free this week, but we have a long list of journalists, artists, writers and campaigners who are unjustly locked up in countries spanning the globe.

We should take a moment to celebrate these two pieces of good news. But ultimately, moments like this are confirmation that this work is worth doing. So, once we’ve finished celebrating, we should let it drive us forwards in campaigning for free expression everywhere.

Katie Dancey-Downs, assistant editor


** Rights are still under attack globally
------------------------------------------------------------
[link removed]

The war in the Middle East is dominating global news, but while our eyes are averted, other rights abuses are taking place. Index CEO Ruth Anderson highlights three stories that we must not ignore ([link removed]) .


** Announcing the third Anti-SLAPP Conference
------------------------------------------------------------

We are delighted to announce that the third Anti-SLAPP conference ([link removed]) will take place on 27 and 28 November 2023, both online and in person in London, with a theme of tracking implementation.

It's a conference that we wish didn't need to exist, but while SLAPPs are still happening this event will explore how we can reduce the impact of the legal challenges designed to silence.


** From the Index archives
------------------------------------------------------------


** Campus clampdown: Free speech zones at US universities
by Taylor Walker
------------------------------------------------------------


** June 2014
------------------------------------------------------------



** [link removed]
------------------------------------------------------------

As news emerged this week that Cambridge University Library has asked academics to flag books that might cause offence (but which has denied they will be censored), we travel to a campus in the US, where free speech is permitted ([link removed]) — depending on where you’re standing at the time.
Help support Index on Censorship ([link removed])
Index on Censorship defends people's freedom to express themselves without fear of harm or persecution. We publish censored writers and artists, monitor and campaign against censorship, and encourage debate.

We rely on donations from readers and supporters. By donating ([link removed]) to Index you help us to protect freedom of expression and to support those who are denied that right.
[link removed] ([link removed])

============================================================
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])

INDEX ON CENSORSHIP © COPYRIGHT 2023
** Privacy and Cookie Policy ([link removed])