Index on Censorship weekly round-up

[link removed]
Latest ([link removed]) Subscribe ([link removed]) About Index ([link removed]) Donate ([link removed])
Friday, 13 December 2024
[link removed]
Syrian rebels gather around an equestrian statue of Bassel al-Assad, borther of deposed leader Bashar, during the 2024 Battle of Aleppo. The statue was later torn down. Photo by VOA

Hello, readers. This week, the world watched in shock as Bashar al-Assad’s government was toppled by Syrian rebels, bringing the dictator’s 24-year-reign to a close and suddenly ending the country’s brutal 13-year civil war. He and his family have since fled, and allegedly claimed asylum in Russia.

One of the defining legacies of Assad’s ruthless regime were his inhumane prisons, where many political activists, journalists and protesters have been held. According to the UK-based monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights ([link removed]) , nearly 60,000 people were tortured and killed in these jails. As news broke of the collapse of Assad’s government on 8 December, videos emerged of the Syrian rebel forces, led by the militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), freeing people from the notorious Saydnaya prison, which had frequently been referred to as a “human slaughterhouse”. Many more people are thought to still be trapped in hidden underground cells.

Assad’s regime has been one of the most repressive for free speech in the world today. It became more violent and restrictive following the 2011 Arab Spring, when Syrians took to the streets to peacefully protest the government. A major crackdown on freedom of assembly followed, with political activists being detained and tortured, and civilians being targeted with artillery and internationally banned substances such as chemical weapons.

Journalists were imprisoned, tortured, killed and forcibly disappeared. Reporters Without Borders reports ([link removed]) that 283 journalists have been killed in Syria since 2011, with 181 of these at the hands of Assad and his allies. On the day his regime fell, 23 journalists were reported to be in prison and another 10 missing. The human rights organisation ranked Syria a woeful 179 out of 180 countries in its latest World Press Freedom Index.

During his reign, Assad had increasingly introduced laws that curbed free speech. Following the uprising, a media law in 2011 ([link removed]) had the guise of protecting independent journalism but in reality further restricted journalists’ reporting, legislating that free expression should be “practised with responsibility and awareness” ([link removed]) , and prohibiting journalists from reporting on certain topics such as national security, the activities of the army and religious issues. A broad sweeping counter-terrorism law then came in in 2012 ([link removed]) , which further allowed the state to criminalise peaceful acts of dissent, and a cybercrime law in 2022 ([link removed]) imposed six-month jail sentences for Syrian
citizens who spread disinformation or “false news” undermining the state’s reputation.

One of the country’s most prominent political activists is Mazen Darwish. A journalist and lawyer, he founded the NGO Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Speech in Damascus in 2004, and was himself charged under the counter-terrorism act. He, alongside other members of his organisation, was arrested during an intelligence service raid in 2012, and he was subsequently imprisoned until 2015. In an interview with the German newspaper Die Zeit ([link removed]) , he recalled the torture methods used in prison: electric shocks, suspending detainees by their hands, beatings and sleep deprivation. Following the fall of the regime this week, he tweeted ([link removed]) : “For the first time in 50 years, I feel like a citizen.”

Assad’s ruthless reign is over, but the restoration of free speech and broader human rights will not be plain sailing from here. The rebel groups that have overthrown Assad have also been accused of human rights abuses ([link removed]) . Of the 283 journalists killed in Syria since 2011, HTS is thought to have killed six journalists, whilst the group’s leader Abu Mohammed al-Joulani is allegedly responsible for the abduction of eight journalists, according to Reporters Without Borders. This is not to mention deaths of media workers at the hands of radical groups like the Islamic State, which reportedly assassinated 22 journalists in Syria between 2013 and 2017. Meanwhile, Kurdish reporters have been killed in airstrikes, which Kurdish media have attributed to the Turkish military.

Concerns also remain for the treatment of minorities such as Kurds, Assyrians and Alawites in the country following Assad’s demise. Whilst the rebels who overthrew Assad have promised tolerance and say they want to build a unified, inclusive Syria, a non-secular government or the emergence of militant factions could see further persecution of ethnic and religious minority groups, as happened in Iraq following the deposition of Saddam Hussein.

For the majority of Syrians, this week is a huge cause of celebration as political prisoners are freed and many of those who were exiled are able to return safely home. Hopefully, the violent repression of free speech in Syria will be over. But questions remain over whether the future leaders of Syria will restore human rights for all, and only time will tell.
Sarah Dawood, editor


** Belarus is a prison for freedom
------------------------------------------------------------
[link removed]

Belarus is ending 2024 and entering the new year with a grim outlook. The dictator of 30 years, who maintains his grip through unprecedented repression, is holding a sham “reelection” on 26 January – again. Aliaksandr Lukashenka is threatening to shut down the internet during the election – again. Any form of protest is being brutally suppressed – again.

Read a joint op-ed written by exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and Index on Censorship CEO Jemimah Steinfeld ([link removed]) .
Donate to Index on Censorship ([link removed])


** Decolonisation in name only: Sedition and free expression in India
------------------------------------------------------------
[link removed]

The co-founder of Alt News, Mohammed Zubair, is no stranger to pressure and threats ([link removed]) related to his journalism, fact-checking and use of social media.

On 29 September 2024, the controversial Hindu priest Yati Narsinghanand held an event at Hindi Bhavan in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, during which he allegedly made ([link removed]) “objectionable remarks against Prophet Muhammad”. Zubair used his X account ([link removed]) to highlight these remarks, as well as others allegedly made by Narsinghanand in relation to the role of women in politics, and Zubair soon found himself the target of yet another FIR.

As his case shows ([link removed]) , the “world’s largest democracy” is still holding on to outdated and repressive laws that class journalism as a threat.


** Human Rights Day 2024: A tribute to human rights defenders
------------------------------------------------------------
[link removed]
Clockwise from top left: Diala Ayesh, Marfa Rabkova, Matiullah Wesa and Mohammed Zubair

Human Rights Day was formed on the anniversary of the founding of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a landmark document created at the UN General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948. The declaration enshrines in international law the human rights that all people are entitled to.

Despite the declaration, all around the world human rights are being challenged, degraded and attacked. That is why this year, on Human Rights Day, we have paid tribute to four human rights defenders who have worked tirelessly to defend people’s rights and have been persecuted as a result.

Read about them here ([link removed]) .


** Hanna Komar explores the trauma of oppression through her new play
------------------------------------------------------------
[link removed]
Body in Progress is an autobiographical play written and performed by Belarusian poet Hanna Komar. Photo by Tania Naiden

Body in Progress, a new play by Belarusian poet Hanna Komar, is a tribute to the fundamental role of women in the historical fight for human rights. Through her perspective, which draws connections between dictatorship and patriarchy, Komar unpacks how a woman’s body can both absorb oppression and foster resistance.

Read our review of the play here ([link removed]) .


** Media regulator fails to properly protect freedom of expression
------------------------------------------------------------
[link removed]
Ofcom has failed to properly consider human rights and practical implications in its approach to encryption.
Photo by Geralt/Pixabay

Index on Censorship has published a legal opinion from Phillippa Kaufmann KC and Aidan Wills ([link removed]) (both of Matrix Chambers) in response to Ofcom’s characterisation of End-to-End Encryption (‘E2EE’) as a risk factor in their Draft Guidance on online harms.


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


** Inside Syria’s war: The extreme dangers faced by local reporters
------------------------------------------------------------


** by Hazza al-Adnan
Summer 2016
------------------------------------------------------------

[link removed]

The fall of Bashar al-Assad this week had us looking through our extensive archives to find out what Index has written about Syria ([link removed]) over the past five decades.

This piece from 2016 by Syrian citizen journalist Hazza al-Adnan looked at the realities of reporting in a country where a pseudonym and bulletproof vest offer little protection from constant danger.

Read the article here ([link removed]) .

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] [link removed] [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 2024
** Privacy and Cookie Policy ([link removed])