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** SPOTLIGHT
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Photo credit: Qaznews24

Satire is powerful. Let’s protect it.

When the headlines are bleak, crises appear to mount day after day, and the harsh realities of the world we live in are too much to bear, humour can offer a much-needed escape. At the very least, it can challenge what we think and feel and spark vital debate that can fuel movements for change.

Yet governments across the globe use restrictive laws to curtail free speech and silence criticism – and satire is often in their crosshairs.

Take Kazakhstan, where Temirlan Yensebek ([link removed]) , the founder of the satirical site Qaznews24, faces charges of incitement to ethnic hatred for sharing satirical content. The blogger remains in pretrial detention and faces up to seven years in prison. It isn't the first time he's been targeted: In 2021, he was accused of spreading false information after joking that the former president had been granted the status of God.

Investigative journalist Baransel Ağca is being tried in absentia in Turkey for ‘publicly degrading the religious values of a section of the public’ for a tweet mocking the history of the prohibition of alcohol in Islam. In the United Kingdom, Marieha Hussain faced prosecution for ‘racially aggravated public offence’ over a protest placard that mocked leading politicians, though she has now been acquitted.

In fact, satire has long been used at protests as a powerful tool for demanding change. That’s why women in Poland marched with banners reading ‘I wish I could abort my government’ in defiance of draconian anti-abortion laws, and why young climate activists held placards stating ‘The wrong Amazon is burning’.

International laws and standards protect the right to satire and humour, even when they offend, disturb, or shock. The law safeguards individuals – not abstract concepts like religions or belief. So criminal prosecutions are always a disproportionate means of limiting free speech.

Through mockery, irony, and exaggeration, satire can expose hypocrisy, injustice, and abuses of power in a more effective – and often more compelling – way than conventional forms of speech.

Politicians and law enforcement agencies must never target or punish citizens for using humour to express their views.

Decision-makers around the world must respect international freedom of expression standards – and maybe, just maybe, learn to smile a little more.

Read more ([link removed])

ALSO IN THE NEWS

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RightsCon 2025

RightsCon, the world’s leading summit on human rights in the digital age, gets underway next week in Taipei, Taiwan.

Our experts are leading and participating in over a dozen sessions on a range of topics, including:
* Wartime censorship, accountability for digital rights, and free expression violations in conflict
* China’s digital transnational repression and its growing adverse influence in technology around the world
* Protecting information integrity and the impact of disinformation in South and Eastern Europe
* Algorithmic transparency and the use of emerging technologies by Global Majority governments
* Social surveillance and its impact in promoting online hate and gender-based violence in Malaysia and Taiwan
* The global state of net neutrality, and how delicensing spectrum bands can help boost rural connectivity in the Global South
* The growing threats to freedom of expression in Tunisia

Follow the conversation, and find out what human rights experts, digital rights activists, technologists, and government representatives have to say about the most pressing human rights challenges today – and how they will work together for potential solutions.

Stay updated during RightsCon by following us on BlueSky ([link removed]) and X ([link removed])

PLUS

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Public watchdogs in Poland work for a robust anti-SLAPP law

Poland, one of the European countries most affected by SLAPPs – abusive lawsuits aimed at silencing journalists and watchdogs – has the chance to set a positive example in tackling legal threats to free expression. Since the adoption of the EU Anti-SLAPP Directive ([link removed]) , Justice Minister Adam Bodnar reaffirmed efforts to decriminalise defamation (notably at a conference we organised with local partners), and the first promising draft of civil code reforms has been unveiled. Now government minister Jakub Jaworowski has publicly denounced companies that use public funds to finance legal action against civil society, signalling intent to end this practice.

However, these developments have been overshadowed by new plans to retain criminal liability for defamation. While narrowing the scope of the defamation offence is a step in the right direction, it does not eliminate the chilling effect of Article 212 of the Criminal Code.

“We appreciate the Ministry of Justice’s efforts to combat legal harassment of public watchdogs, which undermines freedom of expression and fuels censorship. While proposed civil law reforms could curb SLAPP proceedings, retaining criminal defamation risks escalating its misuse to stifle public debate. To effectively protect free expression, Article 212 must be repealed.”

– Joanna Szymańska, Senior Programme Officer, ARTICLE 19 Europe and Central Asia

Read more about our work on SLAPPs ([link removed])
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