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Citizens Protest Against Trinidad Mayor’s ‘Vulgar’ Victim-Blaming Statements · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The bandstand at Woodford Square opposite the Port of Spain City Hall, where a crowd gathered in protest over Mayor Tim Kee's statements regarding the Carnival Tuesday death of a visiting steel pan player from Japan, Asami Nagakiya. All photos used in this post are courtesy of Janine-Mendes-Franco.
On Friday, February 12, 2015, citizens of Trinidad and Tobago gathered in Woodford Square, in front of the Port of Spain City Hall, to present a petition to Mayor Raymond Tim Kee. Kee's statements regarding the death of Japanese steel pan player Asami Nagakiya have raised the ire of many and fuelled a discussion about an all-too-common Caribbean narrative which blames women for acts of violence perpetrated against them.
Nagakiya's body was found beneath a tree in the Queen's Park Savannah — the hub of most Carnival events — on Ash Wednesday.
A male protestor holds a placard at the demonstration.
Dubbed “Don't be Vulgar, Mr. Tim Kee”, the event was focused on holding men accountable for their actions instead of victim-blaming women. In a country that is plagued by violent crime and in which women often fear for their safety, there were many vociferous calls for the mayor to step down over the inappropriateness of his comments.
The group statement presented to the mayor — or rather, to his secretary, as Tim Kee was “not in office” — was addressed to the government of Trinidad and Tobago, from “concerned citizens and residents”. It began by offering heartfelt condolences to Nagakiya's loved ones, then called for the revocation of Kee's appointment:
Clothing does not cause violence. Dark streets do not cause violence. Walking alone at night does not cause violence. We are disturbed that Mr. Tim Kee did not wait for conclusive evidence of the causes of the young woman's death to make a statement, nor did he offer any sincere condolences to her family. This is not acceptable practice for someone who holds such a position. […] We do not accept his apology, which further confused the issue by stating that there are some women who agree with him. […] He contributes to a culture of sexism and gender-based violence rather than taking any responsibility of the state and government to ensure the safety of all people.
The following day, Kee announced that he had decided to tender his resignation over the public outcry surrounding his statements.
Many Trinidadians feel collective responsibility for the victim's death.
A few of these “women who agree with him” were present at the protest, seeking to disturb the discussion about victim support training and the proper education of children — especially boys — that was taking place on the bandstand. One of them insisted that had it been a local, black woman who had been killed, there would have been no protest.
Some social media users echoed this sentiment; in a public Facebook post, Anna Hernandez appeared to have missed the point of the protest when she said:
I just want 2 say something is really wrong with our ppl in this country when there r so much rapes,innocent killings, robberies, child molestation , corrupt ppl in high places , inflation, human trafficking an the list goes on ….. No one comes out an protest these things , whyyyyyyyyyy . I think a lot of ppl don't think b4 they act . Come on citizens we need 2 stand up 4 our own ppl more #selfsearch#countryfirst#
Juliet Davy (in red skirt) talks to the media in support of Mayor Tim Kee.
Juliet Davy, a compliance officer with the Port of Spain Corporation, under which City Hall falls, was vocal in her support for the mayor and complicit in the victim-blaming, saying that she had a daughter and would “never let her go out dressed in a particular way”. Nagakiya, like most female masqueraders on Carnival Tuesday, was wearing a bikini embellished with beads and feathers. One of the critical aims of the protest was to hammer home the point that the victim — by her attire, or otherwise — was in no way responsible for her own murder.
This demonstrator showed up in her Carnival costume to drive home the point that women never “ask for it”.
Historian Angelo Bissessarsingh put it this way:
WHAT PRECAUTIONS COULD THIS POOR CHILD HAVE TAKEN AGAINST HER POSSIBLE AGGRESSOR SHORT OF BEING ARMED WITH A POWERFUL NON-LETHAL WEAPON? Her only guilt in this matter is not that she was negligent or unmindful of her safety but that she loved this damn savage island and its people so much to have travelled halfway around the world to participate in our culture and music, only to die like a roadkill puppy and then suffer the indignity of the unbridled buffoonery of public figures.
Although there were probably a couple hundred people at the protest, the online petition calling for Tim Kee's removal has garnered more than 10,000 signatures. There was also a solidarity protest happening at the very same time, outside the Trinidad and Tobago High Commission in in London, England. Facebook user Al Dou shared photos from the London protest and commented on his disappointment over the fact that Tim Kee has not yet been dismissed:
[Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago] Dr Keith Rowley do you really think this is going away? Almost 8000 signatures in the petition already. Want to wait for more international media houses to pick up the story? Oil prices down. Think of what this will do to tourism and foreign investment.
One of the many demonstrators at the protest.
One of the most impassioned speeches at the march came from former Minister of Justice Christlyn Moore, who admitted that she actually thought twice about wearing the costume that she did during Carnival. She called Mayor Tim Kee a “frightening” man and noted the importance of the implementation of a gender policy in the country, saying that if one existed, the mayor would not have been smirking and asking his aides what the victim was wearing when her body was found.
Former Trinidad and Tobago Minister of Justice Christlyn Moore, who spoke at the rally.
The issue of the murder was where some netizens believed the spotlight should be placed. Police since have a man in custody over her death, which was caused by strangulation. Authorities have dismissed any claims that she may have been sexually assaulted. In a public post, Facebook user Trisha Thompson said:
I personally think people are missing the point. This young lady's death is the major priority.
Not a mayor who stupidly made statements in haste instead of remaining quiet, which turned into a conversational nightmare.
Think guys this is about Asami and her assailant. How can her fellow friends be allowed to leave Trinidad without intense interrogation. […]
So people who want to protest over careless remarks are just adding to my fury….Because, let us protest for solving her murder, let us protest because we lost a gracious ambassador to our culture. Let us protest because we want justice for Asami.
Fellow Facebook user Cassandra Francisca Dewan acknowledged her point, but added:
I agree emphasis should be placed on finding Asami's murder[er]. However, Tim Kee bought alive a real issue that has plagued Trinidad and Tobago for years. In our culture it okay for a man to abuse a woman! […] I’m glad to see that women are standing up for themselves and saying enough is enough.
On the protest event's Facebook page, university lecturer and activist Gab Souldeya Hosein, who was at the march, agreed, noting that citizens should keep the pressure on:
A man who doesn't get that murder is not a moment to lecture women about respectability is not a man who should be in office, governing women, governing the next Carnival, governing without an idea of state accountability for continued violence against women.
A cross section of the crowd at the protest.
Joanne Gail Johnson, another netizen who attended the protest, echoed these sentiments:
It is an issue of security, not a matter of punishment in asking for Mayor to stand down. Until or unless we have the right attitude in leadership positions, violence against women will never be addressed. Whether you want to play Mas [participate in Carnival] or not, wear bikinis or not, we all want to be safe. And safety will not magically spring forth from attitudes that are in themselves subtle forms of violence ; a kind of moralistic violence. Security, security, every where we turn is security , yet , have we NO safety here?
Men also made their voices heard at the march on City Hall.
Tim Kee, for his part, was reported to be “upset”, “taken aback” and at a loss as to why he is being taken “out of context”. Several men who attended the protest, however, had different feelings on the matter. One of them, Nickolai Salcedo, shared a photo of a placard that said, “Society teaches ‘Don't get raped’ rather than ‘Don't rape'” and in response to one commenter, explained:
On a social level, boys are taught entitlement to girls.
Female protestors were claiming their space as citizens of the country.
There was a plethora of testimonials to this effect from netizens, both male and female. Denny Ablack accused Tim Kee of “propagating rape culture” and blogger Amilcar Sanatan wrote quite powerfully on sexism.
What pains me is that the reality of violence against women is real. In a rape culture, victim blaming appears to be logical.
The blog Square Peg (Round Hole) balked at the double standard:
It’s incredible that a country that could nurture such a festival of such freedom could also harbour such antiquated, sexist and downright dangerous views at the same time, but here we are. […] We teach our daughters to be modest and blame them for what men choose to do to them, while sending the message that our sons are wild animals who are unable to control themselves.
The message of the protest: Do not victim-blame.
One blogger, in an open letter to Tim Kee, schooled the mayor on the genesis of Carnival, making the point that “the masquerade is not an invitation”:
The spirit of Carnival is about citizens being in full ownership of their bodies. […] The body as temple and the body as riot. The body as joy and the body as protest. The body as receptacle for, and inner pillar of, ideas greater than ourselves […] The body as soapbox, as vessel for ecstasy and pride and praise […] The body as politics […] as history, and as challenge to history […] For a festival whose title draws from a ‘farewell to flesh’, it does so not by wantonly discarding the flesh, by merely rejoicing in its sinew, and never by abandoning it, but allowing the flesh to transcend the mundane alongside us. For the flesh to not be mere flesh.
You don’t have to see that in the Carnival.
But don’t tell other people, for whom the flesh is transcendent, that it’s their fault that men who haven’t been touched by that transcendence, whose bodies are still given to mundane violations, will aim to abuse them.
Don’t tell them that they’d be safer if they didn’t enjoy the Carnival for what it means, what it’s always meant.
After the march on City Hall, the demonstrators returned to the bandstand at Woodford Square and discussed next steps. The organisers took heart that some of the policemen who had been dispatched to the event expressed an interest in being part of any gender sensitisation workshops they may host. It was evident that even if the movement succeeds in having the mayor stripped of his office, the hard work of education and changing a deep-seated cultural perception still lies ahead. The citizens that marched today seem up to the task. In the words of writer Shivanee N. Ramlochan, who publicly shared her personal experience and fears about being a woman in this cultural space:
Sometimes we are women who reason that the one flinch in silence is better than thirty under a fist. Sometimes, we know what concealment is worth, even while it steals other parts of us to protect our hearts and vaginas and places we've been told are too soft to be seen.
Sometimes a poui tree is not a resting place.
Should Tim Kee's resignation come to pass — there is talk that the mayor may still try to hang on to his post — it would be a significant development for Trinidad and Tobago, a country in which public officials do not generally consider the ‘vox populi’, and a heartening victory for its civil society.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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From Madagascar, Four Poems on Impossible Love for Valentine’s Day · Global Voices
Rakotomalala

Baobab trees intertwined as if in love – Madagascar – Image used by permission
Valentine's Day could be the worst day of the year, or the best, according to the person and their circumstances.
In Madagascar, the lyrical theme of love is often tinged by feelings of pain and nostalgia. Here are four poems on the subject of impossible love, written by well-known Madagascan authors.
Rado has published seven collections of poems on the subject of impossible love, among these are: Dinitra (1973), ny Voninkazo adaladala (2003), and ny fiteny roa (2008).
Georges Andriamanantena, via his Facebook tribute page, with permission
One of his poems, “Fleur folle”, compares his attraction to a person whom he cannot have, to a flower which grows in the desert:
Voninkazo adaladala, Voninkazo tsy misaina, Fa maniry samirery, Eny an-tany karankaina,  Ny manodidina rehetra, Efa ringitra avokoa, Efa tapitra matory, Izy irery no mifoha, Ity foko koa adala, Tsy mba manadino e ! Ny rehetra raha mangina, Izaho mbola mino e ! Mbola tena mahatsiaro, Ilay fitiavako taloha, Mbola velona ao am-poko, Tsy mitsahatra mamoy Voninkazo, adaladala e !
Wildflower, carefree flower, Which keeps growing on fallow land. Everywhere, all that surrounds now is desolation, and all lies dormant. And alone, she alone remains awake. And still exists somewhere. My whole heart has been driven wild as well, and refuses to forget. Silence remains around the one whom I love, but I continue to believe. I keep this in memory, and I will always remember my lost love, in whom I have always believed. This love is still going strong, and keeps me awake at night.
The poem has been set to music by singer Erick Manana :
Similarly, another lesser-known text by Rado also deals with the silent pain of a wounded heart. Here is his poem, “Ho any ianao” (“You Will Go to See Her”), from which an extract reads:
Ho any ianao,kanefa….
Aza ataonao fantany izao fahoriako izao
Fa aoka hiafina aminy
Ny ketoky ny jaly
Nanempaka ny aiko,tanatin'ny longoa
Izay namandrihany ahy…
Ny dinitry ny foko manorika ahy mangina,
Fa sempo-tsasak'alina
Misaina ity anjarako,
Aza ataonao fantany!
[..]
Eny e ! Ampy izay.Tongava soa aman-tsara !
Dia akatony mora
Io varavarako io
Fa hitomany aho…
Rado, janoary 1966
You will go to see her, but …
Don't tell her about my suffering,
Leave her unaware of the biting pain
Which is tearing me apart.
In the net in which she trapped me,
My bleeding heart is choking me in the silence
Of the middle of the night
When I contemplate my fate.
Don't let her know!
[…]
That's my message, don't forget that.
And, goodbye!
But before leaving,
That hand of yours, let it not touch anything,
before holding hands with her…
Yes, that's all. Have a good trip.
And as you go, please close the door
On my tears.
Rado, January 1966.
Tiako hianao
Ary tianao tahaka ny inona ?
Tiako tahaka ny vola hianao
Izany tsy tianao aho
Fa raha noana hianao atakalonao hanina.
Tiako tahaka ny varavarana hianao.
Izany tsy tianao aho.
Tiana ihany ka atositosika.
Tiako tahaka ny lambamena hianao.
Izany tsy tianao aho.
Fa efa maty vao mihaona.
I love you.
— Oh, so how much do you love me ?
— I love you as much as I love money.
— But, you don't really love me:
Because if you were hungry, you would trade me for something to eat.
— I love you as much as I love that door.
— No, you don't really love me:
Although we may like the door, we're always pushing it away.
— I love you as much as I love the sacred burial shroud.
— Well then, you don't really love me:
Because we shall never meet except in the grave.
Fanambinana no antsoiny
Fiherenana ho ambony
Famafàna lonilony
Faneken-tsy ho resy intsony
N'inon'inona ampitsoiny
Andramo kely anie ‘zany, hono,
Tsiky foana foana alohany
Dia lefahany ny fony…
Hanitr'Ony
He asks for good luck
And stands up again, to rise higher.
To set aside the acrimony
And to not accept defeat
Whatever the future may hold.
And so he tries
To put the smile back on his face
And to be the master of his own heart.
Hanitr'Ony

source: news-globalvoices

license: Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

author: Rakotomalala


text:
Serbia’s Ombudsman Wants a Belgrade Police Chief Fired for Obstructing Journalists · Global Voices
Milka Domanovic

Communal police officers obstructing the work of journalists in Belgrade. September 2015. Photo: Istinomer.rs. Used with permission.
Serbian Ombudsman Saša Janković is calling for the dismissal of Communal Police Chief Nikola Ristić, in light of findings late last year that the department violated the law in separate incidents involving journalists.
The communal police are not part of the regular police force, but a body created by the local government to deal with problems related to city maintenance and community order. Janković's investigation showed that communal police officers threatened reporters from the fact-checking website Istinomer (Truth-O-Meter) and used force against its cameraman on September 25, 2015. (Disclosure: the author of this text is employed at Istinomer.)
Communal police were also found to have deleted photographs and videos recorded by a team from the Crime and Corruption Reporting Network (KRIK), confiscating their equipment on October 21, 2015.
Saša Janković. Photo by Medija Centar Beograd. Public domain.
As Global Voices Advocacy reported at the time, communal police prevented Istinomer journalists from filming an interview on the Sava riverbank on September 25, days before the official start of the controversial Belgrade Waterfront gentrification project. The officers accused the reporters of trying to film at a construction site, though video footage from the incident revealed no construction work in the area.
According to Janković, Communal Police Chief Ristić should have launched an investigation of his officers’ actions in the Istinomer case, but failed to do so. According to the ombudsman, communal police committed 30 procedural violations in just 14 minutes.
Roughly a month later, Belgrade communal police confiscated cameras belonging to KRIK reporters, deleting some of their footage. Chief Ristić personally stopped a KRIK reporter from filming the incident, and later provided false information about it, according to Ombudsman Janković.
KRIK documented this incident with a mobile phone, showing the communal police chief and his deputy physically blocking journalists who intended to ask Belgrade Mayor Siniša Mali about the purchase of 24 apartments at a Bulgarian resort by two off-shore companies that he directs. At the time, the two officers were out of uniform, which they are obliged to wear while on duty
In the following video expose published by Istinomer, KRIK reporter Dragana Pećo explained that she managed to recover the footage erased by the communal policeman who temporarily confiscated her phone. The expose includes Chief Ristić denying any wrongdoing over the phone, and also shows that he personally tugged the phone out of the reporter's hand.
Although more than a dozen members of the communal police were involved in the two cases, only one officer was subjected to disciplinary measures.
“It is not enough that the communal police officer who did something [wrong] takes responsibility, because he did that in the presence of his superiors… There was an unlawful use of force, there were threats… Many bad things were done,” Ombudsman Janković said.
Ristić, meanwhile, hasn't commented on Janković's remarks, and Belgrade Mayor Mali said he needs more time to consider the matter.
The Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia (NUNS) issued a statement in support of Janković's request, while the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights (YUCOM) condemned the behavior of the city police in a tweet, accusing officers of using excessive force and abusing their authority.
Janković stressed that Belgrade's heavy-handed communal policing threatens the freedom of expression and the freedom of the media in a city where police power is already dangerously unrestrained. This unit, which was established around five years ago, has been mired in controversy over the years due to repeated use of force against ordinary citizens, mainly those accused of not paying public transportation fees. In the video posted above, KRIK editor Stevan Dojcinovic explains that during the October incident communal police officers serve as “a kind of private bodyguard of the mayor”, out of uniform and without identifying themselves.
A new draft law is raising fresh concerns, too. The legislation would give communal police even more powers, placing few restrictions on officers. For instance, police would be permitted to take detained persons directly to a judge, rather than to a police station for processing. The initiative could also increase the size of the police force, allowing more officers to patrol the streets in plainclothes.

author: Milka Domanovic


text:
Teenager’s Death After Police Questioning Leads to Review of Crime Investigation Procedure in Singapore · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Tribute from Benjamin Lim's friends were placed on his bed. Photo from The Online Citizen
A 14-year-old student in Singapore took his own life a few hours after he was questioned by the police for being a suspect in a molestation case, prompting a review of official procedure which allows the police to interrogate minors even without the presence of a parent, guardian, or adult counselor.
On January 26, 2016, Benjamin Lim was picked up from school by five police officers dressed in plainclothes for an “interview” at a police station. The teenager was accused of molesting an 11-year-old in a nearby residential building. During the interrogation, which lasted three hours, Lim was not accompanied by his parents. The police said he confessed to the crime, although he later told his mother that he is innocent. After arriving home, Lim took his life.
Lim’s family questioned the need to dispatch five officers to handle a case involving a minor. They also believe that the teenager was traumatized during the interview inside the police station.
His death led many people to demand a review of police procedure concerning the proper way of handling children and other vulnerable sectors of the population. The police acknowledged this and released a statement saying they would do just that:
The Police have been asked whether it should review the procedure to allow an appropriate adult to be present when a young person is interviewed. The Police will review and address this issue.
Lim’s father felt the review came too late:
As Benjamin’s father, I felt this is necessary, but it came too late. It is necessary because we pray that the same treatment my son received from the police, will never ever happen again to another child.
After Lim’s death was reported, some shared how they were treated the same way by the police during their younger years. There was even a case when an elderly person with dementia was apprehended and interrogated without being accompanied by a relative.
Human rights group Community Action Network believed that Lim’s death “could have been prevented had everyone involved in the investigation of this case showed sensitivity towards the fact that they were investigating a minor.” It also urged the placing of cameras inside interrogation rooms to make the investigation process more transparent:
We find it absurd that while public spaces are heavily surveilled with security cameras, interrogation rooms are not fitted with any cameras to allow for transparency of the interrogation process, which may be useful in an incident like this.
This particular demand is also being advocated in an online petition:
We believe that transparency is important when it comes to police investigations, especially when minors are involved. To that end, we support the police’s piloting of video recordings during questioning, and urge Parliament to pass legislation that would require mandatory video recordings of all police interrogations.
The Association of Women for Action and Research, which focuses on sexual assault cases, urged the police to respect the rights of suspects, especially minors:
If there is a general perception that criminal investigations may be unduly harsh or traumatic, especially for minors, this may deter victims from reporting. It is in everyone’s interest that criminal investigations respect the rights of suspects.
Meanwhile, the opposition Singapore Democratic Party questioned the silence of concerned government ministries about the issue:
The Ministers for Law, Education, and Home Affairs have kept silent on the matter. Given that a teenager has committed suicide resulting from a series of actions involving the police and the school, it behooves the Ministers to, at the minimum, address the situation and see how the matter is resolved and future incidents prevented.

author: Mong Palatino


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A Pakistani Artist Remembers Sabeen Mahmud and her Valentine’s Day Campaign · Global Voices
Guest Contributor

Let there be love #PyarHoneDeiN: Remembering Sabeen Mahmud. Graphic courtesy Alia Chughtai
By Soofia Mahmood
I look at the office calendar and notice that Valentine's Day is recorded as an important date here in Canada, my chosen homeland, to which I emigrated from Pakistan last year. The calendar says, “Valentine's Day is an opportunity for people in Canada to tell somebody that they love them in a romantic way”. I think about Pakistan, my homeland, and smile at the irony.
The president of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Mamoon Husain, condemns Valentine's day and requests that citizens of the country not observe it—you are not allowed to love someone in public, or even in private! The president's remarks came after Kohat, a district in the north-western Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, banned Valentine's Day celebrations. This is the province where the liberal cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan's right-of-center political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf, is in power.
I think about Sabeen Mahmud, a Pakistani human rights activist and NGO worker, who countered the religious fundamentalists’ Valentine’s Day ban with a campaign of her own, under the slogan saying “Pyaar hone dein” (Let there be love).
I first met Sabeen in 2013 in Bangkok, at a regional consultation on Freedom of Expression for Civil Liberties in Asia organised by the human rights organisation Bytes for All. At the meeting she spoke on the topic of freedom of speech, a right she avidly advocated and worked for—and died for less in April 2015.
I remember clearly Sabeen discussing the YouTube ban in Pakistan. She believed that censorship of tools such as YouTube are a smoke screens used by the government, who are wary of people who use social media. She was co-founder of a citizen collective initiative called “Pakistan for All”. Along with her colleagues, she initiated various campaigns to demand the right of citizens to access platforms like YouTube. One of their campaigns, “Hugs for YouTube”, went viral. With the problem of hate speech increasing, Pakistan for All also created a NAFRAT Aggregator (“nafrat” means “hatred” in Urdu) to collect instances of hate speech.
Sabeen was funny and animated when she talked with Wired magazine about how her Valentine's Day rally in Karachi was met with death threats by radicals:
“. . . one day, as the controversy was just breaking, she’d been asked not to go to her office for her own safety. While stuck at home, the doorbell rang in quick succession four times. “I picked up my cricket bat,” she said, “but was too afraid to answer the door.” When it turned out just to be a deliveryman, she “was actually a little disappointed.”
Pakistani blogger Harron Riaz writes on his blog:
Her (Sabeen's) campaign involved rather amusing messages promoting love, such as “Pyaar Hone De” or roughly ‘Let there be love’, in front of the billboard messages from the religious movement prohibiting Valentine’s Day celebrations, citing verses and traditions. She had to go underground for a while until the Muslims found something else to criticise about.
A little more than two years after launching her Valentine's Day campaign, Sabeen was murdered. One of her killers, Saad Azia—an educated young man from the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) in Karachi—said in his confession that her “un-Islamic” Valentine's Day rally was the sin she eventually paid for.
“You can't fight religious dogma. It is too big an evil to be dealt with through dialogue or creative expression. It is too ominous to win over. I wish Sabeen had known that.”
Here in Canada, Valentine's Day is just a date on the calendar. People can choose to celebrate it or ignore it. It can be the perfect excuse to buy more commodities, or a reason to feel loved, or unloved. It is not a matter of right and wrong, piety or evil, life or death.
Such memories remind me of why I left the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. You can't fight religious dogmatism. It is too big an evil to be dealt with through dialogue or creative expression. It is too ominous a force to conquer.
I wish Sabeen had known that.
Soofia Mahmood is a Pakistani artist currently based in Toronto, Canada. She believes that everything that she sees through her lens helps her understand the relationship between self and the world around. See Soofia's work at www.soofiasays.com

author: Guest Contributor


text:
Bangladeshi Authorities Arrest Publisher and Shut Down Book Fair Booth for ‘Hurting Religious Sentiments’ · Global Voices
Palash Ranjan Sanyal

The caption strikes out the word ‘not’ from the book fair's original slogan, “Ekush means not bowing down”. The collage by Souradeep Dasgupta symbolises the defeat of secular ideology of Bangladesh. From his Facebook page.
Authorities have closed down a publisher's booth at Bangladesh's national book fair and detained the publisher and two of his employees on the allegation of displaying a book that hurts religious sentiments and posting some of its content online.
The decision to shutter the booth comes at a time when secular thought and criticism of religion are increasingly dangerous undertakings in the South Asian country.
Police say they learned from social media that the book ‘Islam Bitarka’ (The Islam Debate) by Ba-Dwip Prokashony (Ba-Dwip Publications) allegedly has content that “offends Islam” — specifically, a chapter titled “Muslim Manosher Jouna Bikriti (Sex Perversion of the Muslim Mind)”. Under national law, any person who has a “deliberate” or “malicious” intention of “hurting religious sentiments” can be prosecuted.
They informed the Ekushey Book Fair authorities about the book, and on Monday, February 15, law enforcement sealed the book stall in the early hours of business.
Police close #book stall for ‘hurting #religious sentiments’ https://t.co/VFNmLu5siA #Bangladesh #BookFair pic.twitter.com/Exam1tlOYt
— DhakaTribune (@DhakaTribune) February 15, 2016
আবারও প্রকাশনী বন্ধ, এবার বদ্বীপ। বাংলা একাডেমী মারহাবা!!
— এমদাদুল হক তুহিন (@EMDADULHUQTUHI1) February 15, 2016
Another publication is banned, this time its Ba-Dwip. Bravo Bangla Academy (sarcasm)!!
‘Islam Bitarka’ is a translation of an anthology edited by Shamsuzzoha Manik, the owner of Ba-Dwip publishing house. The book was first published in 2010 and brought to Ekushey Book Fair in 2012, where it received no fuss until this February.
Manik, who is also a blogger and writer, was later detained by the police along with two of his employees. All copies of the book were confiscated from the premises and copies of five other books have been taken under scrutiny. Manik reportedly had published some of the contents of the book in a blog. A case has been lodged against them under the controversial Article 57 of the Information and Communications Technology Act, which criminalizes “publishing fake, obscene or defaming information.”
The book fair's rules and regulations says in Section 13.13 that before closing a stall, the publisher will be given a deadline to remove objectionable books from the fair. If the publisher fails to comply, then the authorities will close all activity of the publishing house within the premise. It is unclear whether Ba-Dwip Publications was given a timeline or the contents were examined before shutting the stall down.
In recent years, Islamist groups have been using mainstream and social media to provoke Bangladeshis against secular writers and bloggers and to threaten them — with deadly results. Four bloggers and a book publisher were assassinated in 2015 alone.
Bangladesh’s constitution enshrines the right to free expression, and atheists have the same rights as any other citizens. But the secular government of this Muslim-majority country has done little to discourage these attacks or bring killers to justice.
Haseeb Mahmud at Sachalayatan community blog observed:
গত দুই দিন সামাজিক যোগাযোগ মাধ্যমগুলো পর্যবেক্ষণ করে এটা পরিস্কার হয় যে লেখক ও ব্লগার শামসুজ্জামান তার একটি বই ব-দ্বীপ প্রকাশনের মাধ্যমে প্রকাশ করেছেন যেটা কোমলমতি নৃশংস ধর্মপ্রাণ ধার্মিকদের মনে আঘাত দিয়েছে। এ ধরণের ঘটনাপ্রবাহ বাংলাদেশে নতুন কিছু নয়। নতুন বিষয়টা হলো কীভাবে সামাজিক যোগাযোগ মাধ্যম ব্যবহার করে এ ধরণের মৌলবাদি কার্যক্রম সংগঠিত করা হচ্ছে সেটা। পুলিশও বলছে তারা সামাজিক যোগাযোগ মাধ্যমে এই “ধর্মীয় অনুভুতিতে আঘাতের কথা জেনেছে।”
From monitoring the social media in the last two days alone, it is deemed that author and blogger Shamsuzzoha has hurt the religious sentiments of impressionable believers through a book by his Ba-Dwip Publications. Such events are not new in Bangladesh. What is new is the use of social media to instigate such radical activities against publishers. Police are also claiming they came to know about hurting the religious feelings through social media.
In recent times, Bangladesh has seen alarming use of social media to incite hatred and action against writers, activists and minorities. In 2012, an image of a burnt Quran was posted using a fake minority account on Facebook, creating outrage in Ramu, a southern area of Bangladesh where seven Buddhist temples were burnt down as a consequence.
When asked by BBC Bangla if ‘Islam Bitarka’ had previously been banned or if the book was unknown to people, Shamsuzzaman Khan, the director general of Bangladesh's language authority Bangla Academy, which organizes the book fair, replied:
If I say this and if you publicize it, the possibility of a riot is imminent. Do you want that? I can read it to you. This should be definitely banned.
This is not the first time a book stall has been shut down on the grounds of hurting religious sentiments in Bangladesh. Last year, Rodela Prokashani (Rodela Publishers) faced the same consequences for their translation of a book about the Prophet Muhammad's life. The website of the publication was hacked and the publisher faced death threats over the book.
Three months ago, two Bangladeshi publishers of secular books were attacked separately the very same day. In one of the attacks, Faisal Arefin Dipon, 43, was hacked to death at his office, Jagriti Prokashoni publishing house, in Dhaka. Between February and April 2015, four bloggers were hacked to death including Avijit Roy and Oyasiqur Rahman Babu in public.
Shamsuzzoha Manik earlier wrote in a blog about the recent attacks on secularists and free-thinkers in Bangladesh:
নিরীশ্বরবাদী এবং মুক্তচিন্তার মানুষরা কেন জিহাদীদের প্রধান টার্গেট হল। [..] প্রকৃতপক্ষে অন্ধ ধর্মবিশ্বাস থেকে মুক্ত, যুক্তিবাদী এবং মুক্তচিন্তার মানুষরা লোকবাদী বা প্রকৃত সেকিউলার বাংলাদেশের আদর্শিক ভিত্তি নির্মাণে একটি ইতিবাচক ভূমিকা রাখছে। ইসলামী পৃথিবীর কোথায়ও অলোকবাদী ধর্ম এবং ইসলামের বিরুদ্ধে এভাবে ভিতর থেকে বিদ্রোহ হয় নাই। এ ক্ষেত্রে বাংলাদেশ ব্যতিক্রম। এর তাৎপর্য অপরিমেয়।
Why are atheists and free-thinkers in Bangladesh becoming targets of the jihadists? […] These free-thinkers, who think with logic, who are free from religious superstitions, are really making a positive contribution in all walks of life towards building a truly secular ideology for Bangladesh. Nowhere in the Islamic world there has been such a revolution from inside against faith-based beliefs. Bangladesh is an exception. This is very significant.
This latest news, combined with recent attacks on bloggers and publishers, shows just how high the price of secularism in Bangladesh remains.

author: Palash Ranjan Sanyal


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Burundi’s Independent Media Aren’t Going Down Without a Fight · Global Voices
Liam Anderson

The Press House in Bujumbura, from which independent radios were blocked access. Photo by Flickr user DW Akademie – Africa. CC BY-NC 2.0
Journalists in Burundi, where an escalating crisis has imperiled freedom of expression, have persevered, especially online, preventing the situation from passing silently.
Insecurity nevertheless demands creativity and discretion. Online channels have gained new importance, using streamed radio and social media to inform citizens. These news outlets challenge narratives published by official or pro-ruling party CNDD-FDD media, which regularly disregard testimonies contrary to the government-sanctioned story.
Independent broadcasters have been blocked and attacked in the year since President Pierre Nkurunziza ran for and won a third term, sparking protests and later armed insurgency. The government for its part – with its ‘Imbonerakure’ youth-wing, police, and intelligence services – is accused of wide-ranging human rights abuses, including torture, arbitrary arrests and killings. Hundreds have died since the instability began, and more than 200,000 have been made refugees, according to the United Nations.
The main independent news-focused radios – Bonesha, Radio Publique Africaine (RPA), Isanganiro, and RadioTélévision Renaissance – have been left unable to broadcast since their offices were attacked during a failed coup in May 2015, and subsequently legally blocked for investigation.
Pro-government Rema was similarly attacked, reducing Burundi’s once lively media landscape to government-controlled Radio-Télévision Nationale du Burundi (RTNB).
Independent radios remain unable to broadcast, but Bonesha, Isanganiro, and RPA have continued updating their websites. Bonesha’s last YouTube post and last uploaded news broadcast are dated 12 May, just before the coup.
While independent broadcaster Radio Télévision Renaissance has kept updating its YouTube page, its website was suspended, then made accessible with its latest video on the rebels’ coup message, and then inaccessible again.
Other journalists have began broadcasting on Rwandan radio, targeting Burundians in neighbouring Rwanda and northern and western Burundi. Bonesha’s Kirundi-language emission on Rwandan radio station Isango Star in June 2015 reached six provinces. RPA also broadcast its “Humura Burundi” show from South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo, reaching western Burundi and online audiences, although it was arbitrarily raided in October by Nkurunziza-sympathetic DRC authorities.
A group of exiles created the online French and Kirundi news broadcast “Inzamba”, reportedly facing cyber-attacks and a fake website aimed at spreading disinformation. A call-in service via an American phone number, listed online, has allowed Burundians in diaspora to listen to Bonesha.
Iwacu, a leading online newspaper, is the last independent Burundian outlet “officially” operating, notably on the Internet and print rather than radio. The site has faced pressure from authorities, however.
In August, Presidential Communications-Counsellor Willy Nyamitwe indicated those outlets suspected of “supporting rebels” would remain closed. Not long after, he accused Iwacu of lying, inciting hostile threats from online government-supporters.
Faut-il « brûler la baraque Iwacu » ? : Réponse du Groupe de Presse Iwacu à @willynyamitwe http://t.co/BJWxR5h4Eh
— Iwacu (@abakunzi) 9 Septembre 2015
Must you “burn the offices of Iwacu”? Iwacu Press-Group’s response to @willynyamitwe http://t.co/BJWxR5h4Eh
@willynyamitwe pourquoi vous vous acharnez au seul média indépendant qu'il nous reste?Des mensonges? Mais où??? #NeBrûlerPasIwacu @abakunzi
— Sabushimike Arielle (@S_Arielle_) 9 Septembre 2015
@willynyamitwe why do you harass the only independent media left to us? “Lies”? But where??? #NeBrûlerPasIwacu @abakunzi
Despite hostility from officials and online threats, Iwacu’s audience increased and it has sought new funding. Radio Netherlands Worldwide’s WazaOnline branch and Yaga-blog also initiated the ‘WazaVote’ blog, partnered with Iwacu, for Burundian citizens.
In May, some remaining journalists who hadn't fled into exile created SOS Médias Burundi using Facebook, Twitter, and SoundCloud, quickly gaining thousands of followers. Aware of limited Internet-access, they also target anxious diaspora and international audiences, and their website calls for international solidarity. Deprived of studios and security, they have continued reporting “underground” with smartphones and social media.
INFO – Des tirs se font entendre dans les quartiers de #Jabe et #Nyakabiga (habitants) #Bujumbura #Burundi
— SOS Médias Burundi (@SOSMediasBDI) 22 Janvier 2016
INFO – Shots heard in the neighourhoods of #Jabe and #Nyakabiga (residents) #Bujumbura #Burundi
In the same month, however, WhatsApp and Viber were reportedly blocked by major telecoms.
Over 100 journalists fled by December, risking perilous escape routes.
Lower revenues and journalists’ precarious exiles have threatened radios’ ability to eventually reopen, as well as Burundian media’s future. Government-discourse often conflates rebels and unidentified gunmen with journalists and rights activists as one single ‘opposition’ to justify restricting even peaceful critics, from calling Interpol on politicians to ‘punishing’ protesters.
The government’s militaristic approach seeks to control or stifle critical media and opposition, considering them existential threats rather than democratic partners. Repression incites rebellion, though, one ‘legitimizing’ the other, causing divisive cyclical violence and shrinking political space.
This ‘underground’ reporting helps to challenge impunity for rights abuses and inform citizens inside and outside Burundi. Amid police raids and insurgents’ grenades, trusted media can support civilian rights and broad dialogue, needed to avoid indefinitely trapping Burundians between authoritarian militarization and insurgency.

author: Liam Anderson


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Burundi’s Independent Media Finds Itself in the Crossfire of a Deadly Crisis · Global Voices
Liam Anderson

Bujumbura, Burundi: President Pierre Nkurunziza talks to the press following his meeting with a UN Security Council delegation that came to reiterate the need for an inclusive dialogue to end months of political turmoil in the country. Photo MONUSCO/Papy AMANI. CC BY-SA 2.0
The long-stewing political crisis in Burundi is a dangerous one, and it's affecting freedom of expression in the East African country. Independent media are especially under threat, though anyone daring to report on the situation from a non-government-sanctioned perspective face censorship, intimidation and physical violence.
The country's trouble began when President Pierre Nkurunziza ran for a third term, sparking protests and citizen campaigns concentrated in the capital Bujumbura. Participants argued his candidacy undermined the Arusha Accords and constitution that helped end the civil war that tore apart the country from 1993 to 2005. Witnesses, victims, local activists and human rights organizations have all documented cases of arbitrary detention, systematic torture, and killings of opponents, though government officials deny this.
A coup failed to take power away from Nkurunziza in May 2015, and ‘forced’ July elections saw him and his CNDD-FDD party sweep once again to victory. Nkurunziza’s inaugural speech warned civil society against political interference, accompanied by worrying online messages such as the one below from the president's Twitter account:
No one living abroad should consider himself superior to those who stayed in #Burundi, since most of them have left their families here.
— Pierre Nkurunziza (@pnkurunziza) 24 Octobre 2015
Meanwhile, demonstrations faded into armed attacks and reprisals, and increasingly organized armed groups announced anti-third-term rebellions. Political opposition is scattered, and many groups have been forced to leave. Volatile divisions across government, military, and police have deepened, and intensified hardliner pressure has pushed dissenters into exile or silence.
The UN registered at least 439 dead and 237,000 refugees by January, while insecurity and sanctions have worsened economic hardship, undermining post-war transition.
Lockdowns of ‘rebellious’ Bujumburan neighbourhoods with ‘special’ police units, unidentified gunfire, gender-violence, deadly police-raids, disappearances, corpses discovered outside, and roaming armed groups have become routine. Trust has evaporated, and many fear even going out.
Throughout, reporters persevered, but the crisis is seriously threatening independent media.
Media access in Burundi varies, with radio dominating especially for the rural majority. Radio access in 2010 was almost 90%, and so closing trusted radios restricts reliable information and can fuel disinformation and fear, even pushing refugees to flee.
Literacy and infrastructure limit other media, although cellphones, many radio-enabled, now reach several million. Internet usage has also grown significantly, with user numbers at 500,000 in 2013, around 5% of the 2012 population (9,850,000).
The country's once lively media landscape has taken a severe blow from 2013 legislation followed by the militarized response to third-term opposition, particularly outside Bujumbura. Burundian and international journalists have faced accusations of anti-government bias or encouraging insurrection as well as become the target of violence.
Independent broadcasters Radio Publique Africaine (RPA), Bonesha, and Isanganiro were blocked on 26 April from broadcasting outside Bujumbura. Then, during the putsch’s chaos, radios’ offices were attacked, effectively imposing an indefinite independent radio-blackout. While ministers blamed coup participants, eyewitnesses described security agents.
Similarly, anti-third-term militants attacked pro-government Rema TV’s offices. However, Rema is officially authorized to operate, while the prosecutor-general blocked the others’ access to shared-offices for “ongoing investigations”. Smaller stations also suffered, including Gitega-based Humuriza. Citizens have thus had limited and partial news since before elections, struggling to access non-government coverage.
In June, a Voice of America correspondent was the target of a grenade attack, though no one was injured. And in early 2016, the names of seven journalists – including the four main independent radios’ directors — were included on a list of people the government seeks to have extradited in connection to the May coup.
Considered “enemies” or “munwa muremure” (“big-mouth”), many journalists have fled. Some wrote to Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon from Kigali, criticizing violence and elections without free media.
Interviewed from exile in July by Iwacu, RPA’s Bob Rugurika lamented the rapid deterioration in press freedom following the protests and coup:
Depuis 2013 […] nous avions dénoncé un plan d’attaque et de fermeture des médias, surtout privés […] Seulement, […] on ne pouvait jamais imaginer que le pouvoir ait alimenté un plan de destruction totale des médias, et surtout d’interdiction formelle de fonctionner à tous les médias indépendants privés.
Since 2013 […] we had denounced a plan of attacking and closing the media, especially privately-owned outlets […]. Only, […] we could never have imagined that the government had developed a plan for the total destruction of the media, and especially for a formal ban on all private independent media operating.
Despite the hostility, Iwacu's director Antoine Kaburahe remained motivated to safeguard the outlet’s “small window of liberty” but, in November, he was also effectively exiled.
As Reporters Without Borders’ Cléa Kahn-Sriber noted, the uninvestigated torture of well-known journalist Esdras Ndikumana indicates even worse risks for less-connected reporters. Not even state-run and heavily government-controlled Radio-Télévision Nationale du Burundi (RTNB) staff are immune; in October cameraman Christophe Nkezabahizi was among those killed, officially by crossfire, but eyewitnesses accuse repressive police raids.
Remaining rights activists face similar dangers. The Association for the Protection of Human Rights and Detained Persons’s Pierre-Claver Mbonimpa, critical of resurgent torture, was shot in August, and even after reaching Belgium, family members were murdered.
Journalists have successfully reported sensitive stories, from torture testimonies to alleged “parallel-police” directing repression. Nevertheless, media restrictions and witnesses’ fear of reprisals have significantly strengthened impunity for politicized violence.
Burundi’s lively, independent media was a valued post-war success, shown by journalists and audiences’ tenacity during this crisis. However, radio silence deprives many without Internet-access of reliable information. Renaissance’s Innocent Muhozi vocalized fears of returning to one-party government dominating media, and free journalism now needs security services’ demilitarization and civilian disarmament, especially of militia-like Imbonerakure and insurgents.
Achieving this via representative dialogue requires concerted diplomatic pressure – so far disunited and unprepared – given the minimal trust and political will and obstacles to intervention. International political and resource support for independent media is therefore indispensable as part of crisis-resolution, to combat impunity, reassure civilians with trusted information, reopen political space, and allow all citizens to discuss their future.


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How Syrian Activists in Raqqa Are Resisting ISIS · Global Voices
Elia J. Ayoub

Note from RBSS in Raqqa reading: “ISIS and Assad, Same goals, Same interests, 29/9/2014″. Screenshot from RBSS footage featured in the Sky News report
Incredible footage obtained by Sky News shows how Syrian activists are resisting ISIS in Raqqa, the city that was dubbed ‘the capital of ISIS’. The activists are part of the group ‘Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently‘ (RBSS), a loosely organized group of activists, described by the New Yorker as “as kind of underground journalistic-activist enterprise”, who have been struggling against both Bashar Al Assad's regime at the start of the revolution and then, when the Free Syrian Army (FSA)-held city fell, ISIS.
We learn of Abdulaziz Al-Hamza, a Syrian activist who is now in exile in Turkey due to his sympathies towards the FSA and co-founder of RBSS. Al-Hamza met another activist, Sarmad Al Jilane, also in exile in Turkey and, along with 15 other people, they set up RBSS in the hope of facilitating the transfer of images and videos taken by anti-ISIS activists still residing in the heart of the terror group's ‘capital’, which controls territory across parts of Syria and Iraq.
“People were saying that Raqqa was the capital of ISIS. We wanted to prove them wrong,” Al Jilane told Sky News. Indeed, we see footage of people resisting ISIS on a daily basis. From raising a cross at night to writing ‘may ISIS fall’ on the wall, their resistance is an unarmed one, having lost the fight against the terror group in 2014.
The man who wrote the above note was named ‘Abu’ by Sky News to protect his identity. His testimony confirms the extent of ISIS’ barbarity. Teenagers between the ages of 16 and 18 are being given financial rewards for outing FSA sympathizers. Children under the age of 16 are taken from their families and sent to a camp where they're brainwashed. “ISIS is turning children into a time bomb,” Abu remarks. Very disturbing footage then follows in which we see children pretending to be executed and a child decapitating a stuffed animal. Al Jilane then tells us how ISIS is placing children at the front lines and training them to be suicide bombers or forced to become human shields.
But RBSS is not just trying to disturb ISIS’ rule inside Raqqa. They are also trying to fight ISIS’ ideology. One example given is using a magazine bearing the same cover as the one distributed by ISIS. Only when the magazine is opened does the reader see anti-ISIS statements placed by RBSS activists.
Left: RBSS activist putting up a poster reading “No to ISIS and no to Assad, freedom for ever”. Right: RBSS activist writing “may ISIS fall” on a wall. Screenshot from RBSS footage featured in the Sky News report.
Anti-ISIS activists in Raqqa raising a cross after the terror group took it down. Screenshot from the RBSS footage featured in the Sky News report.
RBSS activists are risking their lives. In fact, some RBSS activists have already lost their lives. Twenty-one-year-old reporter for the citizen-lead Shaam News Network (SNN) Mutaz Billah Ibrahim was executed by ISIS on the May 4, 2014, after he was discovered with the RBSS logo on his laptop. In October 2015, Ibrahim Abd Al-Qader suffered the same fate in Urfa, southeastern Turkey, alongside fellow journalist Fares Hamadi. Al-Qader worked for RBSS and ‘eye on the homeland‘, a Syrian news website.
Then came the turn of Ahmad Muhammed Al Musa, also an RBSS member, who was killed by masked men in Idlib, Syria. 10 days later, RBSS activist and movie director Naji Jerf was gunned down in Gaziantep, Turkey.
#Raqqa Ahmad Mohamed Almossa one of #RBSS Members got killed Assassinated in #Idlib #Syria by Unknown Masked group pic.twitter.com/p3A1YESjZD
— الرقة تذبح بصمت (@Raqqa_SL) diciembre 16, 2015
Our movie director Naji Jerf “father of 2 kids” was assassinated by suppressor gun today in Gaziantep “#Turkey” pic.twitter.com/F3TFZyAwk9
— الرقة تذبح بصمت (@Raqqa_SL) diciembre 27, 2015
RBSS was honored with the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) 2015 International Press Freedom Awards for their journalism. In his acceptance speech, RBSS’ spokesperson said (extract):
I speak today on behalf of millions of Syrians who are looking for a free, democratic and united country.
I am deeply sad for my beautiful country. It is suffering greatly from regime fever and the cancer of terrorism, so greatly that I fear its spirit will melt.
We are caught between two aggressive and brutal forces. The first is a criminal regime, obsessed with power, claiming to fight against terrorism by killing children.
The second spreads evil and injustice, and paints our nation black.
Each of them considers us criminals because we are disclosing their actions to the world. Now the mere mention of the name of “Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently” has become a crime punishable by death.
In a July 2015 interview with the CPJ, Abu Mohammed, an RBSS founder who lives outside Syria, spoke of the risks the group is taking:
The threats come in different forms, but they happen most days.” He said that members outside of Syria, including himself, often receive phone calls and emails saying that if they don't stop publishing, they will be killed. The group’s Twitter and personal email accounts have been hacked. But the journalists inside Raqqa face the greatest risk, Abu Mohammed said. “Cameras have been placed to monitor anyone suspected of working for us. If a suspect is caught in the street, they will be killed in front of everyone.”
At the time of writing, only one RBSS member remained in Turkey.
Reporters Without Borders ranks Syria among the worst free speech offenders, at 176 out of 179 countries in its worldwide index on the freedom of press. Since March 2011, 49 journalists have been killed in Syria, eight journalists imprisoned, 17 netizens jailed and 142 netizens and citizen journalists killed.

author: Elia J. Ayoub


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In Bahrain, Journalism Is a Crime · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

American journalist Anna Therese Day was arrested in Bahrain for covering protests to mark the fifth anniversary of Arab Spring-like protests which still continue. Photograph shared on social media after Day's arrest (Photo source: frontlinefreelance.org)
American award winning journalist Anna Therese Day was arrested in Bahrain, along with three of her crew members, also American, for covering protests to mark the country's fifth anniversary of Arab Spring-like protests, which still continue today.
She was deported on February 16, along with her crew, after spending a day in detention. The team was arrested during a demonstration in Sitra, and charged with taking part in an illegal protest and entering the country under a false pretext.
Bahrain routinely denies foreign journalists from entering the country (Bahrain Watch's Access Denied has a more detailed report here), along with NGO workers and rights activists — basically anyone who would criticise the country for its crackdown on protests, civil liberties, freedom of speech and human rights.
In a series of tweets, the Bahraini Ministry of Interior accuses Day and her crew of taking part in “illegal” protests:
القبض على أربعة أشخاص يحملون الجنسية الأمريكية إثر ضبط أحدهم ملثما خلال مشاركته مع عناصر تخريبية في سترة..يتبع
— Ministry of Interior (@moi_bahrain) February 15, 2016
Four Americans have been arrested after one of them was caught with his face covered during his participation with rioters in Sitra
تم ضبط الآخرين بإحدى نقاط السيطرة الأمنية بذات المنطقة..يتبع
— Ministry of Interior (@moi_bahrain) February 15, 2016
The rest were arrested at a police checkpoint in the same area
المذكورين دخلوا البلاد بتاريخ 11 و12 فبراير وقدموا معلومات مغلوطة للجهات المعنية حيث ادعوا بأنهم قد قدموا إلى البحرين بغرض السياحة..يتبع
— Ministry of Interior (@moi_bahrain) February 15, 2016
Those arrested entered Bahrain on February 11 and 12 and presented wrong information to the concerned authorities claiming that they came to Bahrain for tourism
المقبوض عليهم زاولوا نشاط إعلامي دون تصريح بالإضافة لارتكابهم أعمالا مخالفة للقانون،وتم اتخاذ الإجراءات القانونيةوإحالة القضية للنيابةالعامة
— Ministry of Interior (@moi_bahrain) February 15, 2016
Those arrested worked in media without a permit in addition to committing acts which break the law. Legal action has been taken against them and they have been referred to the public prosecutor.
Accusing journalists of breaking the law for covering news is not new to Bahrain. More recently, photojournalist Ahmed Al Fardan was sentenced to three months in prison for taking photographs of protests. He was charged with “intent” to protest.  Accusing journalists of taking part in protests was not lost on activists and friends who raised the alarm after Day's arrest.
On Twitter, journalist C. Robert Gibson appealed to his followers to make noise:
Bahrain detained my friend and colleague @ATDLive for the crime of journalism. Share this far and wide: https://t.co/bZbN5m5qXz #FreeAnnaDay
— C. Robert Gibson (@crgibs) February 16, 2016
Others, like Sally Kohn, called for Day's release under the hashtag #JournalismIsNotACrime:
Sad & angry to learn my friend @ATDLive arrested in Bahrain w/ her crew. @BahrainEmbDC #FreeAnna NOW! #JournalismIsNotACrime
— Sally Kohn (@sallykohn) February 16, 2016
But journalism is a crime in Bahrain. Bahraini journalist Nazeeha Saeed would know. Not only was she tortured for doing her work, but her torturers were acquitted. Just like this.
Beaten,punched,kicked while blindfolded.Nazeeha's story of injustice 1 of many in #Bahrain: https://t.co/MgHKJCqwiD pic.twitter.com/ltdqybS5Xf
— Amnesty Bahrain (@aibahrain) February 15, 2016
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Bahrain is “one of the worst jailers of journalists in the Arab world”:
At least 6 other journalists are currently imprisoned in Bahrain in addition to the 4 Americans arrested today https://t.co/U0mNZD4X2k
— CPJ (@pressfreedom) February 15, 2016
The small island country of 1.3 million people (about half of whom are foreign workers) has been witnessing a brutal crackdown following a popular uprising, which began on 14 February 2011. Activists have been tortured, killed or imprisoned.
Amnesty International, a leading human rights watchdog, released several reports ahead of the 14 February anniversary bringing attention to the dangerous reality in Bahrain for dissidents. James Lynch, deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme, said:
Today in Bahrain, anyone who dares to criticize the authorities – whether a human rights defender or political activist – risks punishment […] Despite pledges from the authorities to prosecute security forces responsible for human rights violations in 2011, the Bahraini people are still waiting for justice. Institutions set up to protect human rights have not only failed to independently investigate or hold perpetrators to account, but now increasingly appear to be used to whitewash continuing abuses.
Five years on, demonstrations continue, but are smaller and quieter. Today, protesting, or rather “gathering”, is criminalized by law and villages are under day-and-night security watch.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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In Trinidad and Tobago, Violence Has Been ‘Normal Normal’ For Way Too Long · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

There’s a superstition, immortalised in Trinidad-born writer Sam Selvon’s 1972 novel ‘Those Who Eat the Cascadura’, that says that whoever eats the fleshy, thick-scaled, freshwater fish of the title will — no matter how far they may roam — end their days in Trinidad and Tobago.
Cascadura (Hoplosternum littorale) armor-plated catfish. Photo by Taran Rampersad, used under a CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license.
The first time I saw this magical creature, scores of them were floundering clumsily in shallow, muddy water in the Nariva Swamp. Then a group of barefoot children arrived and caught them with crude homemade nets, with buckets or their hands. They took the haul back to their home where their mother proceeded to clean, season and cook the fish on an open fire in the yard.
Invited to partake of the feast, I declined, partly because the cascadura just didn't look appetising, even bathed in curry and coconut milk, and partly because I was hesitant about committing to ending my days in ‘sweet T&T’. Don't get me wrong — I love these twin islands with a fierce and burning passion. At the same time, I often feel completely out of step with them.
This year's Carnival season made me realise just how much. I participated in nothing, even avoiding Panorama, the annual competition for steel orchestras, and the Kings and Queens competition, which this year offered the brightest spark of creativity the festival has seen in many years.
I wondered what was holding me back, and realised it was the noise — the mind-numbing, ear-shattering decibel level at which music is played in this country, not just during Carnival, but all the time. My friends who did participate told me that it was even louder than usual this year. People who lived anywhere near the Carnival Monday and Tuesday parade route complained that their furniture was moving, paintings slipping off the walls, flatware crashing to the ground, so powerful was the vibration.
On social media, I saw a photograph of a beautiful little girl, smiling, thrilled to be in the thick of things, seeing the ‘mas’. An adult, meanwhile, cupped his hands over her ears. I assume a music truck was nearby; if that were indeed the case, then it underscored the fact that ours is a violent society. That's my big epiphany? you might ask. Shouldn't that be obvious, living in such a savage place? It's the middle of February and already we've had more murders than we've had calendar days.
Not only are we accustomed to violence and accept it as part of living in this society, we are also conditioned to be polite about it. To grin and bear it. Sometimes, living in Trinidad and Tobago is like being in an abusive relationship — take your licks and hush.
Except, when Japanese steel pan player Asami Nagakiya was murdered on Carnival Tuesday, and on Ash Wednesday the mayor of Port of Spain, Trinidad's capital city, violated her memory by implying that she was looking for it, citizens who had long felt sidelined were no longer prepared to stay silent. Even more frightening is that Mayor Tim Kee still doesn't quite seem to grasp what was so offensive about what he said. That's because it's normal operating procedure here. And we have allowed it.
We have also adapted ourselves to an ever-shrinking zone of manoeuvrability. Whether it's fleeing from the assault on our ears by choosing the beach over participating in Carnival, or by deflecting catcalls and sexist comments as we withdraw into ourselves and hurry along the street, we defer to the bullies for the sake of self-preservation. Perhaps it's a remnant of our history — from Columbus to colonialism to modern-day corruption, we have always known violence and we have adjusted ourselves to bear its cumbersome burden.
But we should thank His Worship the Mayor of Port of Spain. He has helped jump-start a public discussion we have avoided for far too long — not just that many men have a disturbing sense of entitlement when it comes to their interactions with women, but the ways in which our society sanctions the violation of the weak and vulnerable. When children are abused, we pass it off as “discipline”. When schoolboys are slain in one of the country's most downtrodden communities, we question the victims’ lifestyle. When a masquerader is murdered, we wonder what she was wearing.
In a recent discussion about the realities of our society, a man said to me, “There is a place for violence.” If that is true — and we have clearly accommodated ourselves to that viewpoint — I maintain that there is also a place for us to question, and eventually dismantle, this belief. Trinidad and Tobago is remarkable and complex and full of brilliant and sometimes upsetting contradictions. These islands are woven into my self-identity, yet I still can't bring myself to eat cascadura. If we can find our way out of this muddy, murky water, though, I might well consider it.


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Kyrgyz Journalist Loses ‘One Som’ Court Case Against His Country’s President · Global Voices
Elita Bakirova

Daiyrbek Orunbekov. Imaged widely shared on Twitter.
A journalist “debtor” of Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev has failed in his bid to countersue the head of the Central Asian state for defamation.
Editor of Kyrgyz language outlet Maalymat.kg, Daiyrbek Orunbekov, was sued by President Atambayev to the tune of 2 million Kyrgyz soms ($26,000) last year for offending his “honour and dignity” in a case that troubled media watchdogs and observers of the country.
Orunbekov had previously written several critical articles wherein he accused the president of fomenting bloody conflict between Kyrgyz and Uzbek people in the south of Kyrgyzstan in June 2010 — a serious and so far unfounded allegation.
Orunbekov then launched his own lawsuit — with a single unit of the national som currency at stake — after Atambayev questioned his credentials as a journalist and suggested he had been “working on somebody's money” during his end-of-year speech.
But on February 15, a court in the capital Bishkek determined Atambayev's words were not sufficiently insulting so as to merit damages worth slightly more than a single US cent.
President of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambayev during his end-of-year press conference in 2015. Presidential press service.
Orunbekov, meanwhile, has said he does not have the money to pay the president the damages.
As part of the same early December ruling, Orunbekov is obliged to publish a refutation in all the mass media at his own expense.
On December 17 Orunbekov managed with the help of friends to collect by crowd funding some 12,000 soms ($170) in small-denomination coins.
Many of the coins were worth 50 tiyin, or less than a cent in dollar terms.
He was subsequently detained by police for attempting to deliver them to the country's main house of government.
Small denominations of Kyrgyzstan's national currency, the som. Shared by Kyrtag news agency's official Twitter feed.
Few would call Orunbekov's articles responsible journalism — they lack balance and proper sourcing and tend towards hyperbole — but there is a feeling he has been picked on in an attempt by the government to bring the media into line.
Zhamalbek Byryshaev was one commenter who sympathised with Orunbekov:
Жалко журналиста. В любом случае засудят.Но по моему максимальный моральный ущерб 10000 сом. Президент не должен судиться со своим избирателем. Сколько пишут о Обаме, Меркель, но не слышно, чтобы они подавали в суд
I feel for this journalist […]To my mind, the maximum moral compensation for damages should be 10000 soms ($130). The President shouldn't sue his electorate. When people criticize Obama and Merkel, they don't get sued.
A former MP, however, Tursunbai Bakir uulu supported Atambayev's position:
…Никто свинью не подкладывал журналистам, а Дайырбек Орунбеков является известным провокатором и позером!… pic.twitter.com/xIKoJWW1me
— Tursunbay Bakir uulu (@bakiruulu) 31 декабря 2014
Nobody tricked these journalists [into writing] and Daiyrbek Orunbekov is a well-known instigator and poseur.
While Atai Beksadaev suggested there were other reasons to sue Atambayev:
Лучше бы иск подал по поводу повышения цен на электроэнергию […] никто не думает о простом народе…
He might better be sued for electricity price increases […] No one cares about common people …
Despite the fact Kyrgyzstan presents itself as Central Asia's only democracy, President Atambayev has been noted for trashing journalists and representatives of civil society in his press appearances, a habit critics say threatens freedom of expression in the country.
Typically he accuses NGOs and journalists of working for paymasters in the West, or for the country's second President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who now lives in exile in Belarus.
Orunbekov's lawsuit against Atambayev was the first of its type accepted by a Kyrgyz court.
Last year lawyer Nurbek Toktakunov attempted to sue Atambayev for defamation over comments the president made about Toktakunov and other activists pushing against the introduction of biometric passports.
Atambayev had said they were carrying out “somebody else's order.”
However, local courts twice refused to take up Toktakunov's complaint.

author: Elita Bakirova


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Remember When the Mayor of Port of Spain Promised to Resign for Victim-Shaming a Murdered Woman? He Doesn’t. · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The seal of the Port of Spain City Hall. Photo: Janine Mendes-Franco.
On Saturday, February 13, 2016, Raymond Tim Kee, the beleaguered mayor of Port of Spain, Trinidad, announced his intention to resign because of backlash to comments he made about the murder of Japanese steel pan player Asami Nagakiya, who was visiting to participate in the annual Carnival celebrations.
It didn't go over well with many Trinidadians, when Tim Kee suggested Nagakiya was to blame for her own killing because of the “vulgar” bikini carnival costume she was wearing. Within days of the mayor's remarks, angry protesters began street demonstrations, demanding that he leave office.
Once the mayor agreed to resign, social media users—many of whom had spent the past few days heaping criticism on Tim Kee—welcomed his departure as the right decision. That gracious respect was short lived, however, as it appears Tim Kee is now reneging on his promise to go.
An online petition calling for his resignation celebrated initial reports that Tim Kee was leaving, calling his departure “an unprecedented milestone in our nation's history and a testament to the power of collective action.” Now that the mayor seems intent to remain in office, the petition's organisers are calling on their 10,000-plus signatories to contact their respective councillors and agitate for the mayor's removal.
Blogger Rhoda Bharath's website, The Eternal Pantomime, shared footage of the press conference where Tim Kee uttered his unfortunate comments about Nagakiya's murder, and noted that the mayor jumped to conclusions before knowing the facts, victim-shamed, failed to offer condolences and “in an attempt to deflect the need for any culpability on his part […] cross-examin[ed] a dead person.”
Bharath made the point that the mayor is costing the city of Port of Spain dearly—and not just financially:
What is especially troubling about this interview, beyond the obvious victim-blaming, is the clear dearth of ideas for handling criminal activity. Tim Kee’s entire response focuses on shifting blame, not assuring his burgesses and offering solutions. […]
Are we getting value for money? Are we happy with his co-ordination of the capital city? Does the city feel safe? Clean? Accessible? Navigable? Are victims of crime treated with respect? are women treated with respect? Did he embarrass the country internationally?
She was also one of the first online to question if Tim Kee's resignation would go ahead as promised:
There is some measure of confusion abounding about whether or not Tim Kee plans to resign this week. However the process is clearly outlined in the Municipal Corporations Act in sub-sections 15, 16 and 21. Tim Kee needs only tender his resignation to them and put an end to the embarrassment that he has brought on his government and the country.
Though he has shown little evidence of it this past week, let us hope good sense shows up and prevails.
By Monday morning, February 15, it was fast becoming clear that Tim Kee was cancelling his plans to leave office. Now vowing that he wouldn't allow himself to “be crucified,” Port of Spain's mayor said he wasn't going anywhere.
Facebook user Joanne Gail Johnson said it was just an excuse to keep his job, writing:
Man up. Asking for, and expecting consequences when warranted, is not ‘crucifixion’. The use of the word ‘crucifixion’ is an emotional overstatement, and […] imposes a selfish distraction away from the call to address issues of 1. Victim blaming and 2. Solving murder and violent crimes against women 3. Prioritizing safety for all especially the elderly, women and children 4. Developing and implementing an integrated national Gender policy.
In the Facebook group “Breaking News T&T,” Sheldon Awai wondered if Tim Kee was trying to dupe the public deliberately.
Rhoda Bharath argued that a deliberate campaign to lie to the public is indeed underway:
The Council has no power to accept or reject a resignation.
It simply does not have that responsibility.
Tim Kee merely has to submit his resignation and inform them. No voting necessary.
There is now a deliberate lie to mislead the public about Council meetings and deliberations and that is beyond despicable and disgusting.
At this rate the entire PoSCC may have to step down for insulting and misleading the public.
Wired868 also shared some insights into the mayor's “attempt to outwit the public”:
Mr Live Wire can confirm—from anonymous but well-placed sources—that the Port of Spain City Corporation did not have an emergency meeting today, there is no deliberation of Tim Kee’s tenure under way. […]
As it turns out, Tim Kee’s eloquently worded offer to resign was never sent to his councillors […] who have read the Mayor’s twists and turns through the media rather than by official correspondence.
Why would Tim Kee tell everyone but his councillors about his intention to leave the Port of Spain City Corporation?
In short, Tim Kee has allegedly attempted the outwit the public. Minus, of course, the wit.
Activist Attillah Springer, one of the organisers of last Friday's protest, talks to the media. Photo: Janine Mendes-Franco.
Attillah Springer, one of the organisers of last Friday's march on City Hall, posted a strong statement of disapproval on the event's Facebook page:
Recanting with regard to something so serious shows a disturbing character flaw, and we doubt that he will maintain the previous level of trust that he held as a public official.
We are strongly concerned that the Council has as yet not made a statement on this matter and has left the public without any sense of clear leadership. […]
People who are charged with responsibility in our society owe a duty of care and must be held accountable if they are seen to devalue the lives of any of our citizens and/or visitors. This was made clear by the Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley, when he stated that Mr. Raymond Tim Kee’s comments were unacceptable.
The call for Mr. Tim Kee’s resignation was made by thousands of people both online and in real life, to send a message to all holders of public office that gender sensitivity is an essential part of the work they do. That this is not understood by some citizens is a further alarming indication of how disposable the lives of women are in this society.
The statement revealed that, over the coming days, the group will present “a schedule of gender sensitivity and gender-based-violence training workshops”, which they hope that the protective services and other government agencies will avail themselves of, and they even invited the mayor himself to be part of the initiative, “in spite of his refusal to demit office“.
The country's opposition leader and former prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, has called for Tim Kee's firing, but protest organiser Attillah Springer is also criticising the former government's “failure to act on a national gender policy”. She and her group demand a more progressive approach from the current administration:
We renew our call for justice for all survivors and victims of gender based violence and for the resolution of ongoing cases in police stations and courts across the country.
There has been so much back and forth that some netizens just couldn't resist having a little fun, despite the tragedy at the root of this story. Here are some of the memes now enjoying popularity on Facebook:
Meme about Mayor Raymond Tim Kee featuring Steve Harvey; widely shared on social media.
The satirical website The Late O'Clock news did not disappoint either, posting this photo:
Meme about Tim Kee by the satirical website The Late O'Clock News; widely shared on Facebook.
The Late O'Clock then followed up with this:
Embattled Mayor Raymond Tim Kee, has amazingly reversed his decision to resign as Mayor of Port of Spain, telling reporters that he forgot that he was living in a third world nation. […]
Tim Kee also said that while he was totally confused by the initial outrage, he later relaxed upon realizing the malcontents belonged exclusively to the intellectual and middle classes, and that their opinions do not matter because, ‘these groups are only taken seriously in the 6 months leading up to an election.’
As netizens wait to see what happens next, Wired868's Mr. Live Wire predicted that the whole thing will soon unravel:
Bless him, he thinks things are getting better now, doesn’t he?
It is like watching a toddler try to walk. Only, this time, you know you will be laughing when he topples over in a few moments. […]
Tim Kee did not resign and never genuinely made any move to do so.
Was Rowley [the country's prime minister] misled like the rest of the nation? Or was he in on one of the clumsiest attempts of misdirection ever tried?
Is Tim Kee hoping to merely confuse protesters into walking away? […]
Mr Undertaker, make that man a political coffin.


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Blast Kills at Least 28 in Ankara, Turkey · Global Voices
Akhal-Tech Collective

Ankara. Wikimedia image.
A bomb blast, believed to have originated from a car bomb, has killed at least 28 people and injured scores in what appears to be a targeted attack on vehicles carrying Turkish military personnel.
The explosion comes amid an intensification of fighting between Turkey's army and the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) that has seen the government conduct regular and sweeping raids on Kurdish-populated areas in the country's east.
The city's governor confirmed the casualties from the blast that went off a short walk from the Turkish parliament.
The government has not yet apportioned blame for the attack.
#Turkey: #Ankara Explosion from Attack on Shuttle carrying Military Personnel https://t.co/eUx2zqYI9D pic.twitter.com/T6VqQAGrrH
— Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) February 17, 2016
From where I'm at in Kızılay, I can see a tower of smoke billowing into the sky #Ankara
— Daniel Metz (@DanielSMetz) February 17, 2016
This is the second major blast that Ankara, the country's second largest city, has experienced in recent times.
In October 2015 over a hundred died after two bombs went off at a rally held to protest fresh violence between Turkey and the PKK.
The government suggested the ISIS militant group in control of vast swathes of Iraq and Syria was responsible for the purported suicide attack.
#Ankara again 😞
— melissa (@melissakmtrn) February 17, 2016
Earlier this year, the historic district of Sultanahmet in Istanbul was struck by suicide bombers the government also linked to ISIS. A total of 12 people died in the attack.
With bombings a disturbingly regular occurrence in Turkey since hostilities with PKK recommenced and Ankara waded into the conflict in Syria and Iraq last year, many Turks were bracing for more bad news on the night of February 17.
All security personnel put on high alert in #Ankara as intelligence warns of new wave of blasts, media now reports
— TurkJourno (@TurkJourno) February 17, 2016

author: Akhal-Tech Collective


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How the Diplomatic Crisis Between Iran and Saudi Arabia Killed Sara Masry’s Blog · Global Voices
Mohammed Al Nemer

Sara Masry, second from right, with her classmates at Takht-e Jamshid (Persepolis), outside Shiraz. Photo used with permission.
In early January 2016, shortly after Iranian protesters attacked the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and the Consulate in Mashhad over the execution of Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr Al-Nimr, Saudi Arabia cut all diplomatic ties with Iran and issued a travel ban.
This diplomatic crisis meant the end of the blog “Saudi in Iran,” which Sara Masry, a Saudi citizen, launched in May 2015, after living for seven months in Iran while pursuing a degree in Iranian Studies at the University of Tehran.
Sara Masry with her friends in 1000-year old mud-brick village of Kharanaq, Yazd. Photo used with permission.
“I can't write ‘Saudi in Iran’ anymore, if I'm not actually in Iran,” Masry told Global Voices. She added, “I'm working hard to find an exemption or a way back, however, because I feel it's really important to continue this.”
On her blog, Masry wrote intensively about her encounters with Iranians, which eroded their many stereotypes about Arabs. “I realized that as much as I was enjoying my stay and learning so many new things, it ended with me, and I wasn't really putting all these experiences and knowledge to use. I wanted to spread the message further and use my experience to try to break cultural barriers and stereotypes, and show another side to the country to people in my region,” she says. Masry lived in Iran for about a year and four months.
Despite all the stereotypes about Arabs in Iran today, Masry says in her final blog post that she never experienced any discrimination firsthand while in Tehran. A Saudi woman, she says she “was met with overwhelming kindness and warmth.”
Masry told Global Voices that the stereotypes about Arabs in Iran are mostly false:
Let's say current among some Iranians, where hatreds and prejudices towards Arabs have been internalised; in my opinion the roots of these can be found in both historical as well as modern-day phenomena and are exacerbated by political and national tensions.
Sara Masry with her mother at the ancient Elamite ‘Chogha Zanbil’ complex in Khuzestan Province, Southern Iran. Photo used with permission.
A lot of extremely nationalistic and patriotic Iranians for example champion harsh anti-Arab rhetoric, which is unfortunate but you find similar views and trends all over the world between peoples that have shared a tumultuous history, in this case including a historical colonial invasion and a more recent war (Iran-Iraq). It's not surprising that such mindsets exist, however if I'm to take my time in Iran (as well as my interaction with Iranians globally) to mean anything, it has showed me that those views in no way represent the majority. So I would say false, sorry for the long answer!
Masry says she is cautious when discussing political tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
I think this has been a long time coming, tensions between the two states have been rising exponentially over the years, and it's kind of like a bubble that had to burst. However I really hope, as some have suggested, that this is the end rather than the beginning to the conflict, as sometimes things must hit rock bottom before improving.
What is happening now is deeply damaging to the region in general as well as its people; bigotry and extreme nationalism are at an all-time high. With each government blaming the other, a large segment of the population inevitably follows and this more often than not turns into racism or chauvinism against the entire counterpart population.
We desperately need to be going in the other direction and lowering the temperature during this tense time for the region.
Sara Masry at Bazaar-e Bozorg (Grand Bazaar) in South Tehran. Photo used with permission.
I think Iran appealed to me this much for the same reason it appeals to many Europeans and Western travellers: in the Arab world we have the same lack of knowledge or understanding of the socio-cultural atmosphere there, what everyday life might look like in Iran, and really just what to expect if one were to go there. Combine that with the fact that there do exist some similarities with Arab culture and language, and we have a shared history to an extent, but at the same time Iran is highly unique in terms of its culture, traditions, lifestyle and many other aspects; I was very intrigued to find out more about the country and wasn't content with just reading and posing endless questions to Iranian friends.
It's very different to life in Saudi Arabia; Tehran is more cosmopolitan than most cities in Saudi, and everyday things like how you get around town, what you do for fun or recreation, are very different, and I don't think you can really compare the two. Inside the home though, especially among traditional families, you get the same sense of ceremony, tradition and hospitality that you may find in a Saudi home. Also, there are abundant similarities between the younger and more secular generations in both countries, to an extent that sometimes hanging out at a friend's place in Tehran felt interchangeable with similar hang-outs I would have in Jeddah.
Asked to summarize the Iranian people in three words, Masry says, “jovial, lively, and humorous.” The three dishes she craves most since leaving are ghorme sabzi, khoreshte fesenjoon, and khoreshte ghayme (particularly her neighbor's batch).
Masry says she's still trying to decide what to do next, now that she's back in Saudi Arabia. She says she hopes to continue her efforts to promote intercultural understanding and tolerance, “whatever form that may take.” She's planning to launch an organization with an Iranian partner called Peace Through Arab-Iranian Cultural Understanding. The group hopes to have a website up and running soon.

author: Mohammed Al Nemer


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It’s Finally Official: Port of Spain’s Mayor Resigns Over His Victim-Blaming Remarks · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

A cross section of the crowd of protestors at the march on Port of Spain City Hall, February 12, 2016. Photo courtesy Janine Mendes-Franco.
Four days after the mayor of Port of Spain, Raymond Tim Kee, announced his intention to resign over the public outcry surrounding his inappropriate and insensitive comments following the death of Japanese steel pan player Asami Nagakiya, he has finally left office.
His comments had seemingly blamed the victim, saying “women have a responsibility to ensure they are not abused during the Carnival season” and warning against the “lewdness” and “vulgarity” of some female masqueraders.
Although many mainstream media outlets were a little quick on the draw, announcing that Tim Kee had officially resigned around lunch time, the deed was not done until after a 3 p.m. (Trinidad and Tobago time) meeting with city council members on February 16. News, sport and satirical website Wired868 announced the actual resignation on its Twitter feed:
Confirmed: Raymond Tim Kee has officially resigned his post as mayor in an emergency Port of Spain council meetings. More details later.
— Wired868 (@Wired868) February 16, 2016
Deputy mayor Keron Valentine set to be appointed as new Port of Spain mayor, after Raymond Tim Kee finally resigns
— Wired868 (@Wired868) February 16, 2016
One the mayor's resignation went through, members of the media posted a copy of the letter on Twitter:
The media was just handed Raymond Tim Kee's resignation letter @cnewslive pic.twitter.com/OrdReu9P6s
— Peter Christopher (@petedchris) February 16, 2016
However, Wired868 did not spare the media for doing exactly what Tim Kee was criticised for himself — jumping the gun before knowing the facts. Recounting what was actually said, the blogger Mr. Live Wire cheekily called for the media's resignation:
Interviewer Jessie-May Ventour: Mr Tim Kee, at the 12 o clock news we found out that you are still the mayor of Port of Spain, that you have not officially tendered your resignation. Is that still the case at this point in time?
Tim Kee: As we speak, yes… That is the case. But I can tell you before we put our lights on this evening that will no longer be the case.
Ventour: I just want to be absolutely clear. By this evening, you will no longer be mayor of Port Spain?
Tim Kee: Precisely.
The subsequent headline: “Tim Kee resigns” was immediately splashed across almost every media house in the country with many claiming that Tim Kee had already tendered his resignation.
Did he resign to Jessie-May? Is saying you are going to something the same as doing it?
Having recklessly misinterpreted Tim Kee’s non-resignation and misquoted the Port of Spain, Mr Live Wire thinks the local media should now do the honourable thing.
The fact remains, though, that Trinidadians were bracing themselves for a fight. Given the delay between Tim Kee's intention and his eventual action, protesters were mobilising themselves to picket City Hall for a second time if necessary. Wired868 was also sceptical as to whether the resignation would materialise, saying:
It was like playing hide and seek with a child who stands in clear view but closes his eyes.
Really?! You know we can see you, right Ray?
Both Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley and governing People's National Movement chairman Franklin Khan put pressure on Tim Kee to stick to his word. In fact, Khan's statement, as reported by CAISO | GSPOTTT | Trinidad & Tobago, an organisation dedicated to furthering the LGBT cause in the country, was rather emphatic:
‘Because you know […] what we are realising is that there are what I call 21st Century issues that we […] can no longer take an antiquated approach to, to its management. You know, […] things like abortion, […] gay rights, […] gender bias, […] abuse to children, and so on. These things, these are very, very sensitive matters […] in the international community now. And our approach to it has to be a 21st Century approach. We have to be extremely more sensitive, and some of these old dogmatic doctrines of […] rural Trinidad and, and the Trinidadian society of the 50s and the 60s are no longer relevant in a modern world.’
The organisation called it “unprecedented […] from a T&T political party leader.”
Wired868 got the inside story on the mayor's resignation though, thanks to an inside source:
Even as Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and PNM chairman Franklin Khan called on Tim Kee to step down for his irresponsible comments after the death of Japanese pannist Asami Nagakiya; and although the Mayor was not universally admired within his burgess, Wired868 was informed that the central party would have been unable to move him. […]
Although Tim Kee promised to leave on Saturday, he was still gauging the support of his council up until Monday, as he mused over an about-turn. But Khan’s public statements were the final straw and he decided to step down.
Despite the many criticisms levelled against Tim Kee, Raffique Shah, writing at Wired868, made an argument that the former mayor may have been foolish, but not misogynistic:
He seemed to have suggested that Nagakiya might have invited her own demise through her conduct during Carnival, which was a very stupid insinuation that warranted condemnation, and, indeed, his resignation as Mayor. […]
I should add my own position before the fem-pack turns rabid on me: nothing that a woman says, does or wears or does not wear, justifies advances from any man […]
What the ex-Mayor was trying to get across, though, his abhorrence toward rampant lewdness on the streets and stages during the Carnival, with women being the prime offenders, is a very valid issue that needs to be discussed.
Carnival, however, has always been a space in which people — women included — have been free to shed societal expectations; to become anyone they want; to ‘leggo’ with wild abandon and ‘get on bad’. The point that the protesters made in seeking to get the mayor out of office is that never again must women be blamed for violence committed against them.


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Netizen Report: Medium Stands Up for Malaysian Investigative Journalists · Global Voices
Netizen Report Team

Screenshot: Medium.com/@sarawakreport
The Malaysian government is now blocking the blogging platform Medium, in an apparent effort to censor the Sarawak Report, which had been mirroring its articles on Medium since it was blocked in July 2015 for reporting allegations that $700 million linked to a state investment fund ended up in the prime minister’s personal bank account.
Initially, Malaysia’s Communications and Multimedia Commission ordered Medium to remove an article posted by the Sarawak Report on the grounds that the text contained “false, unsubstantiated, and misleading” information that violates the country’s Communications and Multimedia Act. Medium’s lawyers then asked for detailed evidence showing specifically what statements are untrue and whether there are any official judicial findings related to the story. Malaysian officials responded by blocking the entire website. Following these developments, Medium said in astatement, “We stand by investigative journalists who publish on Medium. Until we receive an order from a court of competent jurisdiction, the post stays up.”
The Indonesian government forced the messaging app Line to remove LGBTQ-themed stickers from its Indonesian-language store, and is asserting similar pressure on WhatsApp, according to an article published in Quartz. The move signals the Indonesian government’s escalating hostility toward gay rights. Some officials have said “social media must respect the culture and local wisdom of the country where they have large numbers of users.” Despite this, they are likely to face an uphill battle in seeking to remove all LGBTQ-themed items from social messaging: Apple introduced same-sex emojis last year, and WhatsApp’s emojis are built in as part of its keyboard.
In the past six months, Cambodian authorities have ramped up arrests of Internet users on charges of defamation and inciting violence, according to a recent report from the Cambodian Center for Human Rights. Twenty-four Internet users have also been publicly threatened for comments made on social media platforms, according to the report. The new trend could lead to a culture of self-censorship that threatens to inhibit “the expression and tolerance of diverse views … essential for maintaining a healthy democracy,” analysts say.
The governments of the United States and the United Kingdom are busy negotiating a final agreement that would allow British intelligence officials to serve wiretap orders directly on U.S. communication firms, like Facebook and Google, allowing officials in the U.K. to eavesdrop on communications between British citizens in criminal and national security investigations.
Under the terms of the initial draft agreement, which has not been made public, British intelligence agencies would not be permitted to obtain directly the records of American citizens or residents, and they would still have to follow the U.K.’s own (weaker) rules to obtain warrants for the data. The changes could have a significant impact on user privacy and would be reciprocal, so the U.S. could ask for wiretaps or stored data from U.K. companies, if the target were American and not a British citizen.
Gmail introduced a new authentication feature that identifies when emails are sent across connections that are not fully secure. When users send or receive an email from a recipient whose account is not encrypted, they will see a red open lock to indicate the contents were sent over an unsecure connection.
Responding to EU privacy regulators, Google plans to  of the Right to be Forgotten by removing search results across all its websites when accessed from within a European country. Previously, it only removed delisted search results from European domains, like Google.fr and Google.de.
A French court of appeals ruled that French citizen Frederic Durand-Baissas has the right to sue Facebook in French court for removing his post of the Gustave Courbet painting “The Origin of the World.” The landmark ruling rejected Facebook’s claim in its user policy that worldwide lawsuits be heard only in Santa Clara courts, near Facebook’s global headquarters in California. The French court called the requirement unfair and excessive.
Ellery Roberts Biddle, Hae-in Lim, and Sarah Myers West contributed to this report.

author: Netizen Report Team