Censorship on freeDimensional

Letter to Moroccan Minister of Justice re: musician Mouad Belghouate

Mon, 07 Jul 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Open Letter to the Moroccan Minister of Justice and Liberties El Mustapha Ramid on the Four-month Sentence Against Musician Mouad Belghouate (aka El Haqed)

7 July 2014
Mr El Mustapha Ramid
Minister of Justice and Liberties
Ministère de la Justice et des libertés Place El Mamounia – BP 1015
Rabat
Morocco
Fax:+212 537 73 47 25
We the undersigned organisations committed to the defence of the rights to freedom of expression, culture and the arts, condemn the four-month sentence served against musician Mouad Belghouate (aka El Haqed) following a trial that fell short of international standards. We are concerned that the sentence has been given in retribution for his involvement in Morocco’s pro-democracy movement, and specifically his condemnation of corruption and police violence through his music.

To send letters of support for Moroccan musician Mouad (El Haqed)

Mon, 07 Jul 2014 00:00:00 +0000

If you would like to send support letters to the Moroccan musician, Mouad Belghouate (aka El Haqed), please note:

- keep messages short with simple message wishing El Haqed well and that he will soon be free.
- no political or religious comment or images ( tourist cards are appreciated….)
- Give return address/email.

Send to:

Mouad Belghouate

Prison local Oukacha

Quartier Oukacha

20 580 Casablanca, Morocco

Salvadorian performance artist faces prison for eating his ballot card : petition launched in his defence

Fri, 28 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0000

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/El_Salvador_Legal_Authorities_Keep_Victor_Rodriguez_out_of_jail/?fbss

Víctor “Crack” Rodríguez is facing up to six years in prison for a performance piece. After the general election in El Salvador that split the winning left party from the right by a margin of less than 1% percent, tensions in the country are high, especially amongst the nation’s community of artists, who are rallying to defend Rodríguez, one of San Salvador’s celebrated contemporary artists.

On March 9th, 2014 Rodriguez walked in to a ballot station and announced, “this is an artist action,” then proceeded to eat half of his ballot in front of polling station onlookers before casting the remaining half. A video of the artist’s performance went viral. But the situation quickly turned ugly as the Salvadoran legal system reacted, accusing the artist of electoral fraud — a criminal offence punishable by up to six years in prison.

Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish’s books removed from Riyadh International Book Fair

Sun, 16 Mar 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Just a few days after all the works by Saudi publisher Arab Network for Research and Publishing were removed from the Riyadh International Book Fair for violating the Kingdom’s laws, the works of globally celebrated Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish caused protests and have reportedly been withdrawn from the fair and are not to be sold:

Numerous news sources were reporting the removal of the books, while images and videos circulating on Twitter purported to show the protests against Darwish’s ouevre as well as the packing-up of Darwish’s books.

Statement by Malaysian Political Cartoonist, Zunar: "MALAYSIA BANS CARTOONS DURING THE ELECTION, BUT I WILL DEFY THE RULING!"

Sun, 10 Jun 2012 00:00:00 +0000

STATEMENT:

I would like to refer to the ruling made by the Election Commission of Malaysia which bans the use of cartoons in the campaigns for the up-coming General Election. (General election’s date in Malaysia can only be decided by the Prime Minister, but must be called before the current term ends in March 2013).

The banning of cartoons during the election is comical and ludicrous. This is because cartooning is a legally-practiced medium in Malaysia and therefore the Commission does not have the right to forbid its use. Moreover, this is contradicting to the freedom of expression as provided to all citizens in Malaysian Constitution.

Press alert: Music Freedom Day - Saturday 3 March

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Press alert: Music Freedom Day - a global manifestation for freedom of expression for musicians on Saturday 3 March

In 48 hours, on this Saturday, the annual Music Freedom Day is marked with events, seminars, exhibitions, film shows, radio programmes and news paper articles on freedom of expression for musicians and composers all over the world.

List and programmes of events Events are currently being prepared in 19 countries: Activities on Music Freedom Day 2012