A blog post featuring satirical cartoons of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is currently blocked by court order inside Turkey but freely available elsewhere, highlighting the delicate balance between intellectual freedom and local laws that online hosting platforms must maintain…
Author: Maren Williams
Virginia School Board Votes to Restore Mockingbird and Huckleberry Finn
The classic novels To Kill a Mockingbird and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are back in school libraries and classrooms in Accomack County, Virginia today after the school board last night voted not to ban them in response to a…
Egyptian MPs Recommend Pardon for Jailed Novelist Naji
Jailed Egyptian novelist Ahmed Naji was included on a parliamentary committee’s list of recommended pardons sent to President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on Sunday, the same day that the next hearing in Naji’s appeal of a conviction for “violating public modesty”…
Illinois High School Discontinues God of Small Things, Cites Lack of Initial Approval
A Chicago-area high school has discontinued use of Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things in its English curriculum, saying that the novel had not gone through the initial approval process outlined in district policy and contained “subject matter in…
CBLDF in the Media: Defending Comics for the Future
CBLDF’s Executive Director Charles Brownstein has been busy as ever these past few months, making the rounds of TV, radio, and print media to discuss our work defending comics from censorship attempts and our plans for the future! This week…
UPDATED: CBLDF Joins Defense of Perks in Dubuque Community Schools
Update 12/2/16: After a public meeting attended by over 100 people last night, Dubuque Community Schools’ review committee unanimously voted to retain The Perks of Being a Wallflower in the curriculum. More than 40 members of the public offered comments,…
Egyptian Court Rejects Naji’s Third Appeal for Release
A Cairo court on Saturday rejected author Ahmed Naji’s third appeal for release from prison, where he has now served 10 months of a two-year sentence for “violating public modesty” with an excerpt from his book Use of Life which…
Intellectual Freedom Award Goes to Librarian Who Weathered Protests Against Program on Islam
Wendy Campbell, the library director in the small town of Darby, Montana, who successfully organized a community discussion on Islam despite objections from some local residents, has been announced as the 2016 recipient of the Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom…
Zunar Faces New Sedition Charge After Mob Disrupts Cartoon Exhibit
It’s been an eventful weekend for Zunar, the Malaysian political cartoonist facing nine separate charges of sedition which could net him up to 43 years in prison. First, on Friday his new cartoon exhibit was stormed by an angry mob…
Zunar to Again Challenge Malaysia’s Sedition Act
Malaysian cartoonist Zunar, currently facing nine separate sedition charges for statements he made on Twitter last year, announced yesterday that his latest challenge to the country’s Sedition Act will proceed on January 24, 2017. If the challenge fails and he…