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…
Category: International
BBC’s 100 Women Includes Barrier-Breaking Middle Eastern Cartoonists
Every year, the BBC puts the spotlight on influential women around the world for its 100 Women series. For 2016, the list includes three Middle Eastern cartoonists fighting for women’s rights and freedom of expression: Doaa Eladl in Egypt, Riham Elhour…
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”…
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…
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…
Jailed Egyptian Novelist Ahmed Naji Files New Appeal for Release
Egyptian author Ahmed Naji, jailed since February after being convicted of “violating public modesty” with an excerpt from his novel Use of Life, is launching a new appeal for release after the government agreed to review the cases of political…
Russian Library Director Goes to Trial for Possessing “Extremist” Books
The director of the Library of Ukrainian Literature in Moscow, Russia, has begun the trial process after being charged and put on house arrest last year for possessing books that “incite ethnic hatred.” Last October, Natalia Sharina’s personal residence as…
Vietnamese Creators Fight Against Outdated “Comics Are for Kids” Mentality
Vietnamese comic artists today are not only finding creative ways to combat censorship, but are also working to overcome many of the negative stereotypes still associated with the medium—most frequently, the fallacy that comics are for children and cannot be…
In Exile, Venezuelan Cartoonist Finds Space to Criticize Government Oppression
Rayma Suprani has long been one of the best-known and most fearless political cartoonists in Venezuela, but for almost a year she and her work have only been “in” the country virtually, through social media. After El Universal, the newspaper…