On July 25, authorities in the U.K. detained a Muslim citizen at an airport after a cabin crew member reported her for “suspicious activity.” That activity? Reading a book celebrating the freedom of expression in Syria. Faizah Shaheen was returning…
Category: International
Exiled Cartoonist: “I’m From the Internet”
Despite 27 years in exile, Sudanese cartoonist Khalid Albaih has found a home: the internet. Like many cartoonists displaced by oppressive regimes, Albaih recognizes the power of the web as a tool for circumventing censorship, expressing dissent, and fomenting change. Albaih…
Turkish Cartoonists Refuse to Back Down in Post-Coup Crackdown
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has spent years trying to crack down on free expression in the country. A failed July coup attempt heralded even more oppression, but much like previous attempts to stifle dissent, Turkey’s satirists are still finding ways to…
Banned in China: Suicide Squad Unlikely to See Release Due to Violence
Things are looking dire for a Chinese release of Suicide Squad. The movie has yet to appear on the internal release calendar for the China Film Group, the state-owned movie distributor that handles all imported films, indicating that the film has not…
Anti-Nazi Disney Cartoon Pulled from Russian Extremist Materials List
73 years after its debut on the silver screen, the Oscar-winning 1943 Donald Duck short “Der Fuehrer’s Face” or “Donald Duck in Nutzi Land” has been pulled off the list of banned “extremist materials” in Kamchatka, Russia. In 2010, a…
Unidentified Comic Among Hundreds of Books Seized in Raid on Hong Kong Fair
Authorities raided the Hong Kong Book Fair just as it was wrapping up last week, seizing more than 1400 copies of 300 different titles suspected to be obscene or indecent under local law. One unidentified comic was among the books…
University of Cape Town Incites Controversy by Rescinding Flemming Rose Lecture Invitation
Out of fear of that his speech might provoke the audience and incite violence, the University of Cape Town has withdrawn their invitation to Danish editor Flemming Rose to speak at the TB Davie Lecture organized by the Academic Freedom…
Chinese Cartoonist’s Elusive Battle with Censors
Chinese cartoonist Badiucao has no qualms about tackling China’s difficult political and social issues. As a result, he’s become skilled at eluding the authorities that would censor him. In a recent interview with Cartoonists Rights Network International, Badiucao speaks about the lengths…
After Ban and Media Crackdown, Turkish Magazine Fears Attack
The Turkish government’s media crackdown continues this week, thinly justified as a “cleansing” after the failed coup attempt of July 15-16. In the past few days, more than 130 press outlets have been shut down and arrest warrants issued for…
Exiled Egyptian Creator Tackles Big Issues in Dystopian Webcomic
In the immediate wake of the 2011 Tahrir Square uprising, the Egyptian graphic designer and comic creator who goes by Ganzeer gained notoriety as a street artist, painting murals of protesters who had died in the struggle. But in the…