In 2010, a graduate student named Pascal Abidor was traveling from Canada to New York when he was removed from his train and detained by American border agents. In addition to being handcuffed and questioned, his laptop was also seized.…
Category: International
Censorship 2013: Comics Editors Convicted of Obscenity
Earlier this month, CBLDF received word that editors of the popular Japanese comics publication Core Magazine pleaded guilty to charges of obscenity. The conviction marks an escalation in the assault on free expression in the Japanese manga industry by Tokyo…
Core Magazine Pleads Guilty in Japanese Obscenity Case
In July, three people, including Akira Ōta, who heads the editorial department at Core Magazine, were arrested in Japan amid accusations of obscenity. According to CBLDF’s source in Japan, the Core Magazine case went to court, and despite predictions of a…
Please Include CBLDF in Your Year-End Charitable Giving
CBLDF is able to perform our important work thanks to the direct contributions of supporters like you. December is the Fund’s most important fundraising month because we receive more than a quarter of our annual budget in year-end gifts from…
Indian Political Cartoons Deleted from Twitter — No Explanation Yet
Indian blogs are reporting that two pieces by political cartoonist Manjul were repeatedly deleted from Twitter with no explanation over the weekend, but the cartoons have just as mysteriously been allowed to remain after he posted each of them a…
Qatari Cartoonists Vital Part of Country’s Journalism
Halfway across the world, in a tiny country on the Arabian Peninsula, cartoonists are in high demand. In Qatar, which is slightly smaller in size than the state of Connecticut, editorial cartoonists are a vital part of journalism in the…
Cartoonist Keeps Drawing Despite Fundamentalist Threats
The last time we featured Egyptian political cartoonist Doaa Eladl here, she was facing a Muslim Brotherhood-backed lawsuit that alleged one of her cartoons was blasphemous. In the tumultuous months since then, the lawsuit evaporated along with Mohamed Morsi’s presidency…
Nominate an International Champion of Free Expression!
This week, the Index on Censorship, an international organization that advocates for free expression around the world, opened up nominations for the 2014 Index Freedom of Expression Awards. Until December 6, you have an opportunity draw “attention to international champions…
Report Illustrates International Crackdown on Online Expression
A new infographic from PEN, an international NGO that aids writers threatened with arrest, prosecution, or violence, shows that government repression of speech is increasingly focused online. PEN found 92 writers around the world currently imprisoned or in detention for…
Study of 11,000 Children Finds that Video Games Have Little Effect on Behavior
Despite overwhelming scientific evidence that there is not a strong link between video games and violent behavior, video games are still cited as a cause of mass shootings and other violence. A recent study of 11,000 children by the University…