Iranian cartoonist Atena Farghadani, currently serving a nearly 13-year prison sentence for caricaturing members of parliament as animals, has been spared even more prison time as she was recently acquitted of “non-adultery illegitimate relations.” That charge was brought after she…
Category: News Blog
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Cartoonists Use Social Media to Show Solidarity with Censored Saudi Cartoonist
When Saudi cartoonist Abdullah Jaber seemingly disappeared for ten days, many feared the worst. Had he been abducted? Was he harmed for a cartoon critical of his government? When Jaber reemerged on Twitter, his message was simple — and disturbing — he…
Snow White Book Banned in Qatar for “Indecent” Illustrations
Qatar’s Supreme Education Council recently ordered a private school to remove a picture-book adaptation of Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs from its library collection due to illustrations that one parent said were “inappropriate” and “indecent.” The principal at…
China Bans Its Own History
Even China’s own history isn’t safe from censorship. A collection of essays entitled The Realm of History by late historian Gao Hua, which offers a historical and cultural analysis of mainland China’s contemporary history and the Communist Party, has been…
Five Years Later, Cartoonists Have Faith in Arab Spring
This month marks five years since the regional wave of uprisings known as the Arab Spring began in Tunisia. Both before and after the regime changes in that country, Egypt, and Libya, as well as ongoing civil wars in Syria…
NH Students Recreate Banned Book Covers
Monadnock Regional High School art teacher Emily Bialek didn’t just want her Swanzey, New Hampshire, students to create art. She wanted them to use art to help foster learning about larger topics that extended beyond the canvas. Her idea: have…
LEGO Changes Bulk Order Policy After Ai Weiwei Protest
Months after news broke that LEGO Group refused to fulfill a bulk order for Ai Weiwei’s current exhibit at Australia’s National Gallery of Victoria, the company reversed course this week and announced that it no longer vets customers’ intentions for…
No Chimichanga: Deadpool Movie Banned in China
Due to violence, nudity, and graphic language, one of the most anticipated comic book movie adaptations of the year, Deadpool, has been officially banned from China. According to The Hollywood Reporter, China has quickly become the world’s second largest theatrical…
Zunar to Join US Colleagues for California Free Expression Conference
Embattled Malaysian cartoonist Zunar and four U.S. colleagues will join in a roundtable discussion this Friday at the University of California, Irvine School of Law. The event kicks off a three-day conference called What Cannot Be Said: Freedom of Expression…
Egyptian Author Goes Back to Court for “Harming Public Morality”
Egyptian novelist Ahmed Naji and newspaper editor Tarek e-Taher are going back to court to be retried for allegedly “harming public morality” just a few short weeks after being acquitted of the same charges. Naji and el-Taher were first brought…