The C.R.I.M.E. Report

ISSUE #11 CONTENTS:


SPOTLIGHT CASES:

Un-Bearable: The Campaign to Free Gillian Gibbons

The details of the case read like a satire: British national Gillian Gibbons is teaching at a private school in Khartoum, Sudan. As a classroom project, some of her students give a teddy bear a name they like – Muhammad. A fellow teacher reports Gibbons to the Sudanese authorities, who promptly charge her with insulting religions and inciting hatred. A judge swiftly sentences Gibbons to 15 days in jail. 

“The sad legacy of the Danish cartoon riots,” noted Nasser Weddady, AIC’s Civil Rights Outreach Director, “is that we have to speak out immediately when extremists try to provoke clashes over trivial matters. This is not about cultural sensitivities. There is no excuse for someone to be sent to jail over a teddy bear’s name.”  

In response to the outrageous civil rights abuse, AIC launched www.FreeGillian.org – an online letter-writing campaign to Sudanese officials calling for Gibbons to be released immediately. “We need to show that Muslims – and all people of conscience – are outraged at this ridiculous case and won’t stand by silently,” Weddady explained. “Otherwise, the extremists set the agenda and the most basic civil rights are restricted.” 

This past Sunday, Ms. Gibbons was pardoned and returned home to England. 



L'Affaire Al-Maskati: Crackdown on Bahraini Activist

Last week, a Bahraini court charged 20-year-old civil rights activist Mohamed Al-Maskati with running an unauthorized organization. Al-Maskati first filed an application to begin the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights in March 2005, but the Ministry of Social Affairs never responded. He re-filed the application ten more times, yet still got no response.

In the meantime, Al-Maskati emerged as one of the Middle East’s prominent young activists, challenging repression across the region (he was recently prevented from entering Egypt) and at home. Al-Maskati launched “The Non-Violent Youth Center” to teach Middle Eastern youth how to apply non-violent strategies to obtain civil rights.

Apparently, his outspoken activism has finally caused Bahraini officials to respond. On Tuesday, he was summoned before a tribunal and asked to justify his activities. “I have a right to organization and to freedom of speech,” Al-Maskati replied.

In an interview with The CRIME Report, Al-Maskati stated that the Ministry’s accusation against him “is just a part of the intimidation process against any dissenting opinion in the country.  The laws are only used when they suit the government.”  Al-Maskati faces up to six months in prison and a $3,000 fine. He returns to court on January 21.



Watchdog: New Jersey Woman Shakes Up Yemen Media Scene

Jane Novak’s New Jersey home hardly seems the ideal spot for leading a civil rights revolution. Yet Novak, a journalist, political analyst and mother of two, has become a household name for Yemeni activists simply by writing at her computer. Her blog, Armies of Liberation (blocked inside Yemen), chronicles Yemen in areas related to press freedom, women’s issues, and torture by security forces. 

Novak’s interest in Yemen began with the imprisonment of journalist Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani in 2004. Moved by an article about al-Khaiwani’s children missing their father, Novak decided to publicize his case in the West.  She wrote five articles in three months and circulated them worldwide.  Her articles caught the attention of American bloggers as well as young journalist Sami No’aman, who translated them into Arabic and published them in Yemen.

Novak then launched a petition calling for al-Khaiwani’s release, which soon garnered 1,000 signatures. Shortly thereafter, al-Khaiwani was granted amnesty.  “In the process, I learned about the enormous challenges Yemeni journalists face,” Novak told The CRIME Report. “I came to deeply respect them as modern heroes.”

Thanks to Novak’s dedication, struggles halfway around the world have become international incidents.  “The people with rights have an obligation to work for the people who don’t,” she explained. “Other people can become informed and bring pressure on the American government to live up to its founding ideals.” Jane Novak is looking for a few good men and women.

 

QUIZ: Final Exams
Stressed out about final exams? Try taking your finals in handcuffs. That is what one Iranian student was forced to do after he was imprisoned for blogging about the arrest of three colleagues. While Mojtaba Saminejad was serving a two-year sentence for this “crime,” authorities temporarily released him to take his final examinations at Tehran’s Azad University. However, there was one condition: Saminejad had to take his exams handcuffed.

BECOME A PARTNER IN CRIME:
Here is a list of four quick ways you contribute to the Middle East civil rights movement: