ISSUE #27 CONTENTS:
- No Comic Relief: Uproar as Yemeni Comedian Jailed for Presidential Imitation
- $10,000 Reward: Essay Contest Winners
- Net Gain: Cyber Activists Hold Anti-Censorship Summit
- QUIZ: Egypt's Mysterious New Newspaper
- Become a Partner in CRIME
SPOTLIGHT CASES:
No Comic Relief: Uproar as Yemeni Comedian Jailed for Presidential Imitation
Fahd Al-Qarani faced the judge in the southern Yemeni city of Taiz. The nationally-beloved comedian-singer (dubbed by some the Adam Sandler of Yemen) was being charged by the government for “insulting Yemen’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.” To prove their case, prosecutors played a tape of one of his sketches. The entire courtroom burst out laughing – and prosecutors rushed to demand a recess as police intervened.
Clearly, Al-Qarani is a pretty funny guy. Because much of Yemen’s population is illiterate, his recordings reach a much wider audience than opposition newspapers, and his concerts draw thousands of spectators. One of Al-Qarani’s most popular sketches features a taxi driver who, though never named, speaks in a dead-on imitation of President Saleh. The skit is both hilarious and blunt: Yemen is being taken for a ride by a reckless driver.
While Yemeni crowds were laughing – inside and outside of courtrooms – President Saleh was not. After repeated attempts to silence Al-Qarani, the government won its case on July 9, as the comic was sentenced to 18 months in jail plus a $2,500 fine. But Al-Qarani seems to be relishing the notoriety of being sent to jail for being too funny. He called on his fans to come celebrate the verdict, and hundreds poured out into the streets demanding his release and a commitment by the government to protect freedom of expression.
In the showdown between Saleh and Al-Qarani, it remains to be seen who will get the last laugh.
$10,000 Reward: Essay Contest Winners Share Their Dreams
S. is an Iranian student who read George Orwell’s 1984 – only to discover that he was a character trapped inside the novel. “I used to try to convince myself every time I saw Khamenei’s picture, our Supreme Leader, on the mural, that he was not ‘Big Brother,’” writes the young Iranian (who requested his real name be hidden). “The way I felt was not much different from what Romeo and Juliet’s parents would have felt if they had seen the play.”
The essay is one of ten outstanding essays – five from the Middle East and five from the United States – that won a total of $10,000 in cash prizes in the 2008 Dream Deferred Essay Contest. An additional 50 outstanding writers were selected for book prizes by an international panel of celebrity judges (including best selling author Azar Nafisi). Hundreds of other noteworthy entrants are being encouraged to act on their ideas and launch campaigns for civil rights in the Middle East.
Some essays share the pain of a dream deferred, as young Middle Easterners describe the impact of basic individual rights being denied in their everyday lives. Other writers, though, imagine a brighter future and even lay out a specific plan for how to achieve their vision. Taken together, the top essays present a multi-dimensional portrait of repression and reform – and offer hope that the emerging generation of Americans and Middle Easterners can work together to secure civil rights once and for all.
Net Gain: Blogger-Activists Tackle Global Censorship at Budapest Summit
Last July, Syrian Minister of Communication, Amr Salim, issued a decree requiring websites owners to keep the personal information of anyone leaves a comment on their sites. The move was one of many by regimes across the Middle East and around the world to constrain and censor free expression on the Internet.
But two weeks ago, 200 bloggers, cyber activists, and journalists gathered in Budapest for the Global Voices Citizen Media Summit to discuss the process of creating a global anti-censorship network. Nasser Weddady, HAMSA’s Outreach Director, joined the summit to present lessons learned from HAMSA’s recent online campaigns for arrested bloggers and journalists.
This was a special gathering of individuals who normally communicate via the Internet,” noted Weddady. And, as organizer Ethan Zuckerman observed, “there is no technology yet to replace the impact of face-to-face discussion, particularly with remarkable participants from around the world at last in the same room.” Presenters included international names like Xiao Qiang (from China Internet Project), Robert Guerra (Privaterra, Cuba), and Roger Dingeldine (creator of the Tor anonymizer software).
Upcoming issues will feature interviews with some of these activist-innovators. In the meantime, watch a video clip of Weddady’s presentation on one lone blogger who managed to launch an international campaign against censorship.
QUIZ: Where can you find the new Egyptian newspaper Al-Khan?
Only in The Daily News Egypt . Al-Khan is a fictional Egyptian newspaper featured in the new Daily News Egypt comic strip by cartoonist Tarek Shahin. The comic follows the adventures of the newspaper’s staff, particularly the young publisher Omar Shukri, who gives up a banking job in London to run the family newspaper in Cairo. If Shukri’s name sounds familiar, it’s because Omar Shukri was the subject of Shahin’s imaginative essay that won first place in the 2006 Dream Deferred Essay Contest.
BECOME A PARTNER IN CRIME:
Here is a list of four quick ways you contribute to the Middle East civil rights movement:
- Forward this newsletter to friends & encourage them to subscribe.
- Write a letter to help Yemeni writer Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani.
- Write a letter to imprisoned Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer.
- Apply to participate in HAMSA’s civil rights fellowship program.