ISSUE #34 CONTENTS:
- Campaign for California Student Arrested in Tehran
- Tunisian Bloggers Act against Censorship
- WANTED: For Being a Force for Women's Rights
- Quiz: Arrested for posting a sermon online
- Become a Partner in CRIME
SPOTLIGHT CASES:
California Student Arrested in Tehran: The Campaign for Esha Momeni
The American Islamic Congress (AIC) today launched a letter-writing campaign calling for the immediate release of a California State University student arrested in Tehran after interviewing women’s rights advocates. Esha Momeni is a native of Los Angeles who was visiting Tehran last week to conduct academic research on Iran's women's rights movement, filming video interviews with local activists.
Security officers arrested her during a traffic stop, seized her video tapes, and have held her in solitary confinement ever since in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison. When her family tried to visit her they were sent home. This echoes the case of Zahra Kazemi, a Canadian photographer arrested after covering a rally and subsequently beaten to death in Evin Prison.
"Esha Momeni is an American citizen seized in Iran simply for researching the local women's rights movement," said Nasser Weddady, AIC's Civil Rights Outreach Director. "It is vital in this unfolding hostage crisis that we protect an American student locked in Evin Prison."
Please take a moment to send a letter to international leaders calling for Esha's immediate release. To participate in the campaign go to www.free-esha.com.
They're Not Going to Take it: Tunisian Bloggers Retaliate
Fighting back against the Tunisian government's recent crackdown on free Internet expression, Tunisian bloggers are rallying in support of local journalist Zied El Heni, who is suing the government for censoring the internet and blocking Facebook.
When El Heni tried to access the social networking site, he got Error Message 404 – Site Not Found, instead of Error 403 – Access Forbidden. Facebook was being blocked, but the Tunisian Internet Agency was lying to its users, telling them that the site was not forbidden, but incassible for technical reasons. Angered by the internet censorship and the agency's attempted cover up, El Heni decided to sue. He believes that that blocking the site was "wrong and illegal" and that the error message was misleading and caused him punitive damages.
The Tunisian Internet Agency does not stop its activities at Facebook. It has previously blocked Youtube, Dailymotion, Al Arabiyya, Aljazeera and the agency continues its censorship of both individual and community blogs. El Heni's trial date is set for November 4 and local bloggers are drawing attention to the case by declaring November 4 a National Day for Freedom of Blogging. They have created a Facebook group and are promoting solidarity for their cause, but The National Day for Freedom of Blogging is not simply about El Heni’s case, although he has served as its inspiration.
The movement's founders also call for a law to denounce censorship and to protect internet users from "unlawful investigation and arrest due to the content of our blogs." Even if El Heni does not win his suit, November 4 will mark a new future in internet activism for Tunisia.
WANTED: For Being a Force for Women's Rights
Her first foray into activism failed, but that will not deter her from trying again, says H.S. in an interview with The CRIME Report. The Dream Deferred contest winner, whose frank essay revealed the impact of social stigmas on overall civil rights repression, explains how she will fight on.
HAMSA: Discuss your blog a bit, how effective was it in getting your message out?
My blog was at first a tool for provocation. It was supposed to shock people but also to say out loud what many believe, but keep to themselves. As I continued to write, more and more girls joined me and proposed topics or simply told me their stories. I then felt a link between these women and the rest of the world. They could not express their opinions with an uncovered face, openly, for they have been oppressed for too long. This was enough to keep me writing. Because of a lack of communication among females in our society, these women believed that they were the only ones to commit "terrible vices" which were actually trivial things that everyone was doing. The virtual community made the burden easier to bear for all.
HAMSA: Are your burdens and views shared by the older women in your family? Do you feel that there is a generation gap?
The gap between generations in Mauritania is very evident among women. Many women of my generation did almost nothing with women of the previous generation, that is to say, with our mothers, who are at most 20 years older than their daughters. This gap is even more visible among the younger generation of girls, (15 years old), who are pushed away from traditional values and into Occidentalism by rapid westernization The most serious problem is that the Mauritanian culture is not a culture of dialogue. In its essence, this is a culture based on the unsaid, the innate respect. That is why we see very few mothers and daughters talk, or even share their opinions.
Are you in-touch with other women activists in Mauritania?
There are several types of activism among Mauritanian women. There is one local NGO which is role is to receive and distribute funds for women. There are very few women in Mauritania who fight for their rights. I am in contact mainly with small associations which assist mothers and women in prison.
Did the man you wanted to marry protest your activism? What do you think influenced his more tolerant views? What was his reaction?
The man I wanted to marry, was like any good Mauritanian, worried for my reputation. He did not want anyone to know that I wrote the blog postings, a position that I can quite understand. He was very tolerant vis-à-vis my opinions and although our plan to marry did not work out, I think I will never be in a relationship with anyone less tolerant than him.
Quiz: Where can you be arrested for posting a sermon online?
Answer: In Iran, if the sermon was given by the "wrong" Ayatollah. Journalist Mojtaba Lotfi was arrested on October 8 for posting a sermon by Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri, a dissident, who argued in his sermon that contrary to President Ahmadinejad’s claims, Iran is not the freest country in the world. Lofti was arrested and charged with disseminating false information. So much for spreading the good word.
BECOME A PARTNER IN CRIME:
Here is a list of quick ways you contribute to the Middle East civil rights movement:
- Forward this update to friends & encourage them to subscribe
- Write a letter calling for the release of Esha Momeni.
- Write a letter to imprisoned Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer
- Apply to participate in HAMSA’s civil rights fellowship program.