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

ISSUE #42 CONTENTS:


SPOTLIGHT CASES:

“They Cannot Control the Sky”: Tunis Radio Defiant after Shutdown

Radio Kalima, a small independent station headquartered in Tunis, has Tunisian officials spooked. Initially Radio Kalima broadcast only online, in conjunction with a news web portal. But at the end of January, just as the station launched a satellite broadcast, a phalanx of plainclothes officers suddenly raided the station, confiscating equipment, sealing the office, and changing the locks.

Kalima, whose website has been targeted by hackers under suspicious circumstances, has made a name for itself by reporting on corruption in Tunisian society. The government maintains a tight grip on the country’s media and evidently felt threatened by an outlet that refuses to stick within the unspoken redlines. But, in the words of Radio Kalima station manger Siham Bensadrine, “They cannot control the sky.”

Radio Kalima remains on the cutting edge of independent news reporting in the region, and its bold move to satellite broadcast had raised the stakes in the struggle for free expression. Tunisian authorities have now responded in kind, but the station remains unbowed. “We will continue broadcasting on satellite even after what happened today,” said Bensadrine following the police crackdown. “Radio Kalima will never be silenced.”



Detention: Lock up the Students… and the Teachers

When Saeed Razavi Faghih returned to Iran after studying abroad in France, he received a summons to the Revolutionary Court six days later. Authorities promptly sent Faghih to the notorious Evin Prison, claiming he violated a travel ban – though his outspoken journalism has gotten him in trouble before.

At the opposite end of the region, in Marrakech, a student solidarity march at Cadi Ayyad University ended violently with Moroccan police using intense force to shut down the rally. One arrested student, Abderrazak El Gadiri, was tortured by police and died the next day as a result of injuries.

In Syria, authorities continue to withhold information on student Mohammad Abdulqadir Talib, arrested months ago for donating $20 to impoverished Iraqis. Talib has been subjected to extreme torture to admit false acusations against him.

Some Syrian teachers have met even more brutal fates. The Syrian Human Rights Committee has recently reported the death of two teachers killed under torture. The corpses of Islamic studies teacher Yusuf Jabbouli and secondary mathematics teacher Mohamed Ameen al-Shawa have been returned to their families after their arbitrary arrests.

Welcome back to class!



Wanted for Blogging His Interrogation: Ammar Abdulhamid

Ammar Abdulhamid is a Syrian poet, novelist, and civil rights activist. Son of legendary actress Muna Wassef (star of classic films like “The Message”), Abdulhamid attended university in the US and became an Islamist imam. The 1989 fatwa against Salman Rushdie shook his radicalism, and he returned to Syria to work on civil rights projects. He is a co-founder of the Tharwa Project, an initiative on minority rights in the Mideast, and initially conceived the idea of HAMSA’s “Dream Deferred” essay contest. He spoke to The CRIME Report about his work.

What did you start Tharwa? You're part of the elite, why not stay silent?
Staying silent would have been easier and more profitable, of course. But the stench of decaying dreams became too unbearable. I simply couldn't live as a pariah and ignore the suffering of the majority of people around me, even if they are silent for fear, apathy, ignorance, repression, or any combination of reasons. My duty was to embody, as much as I can, what I preach and to lead by example. Tharwa was launched as an initiative focused on youth-empowerment through grassroots activism. We bring together people from different backgrounds on campaigns designed to improve the daily realities of all inhabitants of the region.

What gave you the idea for the essay contest?
Young people in our part of the world are seldom given the opportunity express themselves freely and be heard. Our educational systems are designed to transform youth into passive listeners and disinterested observers, leaving control completely in the hands of corrupt oligarchies that speak in their name and act on their behalf, with often deadly consequences, both morally and physically for our young. Creative competitions can help empower the young generation and pave the way for new leaders who are more connected to the realities on the ground, more accountable to the public, and less cynical than most of the leaders we currently live under.

You were interrogated by Syrian security forces in 2005 - and blogged about it a few hours later. Did the officers know you were blogging your interrogation?
A lot was happening then, including the expansion inside Syria of the Tharwa network, which then operated quite openly. I was also writing articles highly critical of the policies of the ruling regime and the president, which helped pave the way for repeated interrogations. For months I acted too blasé about being interrogated: I blogged about it openly, knowing that the authorities were simply too out of touch to even notice – until I brought the matter to their attention. I pushed the system a bit too much… I always had a problem with authority, especially when it seemed unjustified and oppressive. I acted out, paving the way for my exile and a period of transition for Tharwa. But a new indigenous leadership emerged for Tharwa in-country and our network expanded across the region. Tharwa is fast becoming an institution that can outgrow and outlive its founder – and more than compensate for his shortcomings. The measure of success for an activist is becoming obsolete and irrelevant. I believe I’m not too far from getting there.

What civil rights changes are happening in Syria today?
We face ongoing repression by the Syrian authorities, the regime’s cruel tactics (culminating recently in a full-fledged massacre against political detainees in the infamous Saydnaya prison), and the silence of the international community in response. Nonetheless, the ranks of many dissident groups are swelling. Repression is backfiring. Our main task at Tharwa is to actually control tempers and channel the energies of new recruits into peaceful outlets for civil disobedience. There is hope, albeit laced with frustration.

 

Quiz: Who was sentenced to six years in jail - after he was pardoned?
Answer: Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani, the pioneering Yemeni journalist, was convicted of “disseminating pro-rebel propaganda to local and foreign media” on January 26. Yemen’s Special Court on Terrorism upheld the guilty verdict against al-Khaiwani, despite pardon he received from President Saleh in September. The pardon, which came in the wake of international campaign, seemed to close the trumped up case against al-Khaiwani. The court’s sudden decision came as a surprise to al-Khaiwani, who was unaware of the trial and received no summons for the hearing. Is this Yemen’s ironic version of an independent judiciary?

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