WOMEN AND “CYBERDISSENT” Tunisia, Iran and China
(Mar. 09, 2005)International PEN
Writers in Prison Committee
Women' s Day 8 March 2005 (boxun.com)
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In the past decade, the use of the Internet has risen to phenomenal proportions transforming societies world wide.
It enjoys huge popular support, with a growth in web sites,
webzines and on-line chat-rooms in which individuals can
swap information and ideas. In many countries around the
world dissident communities have seized on the Internet
with enthusiasm as a method of expressing their views about
their governments and launching campaigns for political
reform. Very often, traditional print-forms of
communication, such as journals, have been banned. The
Internet can then promise unfettered exchanges of opinions.
'Cyberdissent' has become the samizdat of the 21st
century. The issue is especially pertinent in 2005 as
preparations are under way for the World Summit on
Information Society, to be held in November in Tunisia, a
country not known for its tolerance of dissenting views.
Women who use the internet to disseminate their ideas have
found themselves caught up in some governments’ often harsh
attempts to control information exchange on the world wide
web. To mark this year’s Women’s Day on 8 March, and
looking towards the Tunis Summit, PEN is focussing on three
cases of women under attack for using new information
technology to challenge their governments.
This year PEN is focussing on three women under attack for
using the internet to disseminate information and ideas
○ In Tunisia, the editor of an online magazine and fearless
defender of human rights, Sihem Bensedrine, has suffered
years of harassment and attack;
○ Two women, - Mahboudeh Abbasgholizadeh and Fershteh Ghazi
were caught up in a crackdown against internet users in
Iran, suffering torture and abuse
○ In China, Ma Yaliang has been in prison for over a year
for articles posted on the internet
(Further details of these cases follow below)
On 8 March, PEN members world-wide will commemorate the
courage of these women, and all others women writers and
journalists who are detained and under attack today for
practising their right to freedom of expression. Writers
world wide will send protests to the Tunisian, Iranian and
Chinese authorities to stop the attacks against women who
speak out and to end suppression of cyberdissidents.
For further information contact International PEN Writers
in Prison Committee, 9/10 Charterhouse Buildings, Goswell
Road, London EC1M 7AT, U.K. Tel: +44 (0)207 253 3226, fax:
+44 (0)207 253 5711, email: intpen@gn.apc.org
International PEN
Writers in Prison Committee
Women’s Day 8 March 2005
Tunisia
Sihem Bensedrine
Despite severe repression of freedom of expression over the
decades, with writers and journalists who challenge the
authorities regularly facing many forms of persecution
including imprisonment and torture, a few individuals are
willing to take enormous risks to protect the right to
speak out. One of the most remarkable is Sihem Bensedrine,
editor of the on-line magazine Kalima.
Bensedrine, who is also a founding member and secretary
general of the Observatory for Defence of Freedom of the
Press, Publishing and Creation (OLPEC) and the head of the
National Council for Freedom in Tunisia (CNLT), is a
leading light in the movement for free expression in
Tunisia. She has suffered constant persecution by the
Tunisian authorities over many years for simply pursuing
her right to freedom of expression. In addition to having
been subjected to constant harassment and police
surveillance, the journalist and human rights activist has
suffered severe beatings at the hands of the police. Also
during June and August 2001 she was imprisoned for six
weeks on charges of " defamation" and broadcasting “false
news” for appearing in a London based Arabic TV station in
an interview in which she discussed corruption in Tunisia.
More recently, on 5 January 2004, Sihem Bensedrine was
attacked in Paris as she was going to an internet café. She
reports that she was approached by three men in the street
including one whom was known to her who tripped her up,
beat her and insulted her. Bensedrine claimed that the
Tunisian political police were behind the assault.
Sihem Bensedrine had initially intended to publish Kalima
as an independent newspaper in Tunisia. However, as she was
unable to obtain the authority to do so from the Tunisian
government, she decided to publish Kalima as an on-line
magazine with the first edition appearing in October 2004.
The website is however blocked by the Tunisian authorities
within Tunisia and so can only be accessed outside the
country. Websites which offer any resistance whatsoever to
the regime of President Ben Ali are frequently blocked
within Tunisia. Such is the case with international
organisations such as Amnesty International and Reporteurs
sans frontières as well as with websites initiated within
Tunisia itself.
In November this year, Tunis will host the World Summit on
Information Society. Koffi Annan, the UN Secretary General,
describes the WSIS as a “global gathering [which] will be a
unique opportunity for all key players to develop a shared
vision of ways to bridge the digital divide and create a
truly global information society.” Tunisia’s poor record on
freedom of expression and information makes it a
controversial host for the summit. However it provides an
opportunity to raise the problems that Tunisians face. As
Bensedrine says ' ’ It should be known that the internet is
the main window for Tunisians in this context of total lack
of press freedom and communication. It is by the Web that
Tunisians get information on what occurs in their country,
it is there that they discover international solidarity or
the fight of a handful of dissidents who dare to defy
dictatorship”
Recommended Actions
Letters calling for an end to attacks against Sihem
Bensedrine and other internet writers should be sent
(preferably in French) to:
Président Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Président de la
République, Palais Présidentiel, Tunis, Tunisie, Fax: + 216
71 744 721
Additional material on Tunisia
There are number photos of Sihem Bensedrine which can be
easily accessed through search engines such as Google.
Sihem Bensedrine’s on-line magazine Kalima which is blocked
within Tunisia
www.kalimatunisie.com
International Freedom of Expression Exchange report on a
mission to Tunisia in January 2005
http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/64776/
WSIS site
http://www.itu.int/wsis/
International PEN
Writers in Prison Committee
Women’s Day 8 March 2005
Iran - Mahboudeh Abbasgholizadeh and Fershteh Ghazi
Use of the Internet has grown faster in the Islamic
Republic of Iran than in any other place in the Middle
East, with individuals expressing views they could not give
vent to hitherto. Very often, traditional print-forms of
communication, such as journals, have been closed down by
the Iranian authorities: as many as 100 publications are
believed to have been banned in the past five years. The
Internet has then promised individuals an alternative means
of unfettered exchanges of opinions. However, in September
2004, the Iranian government authorities began a clamp-down
on this method of communication also, and around 25 cyber
dissidents were arrested.
Of special concern to the Writers in Prison Committee, are
the cases of seven on-line journalists who were arrested
between September and November 2004, in Iran among them
were two women, Mahboudeh Abbasgholizadeh, editor-in-chief
of the women's magazine Ferzaneh and Fershteh Ghazi,
correspondent for the daily Etemad.
Mahboudeh Abbasgholizadeh was arrested on 1 November 2004,
on her return from the European Social Forum, which was
held in London. She was reportedly charged with “acts
against national security and spreading propaganda”, but
was released on bail on 30 November 2004. On 25 December
2004, Abbasgholizadeh along with other former detainees
testified before a Presidential Commission which was tasked
with investigating the mistreatment of prisoners. Former
detainees, including Abbasgholizadeh, told the Commission
that they had suffered beatings and other physical and
psychological pressures while being held incommunicado
detention.
Fershteh Ghazi is a correspondent for the daily Etemad.
Like Abbasgholizadeh, Fershteh was detained as part of the
general crackdown on online publications. She was arrested
on 28 October by the Edarah Amaken, the morality police,
and is said to have been accused of “immoral behaviour.” It
was reported that a number of male journalists who were
arrested in the crackdown were forced to sign confessions
“admitting” to engaging in sexual relations with Ghazi.
Fershteh Ghazi was released on bail on 7 December 2004, and
was admitted to hospital shortly after her release as she
was said to be in poor physical and mental health.
These arrests are part of a long-standing and continuing
trend of suppression of writers and journalists in Iran.
PEN also has on its records 28 other writers and
journalists who are in prison or on trial in Iran. PEN is
calling on the Iranian authorities to desist from such
harassment of on-line journalists, writers and activists in
the future and to instead allow them unfettered access to
the Internet and the freedom to express their views fully,
in accordance with Article 19 of the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights.
For further details of this case, please see International
PEN’s written submission to the United Nations Commission
on Human Rights 61st Session to sit in Geneva in
March/April 2005
http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G05/110/63/PDF/G0511063.pdf?OpenElement
(pdf file)
Recommended Actions
Letters of appeals urging that Mahboudeh Abbasgholizadeh,
Fershteh Ghazi and all writers and journalists are allowed
to practice their profession without fear of persecution in
accordance with Article 19 of the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights may be sent to:
His Excellency Hojjatoleslam Sayed Mohammad Khatami
The Presidency, Palestine Avenue, Azerbaijan Intersection
Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran Khatami@president.ir
International PEN
Writers in Prison Committee
Women’s Day 8 March 2005
People’s Republic of China
Ma Yalian
Ma Yalian was sentenced to 18 months’ “Re-education Through
Labour (RTL)” in March 2004 for an article she wrote in
which she criticised the Chinese Petitioning system. The
article, entitled “A True Record of Being Turned Away from
the National Petitions and Letters Office and the Petitions
Bureau of the National Congress”, was posted on a Chinese
law website, www.chineselawyer.com.cn and on
www.djiyun.com, a website run by the Falun Gong, a
spiritual group proscribed by the Chinese authorities.
In her article, Ma provided an eyewitness account of the
physical abuse meted out to petitioners by the police and
officials outside Beijing’s petitions offices. As well as
detailing her own physical abuse at the hands of the
authorities, Ma’s article also included the personal
experiences of other individuals who had been abused while
attempting to file a petition. The article also included
accounts about individuals who had committed suicide
outside the said offices.
According to reports, Shanghai’s RTL Administrative
Committee stated in its decision to send Ma to a
re-education camp, “…from July 2003 until February 2004, Ma
Yalian on numerous occasions posted on chinese
lawyer.com.cn, dajiyuan.com and other websites, articles
falsely accusing the Shanghai authorities of causing her
physical injury...” It added, irritably, that Ma Yalian had
”turned petitioning into pestering...”
Ma Yalian has previously been sentenced to a year’s
“re-education” by the Shanghai Public Security Bureau in
August 2001 after several complaints she had filed after
being evicted from her Shanghai residence as a result of an
urban re-development scheme. According to sources, Ma had
both her legs broken while in detention, and has since been
disabled.
In June 2004, the free expression group Reporters Sans
Frontièrs (RSF) noted that China has bought technology
from the US based Cisco systems to for a comprehensive
surveillance system. It reports that the authorities can
now: 'read data transmitted on the Internet and spot
subversive key words. The police are able to identify who
visits banned sites and who sends dangerous e-mail
messages.' RSF also reported that: 'To keep its foothold
in this market, Yahoo! agreed to censor the Chinese version
of its search engine and to control its discussion forums.
So, if you enter 'Taiwan independence' into its search
engine, you get no results. If you try to post a message on
this subject in a discussion forum, it never appears
online. The US giant is ready to do anything to conquer the
Chinese Internet market.'
Ma Yalian is one of a growing number of Chinese
cyber-dissidents who have fallen victim not only to their
own government’s traditional repression of their right to
free speech, but also the new technology supplied by
Western-based internet service providers.
Recommended Actions
Letters may be sent to the Chinese authorities protesting
the detention of Ma Yalian and calling for her release
addressed to:His Excellency Hu Jintao, President of the
People's Republic of China, State Council, Beijing 100032,
P.R.China.
Additional material on Ma Yalian and China
Human Rights in China:
http://www.hrichina.org/public/contents/press?revision%5fid=10593&item%5fid=9495
Epoch Times:
http://english.epochtimes.com/news/4-4-20/21001.html
Associated Press report
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/world/2004-04-01-china-net-jail_x.htm
(boxun.com)
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