Three Imprisoned Iranian Women Journalists Win UNESCO Prize

The annual UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize honours a person, organization or institution which has made an outstanding contribution to the defence and/or promotion of press freedom.

Niloofar Hamedi, Elaheh Mohammadi, and Narges Mohammadi have been named as the laureates of the 2023 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, following the recommendation of an International Jury of media professionals.

Niloofar Hamedi, and Narges Mohammadi have been named as the laureates of the 2023 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. Photo: UNESCO

The Award Ceremony took place on 2 May in New York, in the presence of Audrey Azoulay, Director General of UNESCO. “Now more than ever, it is important to pay tribute to all women journalists who are prevented from doing their jobs and who face threats and attacks on their personal safety. Today we are honouring their commitment to truth and accountability,” said Audrey Azoulay.

Niloofar Hamedi writes for the leading reformist daily newspaper Shargh. She broke the news of the death of Masha Amini following her detention in police custody on 16 September 2022. She has been detained in solitary confinement in Iran’s Evin Prison since September 2022.

Elaheh Mohammadi writes for the reformist newspaper, Ham-Mihan, covering social issues and gender equality. She reported on Masha Amini’s funeral, and has also been detained in Evin Prison since September 2022. She had previously been barred from reporting for a year in 2020 due to her work.

Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi are joint winners of both the 2023 International Press Freedom Award by Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE), and Harvard's 2023 Louis M. Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism. They were named as two of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2023.

Narges Mohammadi has worked for many years as a journalist for a range of newspapers and is also an author and Vice-Director of the Tehran-based civil society organization Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC).

She is currently serving a 16-year prison sentence in Evin Prison. She has continued to report in print from prison, and has also interviewed other women prisoners. These interviews were included in her book “White Torture”. In 2022, she won the Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) Courage Prize.

Created in 1997, the annual UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize honours a person, organization or institution which has made an outstanding contribution to the defence and/or promotion of press freedom anywhere in the world, especially when this has been achieved in the face of danger.

It is the only such prize awarded to journalists within the UN System. It is named for Guillermo Cano Isaza, the Colombian journalist who was assassinated in front of the offices of his newspaper El Espectador in Bogotá, Colombia, on 17 December

1986. It is funded by the Guillermo Cano Isaza Foundation (Colombia), the Helsingin Sanomat Foundation (Finland), the Namibia Media Trust, Democracy & Media Foundation Stichting Democratie & Media (The Netherlands), and the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

India on RSF Press Freedom Index: 142 in 2021, 150 in 2022, 161 in 2023

India’s press freedom performance is worse than that in traditional authoritarian nations such as Venezuela, Nicaragua, Belarus, Palestine, and even Pakistan.

The 2023 World Press Freedom Index released on May 3 by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) shows that India is increasingly becoming a dangerous place for journalists.

India’s rank on the RSF Index fell from 142 in 2021 to 150 in 2022 to 161 in 2023, which is a manifestation of the fact that press freedom is constantly under state attack. One of the reasons for a poor press freedom position for India is its recent raids on BBC offices in India, as BBC released a documentary that showed prime minister Narendra Modi’s role in Gujarat violence on Muslims. RSF had denounced the Modi government’s attacks on BBC.

In its analysis, RSF says that the violence against journalists, the politically partisan media, and the concentration of media ownership all demonstrate that press freedom is in crisis under Modi, who is the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the embodiment of the Hindu nationalist right.

Moreover, India’s press freedom performance is worse than that in traditional authoritarian nations such as Venezuela, Nicaragua, Belarus, Palestine, and even Pakistan. Now, India’s rank is close to the fully autocratic country Russia (164) in the list of 180 countries monitored by RSF.

“With an average of three or four journalists killed in connection with their work every year, India is one of the world’s most dangerous countries for the media,” RSF said in its report.

It adds that journalists are exposed to all kinds of physical violence including police violence, ambushes by political activists, and deadly reprisals by criminal groups or corrupt local officials.

According to RSF, supporters of Hindutva - the ideology that spawned the Hindu far right - wage all-out online attacks on any views that conflict with their thinking. Terrifying coordinated campaigns of hatred and calls for murder are conducted on social media, campaigns that are often even more violent when they target women journalists, whose personal data may be posted online as an additional incitement to violence, RSF said.

The situation, according to RSF, is also still very worrisome in Kashmir, where reporters are often harassed by police and paramilitaries, with some being subjected to so-called “provisional” detention for several years. The RSF World Press

Freedom Index evaluates the environment for journalism in 180 countries and territories and is published on World Press Freedom Day (May 3).

Viasna Launches Campaign to Support Political Prisoners in Belarus

Viasna calls on people to express solidarity with all political prisoners on May 21.

The Viasna human rights center has designated May 21 as a Day of Solidarity with Political Prisoners in Belarus. On this day two years ago, political prisoner Vitold Ashurak died in the Škloŭ penal colony No. 17.

According to Viasna, no criminal proceedings have been initiated following his death, while the situation with political prisoners has significantly deteriorated.

As human rights abuses are increasing continuously in Belarus, Viasna reports that by the end of 2022, there were 1,446 political prisoners in Belarus while 889 people were recognized as political prisoners.

Last year, the Day of Political Prisoners theme was the yellow tag used in colonies to mark inmates. It was Ashurak who first talked about it in his letter.

This year, according to Viasna, human rights defenders propose to make the theme of the Day of Solidarity with political prisoners in Belarus letters and the right to correspondence, which the Belarusian authorities have deprived hundreds of political prisoners.

Viasna calls on people to express solidarity with all political prisoners on May 21, draw the attention of the Belarusian and international community to their problems, and once again demand the release of all political prisoners from the authorities.

In March, a court in Belarus ordered the imprisonment of Nobel Peace Prize winner and rights activist Ales Bialiatski for 10 years. It is alleged that Bialiatski, 60, financed protests and other crimes – the allegations which are believed to be frivolous and politically motivated. Bialiatski and three co-defendants were charged with supporting protests and smuggling money.

Hundreds of Belarusians have been arrested and jailed because they peacefully exercised their rights to freedom of expression and assembly in response to a fraudulent election in August 2020 that allowed President Alexander Lukashenko to retain power.

When the intensity of protests increased, Lukashenko’s regime shut down dozens of independent organizations and media outlets. Bialiatski is a co-founder of the Human Rights Center “Viasna” which is a non-governmental organization formed in 1996 during mass protest actions of the democratic opposition in Belarus.

Although the UN human rights agencies and world leaders have failed completely to protect the peaceful protesters in Belarus, they keep releasing perfunctory bureaucratic statements which have no effect on autocratic President Lukashenko.

In February, for example, the Council of Europe (COE) Secretary General, Marija Pejčinović Burić, announced a 15-point action plan to support civil society and democracy representatives working towards a future free and democratic Belarus. However, this plan would be as ineffective as the other casual steps taken in the past.

Now, as part of its new campaign, Viasna urges people to record a video reading a letter from a political prisoner and post it on social media with hashtags #FreeThemAll #WeStandByYou.

You can also write a letter to a political prisoner and post it on social media with hashtags #FreeThemAll #WeStandByYou. The letter can be sent to the prisoner online through the Solidarity Postcards Atelier.

Why Rahul Gandhi Failed to Get Court Relief in ‘Modi’ Defamation Case

Now, after conviction in the defamation case, Rahul Gandhi is so terrified that he has stopped talking about Modi-Adani collusion in the financial fraud case.

As expected, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi did not get relief in the Gujarat High Court where he had filed an appeal to stay his conviction in the “Modi” surname defamation case.

After hearing the arguments of both sides, the court on May 2 reserved its order and is expected to pronounce it in June after the summer vacation.

Although it is said that Congress has a slew of good lawyers who can argue Rahul Gandhi’s case properly in the court, none of them could save him in multiple court hearings in different courts.

As a result, the Gujarat High Court Bench of Justice Hemant Prachchhak refused to grant any interim relief to Rahul Gandhi. The case was assigned to Justice

Prachchhak when another judge Justice Gita Gopi had recused herself from hearing the case.

Congress complains that the case against Rahul Gandhi is part of a political vendetta, as the Congress leader has been accusing prime minister (PM) Narendra Modi of a criminal collusion with oligarch Gautam Adani who is facing a series of financial fraud allegations.

Gujarat Factor

It is alleged that in order to implicate Rahul Gandhi in a false case, the petitioner - a member of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - had filed his complaint in Gujarat, although Rahul Gandhi had made his remarks about “Modi” surname in Karnataka.

It is largely believed that the courts in Gujarat cannot dare to defy Modi’s diktats as Modi was the chief minister (CM) of Gujarat. According to a report by The Wire news service, Justice Hemant Prachchhak was one of the lawyers defending former BJP minister Maya Kodnani, an accused in the 2002 Gujarat riots case. In fact, Modi was also an accused in Gujarat riots.

The Wire has also reported that another judge Robin Paul Mogera, who was hearing Rahul Gandhi’s appeal in the Surat (Gujarat) Sessions Court in this defamation case, was home minister and BJP leader Amit Shah’s lawyer in the 2006 Tulsiram Prajapati fake encounter case. Amit Shah is a close associate of Modi.

Congress alleges that the Surat District Court’s Justice Harish Hasmukhbhai Verma who punished Rahul Gandhi with a two-year sentence in March was promoted suddenly in December 2022 before his judgment, although he was not getting promotion since 2015.

Subsequently, this judge Verma hurriedly handled Rahul Gandhi’s case to convict him in the defamation case for making an innocuous statement about “Modi” surname. The surreptitious involvement of all these Gujarat judges in this defamation case cannot be a mere coincidence.

In his remarks, Rahul Gandhi had compared PM Modi with fugitive businessmen Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi, saying “How come all thieves have the common surname Modi?”

He made this statement in a 2019 public rally that he addressed in Karnataka. But ignoring territorial jurisdiction, a random petitioner was allowed to file his petition against Rahul Gandhi in Gujarat where Modi was the chief minister.

According to reports, the case was filed against Rahul Gandhi by Modi’s party colleague Purnesh Modi who is a BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister.

In his complaint, the BJP leader alleged that Rahul Gandhi defamed the entire Modi community with his remarks, although the petitioner is not directly affected by Rahul Gandhi’s statement. Neither PM Modi nor any of the other Modis that Rahul Gandhi mentioned filed the petition against him. It is increasingly happening that some mercenary petitioners who are not directly involved in cases file petitions against people who need to be harassed and surprisingly courts accept such petitions.

Astonishingly, the Gujarat court convicted Rahul Gandhi to the maximum prison sentence in this case – which is two years and which served as a ground to disqualify him from parliament.

Although it is being projected as a court decision to disqualify Rahul Gandhi from parliament, we must understand that in all autocratic regimes that work under the garb of democratic systems, the rulers silently use complicit courts to impose their own decisions on opponents to suppress all kinds of dissent.

Similar shady court trials happened in other autocratic countries such as Russia, Belarus, and Myanmar to imprison political opponents such as Vladimir Kara-Murza and Alexei Navalny in Russia, Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski in Belarus, and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar.

Weak Rahul Gandhi

As India is also an autocratic nation, Rahul Gandhi should not be surprised if he is jailed in this defamation case or a subsequent case filed in the court through rogue petitioners and decided by pliant judges.

In order to make it appear like a normal case, the court had suspended the Congress leader’s prison sentence for 30 days allowing him to apply for bail. The suspension period expired on April 22.

Congress said it is an attempt by the Modi regime to terrorize Rahul Gandhi who is questioning Modi on various issues. And it seems that as usual Rahul Gandhi - who is a weak man - is again terrorized. Now, after conviction in the defamation case, Rahul Gandhi is so terrified that he has stopped talking about Modi-Adani collusion in the financial fraud case. Earlier, after the Modi regime’s hostile actions against

Rahul Gandhi, he was so scared that he stopped questioning Modi and his government on issues such as Rafale corruption case, Pulwama terror attack, Gujarat riots case, Pegasus spyware scandal, and election frauds with electronic voting machines (EVMs).

Now once again frightened Rahul Gandhi has gone into hibernation and is silently waiting for the next court order about his conviction in the “Modi” defamation case.

Delhi Liquor Scam: Kejriwal Blames PM Modi for ED Chargesheet

The ED said that Sanjay Singh’s notice is an attempt to malign the image of the investigating agency while the matter is subjudice in the court.

Delhi chief minister (CM) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal - as usual - has accused prime minister Narendra Modi of collusion with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to implicate AAP leaders in the Delhi liquor scandal.

He was referring to a recent chargesheet filed by the ED in which an AAP leader Sanjay Singh’s name has been included. In response to a legal notice, ED clarified that Sanjay Singh’s name appears four times in the said chargesheet, but only one reference was wrongly typed.

But Kejriwal, Sanjay Singh, and other AAP leaders are issuing misleading statements that Sanjay Singh’s name was deliberately added in the chargesheet to implicate him in the liquor mafia case. However, the ED never said that Sanjay Singh’s name is not in the chargesheet.

The AAP group is also claiming falsely that ED has apologized for its mistake of including AAP leader’s name in the chargesheet. In fact, ED did not apologize and rather warned Sanjay Singh in its response to the legal notice by him that the AAP leader should not make misleading statements in the media as it is an illegal activity.

The ED also said in its response dated April 29 that Sanjay Singh’s notice is an attempt to malign the image of the investigating agency while the matter is subjudice in the court. The Delhi unit of BJP posted the ED response on Twitter.

In a tweet posted on May 3, Kejriwal said mischievously, “How can a name be included in a chargesheet by mistake?” He added along with a vague media report that Modi is trying to harm AAP and the liquor scam is a fake case.

In fact, a number of AAP politicians are allegedly involved in the multi-crore rupees liquor scandal. An AAP leader and former deputy CM in the Kejriwal government Manish Sisodia is already in jail for his alleged involvement in the liquor scam. The court has repeatedly rejected his bail applications.

According to an NDTV report of May 2, along with Sanjay Singh, even Kejriwal’s name is also mentioned in the chargesheet related to Delhi liquor scam. Another AAP politician and Kejriwal’s toady Raghav Chadha is also named in the chargesheet, although he believes that he is not an accused in this case. It is alleged that Chadha was a member of a meeting in which the dubious liquor policy was discussed. The law states that if you are participating in a criminal activity and not informing about it to the police with the aim to hide the criminality, then you are also a culprit and complicit in the crime. The ED has not yet fully disclosed Chadha’s role in the liquor scandal.

While most AAP politicians are telling lies deliberately to hoodwink the gullible public, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had called Kejriwal for questioning on April 16 in the liquor scandal case. When their names appear in the investigation reports, AAP members start shouting loudly at repeated press conferences to make false claims.

Similarly, AAP politicians in Punjab led by CM Bhagwant Mann may be arrested and jailed as the dubious Delhi liquor policy is being implemented in Punjab also.

The president of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) Sukhbir Singh Badal has urged the Punjab Governor to hold a probe into the alleged Rs. 500-crore liquor policy scam committed by the AAP Government in the state.

Although Kejriwal and other AAP politicians are making false and misleading statements about the liquor scandal to mislead the investigating agencies, it is likely that soon more AAP members would be jailed for their criminality in this case.

Meanwhile, Delhi Lt. Governor (LG) Vinai Saxena has ordered an investigation into the reported Rs. 45 crore wastage of public money by Kejriwal on the renovation of his house. In this case of misappropriation of public funds, the AAP politicians are again making misleading statements to protect Kejriwal.

Appeal for Donations

As I have launched a comprehensive research project to compile an exclusive report on corruption in India, you are requested to support this project financially with your donations. You can click here to know more about this project and details for donations.

Thank You. Rakesh Raman

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