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UPDATED: Global action in support of Eaten Fish
As Eaten Fish endures the third week of his hunger strike in Australia's detention centre on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea, activists in the region and elsewhere have stepped up their efforts to end his ordeal.
The International Criminal Court will now consider whether or not Australia's policy of detaining boat-borne migrants in off-shore camps is a crime against humanity after receiving a petition from the Global Legal Action Network and Stanford International Human Rights Clinic, The Guardian reports.
In addition to a letter to Australia's High Commissioner to the UK, the Professional Cartoonists' Organisation have along with colleagues at France-Cartoons been encouraging Twitter users to contribute simple cartoon fish to from a "virtual shoal" in the hope that this show of solidarity and support will lift Eaten Fish's spirits. If you wish to contribute, use the hashtag #AddAFish and be sure to copy in the Australian border force @DIBPAustralia
UPDATE 15/02/17: The story's been picked up by HuffPo Australia, Mashable UK and the BBC World Service in the last 24 hrs.
UPDATE 18/02/17: Further coverage by Good Magazine NZ and Independent Australian as well as further news in The Guardian that the Manus Island camp will be closed by the end of the year.
The cross-org petition from IFEX, IFJ an MEAA is still online, calling upon the Australian government to offer safe haven to Eaten Fish and two other detainees. The hashtag for that campaign is #Bring ThemHere
Poet and comic artist Jini Maxwell compiled a zine entitled Dear Eaten Fish to raise money for a refugee art project. It has been placed online at the SaveEatenFish campaign's site.
Eaten Fish himself continues to update followers on his condition via Facebook. We remain in close contact with those advocating on his behalf in Australia.
To Report a Cartoonist in Danger Email Cartoonists Rights Network International
Global media orgs to AusGov: release Eaten Fish
UPDATE: SIGN THE PETITION TO #BRINGTHEMHERE
CRNI joins with IFEX, Australia's Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance, the International Federation of Journalists (Asia-Pacific) and other freedom of expression organizations in once again calling upon the government of Australia to release a trio of Iranian nationals from their detention centre on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea most especially Eaten Fish, last year's recipient of our Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award.
Cartoon by Rod Emmerson
The statement reads as follows:
Australia silencing expression through detention on Manus Island
Hon. Malcolm Turnbull MP
Prime Minister of Australia
Hon. Peter Dutton MP
Minister for Immigration and Border Protection
We, the undersigned, write as journalists, writers, cartoonists and performers to urge you to allow our colleagues Behrouz Boochani, Mehdi Savari, and Eaten Fish to be resettled in Australia.
All three men have sought protection as refugees from Iran and are currently detained at the Manus Island Regional Processing Centre in Papua New Guinea, which is operated on behalf of the Australian Government.
Well into the fourth year of their ordeal on Manus Island, and with delays and uncertainties in relation to any US resettlement deal, the three men remain in limbo. To varying degrees, the years of detention, has severely impacted their mental and physical health.
• Behrouz Boochani, 33, is a Kurdish journalist. He has worked as a journalist and editor for several Iranian newspapers. On February 17, 2013, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps ransacked his offices in Ilam and arrested 11 of Boochani's colleagues. Six were imprisoned. He has courageously continued to work as a journalist while in detention, and is a regular contributor to publications in Australia and overseas, often reporting on the situation and conditions on Manus Island. He has been recognised as a refugee and we urge you to allow him to reside in Australia to resume his career as a journalist. Boochani is a Main Case of PEN International and has been recognised as a detained journalist by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
• Mehdi Savari, 31, is an Ahwazi performer. As an actor, he has worked with numerous theatre troupes in many cities and villages in Iran, and performed for audiences in open public places. He was also well-known as the host of a satirical children's TV show before fleeing Iran. Mehdi is a person of short stature, and has met with severe discrimination over his life, which has been exacerbated by the conditions and his treatment on Manus Island over the last three years, and he continues to suffer a range of physical ailments and indignities, as well as regular bouts of depression and chronic pain. As he has also been recognised as a refugee, we urge you to facilitate his resettlement in Australia. We also refer you to a resolution passed by the International Federation of Actors congress in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in September calling for his release from detention.
• Eaten Fish, 24, is a cartoonist and artist who prefers to be known by his nom-de-plume. He has recently received Cartoonists' Rights Network International's 2016 award for Courage in Editorial Cartooning. His application for refugee status has not been assessed. Since he was detained at Manus Island, he has been diagnosed with mental illnesses, which have been compounded by his incarceration. We urge you to allow him to live in Australia until the final status of his claim can be determined.
As journalists, cartoonists, writers and performers, we are aware that the rights we enjoy are matched by a responsibility to challenge and confront tyranny and wrongdoing, to bear witness and uphold truth, and to reflect our society, even if sometimes unfavourably. We are privileged that in Australia we are able to pursue these ends without fear of persecution or threat to our personal liberty.
We believe that to continue to detain these three individuals without charge or trial undermines freedom of expression and the right to seek asylum. All three have courageously continued to practice their vocations on Manus Island despite their incarceration. We urge you to allow them to be resettled in Australia so that they can live, work and contribute to Australian society.
MEAA is joined in this letter by free expression groups from around the world. We urge you to give the cases for resettlement of these three men serious consideration.
Zunar in court: judge recuses self
It's been a few weeks since we reported on the status of Zunar, the Malaysian cartoonist currently challenging state-sponsored censorship on multiple fronts: a travel ban; multiple charges of sedition; and harassment by police and supporters of the government.
Zunar has provided an update on his latest court action, as follows:
High Court Judge, Justice Hanipah Farikullah today agreed to recuse herself from hearing my case, challenging the travel ban imposed by the Malaysian government. Fearing biased judgment, I filed a bid to remove the judge.
This is after I filed the application on the ground that she had previously decided to deny the challenge by two other activists who challenged their travel bans under the same law.
In her previous judgement, she said that it was not a constitutional right for a Malaysian to travel abroad, and that the immigration department has the rights to allow or deny the citizens traveling overseas
There was no objection from the AG Chamber on the application. The court will inform the date for the next session.
On 7th Dec 2016, I filed a leave application for a judicial review to challenge the Immigration Department's decision barring me from travelling overseas. I named the Immigration Director-General, Home Minister and the government as respondents.
I am seeking a certiorari order to quash the travel restriction by the respondents, which was informed to me orally at KLIA airport on 17th October 2016. The order seeks to review that the travel ban violates the Article 5 (1), Article 8 and/or Article 9 of the Federal Constitution, therefore to declare that the ban is null, void and unconstitutional.
I am also seeking a mandamus order from the court to instruct the respondents to allow me to travel overseas without restrictions.
On 17th October 2016, I was at the KL International Airport leaving for Singapore to attend a forum when I was stopped by the immigration officers.
Last week, I was unable to travel to Switzerland for the launch of my exhibition in Morges due to the travel ban.
Musa Kart: 100+ days in jail
Turkish political cartoonist and Courage in Editorial Cartoon Award winner Musa Kart has spent his 100th day in custody after he and several colleagues from Cumhuriyet newspaper were arrested and charged with "crimes on behalf of the Fethullahist Terror Organisation and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)".
The newspaper gave a detailed report on where things stood at the ninety day mark including the basis for the state's case against the men, the difficulties their defence lawyers are encountering and the circumstances of their aggravated remand, including severely restricted access for visitors and denial of written communication via letter with the outside world which in Musa's case also means he's not permitted to draw.
A further piece takes each of the paper's reports or articles that the government contend amount to terrorism and refutes each charge. The list does not mention any particular cartoon of Musa's that has prompted the accusations against him. However it is worth remembering that his is a board member at the paper. Also he's been individually and unsuccessfully prosecuted by President Recep Erdoğan twice in the past on charges of slander. It would seem the opportunity is being taken to silence a critic of long standing.
At a recent symposium on Freedom of Expression held in Istanbul, cartoons from around the world drawn in solidarity with Musa were displayed as a gesture of protest against President Erdoğan's continuing efforts to suppress journalism and opposition politics in Turkey.
CRNI was just one of a number of organisations who condemned the Erdoğan regime's calculated attempt to silence Cumhuriyet and its staff. We call again for their acquittal and immediate release.
Emergency update: Eaten Fish on hunger strike
Failure to transfer Eaten Fish to Australia will lead to another death on Manus Island
"It is with profound alarm and sadness that we learn our friend and colleague, winner of last year's Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award Eaten Fish, currently held in an Australian refugee rendition camp in Papua New Guinea has decided to undertake a hunger strike. He is a man who has given up hope, cannot struggle any longer, cannot face the future that is being forced on him, and would rather die than submit to the indignities of further inhuman treatment." – Dr Robert Russell, Executive Director, CRNI
From our colleagues at the Save Eaten Fish campaign:
Eaten Fish has been on a hunger strike for six days and last weighed in at 48 kilos. It has been well documented in the press that Eaten Fish suffers from debilitating mental health issues. He has also been the victim of sexual assault, chronic sexual harassment and abuse within Australia's immigration prison camp on Manus Island for the past three and a half years.
Due to his extremely fragile mental health and ongoing sexual harassment Eaten Fish has been held in the Special Supported Accommodation compound [also referred to as VSRA] for the past eight months.
In a document from PNG Immigration and Citizenship Service Authority dated 29th of January 2017, it is stated that the Australian Border Force told Eaten Fish that his allegations of sexual assault and abuse have not been substantiated and that he will be removed from the VSRA i.e. returned to the general population of the camp where the sexual assaults took place. Worryingly it also states that ABF will not negotiate with Eaten Fish on any grounds. It is this that has forced Mr Fish's actions.
In an urgent letter to ABF Chief Medical Officer Dr John Brayley dated 2nd February 2017, Dr Sue Ditchfield writes: "Bizarrely he [Eaten Fish] was expected to prove the assaults to the satisfaction of PNG authorities. He was unwilling to identify his assailants because of his fear of retribution and of course any assaults take place well away from the compound guards." Furthermore those authorities to whom Eaten Fish was obligated to prove the assaults took place were the same parties who had assaulted him late in 2016.
In a letter to CMO Brayley Janet Galbraith writes: "At the beginning of the hunger strike he [Eaten Fish] only weighed 53 kilos and he has already lost a substantial amount of weight. He reports to me today that he is shaky, weak, has a lot of body pain, no longer feels hunger, is losing his memory and his heart is beating fast. He says he can no longer shower."
"I cannot suffer anymore. I know now that I will have to die because I cannot suffer anymore," Mr Fish told Ms Galbraith.
When asked by authorities within the prison camp what he wished to accomplish through his hunger strike Mr Fish said: "Something happens with hunger strike and I think you know what that is. I will die and this will all finish."
The Australian government has been petitioned many times both from within Australia and internationally asking that Eaten Fish be brought to Australia for medical treatment.
Dr Ditchfield says, "I urge you to be pro-active in transferring this critically ill young man to Australia. I have no doubt that failure to do this will lead to yet another death of an asylum seeker on Manus Island".
If you can be of any assistance in the emergency effort to release Eaten Fish, please contact his advocate Janet Galbraith:
+61 448 370 918 / galbraithjanet3@gmail.com
Full statement from CRNI's Executive Director reads:
It is with profound alarm and sadness that I and all of us at Cartoonists Rights Network International learn that our friend and colleague, cartoonist Eaten Fish, currently held in an Australian refugee rendition camp in Papua New Guinea has decided to undertake a hunger strike. It is my personal conviction that it is not really to protest anything. He is a man who has given up hope, cannot struggle any longer, cannot face the future that is being forced on him, and would rather die than submit to the indignities of further inhuman treatment. As of this writing his strike is in its sixth day and he is presenting grave and critical symptoms of starvation. While we urgently hope and pray that he will end his fast and find some reserve of hope and the will to fight, we also understand that a convergence of bad decisions and inhuman policies among powerful and intractable institutions all conspire against him. He is a fragile, beautiful soul in the path of a grinding militancy of cowards.
If one understands all of the circumstances involved one would have to conclude that this is state-mandated 'Murder by Suicide'. The governments of Australia and Papua New Guinea Have Not Remembered. With President Trump's latest objection and apparent withdrawal of any hope of repatriating some of the inmates of this camp to the United States our friend's fate seems to be sealed.
When the story is finally told about the inmates at Manus Island and the other detention centers in the Pacific and the inhuman heartlessness which drives the treatment of these refugees I predict that a number of ambitious politicians will pay a heavy price.
We have been watching in slow motion as governments ignore their own histories and fail the test of courage required by states that claim to be democratic.
Cartoonist Rights Network International joins with dozens of other institutions and hundreds if not thousands of people around the world in demanding that Prime Minister Turnbull of Australia take immediate and personal responsibility for what is happening at the rendition camps on Manus and Nauru.
This full story has not yet been written, but it will be drawn.
Dr. Robert Russell
Cumhuriyet cartoons without Musa Kart
Cumhuriyet continues to report the news in Erdoğan's Turkey, despite his regime's attempts to shut them down; multiple members of staff including their resident political cartoonist Musa Kart have been in jail for nearly 100 days.
For weeks Musa's spot on the front page was left blank but recently cartoons by others from around the world have appeared in the paper, expressing solidarity with Musa in particular and concern about the conditions for Turkish press and media workers in general.
We commend Cumhuriyet's efforts in the face of great adversity and for using cartoons to send the message to both their readers, political opponents and government that the wider world is still watching.
#IndexAwards2019 winner in "Campaigning" category
https://youtu.be/UOjkQdP9AlM
A proud partner in the Cartooning Global Forum
https://youtu.be/MOfvPPtYLWs
Thanks to our founder & retiring director, Dr Robert Russell
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