Press alert: Music Freedom Day – Saturday 3 March

Press alert: Music Freedom Day  – a global manifestation for freedom of expression for musicians on Saturday 3 March In 48 hours, on this Saturday, the annual Music Freedom Day is marked with events, seminars, exhibitions, film shows, radio programmes and news paper articles on freedom of expression for musicians and composers all over the world. List [...]

Urgent Petition: Justice for Victor Leiva !

Dear friends, On the 2nd February 2011 our friend Víctor Leiva, known as “el Mono”, left the cultural center where he was taking dance classes. Moments later a firearm cut his life short. Víctor was 24 years old when he was murdered. He was an artist and human rights defender, focusing particularly on the rights [...]

Malaysia: Political satirist takes government to court over ‘Cartoon-O-Phobia’

Kuala Lumpur 18.01.12: Celebrated Malaysian political cartoonist Zunar (née Zulkifli Anwar Ulhaque) appeared at the Kuala Lumpur High Court today for the first hearing of a civil suit brought by himself against the government and the police, in which he challenges them for his wrongful arrest and detention in September 2010. Represented by the group [...]

Jenin Freedom Theatre Director Zakaria Zubeidi back on Israel’s wanted list

Zakaria Zbeidi, the former commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Jenin who was pardoned by Israel two years ago, has been added to Israel’s wanted list again. In recent days, Palestinian security services informed Zbeidi that upon Israel’s request, he must remain in the Palestinian Authority’s detention facilities during all hours of the day [...]

Stop the persecution of Bahraini artists and intellectuals!

fD joins Trans Europe Halles, Freemuse and the International Coalition of Arts, Human Rights and Social Justice in denouncing the continued persecution of Bahraini artists and intellectuals. Since the popular uprisings began this past spring, several hundred culture workers have faced threats, harassment, loss of job, torture and imprisonment. Several weeks ago we submitted a [...]

Iranian actress, Marzieh Vafamehr, sentenced to 90 lashes and one year in jail

According to an opposition website [www.kalameh.com] and as reported on 10 October 2011 by the Associated Press, Iranian actress Marzieh Vafamehr, wife of film director and screenwriter Nasser Taghvai, has been sentenced to one year in jail and 90 lashes for appearing in a movie critical of the Islamic republic’s hard-line policies. Vafamehr was arrested the first week [...]

Hadi al-Medhi, Iraqi journalist and theater director, killed on September 8

Hadi al-Medhi, one of the main organizers of a mass demonstration on September 9, was found assassinated in his home one day prior. Hadi, an outspoken critic of government corruption and the denial of basic rights, had experienced threats, kidnapping and torture earlier this year. On February 25, after participating in the ‘Day of Rage’ [...]

Israeli Special Forces Raid on Jenin Freedom Theater

Special Forces of the Israeli Army attacked the Freedom Theater in Jenin Refugee Camp at approximately 3:30 Wednesday morning. Ahmad Nasser Matahen, a night guard and technician student at the theater woke up by heavy blocks of stone being hurled at the entrance of the theater. As he opened the door he found masked and heavily [...]

Argentinian musician, Facundo Cabral, assassinated in Guatemala

El músico argentino murió en un ataque perpetrado por un grupo armado mientras se trasladaba a bordo de una camioneta por el bulevar Liberación, de la capital del país. 25 impactos de bala recibió su vehículo cuando se dirigía al Aeropuerto La Aurora, luego de una semana de presentaciones  El cantante argentino Facundo Cabral fue [...]

Artists speak out on conditions in Belarus & Iran

Chronicler of Iran’s Green Movement, cartoonist Kianoush Ramezani speaks out on the hunger strike by political prisoners in Iran (see video), and Nikolai Khalezin, co-founder of Belarus Free Theater writes The Last Letter to Sasha, an open letter to President Aleksandr Lukashenko.

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