Middle East Censorship News

Turkey's TV censor has banned the music video for Love Sex Magic , a duet between pop star Justin Timberlake and Ciara, due to its sexually explicit content, Milliyet newspaper said.

The Radio and Television Supreme Council has barred TV channels from showing the video because it contains sexual outfits, dancing and scenes that are contrary to the development of children and youth and morality in general.

The video features a skimpily clad Ciara licking Timberlake's ear and bent over in various positions as the two singers dance closely together.

Ali Karacan, the owner of Numberone TV which has aired the video, called the ban anachronistic and humiliating for Turkey, a secular Muslim country, which is trying to join the European Union.

The Ferror (feminist terrorism) art exhibition, which was slated to open Thursday at the Sokolov House in Tel Aviv, will not include paintings of female suicide bombers in light of the political establishment's protest.

According to a report in Yedioth Aharonoth, the exhibit showing the works of Galina Bleich and Liliah Check includes paintings of seven female suicide bombers being depicted as Madonna holding a baby Jesus. Organizations of terror victims as well as the political establishment protested the pictures, demanding that they be removed from the exhibition.

Tel Aviv Journalists' Association Secretary General Yossi Bar-Moha carried out a telephone survey of 17 association members, who together decided whether to allow the exhibition to go ahead in its current format or to partially censor or remove it all together.

Galina Bleich, one of the artists, is unapologetic. I don't understand how this turned into an insult to bereaved families. We came actually to emphasize the exact opposite. The baby in Madonna's hands is in danger. This really needs to disturb people. It isn't just an Israeli problem, but a global one. Therefore, we chose Madonna, who is a symbol of Christianity.

Bleich hopes that the exhibition will be allowed to be shown. She is actually pleased with the media buzz her works are getting. She said: Modern art is actually a language that shakes up the subjects that are painful to us. It's not only flowers in a vase. Art asks questions and doesn't provide answers.

A new phenomena is spreading this Ramadan. More than one local TV soap opera has been stopped from broadcasting by Kuwait's Ministry of Information. Others self censored in fear of ministry action.

The most famous case was the Sotik Wasal TV soap, broadcasted on the private Kuwaiti satellite channel, Scope TV . This comedy soap was lampooning members of parliament and ministers. Most target politicians didn't protest against it and refused the resolution of the Ministry of Information to ban it. But now Ramadan has been cited as an excuse to bam the programme.

In a statement made by the Kuwait Society for Human Rights (KSHR), the organization condemned such acts by the Cabinet and the Ministry of Information. They believe all cultural and intellectual works should be allowed to be broadcasted if done so within the law and that afterwards, the victims can go to court to demand their rights if he or she thinks their rights were violated by the works. The society also demanded that more freedom be exercised and said that censorship should only be put in place in
accordance with the law.

The Turkish daily newspaper Gnlk has been banned for one month because of articles and news items written by Professor Amir Hassanpour of Toronto University.

The Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court took this decision on the grounds of article 7/2 in the Anti-Terrorism Law, claiming that Hassanpour's articles contain organizational propaganda.

In a written statement, Gnlk's chief editor Filiz Koçali criticized the decision: We cannot talk about a democratic opening if we cannot make the Kurdish people talk.

Koçali continues: The reason for the ban is an article written by the internationally renowned professor Hassanpour, who has published articles in international journals and newspapers. With this decision Turkey applies censorship to an internationally well-known linguist.

The Democratic Society Party (DTP) also condemned the decision, emphasizing that the government has to ease the pressure on freedom of expression in order to proceed on the way to finding a solution to the Kurdish question. Therefore they ask for an amendment of the restrictive regulations in the Turkish Criminal Code (TCK) and in the Anti-Terrorism Law.

Gnlk newspaper has been publishing since January this year and was handed a two-month ban in June for spreading PKK propaganda in two issues of the paper.

In his article titled Linguistic rights in the linguistics system of the developed world: State, market and communication technologies Hassanpour deals with the pressure on the Kurdish language in Turkey.

In the wake of the TV controversy when Saudi citizen Mazen Abdul-Jawad discussed his sex life on LBC's Bold Red Line , a Saudi ministry is clamping down.

Issuing a strong warning. Abdullah al-Jasser, undersecretary for media affairs at Saudi Arabia's Culture and Information Ministry, said: Every Saudi investor in satellite television channels has to be sensitive to patriotic and social responsibility. Managers of these channels should be selected for their integrity and responsibility, he said, adding that investors should not leave management to people who have orientations and ideas ... harmful to the kingdom and to Saudi investments.

What is being aired by these channels owned by Saudi citizens in terms of topics that violate the Islamic creed and public morals represents a serious offence to the kingdom and to every citizen. These channels (must) not be used as a bridge for hostile media campaigns that ... market Western ideas and beliefs.

An American film in which a dog belonging to one of the characters is named after the late Egyptian president Anwar Sadat has sparked outrage among the Egyptian public and Sadat's family, and prompted the government to demand an apology from the film's producers.

In the Hollywood movie I Love You, Man , one of the main characters, played by Jason Segel, tells his friend that his dog's name is Anwar Sadat. A cross between a beagle and a pug, Segel says his pet is the most beautiful dog in the world.

When asked whether this was because he admired Sadat's policies, Segel replies: No, because they look exactly alike before the camera zooms in on the dog. Sadat's picture was also posted on the dog's kennel in clips shown last week on Al Hayat, a private Egyptian channel.

It's a grave and direct insult, Roqeya Sadat, Sadat's eldest daughter, said in an interview: This is partially to be blamed on him not being valued as he deserves in his country, so it's natural that he would be humiliated abroad.

Hossam Zaki, a foreign ministry spokesman, said that either the film's writer was a boor or he wanted to insult Sadat and demanded an apology from Dream Works Pictures, the company that produced the film.

Samir Sabry, Ms Sadat's lawyer, lodged complaints with the US Embassy in Cairo and the prosecutor general. On Wednesday he filed suits against the information minister to ban the movie in Egypt and confiscate all copies of it. A court date to hear the complaints has been set for September 1.

President Anwar Sadat remains one of the most respected leaders of the 20th century. His contributions to regional peace, his service to his country and his personal courage are the characteristics that his many admirers will always remember about him, said Margaret White, a spokeswoman for the US Embassy: We sympathise with those members of his family and with Egyptians who feel offended by this Hollywood movie, but the truth is that no fleeting reference in a film can or will detract from his legacy.

I Love You, Man was distributed in Egypt with scenes featuring the dog cut out by the film company. The Egyptian censor, Ali Abu Shadi, said: The company sent us the movie without those scenes. Had we seen them, we wouldn't have allowed a film that insults an Egyptian symbol to play in Egypt.

The film critic Tarek al Shenawi said naming the dog after Sadat was a crime and very rude, and said such apparent criticism of the late president's appearance was punishable by international laws.

The doors of the communications revolution were thrown open in Iraq after the American-led invasion in 2003: In rushed a wave of music videos featuring scantily clad Turkish singers, Web sites recruiting suicide bombers, racy Egyptian soap operas, pornography, romance novels, and American and Israeli news and entertainment sites that had long been blocked under Saddam Hussein's rule.

Now those doors may be shut again, at least partially, as the Iraqi government moves to ban sites deemed harmful to the public, to require Internet cafes to register with the authorities and to press publishers to censor books.

The government, which has been proceeding quietly on the new censorship laws, claimed prohibitions were necessary because material currently available in the country had had the effect of encouraging sectarian violence in the fragile democracy and of warping the minds of the young.

Our Constitution respects freedom of thought and freedom of expression, but that should come with respect for society as a whole, and for moral behavior, spewed Taher Naser al-Hmood, Iraq's deputy cultural minister.

This month, the government has started to require dozens of Internet cafes to register with the government or be closed.

In July, a government committee recommended that the drafting of a law allowing for official Internet monitoring and the prosecution of violators be expedited. Among the prohibited sites, according to the committee's report, would be those with subject matter including drugs, terrorism, gambling, negative remarks about Islam and pornography.

This spring, the government contacted the handful of Iraqi book publishers still in business and asked them to compile lists of their books, along with a description of the subject matter. The material is to be kept at the Ministry of Culture, which is also preparing a document to be signed by publishers in which they will pledge not to distribute books the government deems offensive.

Taha H. al-Shebeeb, an Iraqi writer of 10 novels whose politically tinged work often put him at odds with Hussein's government, called the current plans an awful retreat. If this is true, I will hold a press conference where I will burn my novels and say that I had been mistaken when I objected to the policies of the previous regime.

The Saudi offices of a Lebanon-based satellite station controlled by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal could face closure over a racy talk show featuring a man boasting about his sex life.

The local operations of the Saudi billionaire's broadcaster LBC could be shut down because of the offensive nature of the programme, Abdullah al-Othaim, a senior district judge in Jeddah said.

Jeddah investigators continued to examine evidence to see what charges would be filed against Saudi citizen Mazen Abdul-Jawad, whose discussion of his sex life on LBC's Bold Red Line in July led to his arrest on Friday.

Two other men who took part in the programme were also arrested, while a fourth fled to Morocco, local newspapers cited Saudi police as saying.

Abdul-Jawad's confessions, that he first had sex at 14 with a neighbour, used sex aids and liked to use his cellphone's Bluetooth function to try to pick up women, outraged Saudi conservatives.

The annual publication, Iran - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband , provides a comprehensive overview of the trends and developments in the telecommunications and digital media markets in Iran.

It reports that Internet censorship is strict. By November 2008 the number of banned sites was put at over 5 million.

Iran is very stony ground for any form of digital media to grow or flourish due to the government's strict control and censorship of Internet media and its banning of satellite TV dishes to receive the wealth of free to air DTH satellite TV channels available in the region.

Iraq's Culture Ministry has revived regulations forbidding the import of some books, prompting critics to accuse it of restoring Saddam-era censorship.

The ministry has begun requiring publishers to submit lists of titles for approval, said Deputy Culture Minister Taher al-Humoud. He said the rules were based on law dating from the era of former dictator Saddam Hussein, ousted in 2003.

Humoud said the ban was on books glorifying violent jihad and martyrdom, which are typically imported from neighboring countries: All books are allowed except those that incite sectarian grudges. Books that carry Takfiri fatwas [legal opinions that can be interpreted as ha­ving the weight of decrees] against either [Sunni or Shiite] sects, and the bloodshed they cause, are not permitted.

The move has angered groups like the Society to Defend the Freedom of the Press, which issued a statement this week complaining of a return to a totalitarian regime.

Iraq's 2005 Constitution enshrines freedom of press and publication unless they violate public order or morality.

Egypt's Islamic Legislation Authority has issued a fatwa against the country's prominent writer Sayed Kemny, triggering angry reactions from Islamic scholars, activists and rights groups.

In the fatwa against him, Kemny was called an infidel and a criminal because he doubts Islam.

Gamal Al Banna, a leading progressive Islamic thinker, said such fatwas give a bad impression of Islam and did not encourage a debate over the role of religion in daily life: We need to understand better how words are taken because this sort of thing is wrong and must be ended. What should happen is a discussion about the work, not the man. Simply condemning the writer for his words will not create a society that thinks deeply about their faith.

Kemny is known for his secular writings and his calls for an end to the use of Sharia.

The fatwa, issued last week, was in response to a letter sent to the Islamic Legislation Authority inquiring about the religious consequences for someone who denounces Islam in his books, and comes one month after the author was handed Egypt's 2009 State Incentive Prize in Sociology.

The authority argued that Kemny's writings violated Egyptian law, and that the writer should never have been awarded the prize.

Sacha Baron Cohen has stepped up his security after being threatened by a militant Palestinian group angered at its portrayal in the film Brüno .

The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a coalition of Palestinian militias in the West Bank, said in a statement released to a Jerusalem-based journalist that it was very upset that it featured in the film starring Baron Cohen's homosexual fashionista alter ego: We reserve the right to respond in the way we find suitable against this man. The movie was part of a conspiracy against the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades.

The comic is taking the threat seriously and has improved security for himself and his family in preparation for violent reprisals.

Baron Cohen's Austrian character ridicules the Martyrs' Brigades when he bids for fame by getting himself kidnapped by Ayman Abu Aita, who is identified in the film as the leader of the organisation.

Abu Aita's lawyer, Hatem Abu Ahmad, said that he is preparing a legal action against Baron Cohen and Universal Studios alleging that the Martyrs' Brigade reference could get his client in trouble with the Israelis and the homosexual association could get him killed by the Palestinians.

Abu Ahmad said: This joke is very dangerous. We are not in the United States, we are not in Europe, we are in the Middle East and the world operates differently here. Aaron Klein, the WorldNet reporter who received the statement from the Martyrs' Brigades, said: These are terrorists. They are against feminism, gay rights and abortion. Once I asked them what would they do if they found out one of their members was a homosexual. They said they would cut off his head.

Baron Cohen also angered Orthodox Jews during the filming of Brüno in Jerusalem when he nearly provoked a riot as he strutted down the street in a sexed-up Hasidic outfit with skintight shorts.

The performances of Amos Kenan's play Friends Talk about Jesus , scheduled at the Arab-Hebrew Theater of Jaffa, Israel, have been cancelled due to opposition from Jaffa locals.

The play was rejected by the state censorship board in 1972, when it was written, but was staged in February by the Tel Aviv University Department of Theater Arts, under the direction of Ro'i Hertz Russo.

Some Christian Arabs living in Jaffa claim the play portrays Jesus in a negative light, as well as depicting Mary, the mother of Jesus, as a prostitute.

Kenan's satirical play deals with the nature of being Israeli and with the occupation. In it, Jesus dies, returns to life and dies again, and is shown in various ways: as a child whose home is destroyed by the army, as a young man who is concerned about the security situation and as a reserve duty soldier who is sent to war. After the play was banned by the censor it was also banned by the High Court of Justice.

Igal Ezrati, one of the Arab-Hebrew Theater's two artistic directors, related that when the news of the play's production became public, it set off protests, and he was asked not to stage it.

I got phone calls saying, 'You should be ashamed of yourselves,' because the play hurts the feelings of Christians in Jaffa and throughout the world, the theater's head, Mohammed Desouki, related: I talked to Igal Ezrati and together with the theater management we decided to cancel the show so as not to hurt anyone's feelings.

Saudi Arabia's only film festival has been cancelled, dealing a blow to reformist hopes of an easing of clerical control over culture that was raised by the low-key return of cinemas in December.

In a country where cinemas were banned for almost three decades, the Jeddah Film Festival has since 2006 presented aspiring Saudi film-makers and actors with a rare opportunity to mingle with more experienced peers from other countries. On the eve of the festival, Mamdouh Salem, one of the festival's organisers, received a call. He said: The governorate of Jeddah notified us of the festival's cancellation after it received instructions from official parties. We were not told why.

The film festival was cancelled upon indirect instructions from the interior ministry, said an official at the information and culture ministry.

Abdullah al-Alami, a Saudi writer, said there is a trend of attacking cultural festivities. This is a dark day for art and literature in our modern history.

King Abdullah has tried cautious reforms in the kingdom, a US ally which has no elected parliament, but diplomats say he is facing resistance from conservatives opposing changes.

Many Saudi religious conservatives believe films from more liberal Arab countries such as Egypt could violate religious taboos. Some also view cinema and acting as a form of dissembling inconsistent with Islam.

Discussion of a bill that would censor web sites in Israel has been rejected by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation.

The legislation, proposed by Shas MK Amnon Cohen, would mandate that ISPs offer customers the option of blocking sites deemed unsuitable . Specifically mentioned in the proposal were sites featuring pornography, violence and gambling.

Only one member of the committee, Religious Services Minister Ya'acov Margi, supported putting the bill forward for deliberation in the Knesset plenum, while the other seven ministers opposed the bill.

Various lawmakers and civil rights activists spoke out against the bill in recent days, charging that it would deny citizens' rights to freedom of information and privacy.

One major bone of contention was a clause according to which the the right to decide the criteria for the appropriateness of the content would remain solely in the hands of the communications minister.

A With at least 30 journalists currently in prison, Iran replaces China as the world's worst jailer of journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. CPJ called on the Iranian authorities to release all journalists who have been detained following the country's disputed June 12 presidential elections.

CPJ research shows that at least 24 detained in the aftermath of the elections remain in custody, in addition to at least six journalists who were in detention prior to the disputed elections. In the past few days three journalists have been freed, while at least three others have been arrested.

Of the 30 journalists currently behind bars, 13 work primarily for print publications, three work for online publications, two work for television stations, six are primarily bloggers, and an additional six are freelancers or with unknown affiliations.

The Iranian authorities have orchestrated a campaign against journalists of all types since the June 12 presidential elections, said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Mohamed Abdel Dayem: Despite some isolated releases, the number of journalists behind bars is at an all time high. The authorities should immediately release all the detained journalists.

A criminal court has suspended a newspaper that reported on a horse-racing scandal, upholding a 2008 ruling. Its editor and publisher were also fined.

The UAE's Federal Supreme Court upheld on July 1 a November 2008 defamation conviction issued by an appeals court in Abu Dhabi. The ruling called for the suspension of the Arabic-language daily Al-Emarat Al-Youm for 20 days and the fining of editor-in-chief Sami Al-Reyami and Abdullatif Al-Sayegh, the chief executive of the newspaper's publisher, the Arab Media Goup, to 20,000 UAE dirhams (US$5,400) each, according to local news reports. The court ruling cannot be appealed. The suspension took effect as of Sunday, according to local press reports.

We are disappointed by the Federal Supreme Court's decision to uphold the suspension of Al-Emarat Al-Youm, said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, CPJ program coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa: Not only does this suspension deprive the public from information but it also illustrates the inadequacy of the UAE's media law.

The case stemmed from an October 2006 article that alleged that a company called Warsan Stables had given steroids to horses to improve their performance in an Abu Dhabi race, CPJ research shows.

Illicit pornography and pirate TV broadcasts in the UAE will be barred this week as the pay TV network Showtime Arabia and the local telecoms regulator join forces against the illegal programming.

The partnership with the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) will block 500 web servers transmitting pirate TV codes to approximately 1.5 million illegal set top boxes currently active across the Gulf, Dubai-based trade magazine MediaWeek Middle East reported.

We're working hand-in-hand with the TRA because the majority of the piracy we suffer from involves criminal organisations putting encryption codes on the internet, Marc-Antoine d'Halluin, president and CEO of Showtime Arabia, was quoted as saying: What these servers do is allow people within the region to access pornography, as well as platforms such as Showtime.

Many of the set-top boxes, branded 'Dreambox', are manufactured by the German company Dream Multimedia, which Showtime has initiated legal action against, the magazine said.

D'Halluin said once barred the Dreamboxes would be useless, making it more like an 'idiot box. He said the boxes were being imported by criminal organisations in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.