On Friday the trial against Belarussian editor Aleksandr Sdvizhkov opened in Minsk, the capital of Belarus. Sdvizhkov, former deputy editor of the now closed independent weekly Zgoda, is charged with ”incitement to religious hatred” after having published the Danish Mohammed cartoons back in February 2006. If convicted Sdvizhkov can be sentenced from three to ten years in prison.
Eigth of the 12 original cartoons were printed alongside an editoral with the headline ”Political creation”, which chronicled the international uproar protesting the Danish cartoons in the beginning of February 2006.
At the time of publication Belarussian KGB-agents confiscated the weekly’s computers, discs, and other electronic equipment.
The probe against the paper was initiated after authorities received complaints from the state Committee for Religious and Ethnic Affairs on behalf of the small Muslim community in Belarus.
Deputy editor Aleksandr Sdvizhkov fled to Russia before criminal charges were brought against him, but he was arrested two months ago when he returned to Belarus.
The paper was closed down in March 2006 two days before the presidential election March 19 which paved the way for a third term for dictator Aleksandr Lukashenko. The cartoon affair was seen as a pretext for taking action against an outlet covering the candidate from the opposition.
Sdvizhkov was in charge of the publication of the cartoons, but the newspaper never made it to the reader. The top management interferred and stopped distribution of the issue before it reached newspaper vendors in Minsk.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists in 2006 nine countries around the world took punitive actions against publications or their editors for reprinting one or more of the 12 cartoons run by Jyllands-Posten in September 2005. Six newspapers in three countries have been forced to close and at least nine journalists in four countries have been arrested and faced potential criminal prosecution. Governments also issued censorship orders and sponsored protests.
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6 Comments
1. JM Hanes:There’s a dismaying irony in the Canadian parallel here, with Ezra Levant’s compelled appearance before the “Human Rights Ccommission” to answer for his publication of the same cartoons.
Jan 14, 2008 - 9:38 am 2. tanstaafl:The cartoon affair was seen as a pretext for taking action against an outlet covering the candidate from the opposition.
I think that’s the bottom line here.
The cartoons are just the excuse.
Jan 15, 2008 - 7:17 pm 3. Universalgeni:Ikke så lidt af en skandale dette her. EU og et hav af nyhedsbureauer har udsendet et censureret referat af stormuftiens tale til EU-parlamentet. Den syriske mufti truede direkte Holland med vold! Islamisten fra Syrien sagde:
Should it come to riots, bloodshed and violence after broadcating the Quran movie by PVV-leader Geert Wilders, then Wilders will be responsible.
This was said by the Grand Mufti of Syria, Ahmad Badr Al-Din Hassoun, Tuesday in teh European Parliament, where he gave a speech at the invitation of the fraction presidents.
If Wilders tears up or burn a Quran in his film ‘this will simply mean he is inciting wars and bloodshed. And he will be responsible’, according to te Grand Mufti.
Al Hassoun thinks it is ‘the responsibility of the Dutch people to stop Wilders’.
http://kleinverzet.blogspot.com/2008/01/grand-mufti-speeches-at-eu-warns.html
Jan 16, 2008 - 2:43 am 4. tanstaafl:Islam is (apparently) unable to stand up to criticism on its own merits.
Thus, the grand Mufti of Syria or the grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia (reportedly, broadcast live to would be separatist “radical” Islamists in Great Britain) makes veiled (or not so veiled threats) to any written or filmed criticism.
The technique of the weak is always intimidation.
In the words of Amir Taheri, the Grand Mufti of Syria is trying to effect “pre-emptive obedience”.
Jan 17, 2008 - 5:45 pm 5. Silly Allah:This is disgusting on so many levels. As others have pointed out, this + Ezra Levant at the same time is just plain scary for the world
Jan 18, 2008 - 5:13 am 6. tanita:Lukashenko is also unable to stand up to criticism on the policy he has chosen. so what. the methods he uses to break down the (possible) opponents are scarrifying indeed. but they work so far - so far he is by the power, so far he lives; the only problem is that belarusian people try to live their lives at the same time. Aleksandr Sdvizhkov now shares his live with Lukashenko - in that meaning that every day of those 3 years he has got in prison, every single day he will follow Lukashenko in his thoughts.
it is not only the question that cartoons were a reason to close the newspaper just before elections; it would not change a shit in the results anyway. besides, if you think that it is so hard for the belarusian government to stop activities of a single journalist or a whole paper, let me ensure you - it is not, much more horrible things has happened. the question was much more about that the editor dared to show interest in the news “from beneath” - western europe. that is not that much the information but the communication which may threat the throne, if you understand what i mean.
Jan 20, 2008 - 12:23 am