Petitions and Campaigns

The acclaimed Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi has been sentenced to six years in prison, and banned from directing and producing films for the next 20 years, his lawyer said.

Panahi, an outspoken supporter of Iran's opposition green movement, was convicted of colluding in gathering and making propaganda against the regime, Farideh Gheyrat told the Iranian state news agency, ISNA.

He is also  banned from travelling abroad and also giving any interviews to the media including foreign and domestic news organisations.

Panahi won the Camera d'Or at the Cannes film festival in 1995 for his debut feature, The White Balloon, and the Golden Lion at Venice for his 2000 drama, The Circle. His other films include Crimson Gold and Offside. He is highly regarded around the world but his films are banned at home.

Sign the Free Jafar Panahi petition from petitiononline.com:

To: The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran

We call on the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran for the immediate release of internationally respected Iranian Filmmaker Jafar Pahani, (winner of the Camera d' Or at Cannes, the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival) and his family and dependents.

Female genital mutilation is recognized in international conventions as a human rights violation and a severe form of violence against women and children. For several decades, international and local agencies and organizations have been campaigning against it in various countries of Africa, and more recently in Europe as well.

But in Iraq, as in other countries of the Middle East, official documents of governments and United Nations agencies alike, still neglect this abuse.

Women in Iraqi-Kurdistan have broken the silence. In 2005, reports indicated that in several areas, nearly 60 % of the women had been mutilated. Activists and physicians reported similar rates from other parts of the Kurdish region in Northern Iraq.

As a consequence, Women’s groups and human rights organizations, supported by the German NGO Wadi initiated a campaign to stop FGM in the region.

Update: Shelter

See article from kurdishherald.com

As the first organization in Iraqi Kurdistan to open a women’s shelter, WADI is an authority on women’s issues in the region, an area of great concern to any activist or observer concerned with true democratization and respect for human rights. When the organization’s “Nawa center” opened in 1999, the social acceptance for such an institution was scarce, and the group’s volunteers faced daily challenges of various types. In some people’s eyes, women's shelters are seen as institutions that break up homes, and the female beneficiary is believed by those people to be bringing shame upon her family.

Update: Blog

9th October 2009.

We have launched a blog in English and Kurdish with news and updates.

Update: Facebook Group

11th August 2010

Just recently a new Facebook group was established:

NO for Genital Mutilation in Kurdistan

We are seeking amendments to the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993 that will enable the consumer to be able to buy, rent and trade a greater variety of filmed entertainment within New Zealand.

This wildly outdated piece of legislation restricts public access to many films and television programs and unfairly over-regulates and disadvantages the DVD medium in particular. This situation has evolved because the Act was implemented well before the advent of DVD, cable television and the internet, and because subsequent amendments to the Act have failed to fairly accommodate its unique properties as a format.

We are seeking public support in our lobby for changes to the current government, who have expressed interest in revising the legislation.

The purpose of this forum is to inform you, the film-watching adult public, about the legislation, how it is applied, and how it results in shortening the long tail of consumer choice.

...Read more about the campaign

More than 70 Iranian university graduates and academics are calling for the release of Hamed Saber, an Iranian photo-blogger and computer scientist who was arrested for unspecified reasons on 21 June 2010 in Tehra. A friend has informed us that it was the first time Hamed was arrested. The same source said several of Hamed's photos of the Iranian protest movement have been published in foreign magazines without his knowledge.

Hamed is also the developer of Access Flickr, a Firefox internet browser extension that bypasses filters on the photo-sharing website Flickr in Iran, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, China and other locations where it is banned.

There is an Iranian language campaign at Free Hamed Saber

We the undersigned request that the Customs Minister Mr Brendan O'Connor repeal the CEO Instrument of Approval that included the word pornography on all incoming passenger cards.

Sign the petition

Background Information

The Australian Sex Party is demanding the new question that has appeared on Incoming Passenger Cards at the Customs point of entry into Australia be removed. The new question asks if they are carrying any pornography.

Sex Party President, Fiona Patten, said that this development now gave Government officials an unfettered right to examine someone's laptop or mobile phone as they re-entered the country. A senior Customs official, Richard Janeczko, has been quoted as saying that materials stored on electronic media devices such as laptops, thumb drives and iPhones are on their target list.

If you and your partner have filmed or photographed yourselves making love in an exotic destination or even taking a bath, you will have to answer 'Yes' to the question or you will be breaking the law, she said. Travellers must now also declare perfectly legal materials such as Category 1 and 2 Restricted magazines, X18+ films and quite probably a large section of R18+ films which have explicit sex in them. Ms Patten said the change marked the beginning of a new era of official investigation into people's private lives – being investigated or searched on the basis that you might have legal material in your possession.

She said that by answering YES to the new Question One on the declarations, people would then be asked whether they are declaring a weapon, illicit drugs or pornography. When they answered pornography their materials would then be examined by one and possibly a number of Customs Officers. If people were at all embarrassed by the question, often surrounded by family and friends, they could be taken into a private room and even have their person searched. Is it fair that Customs officers rummage through someone's luggage and pull out a legal men's magazine or a lesbian journal in front of their children or their mother-in-law, she said?

Customs' official reasoning behind the changes states that No consultation was undertaken under section 17 of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 before this instrument was made as it is of a minor or machinery nature and does not substantially alter existing arrangements.

The term 'pornography' is not referred to at all in the federal Classification Act which Customs rely on to classify their material .

Australia's largest videogame retailer has joined the movement to add an R18+ rating category for interactive entertainment.

EBGames is promoting its pro R18+ stance in all 350 of its Australian storefronts, where it will display signage and offer shoppers the ability to sign a petition. The retailer is also promoting the cause on its website and linking to an online petition for those in favour of adding the adult rating category.

Kotaku reports that EBGames did its due diligence in advance of publically supporting the issue; the company polled its customers on the issue and found that 84% were in favour of the addition of an R18+ rating category.

EB Managing Director Steve Wilson said: With the release of the Government's discussion paper, we knew as a company that we needed to act on this issue as it continues to cripple our industry and cost local jobs. We did however want to be sure that our customers were as passionate about the matter as we are. This is not a call for violent video games, but rather a call for a better classification system that brings Australia in line with the rest of the world and other Australian entertainment industries, such as films.

With an apparent official crackdown against violent games underway in Germany, gamers are petitioning their government to back off.

In Germany citizens are able to post petitions in an official internet forum of the Bundestag. These petitions are "accepted" when 50000 German citizens electronically sign the petition. When petitions are accepted, the German government has to review, respect and discuss the petition.

The petition Reads:

The German Bundestag should decide against the decision of the interior minister conference from the 5th of June, that aims for a ban of action computer games. As an adult citizen and a person eligible to vote, I beg you firmly;

To erase the irritating and discriminating term of 'killerspiele' [killer game] from political discussion.

To strengthen the trust of the public in existing national youth protection mechanics.

To improve and warrant the execution of existing laws, that ensure kids and the youth only get access to video games and computer games rating according the USK.

To support parents and educationally responsible persons in the advancement of media competence.

To promote the computer games and video games industry in Germany and especially the training of these promising professions.

The petition currently stands at 42,000

Sign the petition (German language)

Update: 50,000 Signatures

28th July 2009.  Based on article from gamepolitics.com

The petition passed 50,000 signatures about two weeks ago meaning the German government will be required to review and discuss its requests.

Granted, this does not mean that the ban will ultimately be reversed, but it is a step in the right direction.

On the 30th of June 2009, the security officers at Cairo International Airport have detained an activist blogger, Wael Abbas, who frequently writes about torture cases and police abuse in Egypt. Abbas was also frisked and the officers confiscated his laptop computer and other belongings.

Actually confiscating personal devices such as mobiles, laptops, cameras, portable hard-drives during social peaceful protests, in the airports and different other places became a remarkable trend followed by the Security Services.

Such devices may contain personal information, pictures and files which should not be uncovered without judicial warrant. Further over Bloggers, Human Rights Defenders and Political Activists, especially in the Arab region, are highly subjected to this kind of threats, intimidations and violations.

Consequently, a group of Egyptian bloggers ,including Abbas, and human rights activists, came-up with the idea of designing a Badge to be used on Blogs and Websites having the following title: No to Illegal Confiscation of Personal Devices.

A Facebook Event was created to circulate the badge and to invite people to support:

How can you help?

• Add the badge to your blog/website.
• Write articles about the issue of illegal and extrajudicial confiscation of personal belongings.
• Invite your friends to do the same.

Support the Cause, Put the Badge and Spread the Word.

We, the undersigned, strongly oppose the Bahraini government’s censorship Internet content.

We deserve the choice to have uncensored access.

Internet censorship should not be imposed on us.

On 14 January 2009, local newspapers disclosed a ministerial order by the new minister of culture and information addressed to all telecommunications companies and Internet service providers, calling on them to prevent access to websites that were banned by the ministry.

This is the first resolution issued by the minister this year and the first administrative resolution to give sharp and clear instructions to telecommunications companies and Internet service providers to prevent all the customary ways to access blocked sites, whether through Internet addresses or through the use of alternative servers (proxies) or any other way.

The MOI ordered ISP’s to censor inappropriate content on the Internet, compulsorily, the Bahraini people will not be given a choice to view this material; it will simply become inaccessible by all Bahraini’s. These restrictions will put Bahrain on the same level as countries such as China, Cuba, Iran and North Korea and Saudi.

The issue is with inappropriate as a definition, the websites that are blocked at the moment include Opposition websites, Human rights, Public forums, personal blog journals, some google services, Pornographic material and Gambling. Many websites that promote sectarian hatred on the other hand are still accessible from any computer on the island.

Inappropriate content will be defined and redefined by the government from time to time as they see fit depending on their Personal views and political stance. This is unacceptable and an intolerable restriction on our freedom of speech (which is the freedom to speak freely without censorship or limitation) and our freedom of information.

The actions of the Bahraini authorities violate freedom of expression as stipulated in Article 19 of the ICCPR signed by Bahrain on 20 September 2006.

If this trend continues, the freedom of expression in Bahrain will take another blow and dwarf even more We should at least retain our right to choose.

People who do wish to have unrestricted access to the Internet should be able to opt for this. Government should not have unfettered control over our freedom of speech, expression and freedom of information.

To: The Dutch Government

WHEREAS Geert Wilders has exercised his fundamental human right of freedom of expression and spoken out, with facts and evidence, of the threat posed by radical Islam;

WHEREAS certain elements within Islamic communities have threatened a boycott of Dutch goods if Geert Wilders is not punished by the Dutch government for exercising his freedom of expression; and

WHEREAS certain elements in Dutch industry and the Dutch government are suggesting that Geert Wilders be prosecuted civilly or criminally, in order to prevent such a boycott;

IT IS RESOLVED that, in the event that the Dutch government attempts, in any way, to punish or prosecute Geert Wilders, civilly or criminally, for exercising his freedom of expression, the undersigned will initiate a boycott of any and all Dutch goods.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

...Sign the petition

Australian Senator, Stephen Conroy, is set to introduce mandatory Internet filtering in 2008. This petition has been organised to put an end to the filtering in Australia, before it begins!

Existing reports (some even conducted by the Australian Government) show that ISPs and customers will be forced to pay if mandatory filtering is introduced. The 2003 Ovum report on filtering commissioned by the Howard Government even finds that smaller ISPs will not be able to absorb the costs like large ISPs.

Furthermore, industry groups have all warned that the filtering can and will be bypassed. Why waste money on something that isn't going to work?

Show your support by signing this petition. Show Mr Conroy and Mr Rudd that Australia does not require a Government babysitter.

This petition will be forwarded to all politicians concerned.

...Sign the petition Stop Australian Internet Censorship

See also:

• www.myspace.com/nocleanfeed
• www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=32318174194

To Robert McClelland (Australian Attorney-General)

We the undersigned wish to express our disappointment with the recent decision to ban the game Fallout 3.

The decision is inconsistent with previous rulings where games with similar content were granted an OFLC rating and their sale permitted.

There are many precedents for games with similar content passing classification, and no precedent that justifies Fallout 3’s banning.

We request that you review this assessment. We welcome fair and just assessment of computer games, but we feel strongly that this decision causes confusion and can only result in a lack of faith in the ratings system for computer games.

We are concerned that this decision will result in Fallout 3 being purchased from overseas sources, which in turn will hurt the computer games industry as a whole.

We are especially concerned that this is yet another example of computer games being viewed needlessly harshly when compared to other forms of media with more mature content.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter.

Sign the petition at gameplayer

Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) has expressed its disappointment at the Federal Government’s decision to fund its mandatory “clean-feed” Internet in the 2008-09 federal budget.

At a time when the Government is cutting services to fight inflation, it’s bewildering that they would decide to spend tens of millions of taxpayer dollars on a filter before feasibility trials are even complete, said EFA spokesman Colin Jacobs: Given the manifest impracticality of the clean-feed scheme, I’m sure this money could have been put to much better use.

The 2008-09 budget allocates $24.3 million to the Government’s “cyber-safety” initiative, with the number to rise to $51.4m in the 2009-10 financial year. A media release from the Communications Minister, Senator Stephen Conroy, confirmed that the clean-feed remains a budgetary priority for the Government. Some funding will come from the Government’s now-defunct NetAlert filter scheme, which made PC-based software filters available for free to all Australian homes. Funding will be redirected to support ISPs making available a filtered internet service, or ‘clean feed’, to all homes, schools and public internet points accessible to children, said the Minister.

Australians are very uncomfortable with the idea of having the Government decide what’s appropriate for them and their families, said Jacobs. In fact, in a survey of 18,000 Internet users, only 13% agreed with the policy. That’s why we feel it is a shame, when the Government has identified real needs for better education and policing, that their approach to Internet policy is so skewed towards the filter initiative. There are greater risks to Australian children online, and real steps can be taken to mitigate these risks. That’s where the funding should be going.

The Minister’s announcement will undoubtedly rekindle concerns amongst the Internet industry about the priority the national filter has been given, and the effect this will have on data services in Australia.

EFA has launched a web site to highlight the concerns and educate Internet users about the Government’s plans, at http://nocleanfeed.com

His name is Tariq Biassi and he's 23 years old. He lives in Banyas with his mother and two sisters. His father was was a previous political prisoner.

Tarek sells and maintains PCs. He is described by his friends as shy and quiet, spending his time surfing the web and blogging.

On 7-7-2007, Tarek was asked by the security branch in Banyas to answer a few questions concerning a comment he left on one of the "sensitive" websites. That was the last his family heard from him.

Human Rights Watch mentioned his name in its report on Syrian officials' continuous arrests of people over online comments:

On June 30, 2007, Military Intelligence in the coastal city of Tartous arrested Tarek Biasi, 22, because he “went online and insulted security services,” according to a person familiar with the case. Biasi remains in incommunicado detention, his whereabouts unknown.

Recently, the new-formed “Ministry of Telecommunications and Technology” issued a new circular asking the owners of the Syrian websites “to exercise accuracy and objectivity (…) and to post the name of the writer of an article and the one who comments on it in a clear and detailed manner.”

We the People will not be Chipped - No Verichip Inside Movement, is based on the irrefutable fact, that mankind has inalienable human rights that are absolute and can not be debased, nor perverted. Human life can not be degraded to a 16 digit RFID chip number embedded under you skin under any circumstance. By uniting on this common ground, we can send a strong message to the IBM funded Verichip that

We The People Will Not Be Chipped!

Our daughter / sister, Roxanne Hillier has been in prison in the UAE since 16th May. She and her boss were found guilty and convicted to 3 months and 6 months, respectively for having sex out of wedlock, this is despite the fact that the medical tests were negative. They were also found guilty of being alone in a room, despite the fact that the police broke into the locked bedroom and found Roxanne alone there. Her boss was caught elsewhere with tools in his hands.

Roxanne lost her appeal and was sent back to prison to complete her full sentence, while her boss was acquitted on the charge of having sex with her and was released immediately.

How can she be guilty of having sex with him, yet he is innocent and did not have sex with her?

We ask that you please log into her petition site Free Roxanne Hillier from prison in the UAE Please sign the petition and send it on to everyone in your address book. Also please put the word out to everyone you can. We desperately need all the signatures that we can get to make a difference.

We also ask that you please log into Roxanne's support wall, where you can leave her a note of support. These messages are printed and given to Roxanne and help to keep her spirits up and keep her sane. The Facebook Support wall is called Friend support for Roxanne Hillier

We (her family) thank you for reading this and would also like to thank all those that have already done so, from the bottoms of our hearts. Roxanne is innocent and has been unfairly imprisoned.

Kind regards,

Freddie, Ina and Maxine Hillier.

Update: Roxanne Freed

24th July 2009.

Our prayers were answered this morning and Roxanne was suddenly released (we believe) by an order from His Highness, Sheik Sultan Bin Mohammed Al-Quasimi, Ruler of Sharjah.

We, the Hillier family would like to thank you all for your support in signing this petition. Words cannot express our gratitude to each and every one of you.

This petition is now officially closed. Please visit Facebook Friend support for Roxanne Hillier where we will keep an update for the time being.