Syria: Actor Aiman Zidan threatened with death by hanging
A home page of one of the Syrian opposition groups has a picture of one of Syria’s most renowned and respected actors, Aiman Zidan, along with a text: “The thing is out of the hands of the FSA. It is with the Al-Nusra front now. By God’s name, we will hang you in Kafirsosa Square!” [...]
Exiled Syrian film producer and cartoonist honoured with award
Exiled Syrians film producer Orwa Nyrabia and political cartoonist Ali Farzat were smiling and making jokes in Copenhagen with good reason. They each received the Danish Poul Lauritzen human rights award and 10,000 euros each for their work on human rights and political freedom in Syria. With the ongoing violence in Syria, the PL Foundation [...]
Syrian film removed from Egyptian film festival
Official sources at the Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF), which launched on 27 November 2012, said that the Syrian film ‘El Asheq’ (The Lover) was disqualified from the festival’s competition because of the lead actor’s and director’s support for Syria’s current ruler Bashar El-Assad. Syrian film director Abdul Hamid’s ‘El Asheq’ was supposed to had [...]
iTunes: Apple troubled by women’s bodies
Salwa Al Neimi’s erotic novel ‘The Proof of the Honey’ was removed from the iTunes store because of its cover which features part of a woman’s naked back and bottom, said the publisher, Europa Editions, in a statement on its Facebook page on 9 November 2012. The book has already been banned in some Arab [...]
Syria: Art, creative resistance and active citizenship
The links between creative resistance and active citizenship, art and civic conscience have been a strong component of the Syrian uprising. Finally, citizens have turned into peer-creators and users, who have now the tools to express their creativity. BY DONATELLA DELLA RATTA • OCTOBER 2012 • [A4 PDF] During the early days [...]
Syrian actor killed – allegedly for supporting the president
The well-known Syrian-born Palestinian actor Mohammed Rafia is believed to have been killed by rebels because of his support for President Bashar al-Assad. “His death is a sign of the abyss of personal hatred and violence into which Syria has fallen,” wrote BBC’s reporter Sebastian Usher. An extremist rebel group says it killed him, though [...]
Fear, threats and self-censorship among Syrian rappers
Syrian rappers are split about how to engage in the fronts of an uprising that have turned to civil war. President Bashar al-Assad’s fear-based society is making everyone think twice. Refugees of Rap, a group of rappers from the Palestinian refugee camp Yarmouk in Syria, has a new album ready for release about a [...]
Syria: Documentary filmmaker disappeared in airport
Orwa Nyrabia, an independent documentary filmmaker and co-founder of the Damascus-based international documentary festival ‘DOX BOX’, was arrested by the Syrian military as part of a crackdown on pro-democracy artists and intellectuals. Orwa Nyrabia disappeared on 23 August 2012 before boarding an airplane to Cairo. His wife, Diana El-Jeiroudi, was informed that he never boarded [...]
Syria: Ban on tv-series and films about homosexuality
An article in Al-Akhbar explains about the censorship of tv-series and films about lesbians, such as the television series ‘Behind Bars’ and the new short film, ‘A Lesbian Tale’. In an interview with Al-Akhbar, director Muhammad Khair Diab explains about his new short film titled ‘A Lesbian Tale’ which is a love story between two [...]
CPJ: Eritrea, North Korea and Syria among 10 most censored countries
Eritrea has emerged as the world’s most censored country, the Committee to Protect Journalists has found in its analysis of press restrictions around the globe. Following closely on CPJ’s 10 Most Censored Countries list are North Korea, Syria, and Iran — three nations where vast restrictions on information have enormous implications for geopolitical and nuclear [...]
Syrian author: This is an extermination of my people
Open letter from the Syrian author Khalid Khalifa: “My friends, writers and journalists from all over the world, in China and Russia, I would like to inform you that my people is being subjected to a genocide. A week ago the forces of the Syrian regime stepped up its attacks on the rebellious cities, especially [...]
Cartoonist Ali Ferzat: Revolution redefines art in Syria
BBC News interviewed the Syrian cartoonist Ali Ferzat who in August 2011 was attacked by masked men, beaten, and dumped by the side of the road. An attack which made headlines across the world. BBC News met the artist in a small art gallery behind Sloane Square in London where his sly deconstructions of authoritarianism [...]
