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	India''s Slumdog Press by CPJ, SBS Dateline   September 5, 2017   Editor of Indian newspaper shot dead outside her home. (CPJ)   Authorities in India''s Karnataka state must thoroughly investigate and bring to justice the killers of Gauri Lankesh, an independent journalist who was shot dead today outside her home in Bangalore, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.   Lankesh was the editor and publisher of Gauri Lankesh Patrike, a Kannada-language weekly tabloid. At least three unidentified assailants fired at Lankesh as she returned home from work, according to reports that cited witnesses. She was shot in the head and chest and died immediately, according to a report in the Hindustan Times.   Lankesh was a critic of right-wing extremism and her publication was known for its anti-establishment stand, according to news reports. It covered issues including communal violence and the caste system.   "We urge police in Karnataka to thoroughly investigate the murder of Gauri Lankesh, including whether journalism was a motive," said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Steven Butler, from Washington D.C. "India needs to address the problem of impunity in journalist murders and ensure the press can work freely."   At least 27 journalists have been murdered in direct retaliation for their work in India since 1992, according to CPJ research. The country ranked 13th on CPJ''s latest Impunity Index, a measure of countries worldwide where journalist are killed and the murderers go free.   http://cpj.org/2017/09/editor-of-indian-newspaper-shot-dead-outside-her-h.php http://bit.ly/2j1FqlJ http://wapo.st/2xOXIdb   July 2017   India''s Slumdog Press. (SBS Dateline)   In the slums of Delhi, a group of impoverished Indian children are making their voices heard and their stories told; by publishing their own newspaper, Balaknama - ‘Voice of the Children’.   In Delhi, a group of kids from the city’s sprawling slums are making a niche publication, and doing it successfully.   Balaknama has grown in circulation in over the decade and a half of its existence and, more importantly, is giving young kids a chance to tell the stories of those around them.   While many of these kids know little of life in the rest of the world, their articles are making headlines that reach from their local communities all the way to Britain and the United States.   Jyoti, the paper’s most senior reporter, is one of millions of ‘invisible children’ living in poverty stricken communities across India. Her life is a cruel paradox; while she writes articles that are being read by thousands of people, it’s a daily struggle for her family to put food on the table.   As one of only 60 reporters on staff her responsibility is huge – giving a voice to the 2 million street kids in India who don’t have one.   “I don’t include my own thoughts in the reports,” she says. “I don’t judge. I only write down their difficulties as they tell them to me.”   Shambhu, the editor of the paper, says it is one of a kind; “The best thing is that this paper is run by children, those children who live on the street and who are considered as no good by society.”   “We only print news about street children, to make their voices heard.”   In his leadership role he tries to encourage Balaknama’s reporters to follow the stories they’re interested in, rather than wield too much control over the direction of the paper.   “An editor needs to be patient,” he says. “His attitude must be to understand the kids, not to ignore them.”   Reporter Chetan says the paper is telling stories that would otherwise be ignored.   “News about street kids is given very small space in a corner in the mainstream media,” he says. “Even if it is a big problem it does not get coverage. Even if the kids do something good it is not reported.”   For Jyoti, the struggle of life on the street is what makes her job so important.   Despite her lack of formal journalism training, Jyoti’s familiarity with the lives of India’s ‘invisible children’ gives her a perspective and knack for talking to them that others wouldn’t have.   “In the eyes of the well-off we are wrong,” she says. “They think people living in shelters are thieves and that we drink. They say bad words about us, but they don’t ask us why we live here.“The world should know that no other child should live like I did.”   * Watch the full story via the link below. Visit the related web page
	Iran: More than 7,000 arrested in chilling crackdown on dissent during 2018 by Amnesty International, agencies   The Iranian authorities carried out a shameless campaign of repression during 2018, crushing protests and arresting thousands in a wide-scale crackdown on dissent, said Amnesty International, a year after a wave of protests against poverty, corruption and authoritarianism erupted across the country.   The organization has revealed new figures showing the extent of the Iranian authorities’ repression during 2018. Over the course of the year, more than 7,000 protesters, students, journalists, environmental activists, workers and human rights defenders, including lawyers, women’s rights activists, minority rights activists and trade unionists, were arrested, many arbitrarily.   Hundreds were sentenced to prison terms or flogging and at least 26 protesters were killed. Nine people arrested in connection with protests died in custody under suspicious circumstances.   “2018 will go down in history as a ‘year of shame’ for Iran. Throughout the year Iran’s authorities sought to stifle any sign of dissent by stepping up their crackdown on the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, and carrying out mass arrests of protesters,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Research and Advocacy Director.   “The large scale of arrests, imprisonments and flogging sentences reveal the extreme lengths the authorities have gone to in order to suppress peaceful dissent.”   Throughout the year and particularly during the months of January, July and August, the Iranian authorities violently dispersed peaceful demonstrations, beating unarmed protesters and using live ammunition, tear gas and water cannons against them. Thousands of people were arbitrarily arrested and detained.   Some of those swept up in the wave of arrests during the January protests were students, human rights defenders and journalists. Also targeted were the managers of channels on the popular mobile messaging application Telegram, which was used to disseminate news about the protests and to mobilize demonstrators.   Overall in 2018, whether in the context of protests or as a result of their work 11 lawyers, 50 media workers and 91 students were detained arbitrarily.   At least 20 media workers were sentenced to harsh prison or flogging sentences after unfair trials. One journalist, Mohammad Hossein Sodagar, from the Azerbaijani Turkic ethnic minority, was flogged 74 times in the city of Khoy in West Azerbaijan province after being convicted of “spreading lies”. Another media worker, Mostafa Abdi, who is an administrator of the Majzooban-e-Noor website, which reports on human rights abuses against the Gonabadi Dervish religious minority, was sentenced to 26 years and three months in prison, 148 lashes, and other punishments.   In addition, at least 112 women human rights defenders were arrested or remained in detention in Iran during 2018.   Women’s rights defenders   Throughout 2018, brave women’s rights defenders across the country joined an unprecedented protest movement against the abusive and discriminatory forced hijab (veiling) laws in Iran. Women took to the streets and stood on top of raised structures in public places, silently waving their headscarves on the ends of sticks.   In response, they suffered a bitter backlash from the authorities, facing violent assault, arrest and torture and other ill-treatment. Some were sentenced to prison terms after grossly unfair trials.   Shaparak Shajarizadeh was sentenced to 20 years in prison, 18 of which were suspended, for her peaceful protest against forced hijab. She fled Iran after she was released on bail and has since described in media interviews how she was subjected to torture and other ill-treatment in solitary confinement and denied access to her lawyer.   Nasrin Sotoudeh, a prominent human rights lawyer and women’s rights defender, who represented Shaparak Shajarizadeh, was herself arrested on 13 June 2018 for defending protesters against forced hijab. She faces several national security-related charges which could see her sentenced to more than a decade in prison, in addition to the five-year sentence she is already serving for her work against the death penalty.   “Throughout 2018, the Iranian authorities waged a particularly sinister crackdown against women’s rights defenders. Instead of cruelly punishing women for demanding their rights, the authorities should put an end to the rampant and entrenched discrimination and violence they face,” said Philip Luther.   Workers’ rights and trade unionists   The year 2018 also saw Iran engulfed in a deepening economic crisis which triggered numerous strikes and spurred workers to take to the streets in their thousands to call for better working conditions and protections by the government. Delays and non-payment of wages amidst high levels of inflation, skyrocketing living costs and poor working conditions also provoked protests.   Instead of addressing their complaints, however, the Iranian authorities arrested at least 467 workers, including teachers, truck drivers and factory workers, summoned others for questioning and subjected many to torture and other ill-treatment. Dozens were sentenced to prison terms. Iranian courts also handed down flogging sentences amounting to a total of nearly 3,000 lashes against 38 workers.   On 10 May, the Iranian authorities violently dispersed a peaceful protest by teachers in Tehran, who were calling for higher wages and better funding of the country’s public education system. By the end of the year, the authorities had arrested at least 23 teachers following nationwide strikes in October and November. Eight were sentenced to between nine months and 10 and a half years in prison, 74 lashes each, and other penalties.   Throughout the year, at least 278 truck drivers were arrested and some threatened with the death penalty after they took part in nationwide strikes demanding better working conditions and higher wages. Following strikes in February and November, dozens of striking workers from the Haft Tapeh Sugar Cane Company in Shush, south-west Iran, were arrested.   “From underpaid teachers to factory workers struggling to feed their families, those who have dared to demand their rights in Iran today have paid a heavy price. Instead of ensuring workers’ demands are heard, the authorities have responded with heavy handedness, mass arrests and repression,” said Philip Luther.   http://bit.ly/2CBSbtI http://www.hrw.org/news/2019/09/10/iran-draconian-sentences-rights-defenders http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/09/iran-prison-and-flogging-sentences-for-seven-journalists-and-activists-disgraceful-injustice/   http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/09/iran-shocking-death-of-football-fan-who-set-herself-on-fire-exposes-impact-of-contempt-for-womens-rights/ http://www.hrw.org/news/2019/09/10/irans-blue-girl-suicide-sparks-renewed-calls-fifa-over-stadium-ban http://www.hrw.org/news/2019/09/09/woman-banned-stadiums-iran-attempts-suicide Visit the related web page
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