Current #Alkhawaja Status

Again, so sorry for the delay! Working, interning, traveling, lacrosse-ing, etc. all really took there toll on what should've been a quick update.  Anyway, let's get down to business.

If you've been keeping up with Abdulhadi Alkhawaja without my posts - like tweeting, googling, checking other blogs, whatever - then you should know that as of two days ago, Alkhawaja has been quoted saying that he "will be ending" his hunger strike.  Pros: now he won't die from starvation.  Cons: despite the enormity of his hunger strike, Abdulhadi Alkhawaja is still unable to gain his freedom.  Pro2: the hunger strike - which lasted for 110 days - did shed some light on the plight of those living in Bahrain currently.


I mean, this whole blog started for me as a school project, and I never would've even known to look into Bahrain if I hadn't stumbled onto a twitter campaign for Alkhawaja.  And now, with his hunger strike ended, I want to focus on actually getting Alkhawaja out of jail, and helping others who are being victimized by the Bahraini regime. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm ecstatic that Alkhawaja's hunger strike is over and that he isn't starving himself to death anymore, but it's terrible that after everything he's been through he's still being held prisoner in jail.  Khader Adnan had his sentence shortened after his 66 day long hunger strike.  Hana Shalabi's hunger strike saw that she was released immediately, although she won't be able to officially return home until discussions concerning her behavior between Palestine and Israel are over.  And Abdulhadi Alkhawaja was on his hunger strike the longest, with multiple threats of murder and a brief disappearance, and his hunger strike hasn't helped his sentence at all.  He's still a prisoner.


Here's a link to Frankie Dolan's Bahrain campaign: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHBsOTctbEE1WEl5R2VqWVkyN3hFbkE6MQ
It'll give you some good ideas on what to focus on next.  Personally, I'm still gonna stay primarily focused on getting Alkhawaja and the other prisoners released, because it's grown very important to me.  That's not to say that I won't be focusing on other ways to help, because I will be.  I'm just gonna put a special focus on Alkhawaja and the other prisoners.

Anyway.

You can stay involved by following me on twitter.  I frequently retweet out updates on things going on in Bahrain.  Also, you can follow Frankie Dolan (@frankiedolan); she tends to have more up to date information on the happenings of Bahrain. 

I know this is a shorter post, and that a short post like this really shouldn't take that long, but this is all that I have to say on the matter at the moment.  I'll be back with more information and opinions and articles and links, etc. soon.

In the meantime, please help me at least spread the word of what's going on in Bahrain.  You can still write to Alkhawaja (as i mentioned in an earlier post) and other famous figures about Bahrain.

Thanks all!
Leslie out!
@see_you_sLATER

#ForAlkhawaja

It's been a while.  I know.  School's been tough, and my internship is ramping up.  But have no fear! The Leslie and Mik blog is back! With some news on how you can help hunger striker Abdulhadi Alkhawaja.

Like Frankie Dolan (@frankiedolan), I, too, found out about Alkhawaja's story too late.  And similarly, all I did was blog and tweet about it.  I tried to spread the word, tried to get the media involved, but my actions were limited.  I bought into the stereotypical "I'm in high school, what can I do?" crock that allows people like me to do the bare minimum while still congradulating ourselves on a "job well done".  Well, I'm done with that.  Yes, it's still hard to do things for people you've never met who live on the other side of the world, but I won't let that stop me.

Right now, I'm writing for Alkhawaja.  I'm trying to get the attention of international organizations, celebrities, anyone who has the power to get Alkhawaja released. 

You can join in on Ms. Dolan's campaign, too!

#Act4Khawaja

#Action4Khawaja

#MyAction4Khawaja

On May 7th he stopped taking IVs (backstory: he had been forcibly fed for a few days prior to this).  No one has heard from him since.  I know that there's a chance he isn't alive, but there's also a chance that he is.  You can write to Alkhawaja, you can write to his family.  Or you can write to organizations, public figures, etc. to try and get them involved and invested in Alkhawaja.

Every bit helps.

Also, he's a new hashtag that you can use to post some positive videos, messages, etc. for Alkhawaja: it's #foralkhawaja.  If you internet savvy people need a refresher on hashtags, just stop by my twitter for a crash course in tweeting.

I'll try to have another post with some actual information on Alkhawaja's wearabouts, but it is difficult when the American media isn't reporting much and other newssources are clearly biased.

Until then, please help me and write to and for Alkhawaja! Go to my twitter or Ms. Dolan's twitter for more information on who to write to (actually go to her's because i'm pretty much just retweeting what she's saying).

Leslie out!

@see_you_sLATER

Please, help.  This is a really big deal.  It's no longer for my school project - that's over now.  This is to help save a man's life.

Alkhawaja "Update"

Well, not really.  It's another link.

I found this blog frankiespeakingfrankly.blogspot.co.uk .  It's written by this woman, Frankie Dolan.  Here's her brief bio: I am the founder of MedWorm. Living in the UK. Web developer, mother of two and doctor's wife. Internet activist fighting for human rights, the environment and social justice. Recently drawn to the plight of the medics and the rest of the oppressed people in Bahrain.
Anyway.  She had this great post about the letters she wrote urging Alkhawaja to hang on and to not give up.  Her letter touched me, as she explained how much she loves him and believes in him. 

Ms. Dolan was inspired to write her letters to Alkhawaja after seeing what his daughter, Zainab al-Khawaja (@angryarabia), tweeted out on April 20th, 2012.

Urgent: My father called now, he asked us to try and get him an urgent visit by his lawyer to write his will

He said, if they won't allow the lawyer to see him, he has three things he would like everyone to know

1st: he is completely convinced in what he is doing, and that he has chosen this path & wud choose it again if time goes back

2nd: he asks that nobody attempts to go on a similar strike til death

Finally my father said "if I die, in the next 24 hrs, I ask the ppl to continue on path of peaceful resistance...

My father continued "... I don't want anybody to be hurt in my name"

My father has stopped drinking even water since yesterday

As my father finished saying his will to us, the line was cut. He did not say goodbye.

Here's the link to her specific blog post: http://frankiespeakingfrankly.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/abdulhadi-alkhawaja-hero-i-love-fight.html
So right now, I want to take a quick look at the other side of Alkhawaja's hunger strike.  I want to look at the lives he's touched.  Yes, this woman is an internet activist, but the point is that his hunger strike has reached people in Europe, in the US, not just people who live in Bahrain.  I don't want to sound preachy or fake, but Alkhawaja has touched my life as well.  I pray for him every night.  I tweet about him to try and spread his story to others.  I don't mean to sound more like a high school student than I already do but this is like my thing now.  I mean, not my main "thing", but I am invested in Alkhawaja's story.  I don't want him to die.

Abdulhadi Alkhawaja has been injustly prisoned for his part in activism, and he is dying.  He's touched the lives of people that have never even met him.  Just like Ms. Dolan's blog post has spoken to me about his life more than my own research has, I hope that her posts and my posts and Alkhawaja's story reaches out to everyone and alerts people to the fighting and protests going on in Bahrain right now.

Now, for a slightly different tone.

Abdulhadi Alkhawaja's wife called his hospital room and found out that her husband is no longer in his room.  No one seems to know where he is.  There are rumors that he's receiving medical care and that's why he's not in his room, but no one can talk to him, no one knows where he is.  These are just rumors.  We can't confirm or deny them.

But until we get solid evidence that Alkhawaja's alright (remember he's been on hunger strike for 77 days!!), we need to do everything we can for him.  Writing letters, informing others, ANYTHING.

We need to be there for Bahrain, and for Alkhawaja.  We will not give up.  We will stand behind him. 

Leslie, signing off...for now.
@see_you_sLATER
Also, Ms. Dolan's twitter is @frankiedolan.  Follow her.

Mas Reflection Time

I have some more reflection on what I've been blogging about, learning about in class, etc.  Get pumped!

Well, despite living in the US and having the internet, books, newspapers, basically all these ways to get information on the hunger strikers, it's been kinda surprising at how hard it is to get information on Hana Shalabi, Khader Adnan, Abdulhadi Al Khawaja, Hamza Kashgari, etc.  Like, one of the main websites that I use to at least start finding information is Twitter. And even then, it's hard to find accurate sources and unbiased ones.

I guess this reflection is more about how I was surprised that even though I live in the US it was hard to find sources.  Maybe it was harder for me to find info on my hunger strikers BECAUSE I live in the US.  Now I'm just speculating here, but maybe since the hunger strikers are from Bahrain and Palestine, the US doesn't care (not care, but isn't paying enough attention to) the goings on in the Middle East.

I feel like the US only focuses on the Middle East if it really concerns them.  Like, if I was researching nuclear weapons in the Middle East, I'm sure that I'd be able to find more articles about the topic.  I can't tell if it's popularity of the subject, or just the fact that this is a situation that everyone seems to know about.  The hunger strikers seem to be more important to the people from the Middle East who either knew them or who understand their plight.

I don't feel as frustrated thinking about the lack of information on Hana Shalabi, Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, or Hamza Kashgari (although he's not a hunger striker, our little social media rebel!) as I should.  I understand that their stories aren't ones that the American reporters wouldn't want to write about all the time.  They're interesting (i can't stop reading about them), but what's happening to them isn't necessarily affecting my life over here, like a bomb threat could.  I get that what's happening in the Middle East effects the Middle East, and other countries won't care as much unless it directly affects them.

That sounds selfish.  But I understand the opinion.  Sort of.  Like, in my house, no one will lift a finger to help anyone clean unless it's that person's mess.  And that's what I'm seeing translated into this situation with the hunger strikers.  The only people who are really willing to help are other people from Bahrain, Palestinians, etc.  When we think like that, helping others is tough.

Now, I don't want to turn this into a "everyone must love one another and dance in rainbows with SMILES" post, but we should still make an effort (a really big effort) to get these people freed.  They're in jail for practicing their beliefs.  I know if I was arrested for being Catholic, or speaking out about the death penalty, I'd be pretty pissed. 

I guess I'm just trying to put myself in their shoes.  I really just want people to understand what's going on over there.  Well.  Sorta lost the Middle East bit in here.  Whoops.

Leslie, signing off!
@see_you_sLATER
Also, if anyone wants to get a dialogue or something going on about this, or wants to share some info they may have learned while looking up the hunger strikers, that'd be awesome.  Just saying.

Link!

Not a real update, just a link to an arabic newspaper updating us on Alkhawaja.  It's entirely in Arabic so I apologize for those of you (myself included) who will have to use google translate to stay informed.

http://www.almasryalyoum.com/node/777866

Leslie out!
@see_you_sLATER
Another reflection post is coming up soon!

URGENT

HANA SHALABI HAS BEEN "RELEASED" FROM ISRAEL!

Sorry for all the caps lock, but this is some pretty big news!! She spent more than 40 days on hunger strike (i'm getting stomach pains just thinking about it) and is now being released from prison.  Unfortunately, she's not able to return home right now.  Instead, Hana's being kept in exile in Gaza until a deal can be made with Israeli authorities.

Hana was released on Sunday.  She's the second Palestinian - after Khader Adnan - to challenge the terms of her "administrative detention."

Although Hana's been released, she's not homeward bound yet.  She's gonna be confined to Gaza for three years. 

And while Hana put her life on the line for her freedom, her battle hasn't done anything to warrant a change in Israeli policy.  Quoting the article here:

"Mr Adnan was said to have been a leader of Islamic Jihad, an extremist organisation that has carried out suicide bombings and fired rockets from Gaza into southern Israel.
Ms Shalabi is also said to belong to Islamic Jihad. When she entered Gaza on Sunday, supporters and leaders of the movement were waiting for her.
Islamic Jihad did not welcome the deal made with the Israeli authorities but said it respected her decision."

I'm not condoning suicide bombings, but the fact that she's at least being semi released from prison is still awesome.  It's irrelevant whether or not she is a member of the Islamic Jihad; she never should've been arrested like that and not told why she was in jail in the first place.  As far as I can see, starving herself was the only option to gain her freedom, and even now, Hana still isn't totally free.


If anyone has any opinions on the circumstances surrounding Hana's arrest, hunger strike, and subsequent released, please let me know!

Leslie, out for now! With more articles and reflections coming at you!
@see_you_sLATER
Comment and share with your friends!

Article used:
http://www.smh.com.au/world/palestinian-prisoner-released-after-hunger-strike-protest-20120402-1w8p3.html#ixzz1qzhJaDv2

RWB: Enemies and Surveillance

On the 12^th of March, Reporters Without Borders released their 2012 edition of “Enemies of the Internet.” This report covers the most internet restricted countries, considered “enemies”, and countries with an extensive use of internet blocking referred to as “surveillance” countries. For the most part the 2012 edition is almost the same as the 2011 with just a few changes. The two biggest changes are Belarus and Bahrain being upgrade (or downgraded) from Surveillance to Enemies. Other changes include India and Kazakhstan being added to the surveillance list and Libya and Venezuela being removed from it. The full lists for 2012 and its 2011 predecessor go as follows.  

2012                                        2011

Enemies                                   Enemies

Bahrain                                    Burma

Belarus                                    China

Burma                                     Cuba

China                                       Iran

Cuba                                        North Korea

Iran                                          Saudi Arabia

North Korea                            Syria

Saudi Arabia                           Turkmenistan

Syria                                        Uzbekistan

Turkmenistan                          Vietnam

Uzbekistan                             

Vietnam                                 

2012                                        2011

Surveillance                             Surveillance

Australia                                  Australia

Egypt                                      Bahrain

Eritrea                                     Belarus

France                                     Egypt

India                                        Eritrea

Kazakhstan                             France

Malaysia                                  Libya

Russia                                      Malaysia

South Korea                            Russia

Sri Lanka                                 South Korea

Thailand                                  Sri Lanka

Tunisia                                     Thailand

Turkey                                     Tunisia

United Arab Emirates             Turkey

                                                United Arab Emirates

                                                Venezuela

The change of Belarus and Bahrain were fairly predictable. For those who don’t know Bahrain is an archipelago country off the coast of Saudi Arabia. Uprisings began back in February of last year, around the same time as the Arab spring. What started as a peaceful protest for political freedom and human rights lead to an uprising against the Monarchy after the police started to open fire on citizens. Of course this caused the government to tighten the reins on the internet. They were scared of the possibilities of an open internet with a country in revolt. This is pretty much the same reason that the other countries are on the list.

Belarus, for any readers who were unaware, is good friends with Russia, such good friends that back in the 90’s they formed the Union of Russia and Belarus. Russia is considered “surveillance” and with the Belarusian Government being the weaker of the two it makes sense that it would have to censor more.

India was added to the 2012 surveillance list. As far as I am aware the Indian censorship falls more along the lines of Australian censorship compared to Tunisian or South Korean censorship. It’s mostly censorship of nudity, sexual activities, religious things, and violence rather than governmental. There is also the infamous Kashmir.

Libya was upgraded and taken off the surveillance list of 2012. Had the Libyan Revolution not been a success and if Gaddafi had not been overthrown, Libya could be in the Enemies list rather than off the list entirely. But because of the big changes in Libya this makes a lot of sense.

So I don’t think there were any real surprises in this year’s list. What do you think? For more information you can go to Reports Without Borders’ own website at http://en.rsf.org/. I was able to locate a 2011 pdf version of RWB whole report at http://viewsdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Internet-Enemies_2011.pdf. I’ll keep my eye out for the full 2012 pdf to tweet out and post when it comes around.

Thanks for reading,

Mike

Reflection Time

No fear!!

I'll still be posting about Hana and Abdulhadi and all that stuff, but for this post, I wanna focus a bit on what it is that Mike and I are doing with this blog, and what's going on in the Middle East with social media and everything.  So I'll probably be a little more informal than I already am.

So, from the three stories that we've followed closely - Hamza Kashgari and his offensive tweets, Abdulhadi Alkhawaja and his human rights activism, and Hana Shalabi and her arrest, freedom, and rearrest - let's assess what we've gathered (keep in mind that these three people were all imprisoned for WILDLY different things and were each held captive in different countries and prisons).

Hamza Kashgari: a perfect case of lack of censorship gone wrong.  I think Mike or I had mentioned how Twitter was gonna start censoring offensive tweets in countries where they would be considered offensive.  Had Twitter gone, "Tweets about the Prophet Mohammad? Might not wanna let Saudi Arabia see those," then Kashgari would never have been arrested and nearly executed for them.  And now he's supposedly being released from jail.

I'm just like this entire mess could've been avoided had Twitter actually decided to censor these tweets.  They promised to, and didn't really deliver.  But don't blame Twitter for that; I'm under the impression that the tweets need to be reported to be censored.  Seriously, though, as interesting as this story is (and i wish they were still writing more about it), the basis behind it is kinda stupid.  Well, stupid isn't the right word.  I'm trying to say that the entire arrest, attempted-execution, tweets, EVERYTHING about this story could've been avoided had Hamza thought about the effect his tweets would have on people, or had Twitter, Saudi Arabia, ANYONE censored these tweets, the entire thing could've been avoided.  Go censorship?

Abdulhadi Alkhawaja: civil rights activist sentenced to life in prison now on day 36 of his hunger strike.  Last April (2011) he was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the Bahrain uprisings.  Why he was arrested, I'm still unclear on.  He'd been leading peaceful, pro-democracy protests all across Bahrain.  Nothing like that warrants an arrest.  Then, on April 9th, he was beaten, arrested, and tortured before being sentenced to life imprisonment.  Alkhawaja had already been threatened and harassed before his arrest, but because he felt so strongly about democracy and helping move Bahrain in a direction that he believed bettered the country.

And now, he's on hunger strike, protesting his arrest.  Unfortunately, no one has been taking a real interest in him.  I mean, his family is focusing on trying to get him released, and so are other activists and his support groups and myself, but he still needs the media to bring attention to his hunger strike.  He can barely stand now, and he's only been on hunger strike for five weeks.  Khader Adnan was on strike for 66 days; I'd hate to see what Alkhawaja will look like if he even makes it that long.

I read somewhere that the revolutions in the Middle East aren't Twitter revolutions, or Facebook revolutions, or even YouTube revolutions.  There revolutions of the people.  But when people who wanna help can't make it over there to help, or are still a little too young to make a difference, you have to reach out and help others over there in the only way you can at the moment: through social media.  Bringing awareness to Alkhawaja's strife is still putting him in the spotlight, so people can do something about it.  And it's hard to get people to listen and care enough to help  him, and even if you do care it's still hard to actually do something about it.  Right now, I'm trying to spread awareness about him.  That's the same thing that I'm trying to do with Hana.  Until I can raise money, or travel over to Bahrain, Israel, Palestine, or wherever, this is my contribution.

And now, last but certainly not least, Hana Shalabi:
http://freehana.org/
Just a little website telling you to write to Obama about Hana.  A good idea, but I don't want Mr. President to have the same reaction that Andy Carvin had about people bombarding his @ mentions with people trying to get him to cover Alkhawaja (he'd already been doing so and people were complaining that he was ignoring Alkhawaja's cause).

I've been researching and googling and doing all these things to try and figure out why Hana was arrested, and the only reason I can come up with is that she was a member of the Islamic Jihad.  Yes, I know that members of the Islamic Jihad are usually viewed as terrorists, but just because you support their cause doesn't mean you deserve to be arrested, beaten, and starved (even if that last bit is your own choice).

Let's have a little reflection now.  I feel like I'm running my mouth on these stories, and I'm telling people, and I know that people are reading the leslieandmik blog, but I don't know if I'm reaching anybody.  I don't want people to think that this is just a high schooler's blog; I want them to read it, think it's interesting, and tell their friends.  Then I want those friends to think it's interesting, or horrible (the subject, not my writing!) and tell more people.  With everyone sharing what they've learned with others, then we're closer to informing more people, and then ALL those people can work with me and Bahrain and Palestine and whoever to try and free those in jail who shouldn't be.

I just want to know that this isn't just me typing and hoping for the best.  This blog/protect/combo thingy will never be finished.  Social media is always changing, and as a result so will the Middle East.  And, you know, the world. 

I mean, just from researching my blog posts I'm already more informed.  And I'm going out and tweeting and telling other about what's going on.  Fingers crossed that the letters, blogs, tweets, everything get heard, and actually make a difference over there.

Leslie out!
@see_you_sLATER
I feel like the end of this post took a slightly depressing turn, and I'm sorry about that.  I just want people to be as invested in this as Mike and I are.

Help Hana Shalabi!

Let's open up this blog post with a quote from Hana's parents:

“We call upon the Palestinian National Authority, the Palestinian national factions, and all Palestinians to take to the streets on Saturday, March 17 and to demonstrate in support of our daughter Hana Shalabi and all administrative detainees.
Pressure on the Palestinian street is imperative in achieving Hana’s immediate release, as well as support for her open hunger strike [that began on February 16, 2012]
We as Hana’s family continue to support her hunger strike, and we want to let our daughter know that we are with her in every step of her hunger strike until she achieves her immediate release from the Israeli occupation jails.
Finally, we call upon all administrative detainees to join Hana’s hunger strike until they achieve their own release and to put an end to the unjust Israeli policy of adminstrative detention, which violates human rights and international law.”

Her parents were quoted saying the above on Hana's 29th day on hunger strike.  As I've said before, her health is still deteriorating; she's rapidly losing weight, has extreme muscle weakness and aches, dizziness, and increasling low blood sugar. 

Hana isn't just striking for her own freedom and unlawful imprisonment.  She's protesting the unjust treatment of all Palestinian prisoners.  Hana has already had to suffer through Isreal's prisons once before.  Her second stint and the hunger strike are truely showing her strength and determination.  Her sentence has already been reduced, but Hana refuses to stop fighting until she has won the war, not just the battle (classic metaphors). 

Hana Shalabi is an inspiration for the other detainees.  After watching Khader Adnan's 66 day long hunger strike, she was inspired to go on her own after her rearrest.  And through her own determination, she has brought others to her cause.  Bilal Diab and Thair Halahleh declared hunger strikes on March 1st, and a few days later other prisoners joined in the cause. 

The hunger strikers are fighting for their freedom in the ownly way they can. They've been beaten down, humiliated, and have lost their rights.  Hana and others are controlling their fates in the only non-violent way they can: by slowly starving themselves.  They are still managing to keep their fates in their hands, even though in doing so Hana and company are dying.

Khader Adnan (yes, he's still doing alright.  should be released in a few weeks!) is very invested in Hana's story.  He along with other activists are organizing protests, twitter trends where we tweet at the media to try and bring attention onto the hunger strikers.  Here's a list of the people we want to contact today about Hana:

 "In addition to twitter, we'd like you participate in an email campaign for Hana, you can use the following talking points and suggested email addresses for Consulates and Missions in Occupied Palestine are below:

- Hana Shalabi is on day 29 of her hunger strike, she is protesting being held without charge for the second time.

- First time she was held without charge or trial for 25 months.

-She was sexually assaulted by Israelis who went unpunished because it's the norm in Israeli prisons.

-Physicians for Human Rights recently saw her and said her health was deteriorating.

-Administrative detention allows Israel to keep Palestinian prisoners jailed indefinitely--without charge, without trial.

-What is your position on administrative detention and if you are opposed to it why hasn't your office issued a statement.

-More talking points can be found here : http://www.addameer.org/etemplate.php?id=161

U.S.
UsConGenJerusalem@state.gov

U.K.
webmaster.telaviv@fco.gov.uk

Argentina
embarg@netvision.net.il

Armenia
ahconsul@netvision.net.il

Australia
telaviv.embassy@dfat.gov.au

Belgium
jerusalem@diplobel.fed.be

Canada
taviv@international.gc.ca

European Union delegation
delegation-israel@eeas.europa.eu

France
diplomat@france-jeru.org

Greek
greconje@netvision.net.il

Ireland
telavivembassy@dfa.ie

Italy
stampa.telaviv@esteri.it

South Africa
http://www.safis.co.il/site/contact-us/

Turkey
turkemb.telaviv@mfa.gov.tr

 You don't have to send out the email, but you can still help us get more attention to Hana's cause so she can be free again!


Also, I'm not neglecting Abdulhadi Alkhawaja; I'm just tweeting about him more than I'm blogging about him.  Actually, today's twitter trend is also being run by his support/freedom group.  They and Khader are working to get both people noticed and released from jail as their hunger strikes only go on and worsen.


That's all I have to say for now.  Leslie, signing off.
@see_you_sLATER
Please, comment, tweet, give us feedback! Or talk about us with you're friends! Hana needs help, and she can't get there alone when the government is ignoring her!

Hunger Striker Profile: Hana Shalabi

Now that we've said a brief good bye to Hamza Kashgari, let's give an official hello to Palestinian hunger striker Hana Shalabi!

She's been on hunger strike for 27 days.  Scary enough just reading about that.  But this isn't even her first time being arrested! Hana is a member of the Islamic Jihad.  She had been held in administrative detention for over 30 months between 2009 and 2011 before finally being released during the four month long prisoner exchange that freed 1,027 Palestinians and the lone Israeli soldier captive, Gilad Shalit.  Then in February 2012, she was rearrested in an abusive manner and was supposedly strip-searched by a male soldier.  And on February 16th, Hana announced her decision to go on hunger strike until she is released.  Not great.  To top it off, she hasn't even been told why exactly she was arrested.

here's a picture of Hana Shalabi (she's on the right on the poster.)
Sadly, Israel is ignoring her hunger strike, and sadly so is the West.  Palestine has been reaching out to liberals to try and get Hana released, but no one's been helping.  The UN hasn't mentioned anything about intervening in this.  Her parents are trying to get help while also going on hunger strike until she's released.  

Hana is doing everything she can to get back her freedom and the only people who are trying to help her don't have the media focused on her story and can't make a big enough impact on the government to force them to release her.  She needs our help.  Her hunger strike has been going on for days, and she's getting weaker and sicker because of it, although her resolve hasn't broken.

Tweet at news anchors you may know, even those you don't! Hana needs help.  The Israeli government hasn't told her why she's been arrested; I don't know about you but that doesn't bode well with me.  Either way, she's being unjustly punished and is fighting back in the only way she can: starving herself. 

I'll have more of an analyis of her story next time.  But for now I just really need to get this out there.

Leslie out! (my catchphrase)
@see_you_sLATER
Comment, link, tweet!

Articles used:
http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2012/03/12/hana-shalabi-the-bravest-form-of-nonviolence/

Abdel Moneim Mahmoud: Proper Payback?

Hi Everyone!

This is another old story, this one is from 2007. This one caught my eye because I was wondering if something may come about it soon in light of the Muslim Brotherhood having majority control of the Egyptian parliament. It’s about a blogger, like Leslie and I, named Abdel Moneim Mahmoud. His is just another story of a blogger/activist to be interrogated, tortured, and imprisoned. Through his online blog he helped expose crimes of the Egyptian Ministry of Interior. After his abduction and torturing, Abdel was not silenced. Once released, he continued to post and he became a living example of the inhumane activities of the Ministry. His story is very straight forward. He spoke out so they tried to silence him, it didn’t work, they continued to try and silence him, and it still didn’t work. What I want to know is if reparations will be paid. Abdel was a living symbol for the need for change along with being a Muslim Brotherhood activist. Now that they control parliament will Abdel be reimbursed somehow for all the pain that was cause to him and his elderly, sick, parents? After all, Abdel did a lot for the Brotherhood. Everything he did acted as a double for their cause. Not only were his actions positive for the Brotherhood but they helped bash the current, corrupted government. So my question to you is what should/will happen with Abdel? Will anything? What would it be like if he were helping the American government and we freed him?

Thanks for reading so until my next post bye.

-          Mike

http://anhri.net/en/focus/2007/pr0415.shtml

Hello, Hamza Kashgari

And good bye Hamza Kashgari.  Unfortunately, we're gonna have to put Hamza on the backburner of the blog, not because he's boring us (he's anything but!), but because there aren't as many updates on his situation at the moment. <-- Scroll down to the bottom for some EXTREME Hamza News! But seriously, read the whole thing.

Until I can find more updated and verifiable sources on his story, I'll instead be focusing on Hana Shalabi and others like her who are hunger striking in the Middle East and are using Twitter to gain media attention.  (our twitter protest for hana yesterday got her trending twice for a few minutes! let's see if we can do the same thing for alkhawaja.) 

I would suggest tweeting for his freedom, but he may be safer in jail at the moment.  Saudi Arabia is still angry with him for his Prophet Mohammad tweets.

Right now, the most up to date articles about him are just explaining how he's still repenting and deleting the tweets and much of the same thing.  I'm reading through all of them and finding that I've already posted about those updates.  It's a tad bit depressing.

Anyway.  Onto his most recent article.

Hoping that enough time has passed for me to mention the content of his tweets without angering anyone, I'm finding that they aren't as horrible as I previously thought.  I mean, I still wouldn't tweet them out and if anyone tweeted similar about God or Jesus (i'm catholic), I'd still be pretty pissed.  But basically his tweets are just saying that he loves some aspects of Mohammad and doesn't love others.

What he wrote isn't as bad as it was made to sound.  It's bad, but after learning more about his controversy I personally don't think he needs to be executed for this.

OH SNAP.  This just in (i'm constantly researching while i'm blogging.  legit, i know.) but apparently Hamza Kashgari's gonna be released! The writer of the Saudi Jeans blog wrote a few days ago that Kashgari's gonna be released after a court in Riyadh accepted his apology and repentance.  Saudi Jeans wasn't able to confirm this with Kashgari's lawyer, but did receive confirmation from a friend of a friend.  This website Sabq also confirmed the news.  Sabq is also entirely in Arabic and when I translated the article it was a little confusing, but kudos to Hamza! No executions for him!

Hopefully Kashagari will actually be freed and won't have to return to prison.  Seriously, though, this is awesome news! Oh and I found out that he was being released via Twitter.  Thank you, social media!

We'll still be saying good bye to Hamza Kashgari for now, but I'll still keep my eye on him just in case he does something that needs to be noted.  Aw.  I miss him already

And now, Leslie bids you adieu.
@see_you_sLATER
Comment, tweet at me, or link us out please! Your opinions matter.

Articles used:
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/life/When+poet+tweets+deemed+blasphemy/6245538/story.html
http://sabq.org/lSdfde
http://saudijeans.org/2012/03/07/free-hamza-kashgari/

Twitter Trends! A Follow Up from Yesterday.

UPDATE: Use the hashtag #CoverHanaDay20 to help get Hana Shalabi media attention! Now please, read my blog post.  Thanks friends!

So yesterday I posted about Khader Adnan and Abdulhadi Alkhawaja and their separate hunger strikes and how Twitter helped Adnan earn his freedom (he's being released in mid-april).  Here's a mini update of sorts.

Khader Adnan (@KhaderAdnan) is still going to be released in mid-April (woot!), the specific date has yet to be released.  But in one hour (2 o'clock Eastern Time, 9 pm Palestine, etc.), he and his followers will be doing a Twitter campaign for Hana Shalabi's 20th day on hunger strike. The hashtag used hasn't been released yet, but I'll start tweeting about it once it is.

 Some brief back story of Shalabi's imprisonment: "Hana Shalabi was released from over two years in administrative detention on 18 October 2011, as part of the prisoner exchange deal concluded by the Israeli government and Hamas, whereby 1,027 Palestinian political prisoners were released in exchange for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Hana was re-arrested less than four months later on 16 February 2012, and immediately began a hunger strike in protest of her detention." Her sentence has been reduced a bit but she's still striking strong.  Let's help her out!

side note: hunger strikes are very good ways for getting noticed.  they also seem to be in now.

Now for Abdulhadi Alkhawaja's update.  His freedom group is trying to get him more media attention as well.  Tomorrow, Wednesday, his freedom group (@khawajastrike) will be protesting, tweeting, etc. about his imprisonment.  Remember, he's on day 26 of his hunger strike.  I'll be tweeting about everything that I can find out about it, so follow me for any updates if you're not already following his twitter. 

Leslie's out for now!
@see_you_sLATER

Please, follow these accounts and let's try and help Abdulhadi Alkhawaja and Hana Shalabi get released!

A Brief Hiatus from Hamza Kashgari

Recently, all I've been posting about has been Hamza Kashgari.  But for today at least I'm gonna take a brief break from blogging about him and instead focus on Twitter.

Khader Adnan is a Palestinian prisoner who was arrested for supposedly being a member of the Islamic Jihad.   He was arrested without any charges actually brought against him.  He wasn't tried in court and didn't know when he would be released.  As a response, Adnan started a hunger strike that lasted for 66 days.  Adnan was finally able to end his hunger strike - and incidentally will be released from jail in mid-April - thanks to Twitter.

Mainstream media ignored Adnan's story; it just wasn't interesting enough.  But on Twitter, it came alive.  Online Twitter activists started trending the story with the hashtag, #KhaderAdnan.  And just like that, Khader Adnan was finally getting the notice he deserved concerning his unjust imprisonment and hunger strike.

Up until February 23rd, #KhaderAdnan was tweeted 54,000 times.  Yeah.  One of the organizers, Leila Saleh, was quoted saying, "Because of the lack of coverage on Palestine in mainstream news, a lot of activists indulge in social media sites like Twitter in order to find information. A lot of unnoticed stories usually end up online from activists, or citizen journalists if you will, who are on the ground in Palestine. This is very vital for cyber activists like us.
"So because of reasons like this, a lot of us were aware of Khader Adnan’s story. Around the 40th day of his hunger strike, many activists were trying to contact the media to cover him but we had no luck. I know I contacted a few of my journalist friends for help but was unsuccessful. I was distraught because I thought Khader, by the 45th day of his hunger strike, was at the end of his road and wouldn’t live very long. I, along with many others, became desperate. So we just did what any cyber activists would do – brought attention to Khader ourselves. Having seen how powerful the Internet is with Arab uprisings, we decided to try our luck."

Basically, she says that she and the other activists used Twitter to find out information and gain media coverage.

Twitter helped save this guy.  If not for Twitter and these activists, Khader Adnan would be spending the rest of his life in prison, unless he died from starvation first.  Twitter can be used for good, not just for following the happenings of Miley Cyrus or Charlie Sheen.  Twitter helped save Khade Adnan from an unjust arrest.

This story is similar to Maikel Nabil, an Egyptian blogger who was arrested following the uprising last year.  He was also on a hunger strike (his lasted for four months), and was able to end his strike and earn his release via other activists tweeting about his imprisonment. 

These activists are using Twitter like crazy, tweeting and hashtagging anything that could help get these prisoners recognition and help shorten if not end their sentence. 

Maybe we could all try and bring some notice to this new hunger striker, Abdulhadi Al Khawaja.  He's been on hunger strike for 25 days now, and could use some help.  His crime? Fighting for human rights in Bahrain.  Hm. 

Here's the Twitter account surrounding his imprisonment: @khawajastrike

Leslie out!
@see_you_sLATER
I'll be back with more Hamza Kashgari updates soon! And I might start following Khawaja's strike as well.  I'll let you know.
Comment please! And link us to your friends!

Article used:
http://thenextweb.com/twitter/2012/02/23/how-twitters-trending-topics-helped-catapult-a-human-interest-story-into-the-spotlight/

Mark Zuckerbergs to Blame?

Hello readers! While Leslie continues to follow Hasma Kashgari and more recent online activities I am going to go back in time a little. I have stumbled upon a recent article that deals with an issue dating back to 2010.

            It all started over the very controversial and popular Comedy Central show, “South Park.” South Park had planned to show the Prophet Muhammad in the 201^st episode. This of course sparked remarkable amounts of controversy, including death threats to many writers and creators. This was not the first time “South Park” has used the Prophet Mohammad. In 2010 the creators decided to make a joke about censorship and black out the screen when Mohammad showed up (A picture of the blackout can be found here http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/10/SP-s10e04-censor.jpg). Even that was not the first time the Prophet Muhammad had made it into the show. In 2006 Muhammad was part of the opening to the show! That means he was in every episode! (Here is an image of that http://www.aoltv.com/2006/04/15/south-parks-been-showing-muhammad-all-season/) Lastly Muhammad was also show in an episode portrayed as one of Jesus’ super pals (and here is an image of that one http://www.aoltv.com/2006/04/09/muhammed-was-on-south-park-before/).

So Muhammad is no stranger to the creators/writers of “South Park” in fact, their plans to show him probably weren’t even a very big deal to them. So the controversy had seemed to have run its course after the Muhammad was not shown, but it hadn’t. Many people were outraged that he was not shown and said that it violated that little thing we like to call the First Amendment. So much outrage was sparked that a few people turned to Facebook to fight back. Draw Muhammad Day 2010 was created. The premise behind it that if everyone drew Muhammad, not everyone could be threatened killed, or whatever they had in mind. This leads us to what currently sparked my interest. The Pakistani government would like to hold Mark Zuckerberg accountable for images of Muhammad posted on Facebook. This means arresting Mark sending him to Pakistan and letting them try him as a criminal (Kill him most likely). Does that not sound outrageous? What do they feel that will accomplish? Zuckerberg did not participate in the day nor did he advertise, organize, or do anything really. All they can really say he did was own the website on which the day was launched. The first articles I read about this date back to 2010 when the event took place, they mostly talk about Facebook ended up banned for a month or so which makes sense to me. Although, when I saw this article http://tribune.com.pk/story/342031/blasphemy-arrest-mark-zuckerberg-fleming-rose-says-petitioner/ dated in late February of this year I had different thoughts. Muhammad Zahid Saeed apparently filed to ban Facebook and other social media websites after stumbling upon a demeaning picture of Muhammad. Apparently they are “international terrorism and evil profession” “deliberate and malicious.” Saeed does seem to have some ground in wanting to ban these websites but to arrest Mark Zuckerberg? That’s a bit far not to mention it’s unreasonable, the U.S. would never agree to it, and it seems a little desperate right? Because they can’t arrest the participants of the day (that was the idea behind it), they try and arrest the guy that sat back and let it happen. If that was really the idea behind it you’d have to arrest probably more people than actually participated. Saeed also said the images were “trying to create a war between Muslims and Non-Muslims” I haven’t really seen the pictures myself but this would put a new spin on things, but they may just be the words of an angry offended Muslim man. Whatever the case I don’t believe Mark Zuckerberg is going to end up in the hands of the Pakistani government. Do you? Does the Pakistani government? They couldn’t possible which makes me wonder why they have even tried. Maybe it’s to uphold the image that they are doing something, to keep the people on their side. Whatever it was, I do know that Facebook, social media, and modern technology are just making another impact on the Middle East and that impact is expanding, rapidly.

If you want any more info on this you can just search for it on your unblocked Google. Try Mark Zuckerberg arrest warrant Pakistan or some combination like that. I’m also very open to commentary and if you post ill get back to you ASAP. I’m available on twitter: @MSweet197

Thanks for reading.

More Hamza Kashgari News

I just can't stop posting about this story because it's just so interesting to me.  Everyone's reaction to Hamza Kashgari's tweets was so explosive that it's literally being recorded everywhere.  There are petitions to have him killed, petitions to spare his life.  Over the course of a few tweets, Kashgari's life was literally turned upside down.  I've found videos on youtube - unfortunately they're entirely in Arabic - explaining how good a guy Kashgari is.  From what I've gather from these videos, there are enough people out in Saudi Arabia willing to risk slandering their government for this guy.
Pretty intense.

And now for the real update.

For a few years now, the overwhelming census is that social media is a good thing.  It connected people during the Egyptian uprisings and helped organize the 2009 Tehran demonstrators (class reference! we just finished watching "Our Summer in Tehran" and "A Death in Tehran." both are very interesting and show two very different sides to Iran.  check them out!).  But here, with Hamza Kashgari, it's very obvious that social media is being used for "bad." As I've mentioned in other posts, almost immediately after his tweets about the Prophet Muhammad were posted, there was an onslaught of horrible, hateful responses. 

Here's a video about one of the more negative responses to Kashgari's tweets (subtitled this time):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9kAVlnGMTU

There are so many online petitons calling for his death that it's impossible to keep up.  As you can hopefully see in the attached video, people are outraged and devastated over Kashgari's actions.  They are actually moved to tears. 

Differently, oppositely, I can't really think of an appropriate transistion, ANYWAY, from Kashgari's immediate arrest, groups declaring his innocence and demanding his freedom.  A facebook group created in response - the "Save Hamza Kashgari" group - already has 8000 likes and is still climbing.  As great as the negative response was, there is an equally strong force that doesn't agree with the way this situation is being handled.

Hussein Ibish, one of the most respected secular Arab scholars and a Senior Research Fellow at the Washington-based American Task Force on Palestine, said that he believed "Kashgari won't be executed due to the mounting public pressure on the authorities." However, even if this is the case, he will still remain in jail for a while, much longer than his crime requires.

One thing that is very clear after learning more about Kashgari's case? Reppressive governments will and are able to use social media to their own advantages, be it good or bad.  More comparisons with China? They're so repressive that there's no way anyone could even tweet anything even remotely offensive about ANYONE.  And in America, tweets like these happen.  People freak out, but I have yet to see anything even near this extent.

Again, we see how disproportionate everyone's reactions are to this scenario.  There are thousands of people calling for his death, and another thousand of people calling for his release.  The responses to his tweets is amazing.  And disturbing.  I've found so many blogs and tweets and videos about Kashgari it's actually insane.  There are petitions connecting people in Saudi Arabia to people here in the U.S.  Despite the awfulness of the whole ordeal, the amount of different social medias being used to either worsen or help the situation is kinda awesome.  Youtube, twitter, facebook, etc.  All are being used because of this one guy.  I'm still thinking that in this case censorship might've been a good thing.  Hamza Kashgari wouldn't be in jail if it had been in place.

Just a little something to chew on.

Although I'm fairly certain Saudi Arabia will start monitoring the posts a little more closely now.

This is Leslie, signing off for the night.  Another post will be coming at you later this week!
@see_you_sLATER

please, comment and link to our blog! send us any sources you may find about Hamza Kashgari, censorship, or the middle east! we'd love to read about it!

Another Sad Update on Hamza Kashgari

Hamza Kashgari filed a habeas corpus application claiming that his arrest and subsequent deportation were unlawful.  The judge, Datuk Rohana Yusuf, rejected the application on the grounds that "he was no longer in the country."

Part of the controversy surrounding this whole affair is that Kashgari was arrested AFTER he deleted his tweets.  As in there was no longer any evidence of his blasphemous tweets.  But as we know, a warrant for his arrest went out on February 8th and he was deported from Malaysia on February 12th.

As terrible and messed up as this thing is, Kashgari still should've known better.  Insulting the Prophet Muhammad is an offense that comes with a death sentence in the country.

Leslie out.
@see_you_sLATER

A Brief Follow Up on Hamza Kashgari

This just in (six days ago, that is): Hamza Kashgari has apparently repented for his tweets against the Prophet Muhammad.  He claims to have made a mistake and deeply regrets it.  Kashgari will most likely be charged with apostasy which is a capital offense in Saudi Arabia.

Uh oh.  No real analysis here as the article I'm referencing is extremely short.  Pretty intense stuff going on here.

Leslie out.  Again.
@see_you_sLATER
Article referenced:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/10/interpol-journalist-arrested-muhammad-tweet

A Reverse Incident of Censorship in Saudi Arabia

That title is a mouthful.  Sorry.

So, I last posted about Walid Bahomane being sentenced to jail for posting pictures of the king of Morocco on the internet.  Bad stuff.  But now I'd like to talk about that Saudi writer, Hamza Kashgari, who tweeted defamatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad.

The reaction to his tweets was explosive.  He tweeted about how he "wouldn't pray for" Muhammad and how he "doesn't like the halo of divinity" around him.  Kashgari prompted some serious outrage for his tweets, so much so that there are thousands of people calling for his death.  Kashgari was so afraid for his life that he boarded a plane and headed to Malaysia....where he was immediately detained by the Malaysian police.

Yes, this guy's tweets were EXTREMELY offensive to the Muslim community.  I understand that.  That tends to happen whenever someone does bring up religion.  But his three or four tweets brought in a response of 30,000 tweets, and a Facebook group called "The Saudi People Demand the Execution of Hamza Kashgari." 11,000 people have already joined it.  That's a serious reaction.  Everyone wants him dead.  Kashgari deleted the tweets and issued an apology, but it wasn't enough.  He literally fled the country to go to Malaysia where he as arrested, and currently the Saudi and Malaysian governments are issuing an exchange of custody.

In this case, I'm guessing that Kashgari wishes that internet censorship was in effect here.  He probably went in and thought "only people who FOLLOW me will see these tweets.  it's not hurting anybody."

Wrong.

He offended thousands of people who are now calling for his head.  During a layover when he had to switch planes he was arrested.  And now Kashgari is sitting in a jail cell, not knowing whether or not he'll be getting the death penalty.

Saudi Arabia has censors placed on the internet, filtering in appropriate content and hiding offensive material.  They have censorship officials in charge of newspapers and magazines.  And if anyone says anything that could be deemed offensive towards the king in anyway they face jail time.  In this case, Saudi Arabia is on a ledge.  They want the technology of today, they want to be in the modern era.  But with technology comes a freedom that can't be controlled, and the Saudi government likes to put a muzzle on its people.  They can't have social media connecting everyone and then expect people to filter their thoughts or die.  It doesn't work that way.

Hamza Kashgari will most likely stay in prison for the rest of his life, unless he's beheaded first.  Saudi Arabia needs to either get rid of its censorship and let worse come to worst.  Or they can stop trying to advance their country and instead focus on silencing the people.  Whatever works.

This is Leslie, signing off again!
@see_you_sLATER

feel free to comment or whatever!
Article Referenced:

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/in-morocco-and-saudi-arabia-limits-seen-to-speech-on-social-media/?ref=middleeast

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/11/world/asia/malaysia-detains-saudi-over-twitter-posts-on-prophet.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

Morocco: Not a Fan of Free Speech. Or Social Media.

So Walid Bahomane.  He's this 18-year-old kid who will most likely be sent to jail for posting "unflattering images" of the king on Facebook (c).

JAIL.  That's serious.

Walid is our age.  He could literally be a classmate of mine.  And he's probably going to be sent to jail for offending the king.

This offense is very similar to Fouad Mourtada's arrest back in 2008 when he was arrested for creating a fake profile for the king's brother.  Not a great idea to begin with, but he was accused of "villainous practices" for just making a fake account.  He was sentenced to three years in jail for the offense.  However, the public's response was so great - bloggers were in an uproar over this - and forced the government to give Mourtada a royal pardon after only a month in jail.

Just like the public responding so intensely to Mourtada's arrest, the increase in social media use considering Walid's offense has been extreme.  Supporters and fans of his have been posting HUNDREDS of caricatures, comics, and images mocking the king and protesting Walid's arrest.

Seriously, the response is overwhelming.  I'm guessing that half of these people don't even know Walid, but there out there tweeting things like, "@MusiqueArabe Operation support Walid Bahomane - publish a (king's) cartoon of you choice on your profile" and others claiming that their freedom is more sacred than their king.

In this case censorship on social media hasn't happened.  Yet.  Morocco is more upset over not being able to censor it and having to leave the picture and the resulting posts up on the internet while only being able to persecute the culprit.  They want complete control, like the kind shown in Google China.  Example: googling country borders in China on the U.S.'s Google shows China as seen on the world map.  Googling China's borders on Google China shows many disputed borders and land that isn't a part of China as being considered Chinese.

Morocco wants that kind of control over the internet.  Walid's post was just an excuse to exercise their power and show that they mean business and to "honor the king."

The internet is the last place where Moroccans can freely express themselves.  Their government has everything else wrapped tightly around their finger.  So for now, exercising social media censorship will be tricky for the king and his men.

This is Leslie, signing off.
@see_you_sLATER
Article referenced:
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/in-morocco-and-saudi-arabia-limits-seen-to-speech-on-social-media/?ref=middleeast

Welcome to our Blog!

Welcome to the Mike and Leslie blog.

Follow us on twitter
Leslie: @see_you_sLATER
Mike: @Msweet197
We tweet about our class/project... and other things.

Here we will be chronicling our research (adventure) into the problems with social media and censorship in the Middle East.

Thanks

p.s.
Other good people to follow about problems in the Middle East

Andy Carvin @acarvin - "A senior strategist at NPR. Online community organizer since 1994. Former director of the Digital Divide Network. Writer. Photographer. Dad" - his twitter info
and
Shadi Hamid @shadihamid - "Director of Research at the Brookings Doha Center & Fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. shamid@brookings.edu"- his twitter info