Week in Review: June 8, 2016

Popular Nationalist Ukrainian Website Places Over 5,000 Journalists on a “Terrorist List”

Andrew E. Kramer, a journalist covering the Ukraine conflict for the New York Times, reacted to being placed on what he dubs “the world’s first list of terrorist journalists” in a recent article. Though the designation by a nationalist Ukrainian website has not caused him any traveling problems, Kramer says the Ukrainian government’s growing anger with those reporting from both the Ukrainian and pro-Russian side of the current conflict poses a threat to journalists. The Ukrainian government officially condemned the publication of the list, but interior minister Arsen B. Avakov wrote on his Facebook page: “War is like war…a friend sincerely fighting is more important for me than the opinions of liberals and latent separatists who think too much of themselves.” The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) wrote a letter to the Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko, expressing their concern over the publication of the list and the limited reaction from the government. Concerns surrounding Russia’s powerful propaganda network, which has played a role in the Syrian conflict as well, inform the opinion of Ukrainian nationalists.

Laos Continues to Crack Down on Social Media Criticisms

Three Laotian citizens working in Thailand were recently arrested in Laos for criticizing the government on Facebook. The government subsequently forced them to apologize on the state sponsored television channel. Somphone Phimmasone, Lodkham Thammavong and Soukan Chaithad took a stand against the government’s policies on “corruption, deforestation and human rights violations” while they were working in Thailand, but were arrested after returning to Laos. This arrest highlights a broader trend with the communist regime in Laos, which has a zero tolerance policy for protests within the country. The government is trying to extend this same policy to social media but has faced more hurdles. As Preeti Jha notes in a recent Al-Jazeera article, due to Laos’ extreme poverty, citizens regularly decide to emigrate from the country for employment opportunities. This has inspired the Laotian government to extend its censorship to citizens living outside the country, like in this most recent case. There are no concrete charges against these three prisoners, but just last year “a Polish national of Laotian heritage was jailed for nearly five years for alleged anti government criticism online.” The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) also reports that the three Laotians who were arrested protested in front of Laos’ embassy in Thailand in December of 2015. Read more about the televised apology here.

3 Iranians Begin Jail Sentence for “Distributing Underground Music”

Iran is still finding new ways to censor freedom of expression; in 2015, the Iranian government sentenced Mehdi and Hossein Rajabian, two brothers in a band, and Youssef Emadi, their videographer, to six years in prison for “distributing underground music.” The government later shortened the sentence to three years, and on June 6th the three men began their sentence. Human rights groups such as Amnesty have condemned the ruling both for the government’s decision and the fact that the government tried the three men without a lawyer. Furthermore, Amnesty claims that the men experienced torture in prison and that the Iranian government obtained their confessions using these methods. As suppression ramps up, three political prisoners (Mohammed Sadiq Kabudvand, Farhad Atlasi and Ehsan Mazandari) in Iran are currently on hunger strike, and many more remain in prison. Moreover, this is not the first time that Iran has cracked down on artists; in 2014 Iran