Muhammad Bekjanov in prison hospital in Tashkent, 2003. Photo: Galima Bukharbaeva, IWPR

In 1999, a terrorist bombing in Tashkent, the country’s capital, sparked a brutal crackdown on political, religious, and press freedom. Bekjanov and his brother Yusuf Ruzimuradov were both extradited from Ukraine and sentenced to between 14 and 15 years in prison for, allegedly organizing the terrorist attack and for publishing and distributing Erk in exile, among other offenses. Human rights organizations have considered these to be “trumped up” charges.

It has been reported that Bekjanov and other Erk affiliates were tortured before and after their trials. While in prison at various facilities, Bekjanov has suffered repeated beatings. His injuries have included a broken leg (which received no medical attention), loss of hearing, and loss of most of his teeth, as well as tuberculosis from poor sanitary conditions. Bekjanov and Ruzimuaradov have been imprisoned longer than any other reporters worldwide, according to Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

Muhammad Bekjanov in prison, 2003. Photo: Galima Bukharbaeva, IWPR

Bekjanov’s sentence was reduced in 2003 under a general amnesty that freed his brother Kamil, who had also been imprisoned on related charges. Another brother, Rashid was released in March 2011. Bekjanov was scheduled to be released this month, but in December prison officials mounted what has been called a “fabricated” case against him for violations of prison rules. Witnesses believe the inmates who testified against him were coerced. CPJ has called for his immediate release and, the prosecution of those who tortured him in prison. Erk leader Muhammad Salih has vowed to continue his opposition to President Islam Karimov’s government, despite the pressure put on his family. Bekjanov expressed similar defiance in an interview published in 2005.

In its 2012 World Report Human Rights Watch called Uzbekistan’s human rights record “appalling.” Karimov’s government is known for its consistent persecution and torture of political dissidents, writers who criticize the government, and religious observers who worship outside of government proscriptions. In 2005, government forces allegedly massacred between 500 and 1,500 protesters in Andijan. The government has refused any independent investigation into the killings and continues to persecute witnesses of the massacre and anyone believed to have been involved in the protests, which are reported to have started because of poor economic conditions in the region and popular resentment of Karimov.

In recent news, Uzbekistan’s ministry of education recently outlined a new code of conduct for University students and professors that some have compared to prison regulations. The code bans certain types of dress and rock concerts, compels students to “facilitate the blocking of foreign religious and extremist movements,” and, perhaps most troublingly, forbids students to discuss campus matters on the internet.

The Karimov government’s intolerance toward criticism was also publicized last year when Lola Karimova, the president’s youngest daughter, brought a defamation suit against French newspaper Rue89 for describing her as a “dictator’s daughter.” The paper also accused her of trying to “whitewash Uzbekistan’s image” through her participation in charity events. Karimova sought $43,000 in damages for the article, which was published in May 2010. A Paris court rejected the case in July of last year.

Carlos Pérez (center) the co-director of El Universo in a press conference regarding the case

On January 24, 2012 Ecuador’s National Court of Justice suspended El Universo‘s appeal hearing. After one of the three judges on the panel cited illness, the hearing was to be postponed to later in the week with a new panel. No developments have occurred since. The delay has troubled press freedom organizations, who consider the original verdict a symbol of deteriorating press conditions in the country. Correa’s lawyer claims the suspension is part of the newspaper’s strategy to delay the case, which began almost a year ago.

On February 6, 2011 El Universo published an op-ed by columnist Emilio Palacio called “NO a las mentiras” (“No to Lies”) which describes President Correa as a “dictator” who should be charged for crimes against humanity. The article alleges that Correa ordered soldiers to open fire on a hospital during a police revolt on September 30, 2010, during which Ecuador was thrown into a state of emergency.

On the night in question, President Correa was taken to a hospital to treat injuries related to tear gas. He was then held by rebel police in a reported “coup attempt” until he was rescued by soldiers. Only the state-owned Ecuador TV was permitted to broadcast news on the revolt. Correa has heatedly denied the allegations made against him in the El Universo editorial.

On March 21 Correa filed a suit against the paper. Despite Palacio’s resignation and the co-directors’ letter offering to print a correction, the four defendants and their newspaper were convicted of defamation on July 20. According to El Universo more than 4,000 people will be out of work if the newspaper is forced to close. This is not the first time Correa, or other officials, have pressed severe charges against journalists.

Ecuador ranks at 101 out of 178 on the press freedom index. Contrary to a recent trend in South and Latin American countries, Ecuador has not decriminalized media offenses. Besides imprisonment and exorbitant charges, journalists also submit to forced government rebuttals in their programming, smear campaigns, and harassment. From February 4, a new electoral law will restrict reporting on elections. Fundamedios, Ecuador’s press freedom organization, has documented 432 media violations since 2008. Of that number, 151 happened in 2011.

Previously the government has worked to outlaw corruption in the media, but now the Correa administration’s state-run media is one of the most extensive programs in the region. The government runs compulsory broadcasts called cadenas, which were formerly used for authorities to speak to the public during times of crisis and explain policies, but are now widely used for aggressive propaganda and personal confrontation of critics. The Committee to Protect Journalists has compared Correa’s aggressive involvement with the country’s media with other leaders in the region like Venezuelan President Hugo Chavéz.

International organizations fear that the suit against El Universo may further self-censorship and limit criticism of the authorities. In a statement regarding the verdict, the Organization of American States said: “The judicial decisions in question generate a palpable chilling effect on ideas or information that may offend the authorities, an effect which is incompatible with hemispheric freedom of expression standards. The self-censorship that results from these types of decisions impacts not only journalists and the authorities themselves, but all of Ecuadorian society.”

Photo by City of Asylum/Pittsburgh

Meena Kandasamy’s poetry reinforces her self-description as an “angry young woman.” When asked to share unpublished work Kandasamy instead sent Sampsonia Way three poems from Ms. Militancy, her second poetry collection, asking that, in light of the free speech debate raging in India, we publish poetry that has been received there with hostility. She explained that “In the present context, where freedom of expression is at peril in India, it is important to publish something radical.”

In Ms. Militancy Kandasamy retells Hindu and Tamil mythology through a feminist perspective. Below she provides a background for the two mythical women she has written about: Sita and Shoorpanaka. These poems were originally published by Navayana Publications in 2010 and are reproduced with permission of the author.

Rightwing narratives of the Ramayana portray Sita as the ideal, obedient wife whom all women must seek to emulate. Reading between the lines of the Ramayana one realizes that she is in fact the first woman to literally “Step across the line.” She not only crosses the Lakshman Rekha (a Line of Control that she was asked not to leave), but she also chats up a stranger, the King Ravan in disguise. When her husband and his brother return, she is no longer home. In the epic, it is said that she was abducted. In my first two poems I try and imagine a scenario where she might have walked out of her own free will.

In the third poem, “Traitress,” I look at the Ramayana from the perspective of another victimized woman, Shoorpanaka. She is Ravan’s sister, and she has her ears, nose, and breasts cut off when she proposes to Ram and his brother Laxman, whom she meets in the forest. In the traditional narrative, Ram’s fidelity to his wife paints him as a superhero in spite of (or perhaps, because of) the sexual violence that he inflicts on a woman who expresses her desire. The narrative in Valmiki’s Ramayana declares it to be unfeminine and immoral for a woman to speak her mind (and her body) and for that sin, she has to meet the fate of being dismembered and disfigured. Shoorpanaka’s ugliness makes her the antithesis of Sita and reinforces Aryan/Brahminic notions of beauty.

Sita and Shoorpanaka were soul-sisters from the beginning. They are women who spoke their minds, women who let their bodies speak. In doing so, they danced with danger.

Read Meena’s interview with Sampsonia Way here.