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May 9, 2012, Burke, Virginia - Today Dr. Robert Russell, the Executive Director of the Cartoonists Rights Network International (CRNI), announced the winners of the 2012 Courage in Editorial Cartooning Award as decided by a unanimous vote of the CRNI Board of Directors. The winners are Ali Ferzat, from Syria, and Aseem Trivedi, from India. CRNI, the only international organization exclusively devoted to defending the human rights of cartoonists imperiled because of their work, will hold the award ceremony during the annual convention of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC) on September 15. The ceremony is currently scheduled to take place at George Washington University’s Jack Morton Auditorium in Washington, DC. read more

On May 2, 2012, Denmark’s Supreme Court, the highest court in the country, upheld the conviction of Mohamed Geele.  On January 1, 2010, the 30-year-old Somali man broke into the home of cartoonist Kurt Westergaard with an axe and a knife yelling, “You must die!  You are going to hell!”  Convicted of terrorism, Mohamed Geele will serve ten years before being permanently expelled from Denmark. read more

Parents, do you know what your kids are getting into when they go online?  A sad and shocking verdict out of Philadelphia from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania makes a strong case that you better.  On Friday May 4, 2012, 18-year-old Mohammad Hassan Khalid pled guilty to conspiring to provide material support to terrorists – support he provided long before he turned eighteen.  Born in Pakistan and raised in Maryland, Mohammad was an honors student who had earned a scholarship to Johns Hopkins University.  Instead of a future of promise and opportunity, Mohammad faces a sentence of up to fifteen years and fine of up to $250,000.  He also faces the possibility of deportation after his sentence is served. read more

Nearly twenty years ago, the United Nations formally recognized just how indispensable an independent and vibrant press is to the rights of each and every one of us by declaring May 3rd World Press Freedom Day.  For me, the co-Founder and Executive Director of the Cartoonists Rights Network International, this day will always hold great significance.  Just over twenty years ago I began to recognize the importance, and the vulnerability, of one particularly conspicuous member of the press – the editorial cartoonist.  A friend, the late Sri Lankan cartoonist Jiffry Yoonoos, opened my eyes by daring to expose his government’s war crimes even after he was brutally beaten and stabbed at his home in front of his wife and kids. read more

At a cartooning workshop in Sousse, Tunisia, participants from Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan and Syria compared how cartoons and wall graffiti were influential in the Arab Spring.  At the gathering of 16 cartoonists, activists and the experts, the events of the year after the "Arab Spring" were highlighted in both discussion and cartoon drawing.  The workshop was organized on 28 and 29 May 2012 by the International Freedom of Expression Exchange Tunisia Monitoring Group (IFEX-TMG), in cooperation with Cartoonists Rights Network International (CRNI) with support from the Tunisian Centre for Freedom of the Press (CTPJ). read more