Index on Censorship is an organization campaigning for

freedom of expression Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recog ...

, which produces a quarterly magazine of the same name from London. It is directed by the non-profit-making Writers and Scholars International, Ltd (WSI) in association with the UK-registered charity Index on Censorship (founded as the Writers and Scholars Educational Trust), which are both chaired by the British television broadcaster, writer and former politician

Trevor Phillips Sir Mark Trevor Phillips (born 31 December 1953) is a British writer, broadcaster and former politician who served as Chair of the London Assembly from 2000 to 2001 and from 2002 to 2003. He presented '' Trevor Phillips on Sunday'', a Sunda ...

. ''Index'' is based at 1 Rivington Place in central London. WSI was createdScammell, Michael (1984), "How Index on Censorship Started", in Theiner, George, ''They Shoot Writers, Don't They?'', London: Faber & Faber, pp. 19–28. . by poet Stephen Spender, Oxford philosopher Stuart Hampshire, the publisher and editor of ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'' David Astor, and the writer and expert on the Soviet Union Edward Crankshaw. The founding editor of ''Index on Censorship'' was the critic and translator Michael Scammell (1972–1981), who still serves as a patron of the organisation.

Founding history

An Appeal from the USSR

The original impetus for the creation of ''Index on Censorship'' came from an Open Letter addressed "To World Public Opinion" by two Soviet dissenters, Pavel Litvinov and Larisa Bogoraz. In the words of the samizdat periodical '' A Chronicle of Current Events'', they described "the atmosphere of illegality" surrounding the January 1968 trial of Ginzburg and Galanskov and called for "public condemnation of this disgraceful trial, for the punishment of those responsible, the release of the accused from detention and a retrial which would fully conform with the legal regulations and be held in the presence of international observers." (One of the accused Alexander Ginzburg resumed his dissident activities on release from the camps, until expelled from the USSR in 1979; another, the writer Yuri Galanskov, died in a camp in November 1972.) ''The Times'' (London) published a translation of the Open Letter and in reply the English poet Stephen Spender composed a brief telegram:

“We, a group of friends representing no organisation, support your statement, admire your courage, think of you and will help in any way possible.”

Among the other 15 British and US signatories were the poet W. H. Auden, philosopher A. J. Ayer, musician

Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi or Jehudi (Hebrew: יהודי, endonym for Jew) is a common Hebrew name: * Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999), violinist and conductor ** Yehudi Menuhin School, a music school in Surrey, England ** Who's Yehoodi?, a catchphrase referring to t ...

, man of letters J. B. Priestley, actor Paul Scofield, sculptor Henry Moore, philosopher

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, a ...

, writer Mary McCarthy and composer

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century clas ...

. Later that year, on 25 August, Bogoraz, Litvinov and five others demonstrated on Red Square against the invasion of Czechoslovakia. A few weeks before, Litvinov sent Spender a letter (translated and published several years later in the first May 1972 issue of ''Index''). He suggested that a regular publication might be set up in the West "to provide information to world public opinion about the real state of affairs in the USSR".

Title, scope and relations with Amnesty International

Spender and his colleagues, Stuart Hampshire, David Astor, Edward Crankshaw and founding editor Michael Scammell decided, like Amnesty International, to cast their net wider. They wished to document patterns of censorship in right-wing dictatorships — the military regimes of Latin America and the dictatorships in Greece, Spain and Portugal — as well as the Soviet Union and its satellites. Meanwhile, in 1971,

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and s ...

began to publish English translations of each new issue of '' A Chronicle of Current Events'', which documented human rights abuses in the USSR and included a regular "Samizdat Update". In a recent interview, Michael Scammell explains the informal division of labour between the two London-based organisations: "When we received human rights material we forwarded it to Amnesty and when Amnesty received a report of censorship they passed it on to us". Originally, as suggested by Scammell, the magazine was to be called ''Index'', a reference to the lists or indices of banned works that are central to the history of censorship: the Roman Catholic Church's

Index Librorum Prohibitorum The ''Index Librorum Prohibitorum'' ("List of Prohibited Books") was a list of publications deemed heretical or contrary to morality by the Sacred Congregation of the Index (a former Dicastery of the Roman Curia), and Catholics were forbid ...

(Index of Forbidden Books); the Soviet Union's ''Censor's Index''; and apartheid South Africa's ''Jacobsens Index of Objectionable Literature''. Scammell later admitted that the words "on censorship" were added as an afterthought when it was realised that the reference would not be clear to many readers. "Panicking, we hastily added the words 'on Censorship' as a subtitle", wrote Scammell in the December 1981 issue of the magazine, "and this it has remained ever since, nagging me with its ungrammaticality (Index ''of'' Censorship, surely) and a standing apology for the opacity of its title." Describing the organisation's objectives at its inception, Stuart Hampshire said:

"the tyrant's concealments of oppression and of absolute cruelty should always be challenged. There should be noise of publicity outside every detention centre and concentration camp and a published record of every tyrannical denial of free expression."

The magazine

''Index on Censorship'' magazine was founded by Michael Scammell in 1972. It supports free expression, publishing distinguished writers from around the world, exposing suppressed stories, initiating debate, and providing an international record of censorship. The quarterly editions of the magazine usually focus on a country or region or a recurring theme in the global free expression debate. ''Index on Censorship'' also publishes short works of fiction and poetry by notable new writers. ''Index Index'', a round-up of abuses of freedom of expression worldwide, was published in the magazine until December 2008. While the original inspiration to create Index came from Soviet dissidents, from its outset the magazine covered censorship in right-wing dictatorships then ruling Greece and Portugal, the military regimes of Latin America, and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

and its satellites. The magazine has covered other challenges facing free expression, including religious extremism, the rise of nationalism, and Internet censorship. In the first issue of May 1972, Stephen Spender wrote:

"Obviously there is the risk of a magazine of this kind becoming a bulletin of frustration. However, the material by writers which is censored in Eastern Europe, Greece, South Africa and other countries is among the most exciting that is being written today. Moreover, the question of censorship has become a matter of impassioned debate; and it is one which does not only concern totalitarian societies."

Accordingly, the magazine has sought to shed light on other challenges facing free expression, including religious extremism, the rise of nationalism, and internet censorship. Issues are usually organised by theme, and contain a country-by-country list of recent cases involving censorship, restrictions on

freedom of the press Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exerc ...

and other

free speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recog ...

violations. Occasionally, ''Index on Censorship'' publishes short works of fiction and poetry by notable new writers as well as censored ones. Over the half century it has been in existence, ''Index on Censorship'' has presented works by some of the world's most distinguished writers and thinkers, including

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Russian novelist. One of the most famous Soviet dissidents, Solzhenitsyn was an outspoken critic of communism and helped to raise global awareness of political repr ...

Milan Kundera Milan Kundera (, ; born 1 April 1929) is a Czech writer who went into exile in France in 1975, becoming a naturalised French citizen in 1981. Kundera's Czechoslovak citizenship was revoked in 1979, then conferred again in 2019. He "sees himsel ...

Václav Havel Václav Havel (; 5 October 193618 December 2011) was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and former dissident. Havel served as the last president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1992 and then ...

Nadine Gordimer Nadine Gordimer (20 November 192313 July 2014) was a South African writer and political activist. She received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991, recognized as a writer "who through her magnificent epic writing has ... been of very great b ...

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and ...

Doris Lessing Doris May Lessing (; 22 October 1919 – 17 November 2013) was a British-Zimbabwean novelist. She was born to British parents in Iran, where she lived until 1925. Her family then moved to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), where she remain ...

, Arthur Miller,

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky i ...

, and Umberto Eco. Issues under the editorship of Rachael Jolley have covered taboos, the legacy of the

Magna Carta (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms"), commonly called (also ''Magna Charta''; "Great Charter"), is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by t ...

and

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's enduring legacy in protest. There have been special issues on China, reporting from the Middle East, and on internet censorship. The Russia issue (January 2008) won an

Media Award 2008 for features by Russian journalists Fatima Tlisova and Sergei Bachinin, and veteran Russian free speech campaigner Alexei Simonov, founder of the Glasnost Defence Foundation. Since January 2010 it has been published by

Sage Publications SAGE Publishing, formerly SAGE Publications, is an American independent publishing company founded in 1965 in New York by Sara Miller McCune and now based in Newbury Park, California. It publishes more than 1,000 journals, more than 800 books ...

, an independent for-profit academic publisher. Between 2005 and 2009, the magazine was published and distributed by

Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law ...

, part of the

Taylor & Francis Taylor & Francis Group is an international company originating in England that publishes books and academic journals. Its parts include Taylor & Francis, Routledge, F1000 Research or Dovepress. It is a division of Informa plc, a United Ki ...

group. In addition to print and annual subscriptions, ''Index on Censorship'' is available on Exact Editions, an application for the iPhone/iPad and Android. It is also a partner with Eurozine, a network of more than 60 European cultural journals.

Publishing landmarks

Other landmark publications include Ken Saro-Wiwa's writings from prison (Issue 3/1997) and a translation of the Czechoslovak Charter 77 manifesto drafted by

and others in Issue 3/1977. Index published the first English translation of

Alexander Solzhenitsyn Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Russian novelist. One of the most famous Soviet dissidents, Solzhenitsyn was an outspoken critic of communism and helped to raise global awareness of political repre ...

's Nobel Prize acceptance speech. ''Index on Censorship'' published the stories of the " disappeared" in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

and the work of banned poets in

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...

; the work of Chinese poets who escaped the massacres that ended the

Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...

. ''Index on Censorship'' has a long history of publishing writers in translation, including

Bernard-Henri Lévy Bernard-Henri Lévy (; ; born 5 November 1948) is a French public intellectual. Often referred to in France simply as BHL, he was one of the leaders of the "Nouveaux Philosophes" (New Philosophers) movement in 1976. His opinions, political activ ...

, Ivan Klima, Ma Jian and Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi, and news reports including Anna Politkovskaia's coverage of the war in Chechnya (Issue 2/2002).

Tom Stoppard Sir Tom Stoppard (born , 3 July 1937) is a Czech born British playwright and screenwriter. He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship, and polit ...

's play ''Every Good Boy Deserves Favour'' (1977) is set in a Soviet mental institution and was inspired by the personal account of former detainee Victor Fainberg and Clayton Yeo's expose of the use of psychiatric abuse in the USSR, published in ''Index on Censorship'' (Issue 2, 1975).Nadel, Ira (2004). ''Double Act: A Life of Tom Stoppard''. London: Methuen. pp. 264–268. . It was first performed with the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

. Stoppard became a member of the advisory board of ''Index on Censorship'' in 1978 and remains connected to the publication as a Patron of ''Index''. ''Index on Censorship'' published the World Statement by the International Committee for the Defence of

in support of "the right of all people to express their ideas and beliefs and to discuss them with their critics on the basis of mutual tolerance, free from censorship, intimidation and violence. Six months later, ''Index'' published the ''Hunger Strike Declaration'' from four student leaders of the

Liu Xiaobo Liu Xiaobo (; 28 December 1955 – 13 July 2017) was a Chinese writer, literary critic, human rights activist, philosopher and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who called for political reforms and was involved in campaigns to end communist one- ...

, Zhou Duo, Hou Dejian and Gao Xin. ''Index Index'', a round-up of abuses of freedom of expression worldwide, continued to be published in each edition of the magazine until December 2008, when this function was transferred to the website. The offences against free expression documented in that first issue's ''Index Index'' listing included censorship in Greece and Spain, then dictatorships, and Brazil, which had just banned the film '' Zabriskie Point'' on the grounds that it "insulted a friendly power" – the United States, where it had been made and freely shown. ''Index on Censorship'' paid special attention to the situation in then Czechoslovakia between the Soviet invasion of 1968 and the

Velvet Revolution The Velvet Revolution ( cs, Sametová revoluce) or Gentle Revolution ( sk, Nežná revolúcia) was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations agains ...

of 1989, devoting an entire issue to the country eight years after the

Prague Spring The Prague Spring ( cs, Pražské jaro, sk, Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First ...

(Issue 3/1976). It included several pieces by Václav Havel, including a first translation of his one act play ''Conversation'', and a letter to Czech officials on police censorship of his December 1975 production of '' The Beggar's Opera'' by

John Gay John Gay (30 June 1685 – 4 December 1732) was an English poet and dramatist and member of the Scriblerus Club. He is best remembered for '' The Beggar's Opera'' (1728), a ballad opera. The characters, including Captain Macheath and Polly P ...

. The magazine also carried articles on the state of the Czech theatre and a list of the so-called Padlock Publications, 50 banned books that circulated only in typescript. Index also published an English version of Havel's play ''Mistake'', dedicated to

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and Tragicomedy, tr ...

in gratitude for Beckett's own dedication of his play ''Catastrophe'' to Havel. Both short plays were performed at the Free Word Centre to mark the launch of Index's special issue looking back at the changes of 1989 (Issue 4, 2009).

Campaigns

''Free Speech is not For Sale'', a joint campaign report by Index on Censorship and English PEN highlighted the problem of so-called libel tourism and the English law of defamation's chilling effect on free speech. After much debate surrounding the report's ten key recommendations, the UK Justice Secretary Jack Straw pledged to make English defamation laws fairer. "A free press can’t operate or be effective unless it can offer readers comment as well as news. What concerns me is that the current arrangements are being used by big corporations to restrict fair comment, not always by journalists but also by academics." He added: "The very high levels of remuneration for defamation lawyers in Britain seem to be incentivising libel tourism." These campaigns and others were illustrative of then CEO John Kampfner's strategy, supported by then chair Jonathan Dimbleby, to boost Index's public advocacy profile in the UK and abroad beginning in 2008. Until then the organisation did not regard itself as "a campaigning organisation in the mould of Article 19 or

", as former news editor Sarah Smith noted in 2001,Smith, Sarah (2001), "Index on Censorship" in Jones, Derek (ed.), ''Censorship: A World Encyclopaedia''. London: Routledge. preferring to use its "understanding of what is newsworthy and politically significant" to maintain pressure on oppressive regimes (such as China, from 1989) through extensive coverage.

Arts and international programmes

Index on Censorship also runs a programme of UK based and international projects that put the organisation's philosophy into practice. In 2009 and 2010 Index on Censorship worked in Afghanistan, Burma, Iraq, Tunisia and many other countries, in support of journalists, broadcasters, artists and writers who work against a backdrop of intimidation, repression, and censorship. The organisation's arts' programmes investigate the impact of current and recent social and political change on arts practitioners, assessing the degree and depth of self-censorship. It uses the arts to engage young people directly into the freedom of expression debate. It works with marginalised communities in UK, creating new platforms, on line and actual for creative expression. Index on Censorship works internationally to commission new work, not only articles for print and online, but also new photography, film & video, visual arts and performance. Examples have included an exhibition of photostories produced by women in Iraq, ''Open Shutters'', and a programme involving artists from refugee and migrant communities in UK, linking with artists from their country of origin, ''Imagine art after'', exhibited at

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...

in 2007. Index has also worked with Burmese exiled artists and publishers on creating a programme in support of the collective efforts of Burma's creative community. Index also commissioned a new play by Actors for Human Rights, ''Seven Years With Hard Labour'', weaving together four accounts from former Burmese political prisoners now living in the UK. Index also co-published a book of poetry by homeless people in London and St. Petersburg.

CEO

The Chief Executive of Index on Censorship from May 2014 was Jodie Ginsberg. In December 2019, Index announced Ginsberg was standing down from the post in early 2020. In June 2020, she was replaced by Ruth Smeeth.

Freedom of Expression Awards

Index on Censorship annually presents awards to courageous journalists, artists, campaigners and digital activists from around the world who have made a significant contribution to free expression over the past year. Sponsors have included ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'',

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

SAGE Publications SAGE Publishing, formerly SAGE Publications, is an American independent publishing company founded in 1965 in New York by Sara Miller McCune and now based in Newbury Park, California. It publishes more than 1,000 journals, more than 800 books ...

and the London law firm Doughty Street Chambers. The most recent ''Index'' Freedom of Expression Awards took place on 27 October 2022 in London. The 2020 awards were held online in April 2020 during the 2019–20 COVID-19 pandemic. 2022 winners: Journalism: Huang Xueqin; Campaigning: OVD-Info; Arts: Hamlet Lavastida; Trustee Award: Andrey Kurkov. 2021 winners: Journalism: Samira Sabou; Campaigning: Abdelrahman 'Moka' Tarek; Arts: Tatyana Zelenskaya; Trustee Award: Arif Ahmed. 2020 winners: Journalism: OKO.press; Campaigning: Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, Veysel Ok; Digital: 7amleh; Arts: Yulia Tsvetkova. 2019 winners: Journalism: Mimi Mefo; Campaigning: Cartoonists Rights Network, International; Digital: Fundación Karisma; Arts:

Zehra Doğan Zehra Doğan (born 14 April 1989) is a Kurdish artist and journalist and author from Diyarbakır, Turkey. In 2017, she was sentenced to 2 years, 9 months and 22 days in prison for "terrorist propaganda" because of her news coverage, social medi ...

. 2018 winners: Journalism: Wendy Funes; Campaigning: Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms; Digital: Habari RDC; Arts: The Museum of Dissidence. 2017 winners: Journalism: ''Maldives Independent''; Campaigning: Ildar Dadin; Digital: Turkey Blocks; Arts: Rebel Pepper. 2016 winners: Journalism: Zaina Erhaim; Campaigning: Bolo Bhi; Digital: GreatFire; Arts: Murad Subay. 2015 winners: Journalism:

Rafael Marques de Morais Rafael Marques de Morais (born 1971) is an Angolan journalist and anti-corruption activist who received several international awards for his reporting on conflict diamonds and government corruption in Angola. He currently heads the anti-corruption ...

and Safa Al Ahmad; Campaigning: Amran Abdundi; Digital:Tamas Bodoky; Arts: Mouad "El Haqued" Belghouat. 2014 winners: Journalism: Azadliq; Advocacy: Shahzad Ahmad; Digital: Shu Choudhary; Arts: Mayam Mahmoud. 2013 winners: Journalism: Kostas Vaxevanis; Digital Freedom: Bassel Khartabil; Advocacy: Malala Yousafzai; Arts: Zanele Muholi. 2012 winners: Journalism: Idrak Abbasov; Advocacy:

Bahrain Centre for Human Rights The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR; ar, مركز البحرين لحقوق الإنسان) was a Bahraini non-profit non-governmental organisation which works to promote human rights in Bahrain,

, collected by Nabeel Rajab; Innovation: Freedom Fone by Kubatana; Arts: Ali Ferzat; 40th Anniversary Award: Research and Information Centre " Memorial (society)" St Petersburg. 2011 winners: Journalism: Ibrahim Eissa; Advocacy: Gao Zhisheng; New Media: Nawaat; Arts: M. F. Husain; Special Commendation: Belarus' Prisoners of Conscience, collected by the

Belarus Free Theatre Belarus Free Theatre is a Belarusian underground theatre group. Under the current political system the Belarus Free Theatre has no official registration, no premises, nor any other facilities. Rehearsals and performances (always free of charge ...

. 2010 winners: Journalism: Radio La Voz; Advocacy: Rashid Hajili; Publishing Award: Andalus Press; New Media Award:

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

; Freemuse Award: Mahsa Vahdat; Special Commendation: Heather Brooke. 2009 winners: Journalism: '' The Sunday Leader'' – Sri Lanka; Film: Ricki Stern and Ann Sundberg, '' The Devil Came on Horseback''; New Media: Psiphon; Books: Ma Jian, Beijing Coma; Law: Malik Imtiaz Sarwar. 2008 winners: Journalism: Arat Dink and ''Agos'' magazine; Mohamed Al-Daradji and ''Ahlaam''; New Media:

Julian Assange Julian Paul Assange ( ; Hawkins; born 3 July 1971) is an Australian editor, publisher, and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. WikiLeaks came to international attention in 2010 when it published a series of leaks provided by U.S. Army int ...

and

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder and director and ...

; Books: Francisco Goldman, ''The Art of Political Murder''; Law: U Gambira and the Monks of Burma. 2007 winners: Journalism: Kareem Amer; Film: Yoav Shamir, ''Defamation''; Whistleblower: Chen Guangcheng; Books: Samir Kassir; Law: Siphiwe Hlophe. 2006 winners: Journalism: Sihem Bensedrine; Film: Bahman Ghobadi, ''Turtles Can Fly''; Whistleblower: Huang Jingao; Books: Jean Hatzfeld, ''Into the Quick Life: The Rwandan Genocide – the Survivors Speak'' and ''A Time for Machetes: the Killers Speak''; Law: Beatrice Mtetwa. 2005 winners: Journalism: Sumi Khan; Books: Soldiers, Light by Daniel Bergner; Film: ''Final Solution'',

Rakesh Sharma Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, AC (born 13 January 1949) is a former Indian Air Force pilot who flew aboard Soyuz T-11 on 3 April 1984 as part of the Soviet Interkosmos programme. He is the only Indian citizen to travel in space, although th ...

; Campaigning: Center of Constitutional Rights; Whistleblowing: Grigoris Lazos. 2004 winners: Journalism: Kaveh Golestan; Music:

West–Eastern Divan Orchestra The West–Eastern Divan Orchestra is an orchestra based in Seville, Spain, consisting of musicians from countries in the Middle East, of Egyptian, Iranian, Israeli, Jordanian, Lebanese, Palestinian, Syrian and Spanish background. It was found ...

; Whistleblowing: Satyendra Dubey; Film: ''Amamdla!'' by Lee Hirsch; Books: ''Slave'' by Mende Nazer and Damien Lewis; Special: Mordechai Vanunu; Censor of the Year: John Ashcroft. 2003 winners: Journalism: Fergal Keane; Whistleblowing: Tony Kevin; Censor of the Year: Jonathan Moyo; Circumvention of Censorship:

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazee ...

; Defence of Free Expression: Hashem Aghajari. 2002 winners: Defence of Free Expression: Anna Politkovskaya; Circumvention of Censorship: Şanar Yurdatapan; Whistleblowing: Jiang Weiping; Censor of the Year:

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies f ...

. 2001 winners: Defence of Free Expression: Mashallah Shamsolvaezin; Whistleblowing: Grigory Pasko; Circumvention of Censorship: Lorrie Cranor, Avi Rubin and Marc Waldman; Censor of the Year: UK Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Controversies

Theo Van Gogh

In November 2004, ''Index on Censorship'' attracted further controversy over another indexonline.org blog post by Jayasekera that, to many readers, seemed to condone or justify the murder of Dutch film-maker Theo van Gogh. The blog described Van Gogh was a "free-speech fundamentalist" on a "martyrdom operation roar nghis Muslim critics into silence with obscenities" in an "abuse of his right to free speech". Describing Van Gogh's film ''Submission'' as "furiously provocative", Jayasekera concluded by describing his death:

"A sensational climax to a lifetime's public performance, stabbed and shot by a bearded fundamentalist, a message from the killer pinned by a dagger to his chest, Theo Van Gogh became a martyr to free expression. His passing was marked by a magnificent barrage of noise as Amsterdam hit the streets to celebrate him in the way the man himself would have truly appreciated. And what timing! Just as his long-awaited biographical film of Pim Fortuyn's life is ready to screen. Bravo, Theo! Bravo!"

There were many protests from both left-wing and right-wing commentators. In December 2004, Nick Cohen of ''

'' wrote:

"When I asked Jayasekera if he had any regrets, he said he had none. He told me that, like many other readers, I shouldn't have made the mistake of believing that ''Index on Censorship'' was against censorship, even murderous censorship, on principle – in the same way as
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and s ...
is opposed to torture, including murderous torture, on principle. It may have been so its radical youth, but was now as concerned with fighting 'hate speech' as protecting free speech."

Ursula Owen Ursula Margaret Owen Hon FRSL (born 21 January 1937) is an English publisher, editor and campaigner for free expression. Early life She was born Ursula Margaret Sachs in Oxford, England, to Emma Boehm and Werner Sachs, a chemical engineer wh ...

, the chief executive of ''Index on Censorship'', while agreeing that the blog post's "tone was not right" contradicted Cohen's account of his conversation with Jayasekera in a letter to ''The Observer''.

Danish cartoons

In December 2009, the magazine published an interview with Jytte Klausen about a refusal of

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Univers ...

to include the

Mohammed Cartoons The ''Jyllands-Posten'' Muhammad cartoons controversy (or Muhammad cartoons crisis, da, Muhammedkrisen) began after the Danish newspaper ''Jyllands-Posten'' published 12 editorial cartoons on 30 September 2005, most of which depicted Muhamma ...

in Klausen's book '' The Cartoons that Shook the World''. The magazine declined to include the cartoons alongside the interview.Eden, Richard (19 December 2009)
"Any Questions? Jonathan Dimbleby in Muslim censorship row"
''The Telegraph'' (UK)

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1972 establishments in the United Kingdom Censorship in the United Kingdom Political magazines published in the United Kingdom Freedom of expression organizations Free expression awards Magazines established in 1972 Magazines published in London Works about censorship Works about freedom of expression