Iran: Jafar Panahi and family arrested
Multi award-winning film director Jafar Panahi was detained along with his wife, daughter and 15 guests by Iranian security on 1 March.
His wife, daughter and guests have since been released, but AFP reports that no visitors have since been allowed to meet with Panahi, who is inside the infamous Evin prison.
The detention is part of an ongoing crackdown on supporters of the opposition Green Movement and follows a travel ban placed on Panahi after he wore green clothes to the Montreal film festival. His arrest is apparently due to Panahi making a film, inside his home, on the Green Movement demonstrations that followed the contested re-election of President Ahmadinejad in 2009.
Iranian news sources state that groups of Iranian and international filmmakers and artists have written to the Iranian government in protest.
Bangladesh: photo exhibition banned, photographer receives death threats
An exhibition of photographs by Shahidul Alam about extrajudicial executions in Bangladesh was prevented from opening on 22 March at Drik Picture Library. Police surrounded and blocked entry to the exhibition entitled ‘Crossfire’ shortly before it was due to open.
The photos document the alleged extrajudicial executions by the RapidAction Battalion, part of Bangladesh’s national army, who have killed more than 500 people since being established in 2004, according to Human Rights Watch. The police defended their actions by arguing that the exhibit would: "create anarchy".
The government of Bangladesh withdrew the police on 31 March shortlyafter the High Court convened to hear Alam’s request for help. Alamtold Reporters Without Borders: "|This is a victory on several fronts, for the Bangladeshi people's right to know, for the right of the media and artists to speak out, and for the rights of citizens to protest against injustice." Alam however has since received anonymous death threats.
Zimbabwe: artist and curator arrested for ‘incitement’
The artist Owen Maseko and the National Gallery in Bulawayo’s Acting Director Voti Thebe were arrested on 26 March following theunveiling of an exhibition of paintings depicting the Matebeleland massacres of the early 1980s. Whilst Thebe was released later that day, according to Zimbo Jam, Maseko has remained in prison and has been charged for incitement under the Public Order and Security Act.
The subject of Maseko’s art was the post-independence killing of thousands of villagers in Matabeleland by the Zimbabwean military working under President Robert Mugabe. The Public Order and Security Act is widely used in Zimbabwe to silence dissent, and was also used recently to confiscate and close down an exhibition at Gallery Delta in Harare on 24 March.
Sri Lanka: author held under emergency laws
Bahrain resident Sarah Malanie Perera was arrested in Colombo on 20 March for ‘anti-state activities’ after writing two books on Islam which were judged to be offensive to Buddhism. Born in Sri Lanka, Perera converted to Islam 10 years ago and wrote the books, titled From Darkness to Light and Questions and Answers, in Sinhala.
According to the Hindustan Times, Perera was detained prior to her return to Bahrain following a three-month holiday in Sri Lanka and after she had printed the books and tried to get them freighted back to Bahrain.
China: Bob Dylan concert refused
International pop star Bob Dylan will no longer play his first concerts in China after the Chinese government refused to allow him to play gigs in Beijing and Shanghai. According to the Guardian, the Ministry of Culture, which scrutinises all concerts by foreigners, was: "wary of Dylan's past as an icon of the counterculture movement".
The refusal repeats the 2009 ban of an Oasis gig, and follows the embarrassment caused to the Chinese government in 2008 when Björk shouted "Tibet! Tibet!" after performing a song titled ‘Declare Independence’ in Shanghai.