Former Serbian President Milan Milutinovic was acquitted of charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, while five other top-ranking Serbian leaders were convicted with sentences of between 15 and 23 years. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia held that Milutinovic did not have direct control over the army that perpetrated numerous human rights abuses. The judgment is viewed as one of the most important developments since former leader Slobodan Milosevic died while in custody.
For an excellent collection of short fiction stories set during the conflict (and some background information), please see my review of Sarajevo Marlboro, by Miljenko Jergovic, here.
For more information about the rulings, visit the ICTY homepage here.
Photo courtesy of the ICTY.
by
Michael Ondaatje
Picador, 1999, 311 pages.
The conflict in Sri Lanka rages on, according to a recent Human Rights Watch report, with over 2,000 civilians killed during the month of January 2009 alone. This calls for the exhumation of Michael Ondaatje’s 1999 novel Anil’s Ghost. Nearly a decade old, the book remains relevant and shines for its clear depiction of human rights issues. The disjointed writing is the only impediment that prevents the novel from being required reading for any serious human rights advocate.
Read the full review here.
Australian writer Harry Nicolaides has been released from prison in Thailand after having been jailed for insulting the monarchy in his novel. Although his self-published book ‘Verisimilitude’ only sold 7 copies – of a print run of 50 – he was sentenced for the minimum three years in January 2009 for allegedly negatively portraying a Thai prince. As has been the trend, he was pardoned after a few months.
There is speculation that the lese majeste laws – which prohibit libel against certain heads of state – have been used in Thailand by the military-backed government to prop up the monarchy. These laws are distinct from censorship in that they focus on personalized written or verbal attacks on leaders, rather than prohibiting a broader range of speech.
It is striking how the act of imprisoning someone for a violation of lese majeste is rarely directly associated with the monarch in question. Rather, the minions or servants of the king are seen as the perpetrators blindly carrying out their duty. But when the person is pardoned, it is perceived as an act of clemency by the monarch himself. Win-win for the monarch, it seems.
Anyway, read here for an excellent article about lese majeste laws and recent censorship trends, especially as they pertain to journalists.
Also visit Reporters Without Borders.
–D.O.
Photo by Apichart Weerawong
Twenty years after the Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa – an edict under Islamic law – against Salman Rushdie for publication of The Satanic Verses, the novel is being reevaluated. It continues to call into question issues of freedom of speech and the press. What is the role of a writer? Does freedom of speech trump the concerns of minorities?
The novel bears the honor of being the one of the most disparaged – and least read – books in modern history. The controversy began in Britain, when Muslims called for the suppression of the novel. After their complaints went unheeded, they arranged a very visible book burning ceremony. (The protesters only owned one copy, and the book needed gasoline to alight.) Media coverage fanned the flames of the conflagration and before long the book had been banned in eleven countries, including Rusdhie’s native India. Rushdie spent a decade in hiding from 1989 to 1998.
Read the full review here.
–Deji Olukotun
I will be reviewing Lynn Hunt’s book Inventing Human Rights: A History. The book is noteworthy not because it attempts to trace the origins of the term human rights – this has been done before – but because it strives to trace the influence of novels and the arts upon the evolution of human rights.
I have been searching for a foundational text that avoids the legalistic interpretations of the ‘Law and Literature’ movement. We’ll find out soon if Professor Hunt’s book is it.
–D.O.
