EU to ban film on victims of rape in Afghanistan

London based film-maker, Clementine Malpas, has been threatened with legal action by the European Union after making a documentary that exposed the abuse of women in Afghanistan.

The EU hired  Ms Malpas, 30, to highlight the life of battered wives and rape victims convicted of moral crimes by anti-female Afghan courts. But only 24 hours before the film was due to be delivered, EU officials stated that they did not want to “upset relations with the justice institutions” in Afghanistan.

Ms Malpas is now accused of breaching her contract after breaching her contract after claims the film was screened for outside viewers.


She obtained written consent to film Gulnaz, 19, who was jailed for 12 years for adultery after being raped, and Farida, 26, also jailed for adultery after fleeing her abusive husband. Both women risked their personal safety to speak up and the EU insists that it is protecting them by hiding their identities.

An EU spokesman said: “The woman and their families must be protected, which means their identities can under no circumstances be revealed. The film in its current state does not conceal the persons in question.”

Ms Malpas, who has produced a number of human rights films in Africa, told the London Evening Standard: “It is the women’s choice to tell their stories and I admire their clever-eyed courage. It is not for us to veto their votes.”

These women are well aware of the fact that they’re putting their own and their families’ lives at risk in order to tell their horror stories. They have made up their mind, so who are the EU to dictate what they’re allowed to say? These women’s bravery should be applauded – not shut down.

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Police State Tactics in Toronto: Call for Support

Signatories sought for appeal against Canadian authoritarian policing strategies:

We believe it is urgent to respond to the police actions in Toronto duringthe G8/G20.  We are writing to invite you to sign on to The Toronto Call. We are hoping to get signatures from trade unionists, faculty, students, community activists, legal workers and cultural workers among others (including those arrested and detained around the G20).   We believe it is possible to shift the terms to debate, and to shine a spotlight on the abusive police practices during the G8/G20.  But we need your help to do that.

Please sign on and circulate the call widely to friends, colleagues, allies and networks who might be willing to sign.

If you want *TO SIGN ON, PLEASE WRITE TO* TheTorontoCall@gmail.com and with your name, affiliation (as you would want it in the final version) and which category you prefer to be placed in (trade unionists, faculty, students, community activists, legal workers, teachers, cultural workers, arrested and detained)  if we decide to arrange signatures in that format.  We ask you to sign on as soon as possible.  We will continue *collecting signatures until Monday, July 5 at 6:00pm* but may publish versions if it becomes useful to do so before that time.

*NOTE:* Please feel free to place a  * beside your institutional affiliation if you want indicate you are signing in a personal capacity

Thanks very much – please pass the message on …

Follow this link for a bit more information on what happened:

http://www.socialistvoice.ca/?p=1262

The comments here: http://wmtc.blogspot.com/

And here is a little information on the G20 itself:

http://www.naomiklein.org/articles/2010/06/g20-global-menace-invented-larry-summers

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