Tag : Imprisoned Prize
Artists
Lapiro's song 'Constitution Constipée' was the anthem for protesters who took to the streets angered after a constitutional change that would allow the president to stay in power indefinitely. Lapiro is now in jail, persecuted by authorities after he became a symbol of peaceful resistance for those...
In 2008, filmmaker and journalist Maziar Bahari was seized by Iranian authorities after he published an article in Newsweek dissecting the Green Revolution movement. He was one of a thousand people seized during the post-election crackdown. The Harvard Film Archive said his work revealed the human...
Well known in his native country for his romantic poems and performance art pieces, Saw Wei was jailed for two years in November 2008 for inducing crime against public tranquillity. His detention stemmed from an eight-line love poem entitled 'February The Fourteenth'. It carries a hidden criticism...
This Syrian doctor, painter and human right activist is currently serving a 15 year prison sentence. He was jailed after his paintings were deemed to "have incited foreign aggression against Syria that insulted The Syrian President". Prior to his arrest, Dr. al-Labwani was a general practitioner....
This Burmese musician has used his talents to promote human rights. Ko Win Maw has been jailed three times for his song writing. He is serving a six year sentence. In 1996, he was jailed on charges of singing anti-regime songs. In 1997, he received seven years hard labour and his music was banned.
Dhondup Wangchen understood the power of documentary film making to convey a message of hope.
Without any formal training and purely motivated by the desire to document the need for social change,
he travelled across Tibet with only one assistant, using a hand held camera to make the first...
Ericson Acosta is a poet, singer, actor and songwriter from the Philippines, was arrested in February 2011,
without warrant by the military whilst conducting human rights and environmental research in a
militarised barrio in Calbayog in the Philippines. Following days of tactical military...
Win Maw has been an inspirational guitarist and
songwriter in Myanmar (formerly Burma) for decades,
continuing to make music even in the prison cell to
which he was sentenced for 10 years in 2009. He
expresses the political views of the Burmese people
with his music which provides a rallying...
Aron Atabek is a dissident, poet and creative writer in Kazhakstan. He was jailed for 18 years after being accused of orchestrating a mass disorder protesting against the demolition of a shanty-town, a charge he vehemently denies. He rejected an offer by the government of a pardon if he admitted...
Zarganar is Burma's most popular comedian and satirist. He draws inspiration from the Burmese people who have endured nearly five decades of dictatorship. Zarganar was last arrested in June 2008 for making jokes about the government before international media covering Cyclone Nargis. His 59-year...
