Jurylid World Press Photo niet naar Amsterdam
Lars Boering, directeur van de World Press Photo, heeft besloten dat het Palestijns-Amerikaans jurylid Eman Mohammed beter niet naar Amsterdam kan reizen. De kans dat ze op de terugweg niet meer in Amerika wordt toegelaten, nu Trump mensen uit Arabische landen geen toegang meer verleent, is te groot.
Als nadere uitleg verklaart Lars Boering: “In een tijd dat men in de USA tegen de media zegt dat men zijn mond moet houden moet je niet op je handen gaan zitten maar wat doen. Daarom nemen wij stelling en steunen we onze fotojournalisten waar het nodig is. En ik wil niet bij de groep horen die later zegt dat ze er niets van wisten. Die lessen uit het verleden hebben we toch wel geleerd?”
Op de website van de WPP is het volgende (in het Engels) te lezen:
The World Press Photo Foundation stands with Eman and will do nothing to jeopardise her family. We joined with her lawyer and advised her not to travel. We are angered and saddened that bigotry has prevented this talented member of the photojournalism community from joining us this week. Eman has worked with us before, and she will work with us again.
Stuart Franklin, the Chair of the 2017 Photo Contest general jury, said:
Freedom to participate in international juries and conferences is a basic human right. I find it distressing that the risk of not being able to return home means Eman is being effectively denied the right to join our jury. Where will this end if we don’t take a stand against injustice now?
Eman’s place on the general jury will now be occupied by an equally talented photographer, Tanya Habjouqa. We are looking forward to the selection the general jury makes in the coming next week. We will be working throughout the coming year promoting the work they award to open the eyes of the world to injustice and the importance of freedom. We have written to the Chargé d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in the Netherlands to express our serious concern at the situation which has prevented Eman coming to Amsterdam.
I am furious that we can’t bring one of our jury members to Amsterdam to judge the World Press Photo contest due to the ridiculous actions taken by Trump.
A contest that is about freedom of speech, a foundation that is all about inclusiveness can’t jeopardize a single mom to be separated from her kids just because she is born in a place in the world Trump doesn’t like. That is why I advised her not to leave the USA and stay home.
I promise you she will be back next year with us and I have a lot of respect for her. She is an important member of the family of photojournalism and we have her back.
Get involved people. Don’t sit back and watch or wait for you will regret this later on.
Jurylid Eman Mohammed schrijft op haar Facebook:
I’ve been obligated to make several tough decisions through the past years but not in a million years I’ve imagined i’ll have to choose between my freedom or my daughters.
Today Heading to the World Press Photo judging panel in Amsterdam, after scheduling and rescheduling flights, few hours before getting to the airport I get the chilling call from a devoted lawyer i’ve been consulting with regarding Trump’s hateful executive order, making sure my family will be left unharmed and unaffected, making sure we’ve covered all law loops and holes and i’ll be allowed back to the US, news is my passport isn’t among the 7 countries Trump listed as banned yet I equally banned from coming back, I’ll be detained because Palestine isn’t a country according to the US, its an occupied territory, after that its all unknown.
but even that isn’t enough to cancel on such an honor as being among the WPP judges this year, the shock was when I learnt that upon my arrival my kids will be separated away from me, taken by a stranger because their passports as US citizens doesn’t match mine as US permeant resident, I’ve no family in the US so no one knows where they will end up.
the idea of fighting for the lives of your own children to be all put at risk not for a crime you committed but for a “crime” being committed against you.
this imaginary battle against terrorism is only targeting families of innocent civilians and for us not to fall in the same trap, we’re now swapping freedom for family.
So yes you win Mr. “President” because unlike you I’ve earned my freedom and I’ve fought to protect my kids.
I’m not Illegal but Trump’s unconstitutional ban is.
