A/HRC/43/50 including with refugee status. Moreover, the nature of the risks may also be affected by situations of repression, emergencies, violence, armed conflict and post-conflict. The risks cultural rights defenders face are contextual, and may also be affected by their minority or majority status, their gender or class background and other aspects of identity. States, civil society and international organizations must assess the possibilities and risks in each type of situation and develop effective and appropriate response mechanisms. 67. Cultural rights defenders in certain circumstances face similar human rights violations as other human rights defenders. These may include stigmatization; discrimination; bullying; loss of employment; threats; acts of violence; threats and violence against colleagues and family; arbitrary arrest and detention; unfair trials; spurious court cases, including for defamation; torture or ill-treatment; sexual violence; corporal punishment; enforced disappearances; and summary, arbitrary or extrajudicial killings. These may be carried out by State and/or non-State actors. When cultural rights defenders are forced to flee, they may face further abuses in exile, both from actors in their countries of origin and in receiving countries. Impunity for all such abuses is rampant in many contexts. 68. Emerging concerns regarding digital security, including online harassment, surveillance and repression are also relevant. The rights of cultural rights defenders must also be ensured online. 69. A few examples illustrate some of the repercussions faced by cultural rights defenders. Owing to her work as a journalist, Masih Alinejad, from the Islamic Republic of Iran, went into exile and found creative ways to champion women’s cultural rights. She launched a campaign called “My Stealthy Freedom” in which women in the Islamic Republic of Iran shared photographs with her that had been taken without the mandatory hijab. The hijab had been imposed upon them under threat of harsh punishments;46 hence they did not view it as a cultural expression, but as the expression of an officially imposed ideology (A/72/155, paras. 73–80). The videos and images were distributed on the Internet, allowing women a venue to express their cultural rights concerns and dissent. As a result, contact with Ms. Alinejad is now understood as a criminal act and the head of the Tehran Revolutionary Court declared in July 2019 that anyone sending her such a video could face a 10-year sentence. 47 Multiple women have subsequently received lengthy sentences for removing their hijabs. Ms. Alinejad’s brother was also arrested as a means of punishing her for this work.48 70. Around the world, many cultural rights defenders are arbitrarily detained. 49 For example, award-winning Uighur intellectual Ilham Tohti, who ran a website “to provide Uighurs and Hans with a platform for discussion and exchange”, and to offer a forum for discussion of Uighur social and cultural issues, is serving a life sentence in China. 50 All such cases are of grave concern for the Special Rapporteur, who calls for the immediate release of anyone detained for their work as a cultural rights defender. 71. The work of other human rights defenders to defend cultural rights defenders has played a crucial role in positive outcomes. The Special Rapporteur was delighted that blogger Cheick Mohamed Mkhaitir 51 was released from prison in 2019. Mr. Mkhaitir campaigned against the use of religious justifications for caste discrimination in Mauritania and was condemned to death for blasphemy. He served more than five years in prison and was the subject of numerous communications and statements by the cultural rights mandate, 46 47 48 49 50 51 United Nations, OHCHR, “Iran: release women jailed for protesting against compulsory wearing of veil, say UN rights experts”, news release, 16 August 2019. www.isna.ir/news/98050703481 (in Farsi). Amnesty International, “Iran: family of women’s rights activist arrested in despicable attempt to intimidate her into silence”, 25 September 2019. Freemuse documented 157 cases of artists being detained in 2018. Freemuse, The State of Artistic Freedom 2019: Whose Narratives Count? (2019). See Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, communication No. 3/2014 (China), 6 February 2014; and Human Rights Watch, “Timeline of Ilham Tohti’s case”, 15 September 2014. www.ohchr.org/FR/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24705&LangID=F. 15