Hamja Ahsan, a conceptual artist, writer, curator and activist from London, is facing prosecution by German authorities for social media posts that allegedly insulted two German politicians, a violation under German law. Some of the posts were made while he was on British soil.
“I don’t take my constitutional and civil rights for granted anymore,” Ahsan tells The Art Newspaper.
Ahsan’s troubles began in 2022 when he was a participating artist in Documenta 15. In August of that year, while in London, he posted a Guardian story on Facebook about Germany’s increased defence spending, referring to Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, as “a neo-liberal fascist pig”. He also posted a Telegraph story about a press conference involving Boris Johnson and Scholz with the caption “two pigs”.
A few days later, while Ahsan was in Germany for Documenta 15, Stefan Naas, a German politician from the Freedom Democratic Party (FDP), shared a screenshot of Ahsan’s Facebook post on his X account (formerly Twitter), where he criticised it, calling it “unbearable” and tagged the artist.
In response to Naas’s post, Ahsan tweeted several times. In one tweet, he accused Naas of attempting to shut down his event, which included two Israeli Jewish people, and labeled him a “neoliberal Apartheid regime lackey.” Over the following days, several German publications, including Bild, ran stories branding Ahsan a “hate artist” and expressing outrage at his “insults” towards Scholz.
Ahsan, who has worked on projects at Tate Modern and Tate Liverpool, recalls being flooded with hate and threats online, to the extent that he feared for his safety. “There were calls to deport me, kill me, burn my art,” he says, noting that none of the people who targeted him have been held to account.
The artist, fearing physical assault, informed Documenta on 16 August that he wished to leave Germany immediately, cancelling his remaining events and requesting an escort to the airport for protection. His posts were also referred to Facebook and Twitter, which, after reviewing the content, reinstated them.
Back at home in London, in December 2022 he received documents from the Kassel prosecutor’s office. The document, dated 31 October, stated he had “insulted” the two politicians knowing that the comments “would impede the politician’s political career, which was exactly what you intended to do.”
He was advised that if convicted, he could face a fine of around €12,000; failure to pay the fines could result in imprisonment. He is also responsible for his own legal fees, for which he has been crowdfunding. “It was my dream to be in Documenta since I was a first-year student. This dream turned into a protracted nightmare that drags on to this day,” Ahsan says.
“I couldn’t imagine that a German artist [who] criticises [former UK prime minister] Boris Johnson, living in Germany, would be banned from Tate Modern or Liverpool Biennial or even be prosecuted.” Ahsan says.
Support for BDS
Ahsan says he was targeted because of his long-standing support for Palestine and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS), which Naas’s post and German publications refer to. In 2019, German lawmakers voted to designate BDS as anti-semitic. In the UK, a bill, viewed by some as a restriction on freedom of speech, to ban public bodies from boycotting overseas countries—the Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill 2022-23—has been approved by the House of Commons. It was still at the committee stage in the House of Lords when the general election was called and Parliament prorogued until a new government is elected in July.
Ahsan has turned for support to the Artists’ Union England (AUE). “It is clear to us as a union that our member has been subjected to an Islamophobic campaign as part of a wider effort to suppress criticism of Germany’s complicity in the actions of the Israeli State,” the AUE executive committee tells The Art Newspaper in a statement.
“The attempt to prosecute him for comments made on social media about German politicians appears to be an absurd and dangerous overreach.” The AUE executive committee say that many of their members have been so concerned about the level of censorship and criminalisation in Germany that they have signed up to the Strike Germany campaign.
“At a time when artists are facing censorship and losing work for vocalising support for Palestine, it’s crucial that we act together to make artists’ unions more robust; increasing and mobilising our memberships so we are able to more effectively fight for our artistic freedom to speak, work, and act, in solidarity,” the AUE executive committee says.
The AUE executive committee says it fully supports Ahsan and artists everywhere who face repercussions for expressing international solidarity. “Artists Union England stands with our members against anti-semitism, Islamophobia, and all forms of racism.”
The British Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office and the German Embassy in the UK have been contacted for comment.
