Imprisonments jump worldwide, and Iran is worst
Stark regional differences are seen as jailings grow significantly in the Middle East and North Africa. Dozens of journalists are held without charge, many in secret prisons.
10 December 2011 (International Human Rights Day) marks the first anniversary of the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to our colleague Liu Xiaobo, former president of the Independent Chinese PEN Centre (ICPC). One year on, he and over thirty other writers remain in prison in China, and many more suffer ‘soft’ detention, surveillance, and censorship. PEN International demands their immediate and unconditional release, and calls upon its members to use this anniversary to publicise the deteriorating human rights climate in the People’s Republic of China and to express solidarity with their imprisoned colleagues.
Since China hosted the 2008 Beijing Olympics—games it had secured by pledging to the world to expand protections for the human rights of its citizens—the Chinese government has carried out successive crackdowns on its citizens’ right to freedom of expression, beginning with Liu Xiaobo’s detention on 8 December 2008. Liu was arrested for his role in publishing Charter 08, a document calling for political reform that he and 302 co-signers planned to release two days later, on International Human Rights Day. The document quickly garnered widespread support, and now has over 10,000 signatories from throughout China, many of whom have suffered reprisals.
When the Nobel announcement was made in mid-October 2010, restrictions were tightened further. Liu’s wife Liu Xia, a poet and photographer, was placed under strict house arrest at her home in Beijing, where she remains detained incommunicado and is denied any contact with the outside world. At the December 2010 Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony in Oslo, Liu Xiaobo’s medal and diploma were presented to an empty chair.
In February 2011, another wave of repression swept the country, targeting dissent thought to have been inspired by the revolutions in the Middle East. Police stepped up their harassment of human rights defenders and activists across the country in response to anonymous calls for ‘Jasmine Revolution’ protests. Many were briefly detained, harassed, summoned or place under house arrest, and a number of prominent PEN members in China were amongst those targeted. The level of surveillance many still face remains stifling.
For the past three years since Liu’s arrest PEN International has been involved in a sustained and ongoing campaign for his release and to promote the right to free expression in China. PEN stands firm in its resolve to secure the release of Liu Xiaobo and all writers who remain behind bars or silenced in China today, in flagrant violation of its own laws and the international treaties which it has ratified. Show your support by taking part in at least one of the following actions over the coming days.
Join the online Empty Chair campaign led by the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial association by placing an empty chair for Liu Xiaobo in front of the Chinese embassy in your country, or in your street, office, library or workplace on 10 December 2011 at 13.18pm. Download a photo to place on your chair. Take a photo of your chair and upload it onto Facebook
On Tuesday 6 December 2011, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China held a hearing in Washington D.C. on ‘One Year After the Nobel Peace Prize Award to Liu Xiaobo: Conditions for Political Prisoners and Prospects for Political Reform’.
As part of a PEN delegation who visited Beijing in July 2011, Marian Botsford Fraser, PEN International Writers in Prison Committee Chair, testifies to the stark climate for free expression in China and welcomes the strong denunciations of Liu’s imprisonment from a number of distinguished organizations and bodies, including the Commission on China and the United Nations. She asserts:
‘PEN has been doing everything we can to win Liu Xiaobo’s immediate and unconditional release from Jinzhou Prison in Liaoning Province, and secure the right of all Chinese citizens, our writer colleagues included, to express themselves freely without fear of censorship, imprisonment, or harassment. PEN centers around the world have raised Liu’s case with their own governments, urging them to join the international condemnation of this clear human rights violation. Our members have brought his plight and his voice to prominence and into the public eye through readings, rallies, articles, letters, petitions, and events…’
She also bears witness to the courage displayed by many Chinese writers and dissidents:
‘New forms of expression are being found to express bold new ideas throughout the country, despite the government’s heavy hand.’
Watch the hearing here.
Read the full text of Marian’s testimony here.
Gambian journalist and author, and honorary member of Melbourne PEN, Seedy Bojang has published a book that portrays the blows to media freedom and democracy on the African continent. Read more about the book here.
On 2 November 2011 PEN International launched its Day of the Dead campaign commemorating the Mexican writers and print journalists who have been murdered, or who have disappeared, as a result of their work. PEN called on the Mexican authorities to bring to justice those responsible for these crimes, and to bring to an end the climate of impunity in which these attacks and murders take place.
As part of the campaign, writers and PEN members took part in traditional Day of the Dead activities, including the building of personalised, ornate altars. These altars were displayed alongside photographs of the dead and missing journalists during the public readings, vigils, and conferences that were organized by individual centres.
Each year International PEN organises a list of imprisoned writers for people to send cards to. Apparently it’s enormously encouraging for people to receive these cards from all around the world. Members of Melbourne PEN and friends will be gathering at the North Fitzroy Star Hotel to write messages of support at 8.30 on Monday 28 November. Meals can be purchased from the bar, and many people will be arriving early to eat or to participate in the AGM, which starts at 7.30pm.
If you are intending to join us and haven’t yet let us know, please rsvp.
Brendan Gullifer, local journalist and novelist, with Professor Spencer Zifcak, President of Liberty Victoria.
Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute
117 Sturt Street
Ballarat, Victoria
Saturday 3 December from 5pm
Free
Eureka was a defining moment for democracy in Australia when people of over twenty different nationalities fought together in defense of freedom against tyrannical laws. It was a fight for democracy, a fight for freedom, for freedom of speech, for equality. This event will focus on issues of freedom of speech in 21st century Australia. Questions that can be considered include, do we need a bill of rights? And in the light of the recent Bolt case, what are the limits to freedom of speech?
Former Sydney PEN Vice President, Dr Rosie Scott put it like this:
‘Free speech is the cornerstone of genuine democracy, but when writers publish disinformation dressed up as fact, lies as truth, slander as objective evaluation and call it free speech, they are devaluing its very essence and betraying all those who¹ve fought for it.’
Brendan Gullifer will discuss these issues with Professor Spencer Zifcak.
In his launch speech for Sold, author Brendan Gullifer says that his book is about “where we get to when outcomes are pursued in complete disregard of consequences or ethics. And people are rewarded accordingly. It’s the Australian Wheat Board. It’s Enron. It’s Barings Bank. It’s Lehman Brothers. It’s George Bush. It’s John Howard. In the long term, it’s completely unsustainable.”
Professor Spencer Zifcak is President of Liberty Victoria and Professor and Director of the Institute of Legal Studies at Australian Catholic University. Professor Zifcak researches and teaches in international law, comparative constitutional law and human rights law. He has written several books and has published more than a hundred articles in these fields. Spencer is a Director of the Australia Institute and the Centre for Dialogue at La Trobe University and is an Executive Member of the Australian Human Rights Group and the Accountability Round Table.
Supported by Ballarat Writers and the CAL Cultural Fund
New York City, November 15, 2011—PEN American Center and PEN International today condemned restrictions on press coverage of police crackdowns on Occupy Wall Street demonstrations in New York and elsewhere, calling the arrests of journalists, the grounding of media helicopters, and the restrictions on access to the Occupy sites “an obvious abridgement of the First Amendment right of all Americans to monitor official actions that clearly carry their own First Amendment concerns.”
“Whatever the arguments for clearing and cleaning the park, denying the rest of us the opportunity to witness the police action through the independent reporting of a free media simply reinforces the suspicion that the city government is seeking to hide from democratic scrutiny,” said Kwame Anthony Appiah, president of PEN American Center. “It is foolish and dangerous to undermine the faith of ordinary citizens in the impartiality of the police. It is also wrong to deny media access because it runs entirely against the spirit of the First Amendment guarantees that are at the heart of PEN’s mission.”
Early Tuesday morning, police barred reporters from news outlets including CNBC, NBC, CBS, The Wall Street Journal, and Reuters from covering the clearing of Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan, which has been occupied by protesters for over two months. Freelancers seemed to be particularly at risk; Julie Walker, who is reporting on the protests for NPR, was arrested and released late Tuesday morning, and Jared Malsin, a freelancer for the New York Times, was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. Others were forcefully removed from the park or handled roughly by police.
Journalists covering Occupy Wall Street protests have been arrested before, but this seems to be the first time the Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered what amounts to a blockade of the press, saying that it was for their own protection. This morning’s actions mirror the arrests and media blackouts at other Occupy sites around the country, including Milwaukee, Nashville, and Oakland, where a cameraman was attacked and left with a concussion.
“At a time when freedom of expression is under threat worldwide, this denial of media access and restriction on press coverage is shameful and undemocratic,” said Laura McVeigh, executive director of PEN International. “It sends the wrong signal to the American people and to the rest of the world.”
PEN American Center is the largest of the 145 centers of PEN International, the world’s oldest human rights organization and the oldest international literary organization. The Freedom to Write Program of PEN American Center works to protect the freedom of the written word wherever it is imperiled. It defends writers and journalists from all over the world who are imprisoned, threatened, persecuted, or attacked in the course of carrying out their profession. For more information, contact Larry Siems on (212) 334-1660 ext 105, lsiems@pen.org. For more on PEN American Center: www.pen.org
Geneva/London, 15 November 2011
Turkey’s leading freedom of expression advocate, publisher Ragıp Zarakolu, has been on pre-trial detention for two weeks under terrorism charges. On 4 November, he was moved to a high security “F-Type” prison in the city of Izmit, 80 km east of Istanbul. IPA and PEN International are seriously concerned about the effect that the harsh detention conditions could have on his health. IPA and PEN International are also seriously concerned that his pre-trial detention – likely to last a year – is in violation of Turkey’s international treaty obligations, in particular Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and therefore demand that he, his son Deniz, and Professor and writer Büşra Ersanlı, and all other writers and journalists held solely for their writings and other legitimate activities, be released immediately.
Ragıp Zarakolu is widely considered an iconic defender of the freedom to publish and the freedom to write. One of his sons, Deniz, a scholar and publisher, has also been detained since early October at the Edirne F-Type prison, 215 km west of Istanbul. Arrested at the same time as Ragıp Zarakolu, Professor and writer Büşra Ersanlı, is also on pre-trial detention. She is detained in Istanbul and is the victim of a slander campaign in some media circles. All three are held under the anti-terror law and were arrested as part of a larger crackdown initiated in 2009 and still on-going against Kurdish political parties. The Anti-Terror Law (ATL) has long been criticised as being too vague in its definition of terrorism and terrorist organisations, and there are concerns that numerous writers and journalists are held and on trial in violation of their right to peaceful freedom of expression and association. This coupled with the lengthy trial processes, sometimes years long, makes the application of the ATL particularly problematic.
Says Bjørn Smith-Simonsen, Chair of IPA’s Freedom to Publish Committee (FTPC): “Today it is not only the survival of Ragıp Zarakolu’s publishing House Belge which is at stake. As Chair of the Freedom to Publish Committee of the Turkish Publishers Association (TPA/TYB), Ragıp Zarakolu has been documenting the numerous freedom to publish violations in Turkey and has been at the forefront to defend the other publishers’ freedom to publish, including those small Kurdish publishers few people have shown interest in. This work has required amazing courage and strength. By putting this man behind bars, the authorities clearly want Ragıp Zarakolu’s important work – documenting ALL freedom to publish violations in Turkey and making them public – to stop. This is unacceptable. The recipient of IPA’s 2008 Freedom to Publish Prize should be released immediately. As I said two weeks ago, when the Istanbul 14th High Criminal court decided to incarcerate Ragıp Zarakolu, this man does not belong in prison, he deserves a Nobel Prize. In addition, we regret that our request to meet the Turkish Ambassador to the UN in Geneva remains unanswered and still hope that he will meet with us soon”.
Marian Botsford Fraser, Chair of the Writers in Prison Committee of PEN International, adds: “Ragıp Zarakolu is an internationally recognised defender of the right to write and publish freely. It is essential not to confuse the efforts of those who, like Ragıp Zarakolu, have worked to bring down barriers of censorship in Turkey with those who press political agendas through violence. PEN International emphatically protests his arrest and calls for his immediate release”.
On 15th November 2011 PEN International, the worldwide association of writers, marks the 30th Annual Day of the Imprisoned Writer; an international day of action intended to recognize and support writers who have resisted repression of their basic human right to freedom of expression.
This year PEN International is using the occasion both to commemorate the 34 writers who have been killed in the last year and to draw particular attention to a number of recent cases from around the world which demonstrate the kinds of persecution writers and journalists continue to face in carrying out their day-to-day activities.
“For thirty years, on this day, PEN members worldwide have stood, spoken, written in solidarity with our imprisoned, murdered and threatened colleagues,” said Marian Botsford Fraser, Chair of PEN International’s Writers in Prison Committee. “The writers we honour today are emblematic of the courage writers everywhere show in defiance of brutal, systemic censorship”.
This year PEN International will be advocating in particular on behalf of the following writers:
PEN members around the world have also been using the occasion to campaign on behalf of imprisoned or persecuted writers in their own countries.
“This tool of imprisonment is used to send a message – that writers can be controlled; somehow re-educated to mind their words”, said John Ralston Saul, International President of PEN International, “That message was always wrong. It is wrong today. PEN will continue to work for the release of our colleagues”.
List of writers killed for their writing in the past 12 months:
33 KILLINGS SINCE NOVEMBER 2010
2010
1. 28 December China SUN Hongjie Senior reporter
2011
1. 5 January Pakistan Ilyas Nazar Journalist
2. 6 January Mexico Susana CHAVEZ Poet and human rights advocate
3. 23 January India Umesh RAJPUT Reporter
4. 17 Febuary Iraq Hila Al Ahmad Journalist
5. 8 March Mexico Noel LOPEZ OLGUIN Journalist
6. 18 March Yemen Mohamed Yahia AL-MALAYIA Journalist
7. 5 April Bahrain Karim Fakhrawi Newspaper founder and journalist
8. 5 April Pakistan Zaman IBRAHIM Crime reporter
9. 14 April Palestine Authority Vittorio Arrigoni Journalist and activist
10. 21 April Bolivia David NINO de GUZMAN News director, journalist
11. 3 May Brazil Valério NASCIMENTO Newspaper owner and journalist
12. 17 May Venezuela Wilfred Iván OJEDA PERALTA Political columnist and activist
13. 31 May Pakistan Syed Saleem SHAHZAD Journalist and writer
14. Late May Ivory Coast Lago SYLVAIN Journalist
15. 8 June Russia/North Ossetia Shamil DZHIKAYEV Poet
16. 11 June India Jyotirmoy DEY Investigations editor
17. 13 June Mexico Pablo RUELAS BARRAZA Journalist
18. 15 June Brazil Ednaldo FIGUEIRA Blogger and newspaper owner
19. 20 June Mexico Miguel Angel LOPEZ VELASCO Journalist and editor
20. 3 July Mexico Angel CASTILLO CORONA Journalist
21. 5 July Syria Ibrahim QASHOUSH Poet and song writer
22. 30 June Colombia Luis Eduardo GOMEZ Journalist
23. 29 July Mexico Yolanda ORDAZ De La CRUZ Crime reporter
24. 5 August Brazil Auro IDA Political columnist
25. 23 August Pakistan Muneer SHARIK Journalist
26. 24 August Mexico Humberto MILLAN SALAZAR Political columnist
27. 1 September Mexico Ana María YARCE VIVEROS Reporter and magazine founder
28. 1 September Mexico Rocio GONZALEZ TRAPAGA Freelance journalist
29. 8 September Iraq Hadi Al-MAHDI Journalist, playwright
30. 27 September Mexico María Elizabeth MARCIAS CASTRO Editor and blogger
31. 4 October India Ramesh SINGLA Journalist
32. 7 October Pakistan Faisal QURESHI Editor
33. 7 October Philippnies Jonson PASCUAL Journalist
More information on the above cases and campaign materials can be found on the PEN International website at www.pen-international.org
Download the Melbourne PEN Quarterly: Language and Politics in Indigenous Writing
The third PEN Quarterly for 2011
Editor: Christine McKenzie
Assistant Editor: Christina C Ratcliffe
Copyeditor: Mary-Jo O’Rourke
Desktop Publishing: Lynn Smailes
The international literary community is demanding the immediate release of Turkish publisher Ragib Zarokolu who has been arrested and imprisoned under the country’s anti-terrorism laws.
Ragib Zarokolu was detained last week along with 50 other activists, including politicians, writers and academics, as part of a government crackdown on supporters and members of Kurdish political parties.
PEN, the world’s largest international literary and human rights organisation, has described Mr Zarokolu’s arrest as a disturbing sign of the deterioration of human rights in Turkey.
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