18 September 2026 will mark a quarter-century since 12 Eritrean writers and journalists were arbitrarily arrested and disappeared into prison, simply for speaking out. It happened in 2001, when President Isaias Afwerki shut down all independent media and crushed calls for peaceful reform, as the world’s attention was drawn elsewhere. 

Since then, they have been held in secret—without charge, without trial, and without contact. Eritrean authorities continue to refuse to say where they are or whether they are even alive.

Some of these writers and journalists are also poets, translators, playwrights, song writers and art critics and they include: Amanuel Asrat; Dawit Habtemichael; Dawit Isaak; Fessehaye ‘Joshua’ Yohannes; Matheos Habteab; Methanie Haile; Sahle ‘Wedi-ltay’ Tsefezab; Said Abdelkadir; Said Idris ‘Aba Are’; Seyoum Tsehaye; Temesken Ghebreyesus; and Yousif Mohammed Ali. They are among the most important voices of Eritrea’s independent culture and media. Their continued disappearance is a deliberate attempt to erase dissent and silence a generation. 

PEN International, PEN Eritrea in Exile, and PEN Centres worldwide demand proof of life—now. 
 

We refuse to let these writers vanish. 

Learn about the 12 Eritrean writers and journalists

A Letter of Solidarity from Ben Okri

“We are holding candles for you in the Eritrean darkness. We will not let your names or your struggles be forgotten. We here at PEN International will go on making a big noise and raising a global racket till you are freed and every last one of you is accounted for.”

“Across the world, writers continue to pay a heavy price for speaking truth. Rory Branker, Yalqun Rozi, Mohamed Tadjadit, and Mzia Amaglobeli remind us that words can shake the powerful — and that courage endures even when their freedom is taken away. Their persecution is a wound to justice and humanity itself. We must not rest until they are free.” Burhan Sonmez, PEN International President 

15 November: Each year on the Day of the Imprisoned Writer, PEN International honours writers who are unjustly detained or persecuted for their words. From 15 November to 10 December, we stand in solidarity with four courageous voices who continue to speak truth in the face of repression: Rory Branker (Venezuela), Yalqun Rozi (China), Mohamed Tadjadit (Algeria), and Mzia Amaglobeli (Georgia). 

Read this year's powerful letters of solidarity, written in support of these courageous voices:  

• Lauren Groff to Mohamed Tadjadit in English, French, Spanish, Arabic

• Maaza Mengiste to Rory Branker in English, French, Spanish

Join us in amplifying their voices and demanding justice. 

#DayoftheImprisonedWriter #MohamedTadjadit #YalqunRozi #MziaAmaglobeli #RoryBranker 

Note to editors:
• For media queries, please contact Sabrina Tucci, Head of Communications and Campaigns at PEN International: sabrina.tucci@pen-international.org

Take Action for Mohamed Tadjadit (Algeria)

Take Action for Rory Branker (Venezuela)

Take Action for Mzia Amaglobeli (Georgia)

Take Action for Yalqun Rozi (China)

Every journalist who dares to speak the truth faces danger, yet their courage lights the path for all of us. Remembering those killed is not enough; we must demand justice, protection, and a world where truth can be spoken without fear”. Burhan Sonmez, PEN International President  

31 October 2025: On the Day of the Dead, we the undersigned, honour the journalists  in Mexico who have been killed for their work. This act of remembrance is also an urgent appeal: violence against the press has reached alarming levels in the region. In Mexico, practicing journalism carries deadly risks. The Mexican State must acknowledge this reality and take immediate action. 

PEN International and Article 19’s Mexico and Central America office have documented the killing of at least ten journalists over the past twelve months in Mexico. Eight of these cases are believed to be directly linked to their work, while the motives behind the remaining three killings are still under investigation. The past year, UNESCO, PEN, CPJ, RSF also recorded the murder of journalists in Brazil (1), Colombia (3), Ecuador (2), Honduras (1), Guatemala (1), Haiti (2), and Peru (2), positioning Mexico once again as the country with the highest number of journalists murdered in the continent. The murders of journalists are closely linked to their reporting on matters of high public interest, including corruption, organised crime, drug trafficking, human rights violations, environmental concerns, and abuses of power. 

The brutality of the attacks, combined with entrenched impunity, has created a perpetual cycle of violence that undermines not only the right to freedom of expression but also the public’s right to be informed. 

Despite its international obligations, the Mexican State continues to fail to ensure the protection of journalists and a safe environment for journalism, and to deliver effective justice for victims and their families. 

This reflects a reality that cannot be ignored: Mexico faces not only a crisis of violence, but also a crisis of structural impunity that enables attacks to continue without consequence. Such impunity creates a chilling effect of self-censorship, restraint, and fear among journalists. 

Emblematic cases 

We remember the journalists Kristian Uriel Martínez Zavala and Calletano de Jesús Guerrero,  killed in Mexico in 2025. 

• Calletano de Jesús Guerrero was shot dead in Teoloyucan, State of Mexico, on 17 January 2025. He had been under state protection since 2014 due to threats linked to his reporting. His last recorded threat came just days before his murder, yet no one has been held accountable. His death highlights the ongoing failures of state protection mechanisms designed to safeguard the press. Guerrero was deputy director of the news outlet Global México, where he regularly published stories on crime, violence, and politics in the State of Mexico.  

• On 2 March 2025, at the age of 28, Kristian Uriel Martínez Zavala was shot dead in Silao, Guanajuato. He had previously been granted protective measures after receiving threats connected to his reporting on public security and crime. Authorities have yet to clarify whether his work was a motive for the attack. His killing reflects the dangerous reality for journalists who expose powerful interests.  

Mexico’s ongoing crisis is no accident. It is the result of entrenched impunity and a state either unable or unwilling to protect those who bring truth to light. 

We urge the Mexican State to: 

1. Take concrete steps to guarantee that journalists in Mexico can exercise their right to freedom of expression without fear of reprisals. 

1. Review and strengthen the Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, ensuring that effective measures are deployed swiftly. 

1. Undertake thorough, impartial, and independent investigations into the killings of and attacks on journalists, and deliver effective justice for victims and their families. 

Signed:

PEN International 

Amnesty International 

ARTICLE 19 

English PEN 

PEN San Miguel 

PEN Guadalajara 

PEN Chiapas Pluricultural 

 Note to Editors: 

For more information, please contact Alicia Quiñones, Head of the Americas Region, at PEN International, email: alicia.quinones@pen-international.org 

For media queries, please contact Sabrina Tucci, PEN International Communications and Campaigns Manager,  Sabrina.Tucci@pen-international.org 

“José Gabriel Barrenechea’s unjust detention underscores the risks faced by journalists who challenge authority. While his voice is now silenced, his courage continues to resonate for those who defy repression. We must act now to demand his release and defend the right to free press, without fear of reprisal.” Burhan Sonmez, President of PEN International 

3 May 2025 (updated on 6 May): José Gabriel Barrenechea, a Cuban independent journalist and author, has been detained since November 2024 after participating in protests over Cuba’s energy crisis. He was arrested for allegedly leading a demonstration and charged with ‘public disorder’, carrying a potential sentence of three to eight years. Barrenechea’s detention has been marked by severe human rights violations, including poor prison conditions, denial of legal independent defence, and isolation from his family. His health has deteriorated due to a hunger strike, and his elderly mother, who was suffering from cancer and died on 4 May, has been denied the right to see him. PEN International calls for Barrenechea’s immediate release and an end to the repression of dissent in Cuba.

Take action with us on World Press Freedom Day 2025. 

How can you help?

PEN International urgently calls for the immediate release of José Gabriel Barrenechea and demands that the Cuban government end its ongoing repression of artists, journalists, and writers critical of the authorities. Barrenechea’s detention is a clear violation of his right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, as outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Cuba is a signatory. We urge the Cuban authorities to honour their international commitments and ensure a safe, free environment for all individuals exercising their right to freedom of expression. 

• Send Appeals to

  President Sr. Miguel Díaz-Canel:  

  Email: despacho@presidencia.gob.cu  

  Twitter: @DiazCanelB  

  Minister of Justice Oscar Silvera Martínez:  

  Email: apoblacion@minjus.gob.cu  

  Twitter: @CubaMinjus  

  Facebook: @MinisterioJusticiaCuba  

  Minister of Culture Alpidio Alonso-Grau:  

  Twitter: @AlpidioAlonsoG  

  Facebook: @MinisterioCulturaCuba  

  Minister of Foreign Affairs (Minrex) Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla:  

  Email: dm-sec@minrex.gob.cu   

  Twitter: @BrunoRguezP  

  Facebook: @CubaMINREX  

  Please send emails to the Embassy of the Republic of Cuba in your own country.  

Solidarity 

Please send messages of solidarity to José Gabriel Barrenechea

Social Media

Spread the word about José Gabriel Barrenechea’s case on social media. Use the hashtags #JoseGabrielBarrenechea, #WPFD, #WPFD25 and #WorldPressFreedomDay, tagging @peninternational (Instagram), facebook.com/peninternational (Facebook), @peninternational.bsky.social (Bluesky) and @penamericas.bsky.social (Bluesky). 

Please share the graphic on social media to highlight Barrenechea’s case. 

• Read more about Josés case

  Background

  A writer, journalist and researcher, José Gabriel Barrenechea Chávez has been detained since his arrest on 8 November 2024, following his participation in protests over Cuba’s ongoing energy crisis. That month, regional NGOs recorded at least 792 protests across the country, including 14 between 7 and 11 November in municipalities such as Encrucijada (Villa Clara). 

  Barrenechea was charged with ‘public disorder’, an offence often used to suppress dissent, and faces a possible sentence of three to eight years in prison. He has denied these accusations and denounced the serious irregularities surrounding his case, including the lack of due process and access to independent legal defence. 

  Currently imprisoned in La Pendiente prison in Santa Clara, known for its overcrowded and poor conditions, Barrenechea’s health has deteriorated significantly. He went on a 10-day hunger strike shortly after his arrest and is now suffering from extreme malnutrition, stomach and skin infections, sleep disorders, anxiety and depression. His detention has also caused immense hardship for his 84-year-old mother, who suffers from advanced cancer and has been prevented by the authorities from visiting him. 

  Barrenechea has faced systematic harassment since 2019 for his critical journalism, including a travel ban, employment restrictions, and the censorship of his books in Cuba—part of a broader campaign of repression against independent journalists and government critics. He was repeatedly summoned by state security and briefly detained in attempts to intimidate him and silence his work. 

  His published works include Tubular Bells and Other Stories and Cuba, an Island Between Apathy and Revolution, and José Antonio Saco runs out of arguments Before his arrest, Barrenechea also contributed to independent Cuban and international media outlets such as 14ymedio, Diario de Cuba and Latinoamérica 21, and co-edited the magazine Cuadernos de Pensamiento Plural. 

  PEN International is gravely concerned over the violations of Barrenechea’s rights and calls for his immediate release. His detention represents a wider pattern of repression against writers, artists, and journalists critical of the Cuban government. This systematic targeting is detailed in PEN International’s report Método Cuba, produced with Cubalex and ARC, which documents the Cuban authorities’ use of harassment, censorship, imprisonment, and forced exile to silence dissent. PEN International urges the authorities to uphold their international human rights obligations and to ensure a safe and free environment for all those exercising their right to freedom of expression. 

  For more information about PEN International’s work on Cuba, please click here

Share

Thank you for supporting José Gabriel Barrenechea. Please share his story on social media.

Note to editors: 

• For further information please contact Alicia Quiñones, PEN International Head of the Americas Region, alicia.quinones@pen-international.org. 

• For media queries, please contact Sabrina Tucci, PEN International Communications and Campaigns Manager, Sabrina.Tucci@pen-international.org.  

"Mahvash Sabet—a woman, a poet, and a member of Iran’s persecuted Baha’i minority—has spent years behind bars for nothing more than her identity and her written words. Her imprisonment is an attempt to erase not only her voice, but all voices that challenge repression. We must not let that happen." Judyth Hill, Chair of the Women Writers Committee of PEN International 

21 March 2025: Mahvash Sabet, a teacher, poet, and member of Iran’s persecuted Baha’i minority, is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence handed down in 2022 after an unjust trial on unfounded charges including ‘espionage’, having already endured a decade behind bars for her faith. Denied adequate medical care, her health has since deteriorated. In December 2024, she was temporarily released on medical grounds following a major surgery, but remains at risk of being sent back to prison. On World Poetry Day 2025, take action with us to set Mahvash Sabet free. 

How can you help?

PEN International remains gravely concerned about Mahvash Sabet’s deteriorating health and well-being and calls for her immediate and permanent release, and for her conviction to be quashed. 

Advocacy

Please write a letter and emails to the Iranian embassy in your country, expressing concerns about Mahvash Sabet’s deteriorating health and the persecution of Baha'is in Iran. Call on the Iranian authorities to immediately and permanently release her and quash her unjust sentence. 

• Please contact your country’s ambassador to Iran and ask them to raise Sabet’s case with the Iranian authorities. 

You may find addresses of Iranian embassies in your country here.   

If there is not an Iranian mission/embassy in your country, you can send your letter and emails to the Iranian Ministry of Foreign affairs here. 

You can use your own words, or you can find a template letter here

Solidarity 

Please send messages of solidarity to Mahvash Sabet

Social Media

Spread the word about Mahvash Sabet’s case on social media. Use the hashtags #MahvashSabet and #InternationalPoetryDay, tagging @peninternational (Instagram), facebook.com/peninternational and https://www.facebook.com/penintmena (Facebook); @peninternational.bsky.social and @penmena.bsky.social (Bluesky). 

Read more about Mahvash’s case

• Background

  For decades, Mahvash Sabet has faced relentless persecution in Iran, both as a Baha’i and as a woman writer, poet and teacher. She is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence handed down in 2022—her second prolonged incarceration on unjust charges. Between 2008 and 2017, she endured a decade in prison solely due to her religious beliefs, part of Iran’s systematic repression of the Baha’i minority (see Case Lists 2013 – 2019, 2022 and 2023/2024).  

  In April 2024, a report by Human Rights Watch concluded that Iranian authorities’ ongoing and systematic repression of Baha’is because of their faith amounts to a crime against humanity - persecution. The report also found that Iranian authorities arrest and arbitrarily imprison Baha’is, confiscate their property, restrict their education and employment opportunities, and even deny them dignified burials.  

  Sabet’s latest imprisonment is linked to her past role as a member of ‘Yaran-i-Iran’ (or ‘Friends of Iran’), a group that had assisted in administering Baha’i community affairs until its dissolution in 2008. On 31 July 2022, Iranian authorities arrested Sabet along with fellowmembers Fariba Kamalabadi and Afif Naemi, accusing them—without evidence—of ‘espionage.’ The Intelligence Ministry claimed they had ties to the Baha’i Centre in Israel and had gathered and transmitted information there. Their arrests came amid a vicious crackdown on the Baha’i community in Iran, where authorities arrested several Baha’i activists, shut down dozens of Baha'i businesses, and demolished their homes. 

  Despite the gravity of these allegations, their trial lasted a mere hour, during which the judge chastised them for ‘not learning their lesson’ before imposing a harsh penalty. On 21 November 2022, Tehran’s Revolutionary Court (Branch 26) sentenced Sabet and Kamalabadi to 10 years in prison.  

  In May 2023, PEN International learned that Sabet had been suffering for months from broken kneecaps caused by torture inflicted on her in August 2022 at Evin prison. Authorities have denied her adequate medical care and have subjected her to deplorable detention conditions. PEN International has also learned that she was repeatedly interrogated over the content of her unpublished book, in which she details her previous prison experiences. 

  The impact of her imprisonment has been devastating. By 2024, denied proper medical care and subjected to harsh prison conditions, Sabet’s health had sharply deteriorated. She suffers from pulmonary fibrosis, osteoporosis, and severe heart problems, among other complications. In December 2024, she was transferred to hospital for urgent treatment and later underwent open-heart surgery. She has since been temporarily released to recover at her home.  

  Born on 4 February 1953, Sabet was a dedicated educator before being barred from public education following the 1979 Islamic Revolution—a fate shared by thousands of other Baha’i professionals. She worked as a teacher and school principal and contributed to Iran’s National Literacy Committee. Later, she spent 15 years leading the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education, which provides alternative learning opportunities for Baha’i students excluded from universities. 

  Sabet found her voice as a poet while in prison. Her first collection of prison poetry was translated into English and published in 2013, followed by two further volumes: رها (A Tale of Love – More Prison Poems, 2019) and حکایت عاشقی (Love Story, 2021). She has been recognised internationally for her work, named as English PEN’s 2017 Writer of Courage by PEN Pinter Prize winner Michael Longley, and is an honorary member of Austrian PEN and Danish PEN. PEN International has long campaigned for her freedom, including by dedicating an ‘Empty Chair’ to her at its 89th Congress. 

  For more information about PEN International’s work on Iran, please click here.

Share

Thank you for supporting Mahvash Sabet. Please share her story on social media.

Note to editors: 

• For further information please contact Mina Thabet, Head of MENA Region at PEN International: Mina.Thabet@pen-international.org.  

• For media queries, please contact Sabrina Tucci, PEN International Communications and Campaigns Manager, Sabrina.Tucci@pen-international.org.  

“Amanda Echanis represents the strength of women who bravely speak out against injustice. Her detention is a stark reminder of how governments silence female voices to suppress dissent. We must champion her struggle and amplify her writing, ensuring that women like her can continue to share their truths.”  Judyth Hill, Chair of the Women Writers Committee of PEN International 

8 March 2025: Amanda Echanis, a poet, writer, and activist, has been detained since December 2020 when she was arrested with her one-month-old baby on charges frequently used against ‘red-tagged’ individuals. Echanis has consistently rejected the charges against her, claiming the evidence was fabricated, yet her trial has been repeatedly delayed, denying her ability to establish her innocence in court. Despite her ongoing detention, she remains dedicated to her writing.  

PEN International is gravely concerned over allegations of the use of fabricated charges against Echanis and calls on the government to ensure her right to a fair trial. The organisation also calls for an immediate end to the use of ‘red-tagging’ and other attempts to threaten and silence writers, journalists and activists. Take action with us on International Women’s Day 2025. 

How can you help?

PEN International calls on the Philippines authorities to ensure Amanda Echanis’ right to a fair trial and ability to establish her innocence without further delay. The organisation also calls for an impartial and effective investigation into the circumstances of her arrest, including allegations that evidence used against her was fabricated. PEN International urges the Philippines authorities to follow the Philippine Supreme Court’s ruling and immediately end to the practice of ‘red-tagging’, which has had a deadly toll on writers, journalists and activists engaged in peaceful expression. 

Solidarity 

Please send messages of solidarity to Amanda Echanis.

Social Media

Spread the word about Amanda Echanis’s case on social media. Use the hashtags #FreeAmanda Echanis, #IWD25 and #InternationalWomenDay, tagging @peninternational (Instagram), facebook.com/peninternational (Facebook) and @peninternational.bsky.social (Bluesky). 

Please share our graphic on social media to highlight Amanda Echanis’s case. 

• Read more about Amanda's case

  Background 

  A poet, writer and activist, Amanda Echanis has been held continuously detained since she was arrested at her home alongside her then one-month-old baby on 2 December 2020. She was charged with illegal possession of firearms, ammunition, and explosives—a charge frequently used against individuals who have been ‘red-tagged’, or accused by government authorities or their affiliates of having ties to communist insurgent groups. Echanis has categorically denied the accusation, and alleged that Philippine authorities fabricated the evidence against her. 

  She has now spent over four years in detention, with her court hearings repeatedly being postponed, in violation of international law and standards on the right to a fair trial, which includes the right to be heard without undue delay, which is particularly crucial for those denied bail. 

  Echanis is the daughter of Randall ‘Ka Randy’ Echanis, an activist advocating for rural workers’ rights who was arrested in 1990 on the same charge she currently faces. Before the age of two, she lived in a custodial detention centre with her parents, earning her the distinction of being the country’s youngest political prisoner’ at the time. The case against her father was dismissed in 1992, but in August 2020, just months before Echanis’ arrest, he was brutally murdered in a case that remains unsolved. 

  Echanis is the author of several literary works. In 2023, she published a collection of her poetry and essays from prison, entitled Binhi ng Paglaya (Seeds of Liberation), and was awarded the 2023 Southeast Asian Translation Mentorship, established by The Seams in conjunction with Ethos Books, who are supporting Echanis’ translation of Filipino poetry. In 2024, she participated in a prestigious creative writing workshop, the Palihang Rogelio Sicat, which is named after renowned Filipino novelist, Rogelio Sicat. Launched in 1984, the workshop was held in a hybrid format for the first time to enable Echanis’ participation from prison.  

  For more information about PEN International’s work on Philippines, please click here. 

Share

Thank you for supporting Amanda Echanis. Please share her story on social media.

Note to editors: 

• For further information please contact Ross Holder, Head of Asia Pacific Region at PEN International:  Ross.Holder@pen-international.org.  

• For media queries, please contact Sabrina Tucci, PEN International Communications and Campaigns Manager, Sabrina.Tucci@pen-international.org.  

“Andrzej Poczobut, a voice for the silenced, is paying a devastating price for his unwavering commitment to truth and justice. Locked away, deprived of the very freedoms he seeks to protect, his persecution is a chilling reminder of the lengths to which the Belarusian authorities will go to crush dissent. PEN International stands with Andrzej and all those unjustly imprisoned. No one should be punished for speaking out.” Urtzi Urrutikoetxea, Chair of the Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee of PEN International 

21 February 2025: Belarusian-Polish writer, journalist and minority activist Andrzej Poczobut is serving an eight-year sentence in a high-security penal colony, on trumped up charges of inciting hatred and encouraging sanctions aimed at harming the national security of Belarus. While in detention, he has been denied vital heart medication and held in solitary confinement. Poczobut’s case is emblematic of the type of oppression experienced by writers and journalists who speak up for the rights of oppressed minorities. PEN International calls for his immediate release, as well as the provision of adequate healthcare pending his release. Take action with us on International Mother Language Day 2025. 

How can you help?

1. Advocacy

PEN International calls on the Belarusian authorities to release Andrzej Poczobut immediately and unconditionally and drop all charges against him. Pending his release, he should be held in conditions that meet international human rights standards for the treatment of prisoners, including the removal from solitary confinement, access to adequate health care, and regular communication with his family and lawyers. 

• Please send appeals to:

  Please send appeals to: President of Belarus: Natalya Petkevich 

  Address: Independence Palace, praspiekt Pieramožcaŭ 12, Minsk, Minskaja voblasć, Belarus 

  Send copies to the Embassy of Belarus in your own country. Embassy addresses may be found here: https://mfa.gov.by/en/bilateral/belarus/?asd50 . 

  Please reach out to your Ministry of Foreign Affairs and diplomatic representatives in Belarus, calling on them to raise the case of Poczobut in bilateral fora. 

2. Solidarity

Please send messages of solidarity to Andrzej Poczobut. 

3. Social Media

Spread the word about Andrzej Poczobut’s case on social media.

Use the sample messages below with the hashtags #AndrzejPoczobut, #IMLD and #InternationalMotherLanguageDay, tagging @pen_int and @pen_belarus (X), @peninternational (Instagram), facebook.com/peninternational (Facebook) and @peninternational.bsky.social (Bluesky). 

Facebook/Instagram:

Belarusian-Polish journalist #AndrzejPoczobut has been imprisoned for nearly three years for his reporting and advocacy for the Polish minority in Belarus. Locked away in a high-security prison, denied vital heart medication, and held in solitary confinement, his case reflects the harsh reality for writers who dare to challenge repression. 

On #InternationalMotherLanguageDay, stand with Andrzej and all those persecuted for defending linguistic and cultural rights. Demand his immediate and unconditional release. 

 Take action now

Bluesky/X:

On #InternationalMotherLanguageDay, we stand with #AndrzejPoczobut, jailed for nearly three years for defending linguistic and cultural rights in Belarus. Denied medical care & held in solitary confinement— we demand his freedom today. 

Take action now

• Read more about Andrzej Poczobut's case

  Background

  A Belarusian-Polish dual citizen, Andrzej Poczobut has repeatedly been targeted by the Belarusian authorities for his writings and for seeking to promote the rights of the Polish minority in Belarus. As a board member of the Union of Poles in Belarus, Poczobut was arrested on 25 March 2021 in Hrodna, western Belarus, following raids on the organisation’s offices across the country. He was transferred to a detention centre in Minsk and accused of inciting hatred under Article 130.3 of the Belarusian Criminal Code —charges linked to his reporting on the 2020 anti-government protests and his minority rights activism, including his depiction of the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939 as ‘an act of aggression’.  

  In September 2022, he was moved to a pre-trial detention facility in Hrodna and further charged with encouraging sanctions aimed at harming the national security of Belarus (Article 361.3 of the Criminal Code) before being added to the government’s ‘list of individuals involved in terrorist activities’.  

  His closed-door trial began on 16 January 2023, culminating in an eight-year sentence in a medium-security penal colony on 8 February. His appeal was rejected on 26 May 2023, and he was transferred to a high-security prison.  

  Poczobut, who suffers from serious health conditions, has repeatedly been held in solitary confinement and deprived of essential heart medication. Despite calls for his release from Polish authorities, he remains imprisoned. 

  Poczobut is a writer, journalist, columnist, poet and activist. A correspondent for the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, he has also contributed to various Belarusian media outlets. His 2013 book, System Białoruś (System Belarus), examines President Aliaksandr Lukašenka’s autocratic rule.  

  The situation in Belarus remains of grave concern, with the UN concluding that authorities may have committed crimes against humanity. PEN International and PEN Belarus welcome the establishment of a group of independent experts to investigate violations, collect and preserve evidence, and identify those responsible. At least 1,218 political prisoners were held as of 20 February 2025, according to the Human Rights Centre Viasna. Torture and other-ill-treatment of detainees remain systematic and widespread. Several individuals continue to be held in prolonged incommunicado detention, including writer and lawyer Maksim Znak. The health of Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski reportedly deteriorated due to inadequate healthcare. The authorities of Belarus are increasingly targeting relatives of dissidents and mounting acts of transnational repression, opening at least 104 criminal cases against Belarusians abroad who took part in Freedom Day celebrations in March 2024.  

   For more information about the work of PEN Belarus – including their latest reports and monitoring findings – please click here.  

  For more information about PEN International’s work on Belarus, please click here.  

4. Share

Thank you for supporting Andrzej Poczobut. Please share his story on social media to urge others to stand against the suppression of press freedom. 

Note to editors: 

• For further information please contact Aurélia Dondo, Head of Europe and Central Asia Region at PEN International: Aurelia.dondo@pen-international.org 

• For media queries, please contact Sabrina Tucci, PEN International Communications and Campaigns Manager, Sabrina.Tucci@pen-international.org  

"Writers play a vital role in building functioning societies, as they expand the boundaries of thought, connect and bridge gaps, stimulate critical thought, and inspire change. Each day a writer endures confinement is a day stolen to a fairer world. We must rise to refuse their silencing and demand their immediate release. We owe it to their courage.” Burhan Sonmez, PEN International President

15 November 2024: From 15 – 29 November, PEN International spotlights four writers targeted for their peaceful free expression work: Kaciaryna Andrejeva (Belarus), Jimmy Lai (Hong Kong), Jose Rubén Zamora Marroquín (Guatemala), and Alaa Abd El-Fattah (Egypt). 

Join us by reading this year's powerful letters of solidarity, written in support of these courageous voices: 

• Olga Tokarczuk to Kaciaryna Andrejeva in English, Belarusian, Polish, Spanish and French

• Elif Shafak to Kaciaryna Andrejeva to in English, French and Spanish

• Viv Groskop to Alaa Abd El-Fattah in English, French and Spanish

• Margaret Atwood to Jimmy Lai in English, Spanish and French.

• Gioconda Belli to Jose Rubén Zamora Marroquín in English, Spanish and French.

They are harassed, imprisoned, persecuted. Take action with us to demand justice and freedom for Kaciaryna Andrejeva, Jimmy Lai, Jose Rubén Zamora Marroquín and Alaa Abd El-Fattah. 

Take Action for Kaciaryna Andrejeva (Belarus)

Take Action for Alaa Abd El-Fattah (Egypt)

Take Action for Jimmy Lai
(Hong Kong)

Take Action for
Jose Rubén Zamora Marroquín (Guatemala)

Note to Editors:   

For more information and media queries, please contact Sabrina Tucci, PEN International Communications and Campaigns Manager,  Sabrina.Tucci@pen-international.org  

31 October 2024: PEN International launches its Day of the Dead campaign to honour journalists murdered in Latin America over the past year. Between 31 October and 13 November 2024, we will remember media editors, columnists and journalists who were killed in possible connection with their work. 

From 2 November 2022 to date, PEN International has documented the murder of at least twelve journalists in the region: 5 in Mexico, 3 in Colombia, 2 in Guatemala, and 2 in Honduras. 

PEN International believes that many of these attacks were reprisals for their reporting on corruption, environmental issues, organised crime, drug trafficking and public security. 

• Take action with us

  PEN members, writers, journalists and other interested parties are invited to take action on or around the Day of the Dead - between 31 October and 13 November 2024, urging the governments of Mexico, Honduras, Colombia and Guatemala to make substantive progress in investigating journalist murders, and raising awareness about their killing, in connection to their work. 

  Please download the profiles of the murdered journalists, and share them on your social media profile. 

  Francisco Ramírez Amador

  Gleymer Renan Villeda

  César Augusto Leiva Pimentel

  Mardonio Mejía Mendoza

  Luis Alonso Teruel

  Jaime Alonso Vasquez Giraldo 

  Roberto Carlos Figueroa 

  Víctor Manuel Jiménez Campos

  Víctor Alfonso Culebro Morales

  Alejandro Alfredo Martínez Noguez 

  Mauricio Cruz Solís

• Background

  This campaign by PEN International and its Latin American Centres is being launched as part of the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, observed globally each year. 

  In 2013, the United Nations General Assembly adopted its first resolution on the safety of journalists, designating November 2 as the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists. 

  Since then, human rights organisations worldwide have urged Member States to take concrete measures to prevent attacks on journalists, bring those responsible to justice, ensure victims' right to redress, and create a safe environment in which journalists can carry out their work independently and without interference. 

  PEN International urges the governments of Mexico, Honduras, Colombia and Guatemala to make substantive progress in investigating journalist murders. Authorities must allocate sufficient resources to break the cycle of impunity for crimes against journalists.  

Note to Editors: 

 For more information, please contact Alicia Quiñones, Head of the Americas Region at PEN International, email: alicia.quinones@pen-international.org; or Sabrina Tucci, Communications and Campaigns Manager at PEN International, email: sabrina.tucci@pen-international.org  

“Amid the mounting death toll, destruction, and reports of harrowing atrocities, journalists in Gaza risk their lives and limbs to cover the war. Deliberately targeting journalists, and indiscriminate attacks that kill or injure journalists, amount to war crimes. All those responsible must be held to account. Protecting press freedom and ensuring the safety of journalists is fundamental during times of war and essential in providing the public with accurate and timely information." Burhan Sonmez, PEN International President

3 May 2024: It has been over six months since the relentless bombardment of Gaza by Israel’s military began in response to a Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. With damning evidence of international human rights law violations and war crimes, the toll on journalists' lives and the erosion of press freedom in Gaza and across the region have reached unprecedented levels.  

Will you take action?

On World Press Freedom Day, contact your country's Head of Government/Minister of Foreign Affairs, urging immediate action to protect journalists and ensure unfettered reporting on the war on Gaza. Ask them to:

-        Publicly call on all parties to the conflict to ensure journalists’ safety and to promptly and thoroughly investigate all attacks on journalists.

-        Call on the Israeli authorities to stop the indiscriminate and deliberate killing of journalists.

-        Call on the Israeli and Egyptian authorities to provide international journalists with independent access to Gaza, and ensure the safe departure from Gaza of journalists seeking to evacuate.

-        Support swift, transparent, and independent investigations into the killing of all journalists and an end to the longstanding pattern of impunity in the killings of journalists by the Israeli forces.

-        Publicly call for an immediate ceasefire in order to protect all civilians, including journalists.

• Read more about press freedom amidst Israel’s Bombardment of Gaza

  War, Censorship and Persecution: PEN International Case List 2023/2024 documents how since 7 October, journalists in Gaza and across the region have faced unprecedented hostilities, intimidation, and harassment, posing significant challenges to their reporting and lives.

  According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), at least 97 journalists and media workers have been killed between 7 October 2023 and 25 April 2024: 92 Palestinian, two Israeli, and three Lebanese, marking the deadliest period for journalists on record. In addition, 16 journalists were reported injured, four missing and 25 arrested. CPJ notably raised concerns about an apparent pattern of targeting of journalists and their families by the Israeli military.

  In Gaza, Al Jazeera bureau chief Wael Al-Dahdouh was injured in a drone attack in December 2023. Prior, he lost his wife, son, daughter, and grandson in an Israeli airstrike in October. In January 2024, he lost his eldest son, journalist Hamza Al-Dahdouh, along with his colleague Mustafa Thuraya, in a missile attack on their car in southern Gaza.

  In November, Anas al-Sharif, a reporter and videographer for Al-Jazeera Arabic, reported receiving threats via phone from Israeli authorities, instructing him to stop his coverage and leave northern Gaza. In December, his family house was bombed by Israeli planes resulting in the death of his elderly father.

  In Lebanon, according to a Reuters investigation, journalist Issam Abdallah was killed, and six others from Al Jazeera, Agence France-Presse, and Reuters were injured by Israeli tank shells in October, despite wearing marked journalists' attire.

  In the West Bank, press freedom organisations reported a spike in arrests and intimidation of Palestinian journalists since 7 October, with many journalists facing arbitrary administrative detention, harassment and intimidation by Israeli forces.

  Mustafa Sheta, a researcher, journalist, and producer at the Freedom Theatre in the Jenin refugee camp, was arrested during a raid on the theatre in December 2023 during which Israeli forces destroyed its offices, and later stormed the houses of three of its members. Israeli soldiers interrogated Sheta about his political activities during his detention. Despite no charges being filed, an Israeli military court ordered his administrative detention for six months on 31 December.

  In Israel, Alaraby TV reporter Ahmed Darawsha faced threats from an armed police officer while reporting live from Ashdod in October. On the same day, BBC journalists Muhannad Tutunji and Haitham Abudiab, along with their BBC Arabic team, were assaulted and held at gunpoint by Israeli police in Tel Aviv. Also in October, Israeli journalist Israel Frey was forced to flee his home and seek refuge after being attacked by an extremist mob for expressing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza and criticizing Israeli authorities' actions during the conflict.

  Since 7 October, Israel has tightened its siege on Gaza preventing international journalists from covering the conflict on the ground. Those allowed access have been embedded with the Israeli military, which severely limits their reporting. These restrictions have significantly curtailed both press freedoms and the public's access to information.

  In February 2024, PEN International welcomed the International Court of Justice’s provisional measures intended to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza, including, among others, preserving evidence of crimes committed in the region, under the Genocide Convention.

  Safeguarding journalists is vital both in conflict situations and wars, and in times of peace, as they play a crucial role in providing the public with accurate and timely information, documenting hostilities, and reporting on war crimes and human rights violations. Additionally, journalists are instrumental in upholding independent flow of information, supporting transparency, and holding authorities to account. Urgent measures are required to ensure journalists' safety and enable unrestricted reporting in Gaza and beyond.

Thank you for Defending Press Freedom Amidst Israel’s Bombardment of Gaza.

Now could you share this page on social media and ask your friends to take action? Thank you.

Note to editors:

For more information or media queries, please contact Sabrina Tucci, PEN International Communications and Campaigns Manager, Sabrina.Tucci@pen-international.org

They considered us totally buried.
But how can one just bury a plant?
Our greens broke persistent through bedrock, And the blue sky we finally found!

By Maksim Znak

The ugliness of this thing, war; When its spring arrives unwished-for; When its ravaging echoes knock at your door; It is then that war’s curse brews doom.

By Amanuel Asrat 

21 March 2024: Today, on World Poetry Day, PEN International launches War, Censorship, and Persecution, its Case List 2023/2024, shining a light on five persecuted writers in dire need of help:

• Belarus: Maksim Znak. Imprisoned; held incommunicado since February 2023.

• China: Gui Minhai. Imprisoned; currently serving a 10-year prison sentence.

• Egypt: Galal El-Behairy. Imprisoned; held in arbitrary detention since July 2021 after serving a three-year prison sentence for his poetry.

• Eritrea: Collective case of Eritrean writers and journalists detained without trial; held incommunicado for 22 years.

• Nicaragua: Freddy Antonio Quezada. Detained.

Join us in demanding justice and freedom for these brave voices. #FreeTheWriters #MaksimZnak #GuiMinhai #GalalElBehairy #EritreanWriters # FreddyAntonioQuezada #WorldPoetryDay

Against 1912 nights in which I only saw the moon once, and by chance
Against every dream that dies over time and joins all my wasted dreams.

By Galal El-Behairy

Poetry produces music, because things cannot be said [...] when two words that do not know each other, the poet makes them meet with astonishment and invites them to sing with us…

By Freddy Quezada

• How you can help Maksim Znak

  TAKE ACTION

  Advocacy

  Please send appeals to the authorities of Belarus, urging them to:

  • Release Maksim Znak immediately and unconditionally;

  • End the incommunicado detention of Znak and ensure that, pending his release, he is held in conditions that meet international human rights standards for the treatment of prisoners, including by providing him access to adequate health care and regular communication with his family and lawyers.

  Send appeals to:

  Oleg Matkin
  Role: Head of the Department for the Execution of Punishments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus
  Email: pismo@din.gov.by

  Andrei Shved
  Role: Prosecutor General of the Republic of Belarus
  Email: info@prokuratura.gov.by

  Send copies to the Embassy of Belarus in your own country. Embassy addresses may be found here: https://mfa.gov.by/en/bilateral/belarus/?asd50

  Please reach out to your Ministry of Foreign Affairs and diplomatic representatives in Belarus, calling on them to raise the case of Znak in bilateral fora.

  OUTREACH

  PEN members are encouraged to:

  • Publish articles and opinion pieces in your national or local press highlighting the case of Znak and the state of freedom of expression in Belarus;

  • Share information about Znak and your campaigning activities via social media.

  Please keep PEN International informed of your activities. Messages can be sent to Aurélia Dondo, Head of Europe and Central Asia Region: Aurelia.dondo@pen-international.org

  READ MORE ABOUT MAKSIM ZNAK’S CASE

  Lawyer, academic, and writer Maksim Znak is serving a 10-year sentence in a medium-security penal colony on spurious grounds. Znak was the electoral campaign lawyer of opposition presidential candidates Viktar Babaryka and Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, and a member of the Coordination Council for the Transfer of Power, which called for the resignation of President Lukašenka following the disputed presidential election held in August 2020.

  Maksim Znak was arrested by members of the main investigative department of the Investigative Committee of Belarus at Viktar Babaryka’s election headquarters on 9 September 2020, and placed in pre-trial detention. He was subsequently charged with ‘inciting actions aimed at harming the national security of the Republic of Belarus’, ‘conspiring to seize power by unconstitutional means’ and ‘creating an extremist formation’, and tried alongside Maryia Kalesnikava, who headed Viktar Babaryka’s campaign team. Their trial opened in Minsk on 4 August 2021 behind closed doors. They were both found guilty on 6 September 2021, with Znak receiving a 10-year sentence, and Kalesnikava 11 years in prison. Znak was added to the ’list of persons involved in extremist activities’ in March 2022, and to the ‘list of persons involved in terrorist activities’ in May 2022 (in Belarus, there are six different lists associated with ‘extremism’, which are used by the authorities to target dissenting voices). That same month, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention called for his immediate and unconditional release. Znak was last seen by his lawyer in January 2023. He has been held incommunicado since 9 February 2023.

  Maksim Znak, born on 4 September 1981, is a lawyer, professor at the Law Faculty of the Belarusian State University, poet, and lyricist. While detained, Znak wrote The Zekameron: One hundred tales from behind bars and eyelashes, in which he poignantly details his new everyday life.

• How you can help Gui Minhai

  TAKE ACTION

  Advocacy

  Please send appeals to the authorities of China, urging them to:

  • Release Gui Minhai immediately and unconditionally;

  • Ensure that, pending Gui Minhai’s release, he is held in conditions that meet international human rights standards for the treatment of prisoners, including by providing him access to adequate health care and regular communication with his family and lawyers.

  Send appeals to:

  Ambassador CUI Aimin
  Role: Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the Kingdom of Sweden
  Email: political@chinaembassy.se

  Ambassador CHEN Xu
  Role: Ambassador of the Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China to the United Nations Office at Geneva and Other International Organizations in Switzerland
  Email: chinamission_gva@mfa.gov.cn

  Send copies to the Embassy of China in your own country. Embassy addresses may be found here: https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/wjb_663304/zwjg_665342/2490_665344/

  OUTREACH

  PEN members are encouraged to:

  • Publish articles and opinion pieces in your national or local press highlighting the case of Gui Minhai and the state of freedom of expression in China;

  • Share information about Gui Minhai and your campaigning activities via social media.

  Please keep PEN International informed of your activities. Messages can be sent to Ross Holder, Head of Asia/Pacific Region: Ross.Holder@pen-international.org

  READ MORE ABOUT GUI MINHAI’S CASE

  Gui Minhai is a poet, author, publisher, bookseller and member of the Independent Chinese PEN Centre (ICPC) who is serving a 10-year prison sentence imposed after his conviction of national security charges on 24 February 2020.

  Gui is one of five Hong Kong booksellers who were forcibly disappeared in late 2015. He was taken from his vacation home in Thailand by the PRC security services and was not seen in public until three months later, when PRC state media aired a forced confession video where Gui Minhai claimed he had voluntarily returned to China to turn himself for a 2003 traffic offence. Briefly released while under continued surveillance in late 2017, Gui was subsequently detained by plain clothes police officers on 20 January 2018 whilst in the company of two Swedish diplomats on his way to Beijing for medical testing, after showing symptoms of a neurodegenerative disease.

  Gui Minhai, born on 5 May 1964, was the owner of Mighty Current Media and joint owner of its retail arm, Causeway Bay Books. Several poems written by Gui during his initial detention were published in 2020 as a poetry collection titled, I draw a door on the wall with my finger (2020). In 2019, Gui Minhai was awarded PEN Sweden’s Tucholsky Prize.

• How you can help Galal El-Behairy

  TAKE ACTION

  Advocacy

  Please send appeals to the Egyptian authorities, urging them to:

  • Release Galal El-Behairy immediately and unconditionally and drop all charges against him;

  • Pending his release, ensure his access to adequate medical care and psychological support.

  Send appeals to:

  Mohamed Shawqi Ayyad
  Role: Public Prosecutor
  Address: Mohamed Shawky Ayyad, Office of the Public Prosecutor, Madinat al-Rehab, Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt
  Fax: +202 2577 4716
  Email: m.office@ppo.gov.eg
  Twitter: @EgyptianPPO
  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ppo.gov.eg

  Send copies to the Egyptian embassies in your own country. Embassy addresses may be found here: https://www.egyptembassy.org/location/uk/

  Please reach out to your Ministry of Foreign Affairs and diplomatic representatives in Egypt, calling on them to raise the case of El-Behairy in bilateral fora.

  OUTREACH

  PEN members are encouraged to:

  • Publish articles and opinion pieces in your national or local press highlighting the case of Galal El-Behairy and the state of freedom of expression in Egypt.

  • Share information about El-Behairy and your campaigning activities via social media.

  Please keep PEN International informed of your activities. Messages can be sent to Mina Thabet, Head of Middle East and North Africa Region: Mina.Thabet@pen-international.org

  READ MORE ABOUT GALAL EL-BEHAIRY’S CASE

  Galal El-Behairy, born on 27 June 1990, is an Egyptian poet and lyricist known for his criticism of the authorities. Arrested in March 2018, he continued to be held without charge or trial despite serving a three-year unjust sentence in July 2021. He has reportedly been beaten and tortured in detention.

  El-Behairy was arrested on 5 March 2018 at Cairo International Airport on his return from travels abroad. He initially faced charges of ‘joining a terrorist group’, ‘disseminating false news’, and ‘insulting the President’ for lyrics he had written for the song Balaha, performed, and disseminated online by exiled Egyptian singer Ramy Essam. The song heavily criticised President Sisi and was deemed insulting to the president. This case was eventually dropped, but he was sentenced to three years in prison in a separate case for allegedly ‘disseminating false news and rumours’ and ‘insulting the Egyptian army’ in his unpublished poetry collection, The Finest Women on Earth.

  In July 2021, after his sentence expired, he was subjected to enforced disappearance for three weeks before being freshly charged with ‘disseminating false news’ and ‘joining a terrorist group’ by the Supreme State Security Prosecution in case number 2000/2021 SSSP. Along with other detainees, he joined a collective hunger strike for several weeks in February 2022 to protest against their arbitrary detention. On 5 March 2023, five years after his arbitrary detention began, El-Behairy started a hunger strike, which he later escalated on 1 June 2023, refusing to take fluids and medicines in protest against his continued detention. PEN International learned that he was forced to suspend his hunger strike on 6 June 2023 due to his declining health.

  On 5 September 2023, El-Behairy exceeded the maximum legal limit of pre-trial detention without a trial, which should have led to his release. However, Egyptian authorities continue to detain him arbitrarily. In protest against his indefinite detention, El-Behairy resumed his hunger strike on 5 September and later attempted to commit suicide four days after resuming his hunger strike after losing hope that he would ever be released. In December 2023, PEN International learned that prison authorities had confiscated all of El-Behairy’s reading and writing materials.

  El-Behairy’s family has informed PEN International that his health has significantly deteriorated due to his imprisonment, poor prison conditions, lack of adequate medical care, and prolonged hunger strikes. He suffers from high blood pressure, joint pain and heart problems. His mental health has severely deteriorated in recent years.

• How you can help the 12 Eritrean writers detained since 2001

  TAKE ACTION

  Advocacy

  Please send appeals to the authorities of Eritrea, urging them to:

  • Reveal the whereabouts and fate of all detained writers, journalists, media workers, artists, and government critics.

  • Immediately and unconditionally release all arbitrarily detained and disappeared journalists, writers, artists, and government critics and provide all those still alive with independent medical assessments, adequate medical treatment, and comprehensive redress as free persons.

  Send appeals to:

  H.E. Isaias Afewerki
  Role: President of Eritrea
  Address: H.E. Isaias Afewerki, Office of the President, P. O. Box 257, Asmara, Eritrea
  Fax: + 2911 125123
  E-mail: (through the Eritrean Permanent Mission to the United Nation) eritrea@un.int

  and through:

  Hon. Yemane Gebremeskel
  Role: Minister of Information
  Address: P.O. Box 242, Asmara, Eritrea
  Tel: +291 124 847
  X: @hawelti

  OUTREACH

  PEN members are encouraged to:

  • Spread the word about the case of the detained Eritrean writers and journalists through opinion articles in your local and national press.

  • Encourage others in your network to write letters and e-mails calling for their immediate and unconditional release.

  • Share information about the detainees and your campaigning activities via social media.

  Please keep PEN International informed of your activities. Messages can be sent to Nduko o’Matigere, Head of Africa Region: Nduko.oMatigere@pen-international.org

  READ MORE ABOUT THE COLLECTIVE CASE OF ERITREAN WRITERS AND JOURNALISTS DETAINED WITHOUT TRIAL

  September 2023 marked 22 years of the incommunicado detention without trial of a group of Eritrean journalists and writers, including Dawit ISAAK; Amanuel ASRAT; Said Idris ‘ABU ARE’; Temesegen GHEBREYESUS; Methanie HAILE; Fessehaye ‘Joshua’ YOHANNES; Yousif Mohammed ALI; Seyoum TSEHAYE; Dawit HABTEMICHAEL; Said ABDELKADIR; Sahle ‘Wedi-ltay’ TSEFEZAB; and Matheos HABTEAB.

  They were arbitrarily arrested between September and October 2001, after Eritrean authorities launched a massive crackdown on regime critics. Authorities also shut down all independent newspapers, including the weeklies Meqaleh, Setit, Tsigenay, Zemen, Wintana and Admas, for publishing the G-15 statement and conducting related interviews. More than 10 journalists - among them writers associated with the banned media outlets were rounded up by security forces and detained without trial for publishing an open letter by a group of politicians that had denounced President Isais Afwerki’s abuse of power and called for peaceful democratic reforms. Along with the dissenting politicians, the journalists and writers have been detained without trial and held incommunicado and without trial for the last 22 years. There have been unverified reports that several of them have since died in custody due to ill-treatment and neglect.

  Eritrean authorities have ignored all calls for justice for the detainees made by human rights organizations as well as human rights mechanisms of the African Union and the UN.

• How you can help Freddy Antonio Quezada

  TAKE ACTION

  Advocacy

  Please send appeals to the authorities of Nicaragua, urging them to:

  • Release Freddy Quezada immediately and end the persecution and arbitrary detention of journalists, writers, and academics;

  • Pending Quezada’s release, respect international human rights standards for the treatment of prisoners, including by providing him access to adequate health care and regular communication with his family and lawyers.

  Send appeals to:

  Cra. María Amelia Coronel Kinloch
  Role: Minister of the Interior
  Email: relacionespublicas@mint.gob.ni

  Denis Ronaldo Moncada Colindres
  Role: Minister of Foreign Affairs
  Email: DMoncada@cancilleria.gob.ni
  mcolindres2811@yahoo.com.mx

  Send copies to the Embassy of Nicaragua in your own country. Embassy addresses may be found here: https://www.embassypages.com/nicaragua_es

  Please reach out to your Ministry of Foreign Affairs and diplomatic representatives, calling on them to raise the case of Quezada in bilateral fora.

  OUTREACH

  PEN members are encouraged to:

  • Publish articles and opinion pieces in your national or local press highlighting the case of Quezada and the state of freedom of expression in Nicaragua;

  • Share information about Quezada and your campaigning activities via social media.

  Please keep PEN International informed of your activities. Messages can be sent to Alicia Quiñones, Head of The Americas Region: Alicia.Quinones@pen-international.org

  READ MORE ABOUT FREDDY QUEZADA

  Writer, philosopher and academic Freddy Quezada is being held without access to legal representation or being informed of the reasons for his detention. According to public reports and information received by PEN International, Quezada was arrested at his home on 29 November 2023. The police did not inform the family of his whereabouts until five days after he was arrested. His family members have not had any contact with Quezada since then.

  On 5 December 2023, Quezada was transferred to the Jorge Navarro Penitentiary System in Tipitapa, known as ‘La Modelo’. The family members have not had access to any official information as to Quezada’s legal status. According to partial information provided by the authorities on the case, Quezada was convicted on 24 January 2024 for ‘incitement to hatred’ in a trial held via zoom. The sentence has not been handed down.

  Quezada was arrested hours after writing social media posts (under the pseudonym ‘Uliteo’) that were critical of the Nicaraguan government. In one of his last articles before he was detained, Quezada referred to the government as a ‘dictatorship’ and criticised its public narrative around its detention of a prominent bishop who is a vocal critic of the government. On 27 December 2023, the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights granted Freddy Quezada precautionary measures.

  In 2018, Quezada is said to have been dismissed from his academic role at the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua (UNAN) due to his outspoken criticism of the Nicaraguan government’s violent repression of student protests.

  Freddy Quezada is a sociologist, academic and guide for several generations of university students. Author of books such as El Pensamiento Contemporáneo and Decolonialidad y Emancipación Como Jazz Epistémico.

Note to editors

To arrange a media interview, please contact Sabrina Tucci, PEN International Communications and Campaigns Manager, Sabrina.Tucci@pen-international.org

8 March: As the world celebrates International Women's Day 2024, PEN International features the case of sociologist, writer, feminist, and PEN Türkiye member Pınar Selek, who has faced a decades-long trial over a 1998 explosion that killed seven and injured 127, and is now the subject of an international arrest warrant.

‘Pınar Selek’s story is one of resilience and unwavering dedication to truth and justice. As a sociologist, writer, and feminist, she has fearlessly championed minority rights and shed light on marginalized communities. Her decades-long ordeal, marked by repeated trials and unjust persecution, is a testament to her unwavering commitment to her principles. Let us stand in solidarity with Pınar Selek, urging the authorities of Türkiye to drop all charges against her and put an end to this prolonged injustice once and for all’. Zoe Rodriguez, Chair of PEN International Women Writers’ Committee.

Take action today for Pınar Senek.

• Pınar Selek (Türkiye)

  Sociologist, author, feminist, and renowned member of PEN Türkiye, Pınar Selek, has been the subject of a prolonged legal battle spanning decades, following a tragic 1998 explosion in the Istanbul Spice Bazaar, which claimed seven lives and left 127 injured. Despite being acquitted in 2006, 2008, 2011 and 2014, based on expert testimony confirming a gas leak as the cause, the courts ordered retrials after each acquittal. Her fourth trial culminated in a conviction in January 2013, and an aggravated life sentence.

  Türkiye’s Supreme Court of Appeals overturned this conviction on procedural grounds on 11 June 2014. Subsequently, on 19 December 2014, the 15th High Criminal Court in Istanbul acquitted her of all charges. However, in a devastating turn, Türkiye's Supreme Court overturned Selek’s fourth acquittal on 21 June 2022. While her trial before the Istanbul Criminal Court opened on 31 March 2023, the proceedings were postponed to 29 September 2023, and subsequently adjourned to 28 June 2024. Selek remains the subject of an international arrest warrant.

  Born on 8 October 1971, Selek has extensively covered issues concerning women, the underprivileged, street children, the LGBTI community, and the Kurds in Türkiye. Selek co-founded Amargi, a Turkish feminist journal, and her latest book, Azucena ou Les fourmis zinzines, was published in April 2022. Since 2012, she has been residing in France, holding both French and Turkish citizenship.

  PEN International believes that Selek's prosecution is directly tied to her tireless advocacy for minority rights and Kurdish communities in the 1990s, and that she is being unjustly targeted through the judicial system as a punitive measure for her legitimate research and commentary. These concerns are heightened by allegations that Selek endured torture during her imprisonment from 1998 to 2000, aimed at coercing a confession to the charges against her.

  PEN International urgently calls upon the authorities of Türkiye to put an end to their relentless harassment of Selek and to immediately drop all charges against her.

• Take action

  Please send appeals to the authorities of Türkiye

  • Expressing concern that another trial has been opened against Pınar Selek on charges of which she has already been acquitted by courts of law four times;

  • Urging that the charges against Selek are dismissed;

  • Calling for the decades-long judicial harassment of Selek to end once and for all.

  Send appeals to:

  Yılmaz Tunç
  Role: Minister of Justice
  Address: Ministry of Justice, Adalet Bakanlığı, 06659 Ankara, Türkiye

  Contact: info@adalet.gov.tr

  Send copies to the Embassy of Türkiye in your own country. Embassy addresses may be found here: https://cd.mfa.gov.tr/mission/mission-list?clickedId=3

  Please reach out to your Ministry of Foreign Affairs and diplomatic representatives in Türkiye, calling on them to raise the case of Pınar Selek in bilateral fora.

  ***Please send appeals immediately***

  Please inform PEN International of any action you take and any responses you receive. Messages can be sent to Aurélia Dondo, Head of Europe and Central Asia Region: Aurelia.dondo@pen-international.org

• Outreach

  PEN members are encouraged to:

  • Publish articles and opinion pieces in your national or local press highlighting the case of Pınar Selek and the state of freedom of expression in Türkiye;

  • Share information about Selek and your campaigning activities via social media.

  Please keep us informed of your activities.

• Note to editors

  • For further information please contact Aurélia Dondo, Head of Europe and Central Asia Region: Aurelia.dondo@pen-international.org

  • To arrange a media interview, please contact Sabrina Tucci, PEN International Communications and Campaigns Manager, Sabrina.Tucci@pen-international.org

Every year on 15 November PEN International launches its Day of the Imprisoned Writer campaign, highlighting the cases of writers who are imprisoned or facing persecution and calling for urgent international action to release and protect them.

This year PEN International is featuring the cases of María Cristina Garrido Rodríguez (Cuba), Iryna Danylovych (Ukraine/occupied Crimea), Go Sherab Gyatso (China- Tibet), and Soulaiman Raissouni (Morocco). Please take action with us between November 15 and 22.

You can read this year's solidarity letters in support of our imprisoned writers below:

Read J.M Coetzee’s letter to Iryna Danylovych in English, French, and Spanish.

Read Nina George’s letter to Iryna Danylovych in English, French, and Spanish.

Read Geert Mak’s letter to Iryna Danylovych in English.

Read Andrey Kurkov’s letter to Soulaiman Raissouni in English.

Read Jennifer Clement’s letter to Go Sherab Gyatso (aka. Gosher) in English.

Join our campaign in support of María Cristina Garrido Rodríguez, Iryna Danylovych, Go Sherab Gyatso, and Soulaiman Raissouni.

Take Action for María Cristina Garrido Rodríguez (Cuba)

Take Action for Go Sherab Gyatso aka. Gosher (China - Tibet)

Take Action for Iryna Danylovych (Ukraine/occupied Crimea)

Take Action for
Soulaiman Raissouni (Morocco)

PEN International honours journalists killed in Latin America

• PEN International launches its Day of the Dead 2023 campaign, honouring nine journalists killed since 2 November 2022 in retaliation to their work, and calling on Latin American governments to end impunity for these crimes and ensure justice

• PEN International presents a film made by PEN Haiti to commemorate the journalists killed in their country

• Since 2018, at least 87 journalists have been killed in 10 countries in the Americas and the Caribbean in possible reprisals for their work, such as for investigating security, organised crime or environmental issues.

1 November: PEN International launches its annual Day of the Dead campaign 2023, titled "Cause of Death: Impunity". Featuring events and actions across Latin American countries, including Mexico, Paraguay and Haiti, the initiative aims to commemorate journalists killed for their work, and pressure Latin American governments to make substantial progress in their investigations of journalist murders. Cause of Death: Impunity" is carried in collaboration with PEN Centres and networks in the region, and aligns with the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists.

Since 2000, almost 190 people have been brutally murdered for their investigations and reporting, making Latin America the deadliest region for journalism worldwide. PEN International has documented the murders of at least 87 journalists since 2018. From November 2, 2022, to the present, PEN has recorded the deaths of at least nine reporters: 4 in Mexico, 2 in Colombia, 1 in the United States, 1 in Paraguay, and 1 in Haiti. PEN International believes that many of these reporters were likely attacked in retaliation for their critical journalism, particularly regarding issues such as corruption, the environment, organized crime, drug trafficking, public security, or their activism.

The countries with the highest number of murders are Mexico, Haiti and Colombia, followed by countries where criminal investigations into murders remain unfinished or unpunished, such as Honduras, Brazil and Paraguay.

In countries such as Mexico and Haiti, the influence and strength of criminal groups, as well as government and police corruption, along with pervasive impunity, significantly limit the exercise of freedom of expression. Journalists face countless threats, harassment, censorship and all too frequently, brutal murders. Many of their colleagues or family members, are prevented from reporting these crimes due to fear of retaliation.

Despite multiple calls to the Mexican authorities for a genuine and effective dispensation of justice, crime rates continue to rise, and impunity for these offenses stands at least to 90%. This prevailing impunity hinders the prosecution of those responsible for these crimes, and restrict the victims’ families from obtaining adequate access to justice.

In 2013, the United Nations General Assembly adopted its first resolution on the safety of journalists and impunity for crimes against them and proclaimed 2 November as the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists. Since then, human rights groups globally have urged Member States to prevent attacks, ensure justice, and protect journalists' independence.

Take action today, join our campaign: 

Take action

PEN International calls on its members and supporters to take at least one of the following actions on or around the Day of the Dead - between 1 and 9 November:

• Help spread awareness by sharing the profiles of the journalists featured on PEN International's social media channels.

• Build a Day of the Dead altar in memory of murdered journalists and writers (see here how to build a Day of the Dead altar) and share an image on social media.

• Organise a public reading of poems, articles and other relevant texts (see attached literary material and the book "Writing against impunity").

• Post an obituary on your social media profile, announcing the death of one of the journalists listed in the attached documents. For example:

Luis Martín Sánchez Íñiguez, Mexican reporter, correspondent for the daily La Jornada. Date of death: 8 July 2023. Cause of death: impunity.

• Promote the activities of other PEN Centres on your social media profile, using the hashtags: #DayOfTheDead2023 #DayOfTheDead #PENProtest

For more information, please contact Alicia Quiñones, Head of the Americas Region at PEN International, email: alicia.quinones@pen-international.org; or Sabrina Tucci, Communications and Campaigns Manager at PEN International, email: sabrina.tucci@pen-international.org

 EVENTS

PEN San Miguel - Online

Altar - In memoriam. Journalists murdered in Mexico.

Altar | SAN MIGUEL PEN

PEN Haiti - Online

Presentation of the film "Jounalis an Ayiti: yon metye ki make san", available in Spanish and French.

https://youtu.be/3C0g5R6z_vQ?si=u24b4JIIyqX87Q7w

Chiapas PEN - Online

Writers in indigenous languages honour journalists killed in Latin America.

https://www.facebook.com/PENchiapas

PEN Guadalajara - 3 November - Face-to-face

Tribute to murdered journalists

6.30 p.m. at SOGEM School, Guadalajara.

Participants:

Arturo Méndez Licón and Margaret Sandoval, among others.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=622880413392208&set=pb.100070107641382.-2207520000

25 May: PEN International raises serious concerns about the health of imprisoned Egyptian poet and lyricist Galal El-Behairy after 80 days on hunger strike. Earlier in May 2023, PEN International received a message from El-Behairy announcing that he will escalate his hunger strike on 1 June 2023, refusing to take fluids, in protest against his continued unjust detention. This follows a message PEN International received from El-Behairy in February, announcing that he would begin a hunger strike on 5 March, the fifth anniversary of his arrest.

Despite fully serving an unjust 3 year sentence by a military court in July 2021, Egyptian prosecutors subsequently brought forth additional fabricated charges against El-Behairy, leading to his continued arbitrary pre-trial detention. El-Behairy’s health has significantly deteriorated due to torture and inhumane detention conditions over five years of imprisonment, and he has reportedly lost considerable weight since he began striking in March 2023.

PEN International believes that El-Behairy is being targeted for his writings, which are critical of the Egyptian authorities. The organisation believes that El-Behairy's life is at grave risk, and holds the Egyptian authorities responsible for El-Behairy's physical and psychological health and well-being, and Egypt’s General Prosecutor Hamada El-Sawy, for his unfair imprisonment. PEN International calls on the authorities to immediately and unconditionally release El-Behairy and drop all charges against him, and to ensure that he receives urgent and adequate medical care, pending his release.

TAKE ACTION

Advocacy

Please send appeals to the Egyptian authorities, urging them to:

• Release Galal El-Behairy immediately and unconditionally

• Drop all charges against him;

• Ensure that, pending his release, he is held in conditions that meet international standards for the treatment of prisoners, including by providing urgent access to adequate health care and regular communication with his family and lawyers.

Send appeals to:

·       Hamada El-Sawy
Role: Head of Egypt’s Public Prosecutor
Email: m.office@ppo.gov.eg
WhatsApp: +201111755959  

·       Abdel Fattah El Sisi
Role: President of Egypt
Email: p.spokesman@op.gov.eg 

Send copies to the Egyptian Embassy in your own country. Embassy addresses may be found here: https://www.embassypages.com/egypt

Please reach out to your Ministry of Foreign Affairs and diplomatic representatives in Egypt, calling on them to raise the case of  Galal El-Behairy with the Egyptian authorities and at bilateral fora.

***Please send appeals immediately. Check with PEN International if sending appeals after 30 June 2023. ***

Solidarity

Please send messages of solidarity to Galal El-Behairy through English PEN’s PENWrites Campaign.

Social Media

PEN members are encouraged to:

• Take part in a Twitter storm on Thursday,1 June 2023 – between 12 and 3 pm Egypt time / 10 am and 1 pm UK time, targeting:

o   Egypt’s Public Prosecutor’s Office: @EgyptianPPO

o   The President of Egypt:  @AlsisiOfficial

o   Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs: @MfaEgypt

Sample messages are available here.

Outreach 

• Publish articles and opinion pieces in your national or local press highlighting the case of Galal El-Behairy and the state of freedom of expression in Egypt;

• Share information about Galal El-Behairy and your campaigning activities via social media. Don’t forget to add #FreeGalal.

Please keep PEN International informed of your solidarity actions.

• Background

  Galal El-Behairy, an Egyptian poet and lyricist, has been unjustly held since 5 March 2018 and has reportedly been tortured and beaten while in detention. He initially faced charges of ‘joining a terrorist group’, ‘disseminating false news’, and ‘insulting the President’ for lyrics he had written for the song Balaha, which was performed and disseminated online by exiled Egyptian singer Ramy Essam. The case was eventually dropped, but the authorities continued to detain him.

  In a separate case, on 31 July 2018, El-Behairy was sentenced to three years imprisonment and a fine of 10,000 Egyptian Pounds by a military court on charges of ‘disseminating false news and rumours by writing a book containing false news and statements about the Egyptian armed forces’, and ‘insulting the Egyptian army by issuing a book containing phrases that offend the Egyptian army’. The sentence related to his book of poetry, The Finest Women on Earth, which challenged the official narrative around the Egyptian military and its relation to politics. Later, the Court confirmed the three-year sentence at the appeal stage and dropped the fine.

  In July 2021, El-Behairy completed his three-year prison term. However, rather than being released, he was subjected to enforced disappearance for three weeks before being charged with ‘disseminating false news’ and ‘joining a terrorist group’ by the Supreme State Security Prosecution (SSSP) in case no:2000/2021. The SSSP is notorious for bringing additional charges against prisonnotorious ers of conscience to keep them in arbitrary pre-trial detention for prolonged periods. Along with other detainees, El-Behairy joined a collective hunger strike for several weeks in February 2022 to protest their arbitrary detention. However, demands to end his ordeal were ignored.

  In April 2022, President Abdelfattah Al-Sisi called for political dialogue, addressing the human rights situation in the country and reactivating the ‘Presidential Amnesty Committee’. The Committee was initially formed in 2016 to consider cases of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience. However, over a year later, thousands of Egyptians remain arbitrarily imprisoned due to their legitimate practice of the right to freedom of expression. The authorities have imposed severe restrictions on freedom of expression, including on press freedom and social media: PEN International has documented numerous cases of writers, poets, journalists, and bloggers whom the Egyptian authorities have arrested for peacefully expressing their opinions. Many of them face discriminatory treatment in jail, including denial of reading and writing materials, restrictions or total denial of in-person family visits, refusal of opportunity to exercise outside their cells, and denial of many other legal rights guaranteed to prisoners under Egyptian law.

  PEN International calls on the Egyptian authorities to urgently and unconditionally release the many writers who remain detained in violation of their right to freedom of expression.

• Galal El-Behaiy’s message to PEN International (May 2023)

  Against the life of coercion and the prison’s grave

  Against the colours of the cell’s walls

  Against the iron’s logic

  Against the sensation of the sun behind bars and the wires

  Against the prison’s uniform and food

  Against the shining lights in my cell 24/7

  Against the 20 minutes of the allowed time for the prison visit

  Against the ban on pens and papers

  Against the ban on lighters

  Against the ban on all colours but white[1]… the ban on white[2]

  Against 1912 nights in which I only saw the moon once, and by chance

  Against every dream that dies over time and joins all my wasted dreams. Dreams of love, a home, establishing a family, fatherhood in my thirties, being beside my little sister in every hard step she takes in the sea of life, my dance with her on her big night, being there for my mom and dad as they are slowly devoured by time

  Against myself, against every day I get away from the human inside, and become a concrete thing, in a concrete place, under a concrete law[3]

  Against all this, and to save what is left, on the 1 of June, I will start a life strike to regain my life back.[4]

  [1] Here El-Behairy refers to the colour of prisoners' uniform who are being held in pre-trial detention, and to his own experience of that.

  [2] Referring to the idea and principle of goodness.

  [3] Against myself, against every day I get away from the human inside [me], and become a concrete [cement] thing in a concrete [cement] place, under a concrete [rigid] law.

  [4] Against all this, and to save what is left, on the 1 of June, I will start a life strike [escalate my hunger strike] to gain my life back.

• Further Information

  For more information about Galal El-Behairy – please click here.

  To read Galal El-Behairy’s latest poem, please click here.

  Please click here to see writers and artists reading El-Behairy’s February message.

  For further details please contact Mina Thabet, Head of the MENA Region, at PEN International, email: Mina.Thabet@pen-international.org

3 May: PEN International joins the global community in celebrating the 30th anniversary of World Press Freedom Day.

Established by the UN General Assembly in December 1993, this international day recognizes the fundamental principles of press freedom, including the importance of independent media and the safety of journalists.

To mark the day, this year, we feature the case of imprisoned journalist, media publisher, activist and writer, Jimmy Lai, who is currently facing a potential life sentence for his journalism in Hong Kong.

Journalists are the eyes and ears of society. With their work, they meet the need for democratic liberties, a need that can never be erased. They must be able to speak and write about matters of public interest without fear of interference, arrest or other forms of reprisal or persecution. Jimmy Lai is no exception to this. We stand by his side today and every day. Ma Thida, Chair of PEN International’s Imprisoned Writers Committee

For over a century, PEN’s global membership has been mobilising in support of an independent and free press, defending journalists who have been threatened, imprisoned and sometimes killed for speaking truth to power, and urging political leaders to guarantee freedom of expression, recognised by the United Nations as a driver for all other human rights.

Take action today to free Jimmy Lai

Take Action

This solidarity action is in collaboration with English PEN’s PENWrites campaign. All letters will be subject to screening as a safety precaution.

PENWrites is English PEN’s international letter-writing campaign in solidarity with writers in prison and at risk around the world. For decades, PEN has supported writers who are persecuted for exercising their right to freedom of expression, and PEN members have long supported fellow writers by sending letters of solidarity. #PENWrites.

Please take a few moments to write a message of solidarity and support to Jimmy Lai:

Share our campaign posts on your social media, and encourage others to write messages of support to Jimmy Lai. Please use the hashtags #FreeJimmyLai #JimmyLai #WorldPressFreedomDay when posting.

• Jimmy Lai (Hong Kong)

  Jimmy Lai is a veteran human rights activist, writer, and owner of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, which was once regarded as Hong Kong’s most prolific pro-democracy news outlet before it was forced to close by the authorities on 24 June 2021. Lai is also the author of over 20 books ranging from autobiographies to essays on entrepreneurship and his love of food.

  Lai has been continuously imprisoned since December 2020 following his initial detention in August 2020 on multiple charges for his journalism and activism. He has already received several convictions of unauthorised assembly for his participation in peaceful pro-democracy protests, including a 13-month sentence for briefly appearing at a vigil on 4 June 2020 to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.

  On 10 December 2022, Human Rights Day, Lai was sentenced to a total of five years and nine months’ imprisonment for violating the terms of a commercial lease for the headquarters of Apple Daily’s parent company. He faces further charges under the National Security Law (NSL), which could result in a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

  Lai’s ongoing detention is emblematic of the NSL’s devastating impact on freedom of expression and press freedom across Hong Kong and is illustrative of the authorities’ willingness to use the legal system to silence dissenting voices. In addition to Jimmy Lai, a dozen journalists are currently detained, and the chilling effect caused by the NSL has resulted in a climate of self-censorship across the territory, with several media outlets having dissolved in an effort to protect their staff from potential prosecution under the law for their critical journalism.

  Before Apple Daily was forced to close, Lai wrote a letter to his staff from prison, telling them that ‘freedom of speech is a dangerous job’ and that ‘it is time for us to stand tall with our heads held high’. He received a twelve-month sentence just days later.

  PEN International calls on the Hong Kong authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Jimmy Lai, and to drop all charges against him. We also call on the authorities to abide by their international human rights obligations and uphold the right to freedom of expression for all. Journalism is not a crime.

• Notes To Centres 

  The image used for this campaign can be re-used and shared by PEN Centres. This image cannot be used for commercial purposes. Source image credit: Mark Simon.

• Notes To Editors

  For further information, please contact Sabrina Tucci, Communications and Campaigns Manager,  Sabrina.Tucci@pen-international.org and Ross Holder, Head of the Asia/ Pacific Region, Ross.Holder@pen-international.org.

08 March: To mark International Women's Day 2023, PEN International features the case of Cuban poet and activist María Cristina Garrido Rodríguez, imprisoned since July 2021 for her criticism of the Cuban government, and for participating in the peaceful protests that saw thousands of Cubans taking to the streets around the country and demanding reforms.

On International Women's Day, as we embrace the theme of equity, let us not forget the case of Cuban poet and activist Maria Cristina Garrido Rodríguez. Her unwavering courage in the face of unjust persecution serves as a reminder of the urgent need for equitable action in every society. Let us work towards a world where every woman is free to express herself without fear of punishment or persecution. Zoe Rodriguez, Chair of PEN International Women Writers’ Committee

Take action today to free María Cristina Garrido Rodríguez.

• María Cristina Garrido Rodríguez (Cuba)

  María Cristina Garrido Rodríguez is a Cuban poet and activist. On 10 March 2022, she was sentenced to seven years in prison on charges of ‘public disorder,’ ‘assault’, ‘instigation to commit a crime’, ‘contempt,’ and ‘resistance’.

  This follows her arrest on 12 July 2021 for participating, alongside her sister and thousands of Cubans, in the July 11 peaceful protests against the repression of their fundamental rights, including over the government’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis and worsening economy.

  Upon her arrest, Garrido was beaten several times by the Cuban political police, and was subjected to enforced disappearance for 18 days.

  She is currently held in the women’s Guatao Prison where since her arrest, she has been subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, including solitary confinement and beatings, and denied food, water and adequate sanitary conditions, as well as family visits and calls at times.

  In December 2021, in a letter from prison, Garrido spoke of her pride in taking part in the events of 11 July, and denouncing the horrors faced by those inside Cuban prisons. ‘On July 11, we showed courage, decisiveness, breaking with the silence of the years; we demonstrated unanimity and pluralism, because young people, adults, the elderly, university students and farmers, housewives and workers, also leaders and even party cadres took to the streets to say yes to the overthrow of the dictatorship and for a prosperous and democratic Cuba’. She also said that State Security ‘punishes me for every letter I write, but I cannot stop breathing’.

  Together with her sister Angélica, Garrido went on hunger strike for five days on 20 September 2022 to protest their sentences and continued detention. According to family members, the Cuban authorities had relied on false testimony from police officers and others who served as witnesses during her trial in January 2022.

  Garrido was born in Quivicán, Mayaquebé in 1982. She is the author of Examen de tiempo (Time examination), published in 2022, and the recipient of the 2008 First National Prize in the Carlos Baliño Tobacco Competition. She is a member of the Cuban Women's Network, where she supports the visibility of women in various spaces, and other activist networks such as the Fundación Vuelta abajo por Cuba and of the Latin Federation of Rural Women. Large part of Garrido's work has been seized by the Cuban state from her home in Quivicán.

  For more information on freedom of expression in Cuba click here.

• The cemetery of the living

  This is a fragment of "The cemetery of the living", a poem written while in prison:

  I'm writing this moan right now

  in an early morning of prisoners and opprobrium

  where the doors sound like tears and oblivion.

  I can't sleep.

  I discovered that it is better to write at this time

  in which the pain of others sleeps

  and silence softens the mind

  and the spirit.

  The night is my spur

  although it is the greatest danger.

  Doctors without a coat and without a vocation

  they flee from the pleas

  and I fear dying in a long unexpected pain.

  We call this place The Cemetery of the Living.

  Here justice is buried without an undertaker

  inexorable of the motherland

  as if the crime of a child was buried

  or a flower

  (…)

• Take action

  María Cristina Garrido Rodríguez is facing a hefty prison sentence solely for exercising her right to freely express herself. PEN International calls on the Cuban authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Garrido, and to drop all charges against her. This is what you can do:

  Advocacy

  Write to the Cuban authorities, calling on them to:

  • Release Garrido immediately and unconditionally, and drop all charges against her;

  • Pending her release, ensure that she is provided with regular communication with her family and adequate health care, and that she in not subjected to any form of ill-treatment;

  • Release all imprisoned writers and artists unjustly imprisoned for exercising their right to freedom of expression and artistic expression

  • Abide by their international human rights obligations and uphold the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly.

  Send appeals to:

  President Sr. Miguel Díaz-Canel:

  Email: despacho@presidencia.gob.cu

  Twitter: @DiazCanelB

  Minister of Justice Oscar Silvera Martínez:

  Email: apoblacion@minjus.gob.cu

  Twitter: @CubaMinjus

  Facebook: @MinisterioJusticiaCuba

  Minister of Culture Alpidio Alonso Grau:

  Twitter: @AlpidioAlonsoG

  Facebook: @MinisterioCulturaCuba

  Minister of Foreign Affairs (Minrex) Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla:

  Email: dm@minrex.gob.cu

  Twitter: @BrunoRguezP

  Facebook: @CubaMINREX

  Please send emails to the Embassy of the Republic of Cuba in your own country.

  Outreach

  PEN members are encouraged to:

  • Share information about Garrido and your campaigning activities via social media. Please use #MaríaCristinaGarrido #IWD2023 #EmbraceEquity.

  • Visit PEN International handles on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for retweets, likes, comments and sharing our posts for wider outreach.

  Please keep us informed of your activities.

• Note to editors

  For further information, please contact Sabrina Tucci, PEN International Communications and Campaigns Manager, Sabrina.Tucci@pen-international.org, and Alicia Quiñones, PEN International Head of the Americas Region, alicia.quinones@pen-international.org

Held every year on 21 February, International Mother Language Day is observed to promote linguistic and cultural diversity, and multilingualism.

To mark this anniversary, PEN International features the case of Belarusian writer, human rights defender, Nobel Peace Prize winner and PEN Belarus member Ales Bialiatski, detained since 2021 and currently on trial.

This case is emblematic of the type of threats and attacks writers and journalists around the world are often subjected to, for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression. It is also emblematic of the type of oppression experienced by writers and journalists who are prevented from expressing themselves in their indigenous or minoritised language.

Respect for all languages and cultures is fundamental to the process of constructing and maintaining dialogue and peace in the world. PEN International’s Girona Manifesto for Linguistic Rights, 2011.

Take action today to free Ales Bialiatski.

• Ales Bialiatski (Belarus)

  Ales Bialiatski is a writer, PEN Belarus member, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and the founder of the Viasna Human Rights Centre (Viasna), an organisation that campaigns for opposition activists who are harassed and persecuted by the Belarusian authorities.

  Bialiatski is currently on trial in Minsk. He faces up to 12 years in prison in relation to his human rights work and his writings that are critical of the Belarusian authorities. The verdict against him will be announced on 3 March 2023.

  In March 2021, the Belarusian Investigative Committee opened a case against Viasna as part of a broader crackdown on independent media and civil society organisations. Bialiatski was summoned for questioning the following month. On 14 July 2021, he was detained alongside several Viasna colleagues following raids by Belarusian law enforcement officers on more than a dozen civil society and human rights organisations. He was placed in pretrial detention three days later on trumped up charges of tax evasion.

  Bialiatski’s trial opened at the Lieninski District Court of Minsk on 9 January 2023. He is being tried alongside two colleagues from Viasna – Board Member Valiantsin Stefanovich and lawyer Uladzimir Labkovich. All stand accused of smuggling (Article 228.4 of the Belarusian Criminal Code) and organising and financing actions that grossly violate public order (Article 342.2 of the Belarusian Criminal Code). Throughout the trial, Bialiatski repeatedly asked that the prosecutor and the court conduct the trial in Belarusian, to no avail. According to Viasna, Bialiatski notably said:

  ‘The situation with the language used in court appears to be extraordinary: the prosecution and the court refused steadfast to speak Belarusian, despite the fact that I, as the accused, am a Belarusian-speaking person in life. I speak, write, and think in Belarusian. I remind you that the Belarusian language is a state language, and you, as state officials, should know two state languages, including Belarusian, and not struggle to say two words. Therefore, you are obliged to speak, accordingly, in Belarusian with Belarusian-speaking citizens. For example, as provided for by the Law ‘On Appeals of Citizens’, if you write in Belarusian, any official department will respond to you in Belarusian. This put me in an unequal position with the prosecution. I was not given the opportunity to explain my position thoroughly and in detail, to dispute the unjust and senseless accusation".

  It is not the first time Bialiatski has been targeted by the Belarusian authorities. On 4 August 2011, he was arrested on spurious charges of tax evasion, for solely using his personal bank accounts in Lithuania and Poland to fund Viasna, as the organisation is not allowed to hold a bank account in Belarus. On 24 November 2011, he was sentenced to four-and-a-half years’ imprisonment in a high security prison colony. PEN members actively campaigned for his release; he was amnestied in June 2014.

  Bialiatski is the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize 2022, alongside the Russian human rights organisation Memorial, and the Ukrainian human rights organisation Center for Civil Liberties – a fitting tribute to their fearless work.

• Crackdown against the Belarusian language and literature

  The stigmatisation and repression of the Belarusian language and literature in Belarus, where the authorities have been seeking to assert the dominance of the Russian language for decades, have worsened since the Russian Federation launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. Scores of independent publishing houses have been raided for promoting books by Belarusian writers and in Belarusian language, and their activities suspended under far-fetched pretences. PEN Belarus documented 998 cultural and human rights violations against cultural figures between January and September 2022 alone.

  PEN International has long supported PEN Belarus in promoting the Belarusian language, including through a 2019 resolution calling on the Belarusian authorities to:

  • Comply with Article 17 of the Constitution of Belarus, which enshrines Belarusian as an official language;

  • Respect, protect and fulfil the right of all those who speak Belarusian to express themselves in that language and to have their literature promoted and distributed;

  • Ensure that those wishing to study in Belarusian-language classes, including at the higher education level, are provided with such opportunities;

  • Take effective measures to promote the wider use of the Belarusian language in all areas of life, including cultural life.

  For more information on the restrictions to freedom of expression in Belarus, click here.

• Take action

  PEN International calls for Ales Bialiatski’s immediate and unconditional release, and for all charges against him to be dropped. This is what you can do:

  Advocacy

  Write to the Belarusian authorities, calling on them to:

  • Release Ales Bialiatski immediately and unconditionally, and drop all charges against him;

  • Pending his release, ensure that he is provided with regular communication with his family, lawyers and adequate health care;

  • Abide by their international human rights obligations and uphold the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly for all.

  Send appeals to:

  • Andrei Shved, Prosecutor General of the Republic of Belarus

  Address: Vul. Internatsianalnaya 22, 220030 Minsk, Belarus

  Email: info@prokuratura.gov.by

  • Send copies to the Embassy of Belarus in your own country. Embassy addresses may be found here: https://mfa.gov.by/en/bilateral/belarus/?asd50

  • Ministry of Foreign Affairs in your country

  • Diplomatic representatives in Belarus

  Solidarity

  Please send messages of solidarity to:

  Ales Bialiatski (Аляксандру Віктаравічу Бяляцкаму)

  SIZO-1, vulica Valadarskaha 2

  220030, Minsk, Belarus

  Please find a sample message below:

  Dear Ales, we look forward to the day you will be released. We keep standing by you and campaigning for your freedom. Solidarity

  Belarusian

  Дорогой Алесь, мы з нецярпеннем чакаем таго дня, калі Вы будзеце вызвалены. Мы працягваем вас падтрымліваць і змагацца за вашу свабоду. Прыміце нашу падтрымку

  The prison administration is more likely to accept messages if written in Russian:

  Дорогой Алесь, мы с нетерпением ждем того дня, когда Вы будете освобождены. Мы продолжаем поддерживать Вас и бороться за Вашу свободу. Примите нашу поддержку

  Outreach

  PEN members are encouraged to:

  • Publish articles and opinion pieces in your national or local press highlighting the case of Ales Bialiatski and the state of freedom of expression in Belarus;

  • Share information about Ales Bialiatski and your campaigning activities via social media. Please use #AlesBialiatski and #FreeViasna.

  • Visit PEN International handles on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for retweets, likes, comments and sharing our posts for wider outreach.

  Please keep us informed of your activities.

• Note to editors:

  For further information, please contact Aurélia Dondo, PEN International Head of Europe and Central Asia Programme, Aurelia.dondo@pen-international.org and Sabrina Tucci, PEN International Communications and Campaigns Manager, Sabrina.Tucci@pen-international.org 

  Twitter: @pen_int | Facebook: www.facebook.com/peninternational | www.pen-international.org

15 November: José Rubén Zamora Marroquín (Guatemala), Narges Mohammadi (Iran), Server Mustafayev (Ukraine), and Tsitsi Dangarembga (Zimbabwe) are the faces and voices of the Day of the Imprisoned Writer 2022, PEN International’s annual campaign on behalf of writers who are imprisoned or facing persecution. These four cases are emblematic of the type of threats and attacks writers and journalists around the world are often subjected to, for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression.

Read in Arabic

Orhan Pamuk once said: “When another writer in another house is not free, no writer is free’’. This is why since 1981, with the Day of the Imprisoned Writer, we have been advocating on behalf of writers who are fierce defenders of free speech and for this, pay the ultimate price. Today, we promote campaigns and spur action for 4 incredible minds whose work has changed the life of many across the world. Let’s set them free. – Ma Thida, Chair of PEN International’s Writers in Prison Committee.

From 15th to 30th November 2022, the entire PEN movement will call for urgent international action to release and protect José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, Narges Mohammadi, Server Mustafayev, and Tsitsi Dangarembga and ensure that they and their families feel solidarity and support.

PEN Centres, members and supporters worldwide will advocate for these writers, with activities ranging from letters to governments and social media storms, to demonstrations, press conferences and panel discussions. Acclaimed writers will send solidarity letters to their colleagues in prison or under threat.

Please take action with us on the following days:

• Narges Mohammadi - Tuesday 15th and 22nd November

• Tsitsi Dangarembga – Wednesday 16th and 23rd November

• Server Mustafayev – Thursday 17th and 24th November

• José Rubén Zamora Marroquín – Friday 18th and 25th November

This year's solidarity letters in support of our imprisoned writers are:

• Siri Hustvedt and Ahdaf Souief write to Narges Mohammadi

• Anne Applebaum, Margaret MacMillan, and Peter Pomerantsev write to Server Mustafayev

Visit PEN International handles on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for retweets, likes, comments and sharing our posts for wider outreach.

Take action today.

• Take Action for Narges Mohammadi (Iran)

  READ IN FARSI

  Name: Narges Mohammadi

  Occupation: Writer, human rights defender

  Situation: Imprisoned

  #NargesMohammadi #ImprisonedWriter

  BACKGROUND

  Narges Mohammadi is an Iranian writer, journalist, human rights defender and Honorary Member of the Danish, Belgian, Norwegian and Swedish PEN centres. She is the former Vice-President and spokesperson of the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC), co-winner of the 2013 Oxfam Novib / PEN Award and winner of the 2011 Per Anger Prize and the 2009 Alexander Langer Award.

  Mohammadi was arrested and arbitrarily imprisoned on several occasions over the past years. She was imprisoned at Evin Prison in May 2015, and in 2016 sentenced to 16 years imprisonment on several counts, including for “taking part in assembly and collusion against national security” and “spreading propaganda against the state”, in relation to her activities at the DHRC.

  In February 2020, she was served with further charges including “spreading propaganda against the system” and “assembly and collusion with intent to take action against national security”. The charges stemmed from her role in staging sit-ins, conducting educational classes and “defaming” the governor of Evin prison by accusing him of torturing and assaulting her.

  In May 2021, she was handed a new sentence of 30 months in prison and 80 lashes, a few months following her release in October 2020 after serving five and a half years in prison. In November the same year, she was arrested while attending a memorial service for killed protestor Ebrahim Ketabdars in the city of Karaj. Mohammadi spent over two months in solitary confinement, about which she wrote intensively, explaining its toll on prisoners of conscience in Iran and labelling it “white torture.”

  According to her family, Iranian authorities brought further charges against her in January 2022, including “assembly and collusion to act against national security” and “acting against national security and disrupting public order.” Following a summary trial in the absence of a legal counsel, Mohammadi was sentenced to an additional eight years and two months in prison, and 74 lashes. The sentence also imposes further punishments, including internal exile and a ban on giving statements to the media, using social media platforms, or participating in political groups.

  Mohammadi was released on medical furlough following heart surgery in February 2022. However, on April 2022, she was arrested by Iranian intelligence officers at her home as the authorities decided to end her medical furlough and ordered her back to jail. Her family reported that she was ill-treated and insulted by the officers while being arrested.

  In October 2022, PEN International learned that Mohammadi was sentenced to another 15 months in prison, followed by a two-year ban on travel and on joining political movements or parties, and three months of community service. The sentence was handed in absentia by Branch 26 of the Revolutionary Court following a summary trial. In addition, prison authorities issued a two-month ban on phone calls with her family in Iran as a punishment for her leading role in organising protests in prison in solidarity with the protest movement that swept the country following the death of Mahsa Amini.

  According to her family, Mohammadi is now facing a total of 10 years imprisonment, 150 lashes, and a 12 million Iranian Rial fine (approximately £250) in addition to the restrictions imposed in October this year.

  Mohammadi suffers from a neurological disorder that can result in seizures, temporary partial paralysis, and a pulmonary embolism for which she is said to be denied essential medication that could prevent further blood clots from forming. In May 2019, she underwent an emergency hysterectomy, after which she was returned to Evin Prison. In June 2019, PEN received reports that Mohammadi was being denied adequate medical care and antibiotics to treat a subsequent infection resulting from the surgery. PEN also received reports that she was denied necessary medications in June 2022.

  Mohammadi has written for various reformist journals, among these Payam-e Hajar, which was later banned for its articles promoting the rights of all Iranians, regardless of gender, religion or political affiliation. In her latest book, White Torture, she documented the imprisonment of thirteen women, including Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, and their shared experiences: harassment and beatings by guards, total blindfolding and denial of medical treatment. The book also sheds light on the prolonged use of solitary confinement against prisoners of conscience in Iran.

  Following the restrictions imposed in October this year, Mohammadi is not allowed to call her husband, prominent journalist Taghi Rahmani, who spent 17 years in prison and then fled Iran for France in May 2011, or her children, who live in exile with their father.

  “I have faith in the path I have chosen, the actions I have taken, as well as my beliefs. I am determined to make human rights a reality [in Iran] and have no regrets. If those who claim to be spreading justice are firm on their judgment against me, I am also firm on my faith and beliefs. I will not waiver under tyrannical punishments that will limit my freedom to the four walls of the prison cell. I will endure this incarceration, but I will never accept it as lawful, human or moral, and I will always speak out against this injustice”. Narges Mohammadi, as quoted in Prominent Rights Activist Narges Mohammadi Rejects Prison Sentence in Stinging Open Letter, October 14, 2016.

  TAKE ACTION

  PEN International considers Narges Mohammadi’s imprisonment a breach of her right to freedom of expression and calls for her immediate and unconditional release.

  PEN International also calls on the Iranian authorities to ensure Mohammadi’s physical and mental well-being, to grant her full access to all necessary medical care as a matter of urgency, and not subject her to any form of physical or psychological suffering, torture or ill-treatment, including flogging, pending her release.

  This is what you can do:

  Advocacy

  Write to the Iranian authorities, based on the above calls.

  Appeals can be sent to:

  Leader of the Islamic Republic Grand Ayatollah Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei The Office of the Supreme Leader Islamic Republic Street End of Shahid Keshvar Doust Street, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran Email: http://www.leader.ir/langs/en/... Twitter: @khamenei_ir (English-language account), @Khamenei_ar (Arabic-language), @Khamenei_es (Spanish-language account).

  Head of the Judiciary

  Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje c/o Public Relations Office Number 4, Deadend of 1 Azizi – Vali Asr Street Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

  President of the Islamic Republic of Iran

  Ebrahim Raisi, Pasteur Street Pasteur Square Tehran, Islamic Republic of

  Phone number: +98(21)64451 Twitter: @raisi_com

  Please copy to the Embassy of Iran in your country. You can find embassy addresses here.

  Please inform PEN International of any action you take and of any responses you receive.

  Social media

  Raise awareness about Mohammadi’s case on social media, using the sample messages below and the hashtags #NargesMohammadi #ImprisonedWriter

  Facebook

  I join @peninternational’s urgent call for the immediate release of #NargesMohammadi, Iranian writer, journalist and human rights defender, who currently faces 10 years imprisonment and is at risk of flogging in #Iran. Will you join our call? Take action now: https://pen-international.org/... #ImprisonedWriter

  Twitter

  I join @pen_int's urgent call for the immediate release of #ImprisonedWriter, journalist and human rights defender #NargesMohammadi, who currently faces 10 years imprisonment and is at risk of flogging in #Iran. Will you join our call? Take action now: https://pen-international.org/...

  Solidarity

  Please send letters of solidarity and support to Mohammadi, in a language of your choice, using the form here.

  Please consider electing Mohammadi as an honorary member of your Centre.

  Outreach

  We also encourage you to highlight Mohammadi’s case by:

  Publishing articles and opinion pieces in your national or local press.

  Organising public events, press conferences and demonstrations.

  Please keep us informed of your activities. Messages can be sent to Mina Thabet, MENA Regional Coordinator, at Mina.Thabet@pen-international.org.

• Take Action for Tsitsi Dangarembga (Zimbabwe)

  Name: Tsitsi Dangarembga

  Occupation: Writer, filmmaker, playwright, activist.

  Situation: Persecuted, convicted

  #TsitsiDangarembga #ImprisonedWriter

  BACKGROUND

  Tsitsi Dangarembga is an award-winning Zimbabwean novelist, filmmaker, playwright, activist, and founding member of PEN Zimbabwe.

  Dangarembga was arrested with her friend Julie Barnes on 31 July 2020 by members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police with neither warrant nor explanation, while peacefully protesting government corruption on a deserted street in Harare. She was detained overnight and then charged in court the following day with inciting public violence.

  Dangarembga was released on bail of ZW 5,000 on 1 August 2020 and ordered to attend court on 18 September 2020. She was ordered to surrender her passport to the authorities and to report to a police station every week until her next appearance in court. She petitioned for a return of her passport and also challenged attempts by the state to prosecute her in the dreaded Anti-Corruption Court, although the charge under which she was arrested had nothing to do with corruption. Dangarembga successfully obtained her passport, however her trial proceeded.

  On 29 September 2022, Dangarembga and her co-defendant were sentenced by a Zimbabwe Magistrates Court in the capital, Harare, to 6 months imprisonment, wholly suspended for 5 years on condition that they do not commit a similar offence. In addition, they were fined around 38,640 ZWL or 3 months imprisonment in default. They paid the fine and on 13 October, they filed a notice of appeal against the conviction and sentence at the High Court of Zimbabwe.

  Their conviction follows a long-running period of legal and judicial persecution that the two have endured since July 2020. PEN International condemns the conviction, yet another sad illustration of the lengths the Zimbabwean authorities are determined to go to punish critics of government conduct. Misuse of the administration of justice systems in attempts to supress free speech violates Zimbabwe’s Constitution and international human rights obligations.

  Dangarembga’s arrest and prosecution are part of a coordinated crackdown by the Zimbabwe authorities on those speaking out against alleged cases of high-level corruption in which government and state officials are suspected of culpability. PEN International has been calling for the immediate dropping of all charges against her since August 2020. She was notably featured in PEN International’s 2021 Case List.

  Dangarembga won the PEN Award for Freedom of Expression 2021, and the PEN Pinter Prize 2021. Her novel, This Mournable Body was shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize. She is also the author of Nervous Conditions, which she wrote at the age of twenty-five and for which she was awarded the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. Nervous Conditions was praised by Doris Lessing as one of the most important novels of the twentieth century. She is the founder of the production house Nyerai Films and the International Images Film Festival for Women, as well as the Institute of Creative Arts for Progress in Africa where she works as director.

  A statement by Tsitsi Dangarembga and Julie Barnes, following their conviction on September 2022 can be found here.

  “Can you cook books and feed them to your husband? Stay at home with your mother. Learn to cook and clean. Grow vegetables.” ― Tsitsi Dangarembga, Nervous Conditions, 1988

  TAKE ACTION

  PEN International consider Tsitsi Dangarembga’s imprisonment to be a breach of her right to freedom of expression and calls for all charges against her to be dropped, and an end to the campaign of harassment against her. We also call on the Zimbabwe authorities to uphold their national and international human rights obligations and to desist from all acts of persecution against dissenting voices such as Dangarembga. This is what you can do:

  Advocacy

  Write to the Zimbabwean authorities calling on them to drop all charges against Dangarembga and end the campaign of harassment against her.

  Appeals can be sent to:

  Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, President of The Republic of Zimbabwe

  Email: info@opc.gov.zw, Tel: +263 24 270 7091/7, Twitter: @edmnangagwa

  Ziyambi Ziyambi, Minister of Justice, Legal and Constitutional Affairs

  Email: justice@justice.gov.zw, Tel: +263 24 774 620/7, Twitter: @ZiyambiZ

  Paul Themba Nyati, Zimbabwe Republic Police Spokesperson & Assistant Commissioner

  Tel: +263 716 800 107, Twitter: @PoliceZimbabwe

  Please consult your country’s diplomatic service for updated info and contact details for diplomatic missions or administrative divisions responsible for Zimbabwe.

  Please inform PEN International of any action you take and of any responses you receive.

  Social media

  Raise awareness about Dangarembga’s case on social media, using the sample messages below and the hashtags #TsitsiDangarembga #ImprisonedWriter:

  Facebook

  I support @peninternational 's Day of the Imprisoned Writer campaign and stand in solidarity with Zimbabwean writer #TsitsiDangarembga who was recently handed a suspended sentence of 6 months imprisonment, for peacefully exercising her right to free speech while protesting government corruption in Harare in 2020. Will you join us? Your voice matters: https://pen-international.org/campaigns/day-of-the-imprisoned-writer-2022 #ImprisonedWriter

  Twitter

  I support @pen_int's Day of the #ImprisonedWriter campaign and Zimbabwean writer #TsitsiDangarembga who was recently convicted for peacefully exercising her right to free speech while protesting government corruption in 2020. Will you join us? https://pen-international.org/... #ImprisonedWriter

  Solidarity

  Please send letters of solidarity and support to Dangarembga here.

  Please consider electing Dangarembga as an honorary member of your Centre.

  Outreach

  We also encourage you to highlight Dangarembga’s case by:

  Publishing articles and opinion pieces in your national or local press.

  Organising public events, press conferences and demonstrations.

  Please keep us informed of your activities. Messages can be sent to Nduko o’Matigere, Africa Regional Coordinator for PEN International: nduko.omatigere@pen-international.org.

• Take Action for Server Mustafayev (Crimea)

  Name: Server Mustafayev

  Occupation: Citizen journalist, human rights defender

  Situation: Imprisoned

  #ServerMustafayev #ImprisonedWriter

  BACKGROUND

  Server Mustafayev is a Crimean Tatar citizen journalist and human rights defender, founder and coordinator of the grassroots, human rights movement Crimean Solidarity in Russian-occupied Crimea.

  On 21 May 2018, Federal Security Services (FSB) officers raided Mustafayev’s house in Bakhchisaray, southern Crimea, before taking him to the FSB headquarters in Simferopol, the capital of the peninsula. He was placed in pre-trial detention the following day and charged with ‘membership of a terrorist organisation’ under Article 205.5 part 2 of the Russian Criminal Code over his alleged links to Hizb ut-Tahrir, an organisation banned in the Russian Federation but legal in Ukraine.

  On 22 February 2019, Mustafayev was further charged with ‘conspiring to seize power by violent means under Article 278 of the Russian Criminal Code. He was transferred from Crimea to the Russian Federation on 12 September 2019; his trial opened in the Southwestern city of Rostov-on-Don shortly afterwards. Mustafayev fell ill several times during his trial yet was denied adequate medical care and made to appear in Court. On 16 September 2020, the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced him to fourteen years in a strict regime penal colony on trumped-up charges. Seven other men, all members of Crimean Solidarity, also received lengthy prison sentences as part of the case. The Military Court of Appeal in Vlasikha, Moscow, upheld Mustafayev’s sentence in March 2022. He is not expected to be released prior to September 2034.

  Born on 5 May 1986, Sever Mustafayev is married and has four children. He is being held in Tambov, Siberia, far away from his home and family in Crimea. PEN International denounces serious flaws in judicial proceedings against him, including his lengthy pre-trial detention and the fact that he is being held in the Russian Federation. Under international law, Crimea constitutes occupied territory and as the occupying power, the Russian Federation is obliged not to transfer civilian prisoners out of it. Trying civilians in military courts also violates international human rights norms. In June 2018, the European Parliament urged the Russian authorities to release Mustafayev immediately, a call reiterated by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in November 2021.

  Before being transferred to the Russian Federation, Mustafayev wrote a moving letter, in which he expressed his determination to speak against the Russian occupation of Crimea, encouraged fellow journalists to write about human rights abuses in the peninsula, and notably thanked PEN Ukraine for their support.

  Mustafayev is amongst 15 Ukrainian citizen journalists and human rights activists who are currently being kept behind bars in the Russian Federation and in occupied Crimea on politically motivated ground. PEN International had repeatedly condemned sweeping restrictions to freedom of expression in occupied Crimea. Following the Russian Federation’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, the already limited civic space in the peninsula has shrunk even further, with scores of Crimean residents prosecuted merely for calling for peace, in flagrant violation of international law, which compels the Russian Federation to respect the penal laws of the occupied territory. ‘Russian standards’ are being imposed in local schools, with the teaching of Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar languages, history and literature being phased out. Crimean Tatars have also been disproportionally affected by draft notices and conscripted to serve in the Russian armed forces.

  In September 2022, the Assembly of Delegates of PEN International adopted a resolution condemning the Russian Federation’s full-fledged war on Ukraine and urging the Russian Federation to immediately end the war.

  ‘It’s easy to break a finger, impossible to shatter a fist. United, we are invincible.’

  Server Mustafayev

  TAKE ACTION

  PEN International believes that Server Mustafayev is being targeted for his human rights work and for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression, and calls for his immediate and unconditional release. This is what you can do:

  Advocacy

  Please reach out to your Ministry of Foreign Affairs and diplomatic contacts, calling on them to:

  Raise Server Mustafayev’s case in international fora, demanding his immediate and unconditional release and that, pending his release, he is provided with adequate health care;

  Publicly call for the release of all Crimean journalists and human rights activists held in the Russian Federation and occupied Crimea solely for the peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of expression, including Server Mustafayev, Osman Arifmemetov, Marlen (Suleyman) Asanov, Asan Akhtemov, Remzi Bekirov, Tymur Ibrahimov, Seyran Saliyev, Ruslan Suleymanov, Rustem Sheikhaliyev, Amet Suleymanov, Vilen Temeryanov, Oleksiy Bessarabov, Vladyslav Yesypenko, Nariman Dzhelyal, and Iryna Danilovych;

  Continue to urge the Russian Federation to end the war in Ukraine immediately and unconditionally.

  Social media

  Raise awareness of Mustafayev’s case on social media, using the sample messages below and the hashtags #FreeMustafayev #ImprisonedWriter

  Facebook

  Today, as I join PEN International’s Day of the Imprisoned Writer campaign, I call for the immediate and unconditional release of Crimean Tatar #ImprisonedWriter Server Mustafayev, who is being kept behind bars in the Russian Federation on politically motivated grounds. Join me in taking action: https://pen-international.org/... #ServerMustafayev

  Twitter

  Today, I join @pen_int in calling for the release of Crimean Tatar #ImprisonedWriter #ServerMustafayev, who is being kept behind bars in the Russian Federation on politically motivated grounds. Join me in taking action: https://pen-international.org/...

  Please share this graphic on social media to highlight Mustafayev’ case.

  Solidarity

  Messages of solidarity can be sent using the form here.

  Please note that all messages need to be written in Russian if they are to be accepted by the penitentiary authorities. If you do not speak Russian, please use the sample text below or write a different message in English, French or Spanish, and we will arrange translation:

  Dear Server, I wish you good health and strength and hope that you will soon be released. We are all thinking of you and stand with you in solidarity and respect.

  Дорогой Сервер, желаю Вам крепкого здоровья и сил, и надеюсь, что Вы скоро будете освобождены. Мы все думаем о Вас и поддерживаем в знак солидарности и уважения.

  Outreach

  We also encourage you to highlight the case of Mustafayev, the other imprisoned Crimean journalists, the state of freedom of expression in occupied Crimea, and the Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine by:

  Publishing articles and opinion pieces in your national or local press

  Organising public events, press conferences and demonstrations

  Promoting publications and activities by PEN Ukraine, including Dialogues On War, Words and Bullets, Here-And-Now: Stories of Journalists at War, and Solidarity Words. For more information, please see PEN Ukraine’s website.

  Please keep us informed of your activities. Messages can be sent to Aurélia Dondo, Europe Programme Coordinator: Aurelia.dondo@pen-international.org.

• Take action for José Rubén Zamora Marroquín (Guatemala)

  Name: José Rubén Zamora Marroquín

  Occupation: Journalist

  Situation: Imprisoned

  #JoséRubénZamora #ImprisonedWriter

  BACKGROUND

  José Rubén Zamora Marroquín is a renowned Guatemalan journalist and founder of three of the most read newspapers in Guatemala and Central America: Siglo Veintiuno, Nuestro Diario and elPeriódico. One of the most outspoken critics of the Guatemalan government led by President Alejandro Giammattei, together with his colleagues at elPeriódico, Zamora has focused on investigating and exposing corruption in public administration and the private sector.

  On 29 July 2022, Zamora was arrested at his home and brought to jail by the National Civil Police. On the same day his bank accounts were frozen. On 30 July, the headquarters of elPeriódico were occupied by officers of the Public Prosecutor's Office and the National Civil Police, who isolated the newspaper's employees, preventing them from leaving the building. A few weeks later Flora Silva, the newspaper's financial director, was also taken into custody. Both were arrested by the Prosecutor's Office on trumped up charges of money laundering, blackmailing, influence peddling and conspiracy to launder money.

  Zamora’s arrest came five days after strong accusations of corruption against several present and past government officials were published in a Sunday edition of elPeriódico. However, repression and threats against the journalist have been going on for years. In 2003, his home was raided following the publication of the investigations Ríos Montt investigations, La Mafia y el Ejército, and some of his notes.

  In October 2021, Zamora accused President Giammatti and Consuelo Porras, Attorney General and Head of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, of fabricating a case against him in order to imprison and silence him. In September 2021, Porras was sanctioned by the United States on charges of obstruction of justice in Guatemala. Acts of corruption were also revealed in investigations by Zamora throughout various presidential administrations.

  International and regional human rights and civil society organizations such as the Association of Journalists of Guatemala (APG), have publicly condemned Zamora's detention as a clear attack on freedom of expression in Guatemala. Most recently in September 2022, Pedro Vaca Villarreal, the Inter America Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, in his statement R196/22 expressed concern about the lack of guarantees for the exercise of freedom of expression and freedom of the press in Guatemala, and called on the government to fully and effectively guarantee these rights.

  Zamora is the beneficiary of precautionary measures issued by the IACHR since 2003, upon recognition of the risks he faces in relation to his work as journalist.

  “It is time to pull our national politics out of the quicksand of corruption, impunity and drugs and transform it into a solid foundation; to build a decent, just, civilised country, where dreams, hopes and demands are answered and where we all fit, in a context of respect and plurality…As for me, I will spend my last day in jail, if necessary, as a political prisoner of Giammattei, Miguelito and the Pact of Corrupts, before I murder my conscience”.

  Rubén Zamora's speech for the Day of the Journalist in Nicaragua, 2019.

  TAKE ACTION

  The Guatemalan authorities must immediately and unconditionally release José Rubén Zamora Marroquín and end all criminal proceedings against him. This is what you can do:

  Advocacy

  Write to the Guatemalan authorities calling for José Rubén Zamora Marroquín’s immediate and unconditional release, and the cessation of all ongoing criminal proceedings against him.

  Appeals can be sent to:

  President of Guatemala

  Dr. Alejandro Giammattei

  Email: drgiammattei@gmail.com,

  Twitter: @DrGiammattei

  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.giammattei/?hl=es

  Vicepresident of Guatemala

  César Guillermo Castillo Reyes

  Twitter @GuilleCastilloR

  Email: uip@vicepresidencia.gob.gt

  Attorney General of Guatemala and Head of Public Prosecutor's Office

  Dra. María Consuelo Porras Argueta

  Email: infoyprensa@mp.gob.gt, info@mp.gob.gt

  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mpguatemala/?ref=page_internal

  Twitter: @MPguatemala

  Instagram: mpguatemala

  Minister of Foreign Affairs

  Mario Búcaro Flores

  Email: mbucaro@minex.gob.gt

  Twitter: @MarioBucaroGT

  Joaquín Rodrigo Flores Guzmán

  Director of the Guatemalan Penitentiary System

  Twitter: @Dgspg

  Please send an email expressing your concern to the Guatemalan Embassies in your country.

  Please inform PEN International of any action you take and any feedback you receive.

  Social media

  Raise awareness of Zamora's case on social media, using the sample messages below and the hashtags #JoséRubénZamora #ImprisonedWriter

  Facebook

  Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora has been unjustly imprisoned since July 2022, in relation to his investigations into corruption within the Guatemalan government. Today I join PEN International in calling for his immediate and unconditional release. Please take action with us, together we are stronger #JoséRubénZamora #ImprisonedWriter [insert link].

  I support PEN International's Day of the Imprisoned Writer campaign and stand in solidarity with Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora. Will you call for his release? Your voice matters #JoséRubénZamora #ImprisonedWriter [insert link].

  Twitter

  Guatemalan journalist #JoséRubénZamora is unjustly detained for his investigations into corruption within the Guatemalan government. With @pen_int, I call for his release. Please take action with us, together we are stronger. RT #ImprisonedWriter @ChepeZamora [insert link].

  I support PEN International's Day of the Imprisoned Writer campaign and stand in solidarity with Guatemalan journalist #JoséRubénZamora. Will you call for his release? Your voice matters #ImprisonedWriter @ChepeZamora [insert link].

  Please share this graphic on social media to highlight the case of José Rubén Zamora Marroquín.

  Solidarity

  Please send messages in solidarity to Zamora using the form here.

  Please consider electing him as an honorary member of your Center.

  Outreach

  We also encourage you to highlight Zamora’s case and the state of freedom of expression in Guatemala by:

  • Publishing articles and opinion pieces in your national or local press.

  • Organising public events, press conferences and demonstrations.

  • Promote his writings.

  Please keep us informed of your activities. Messages can be sent to Alicia Quiñones, PEN International Americas Program Coordinator, at alicia.quinones@pen-international.org.

The crisis in Belarus that broke out in 2020 shows no signs of abating, as the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly remain under sustained onslaught. Scores of journalists have been arbitrarily detained, beaten, sentenced to prison or hefty fines for their independent work – 29 media workers remain behind bars, others have had their accreditation revoked. Hundreds of websites, including that of PEN Belarus, have been blocked for their critical reporting. Amendments to the Mass Media Law and to the Law on Mass Gatherings, signed into law in May 2021, make it virtually impossible to report on public protests. Independent civil society organisations have been ‘purged’, with over 270 organisations arbitrarily dissolved by the end of 2021, including PEN Belarus. According to the Human Rights Centre Viasna, over 1200 people were detained on politically motivated grounds as of June 2022. Several individuals, including opposition leaders, have been given prison sentences of 10 years or more. Anti-extremist legislation is being increasingly used to crush dissent. The ongoing crackdown on peaceful protests intensified after the Russian Federation launched a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, with over a thousand people reportedly detained for expressing their anti-war views.

‘Today, the PEN Community reiterate its solidarity with the brave people of Belarus, who continue to fight for their human rights despite the authorities’ relentless campaign to crush all dissent. The brutality of the Lukašenka regime knows no limit, and its brazen support for the Russian Federation in its war against Ukraine puts independent voices at further risk. We urge the Belarusian authorities to end their crackdown on freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly. All those held for peacefully expressing their views must be immediately and unconditionally released. The harassment and criminal prosecution of independent media and civil society must stop at once’, said Ma Thida, Chair of PEN International’s Writers in Prison Committee.

• The judiciary as an instrument of repression

  In a damning report published in March 2022, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights denounced a situation of complete impunity in Belarus, stressing that ‘systemic flaws in the rule of law facilitate the use of the judiciary as an instrument of repression and a means to avoid accountability for violations’. Today notably marks one year since the Supreme Court of Belarus ruled to dissolve PEN Belarus. The Court’s ruling, published for the first time today, demonstrates how the judicial system is being systematically abused by the Belarusian authorities to crack down on dissent.

  The Ministry of Justice of Belarus claimed that PEN Belarus received foreign donations and failed to register them, that it misused funds, and that materials on its website were ‘political and (or) agitation’ – allegations that PEN Belarus proved to be completely unfounded. As stressed in its statement:

  ‘PEN Belarus was liquidated in Belarus on 9 August 2021, the anniversary of the presidential elections, by the decision of the Supreme Court. In 2020-2022 we survived inspections by the Ministry of Justice, searches, liquidation, blocking of our website, relocation of the decision-making centre to Warsaw, but we have not stopped our activities for a single day.’

• Attacks against the cultural sphere

  Despite severe challenges, the Belarusian PEN Centre continues its ground-breaking work, including systematically monitoring cultural rights violations. A new report published in July 2022 documents 699 cultural and human rights violations against cultural figures between January and June 2022.

  Out of 38 cultural figures sentenced to prison or house arrest during the reporting period, 22 were prosecuted under Article 342 of the Criminal Code of Belarus for participating in peaceful protests, and 17 were prosecuted for ‘insulting’ or ‘slandering’ Lukašenka or other government officials, and ‘discrediting Belarus’.

  Repression against the Belarusian language and literature continues, with independent publishing houses raided for promoting books by Belarusian writers and in the Belarusian language, and their activities suspended under far-fetched pretences.

• Take action

  Today, the PEN Community stands once again in solidarity with writer and human rights defender Ales Bialiatski, who was arrested on 14 July 2021 and who remains in pre-trial detention in Minsk. Bialiatski is chairman of the Human Rights Center Viasna, a leading human rights organisation whose work and members have been repeatedly targeted by the Belarusian authorities. Bialiatski faces up to seven years in prison on trumped-up charges of tax evasion, under Article 243 (2) of the Criminal Code of Belarus. PEN International calls for his immediate and unconditional release. To take action, and send him solidarity messages, please click here.

  The PEN Community further stands in solidarity with philosopher Uladzimir Mackievič, who was sentenced to five years in prison on spurious grounds in June 2022. His trial took place in Minsk behind closed doors. Mackievič said he would not appeal against his sentencing, as he no longer believes in the independence of justice system in Belarus. PEN International continues to call for his immediate and unconditional release. Messages of solidarity can be sent to:

  Uladzimir Mackievič

  Pre-trial detention center No. 1. 220030

  Minsk, vulica Valadarskaha 2

  Belarus

  For more information about the situation for free expression in Belarus and PEN’s work in the country click here.

  Work and publications by PEN Belarus– including weekly newsletters – are available here.

  For further details contact Aurélia Dondo at PEN International, Koops Mill, 162-164 Abbey Street, London, SE1 2AN, UK Tel: +44 (0) 20 7405 0338 Fax +44 (0) 20 7405 0339 e-mail: Aurelia.dondo@pen-international.org