The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), 21 February 2012:

Los hechos denunciados de la Comisión podrían constituir daños irreparables al derecho de libertad de expresión de los señores Emilio Palacio, Carlos Nicolás Pérez Lapentti, Carlos Pérez Barriga and César Pérez Barriga. En consecuencia, la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos solicita al Gobierno de Vuestra Excelencia que suspenda de inmediato los efectos de la sentencia del 15 de febrero de 2012, a fin de garantizar el derecho a la libertad de expresión.

(The facts reported to the Commission could constitute irreparable damage to Emilio Palacio’s, Carlos Nicolás Pérez Lapentti’s, Carlos Pérez Barriga’s and César Pérez Barriga’s right to free expression. Therefore, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights calls on Your Excellency’s government to immediately suspend the execution of the sentencing of 15 February 2012, with the object of guaranteeing freedom of expression.)

The Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) of PEN International welcomes the Inter American Commission on Human Rights’ (IACHR) recent intervention in the criminal libel case against the Ecuadoran daily newspaper, El Universo. On 21 February 2012, the Commission ordered the Ecuadoran government to suspend the enforcement of the sentences handed down to the directors and former editor of the newspaper, pending a hearing between both parties. The hearing is scheduled for 28 March 2012 in Washington, DC.

On 20 July 2011, former editor of the newspaper Emilio Palacio and directors Carlos Nicolás Pérez Lapentti, Carlos Pérez Barriga, and César Pérez Barriga were sentenced to three years each in prison for publishing an article that President Correa said offended his honour. The ruling also awarded Correa $40 million in compensation. This decision, which represented a crushing blow to freedom of expression in Ecuador, was upheld by the Supreme Court on 16 February 2012.

On 16 February 2012 the WiPC of PEN International called on Ecuador to desist from executing sentencing pending a hearing before the IACHR.

On 8 February 2012, PEN International issued a statement on the worrying state of free expression in Ecuador, calling for the withdrawal of the case against El Universo and the decriminalizing of libel.

Please write:

Protesting the three-year prison sentences and US$40 million in fines imposed on El Universo columnist Emilio Palacio and the newspaper’s directors Carlos Eduardo Pérez Barriga, César Enrique Pérez Barriga, Carlos Nicolás Pérez Lapentti on 20 July 2011, and upheld on 16 February 2012 for allegedly libeling President Rafael Correa;
Welcoming the Inter American Commission on Human Rights’ order that Ecuador desists from executing the sentences, pending a hearing between both parties;
Calling on Ecuador to act in accordance with the IACHR’s decision;
Urging the President and government to decriminalize defamation and all other press offences in line with article 13 of the American Convention on Human Rights and the jurisprudence of the Inter American Court of Human Rights.

Send to:
President
Presidente Rafael Correa
Palacio de Carondelet, García Moreno No. 10-43, entre Chile y Espejo, Quito, Ecuador
Email: presidencia@presidencia.gob.ec, Rafael.correa@presidencia.gob.ec
Fax: +593 2 258 0714
Messages may also be sent through the Presidency’s official website: http://www.presidencia.gov.ec/index.php?option=com_contact&view=contact&id=2&Itemid=115
Salutation: Dear Mr President/ Sr. Presidente

Justice and Human Rights Minister
Johana Pesántez Benítez
Ministra de Justicia y Derechos Humanos
Av. Amazonas No. 34-451 y Atahualpa, Quito, Ecuador
Fax: +593 2 292 3804/ +593 2 246 4914
Email: info@minjusticia-ddhh.gov.ec
Salutation: Dear Minister/Sr. Ministro

And/ or via diplomatic representatives of Ecuador in your country (see http://www.embajada-online.com/embajadas-de-Ecuador-en-otros-paises-P53.htm).

***Please send appeals immediately. Check with PEN International if sending appeals after 28 March 2012***

For further details please contact Cathal Sheerin at the Writers in Prison Committee London Office: PEN International, Brownlow House, 50-51 High Holborn, London WC1V 6ER Tel: +44 (0) 207 405 0338 Fax +44 (0) 207 405 0339 email: cathal.sheerin@pen-international.org

Today marks International Mother Language Day, a day which recognizes the importance of linguistic and cultural diversity and promotes the protection of languages. Celebrated since 2000, the theme of the day this year is ‘Mother tongue instruction and inclusive education.’

The reasons for the International Mother Language Day are clear. Language plays a vital role in relation to identity, communication, social integration, education and development. It is estimated that, without measures to protect and promote minority and endangered languages, half of the 6000 plus languages spoken today will disappear by the end of this century, with 96 percent of these languages spoken by a mere 4 percent of the world’s population. 29 percent of the world’s languages are in danger, with a further 10 percent vulnerable, according to UNESCO. This year’s theme refers to the importance of language in accessing quality education and encourages UNESCO member states to promote instruction and education in the mother tongue.

International Mother Language Day originated to recognize the language movement day in Bangladesh, which has been commemorated in Bangladesh since 1952 to remember students’ struggle for the right to use their mother language. The day was declared by the General Conference of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on November 1999.

PEN International has been at the forefront of the campaign to ensure the protection and promotion of linguistic diversity. The Girona Manifesto, a tool to aid the dissemination and implementation of the Universal Declaration on Linguistic Rights (UDLR), was developed by PEN International’s Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee in May 2011, fifteen years after leading a coalition of civil-society and international organisations (including UNESCO) developed the UDLR at the 1996 World Conference on Linguistic Rights in Barcelona.

For more information see the UNESCO International Mother Language Day page here.

See the UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in danger here.

To read more about the Girona Manifesto and to read the document in over 30 languages click here or visit the ‘In Focus’ section on the Girona Manifesto (left). We encourage PEN Centres to translate the Manifesto into their own language(s) – please contact Ruth at penoffice@pen-international.org for more information.

Dear PEN Members, Dear friends,

By now many of you will have read about our PEN International mission to Mexico. There is a great deal on the website. Please have a look.

This mission was important for two reasons. First, the situation in Mexico is getting worse, with over eighty writers killed already. Newspapers and broadcaster offices are being bombed. In several states freedom of expression has effectively been shut down. Writers know the consequences of speaking up in many circumstances. And this cannot help but have a chilling effect on the ability of publishers to publish what they wish.

Second, we took a new approach to the mission itself. The idea is to develop a flexible model that can be adjusted and applied to future missions – Turkey and China, to take just two possibilities. We were a large delegation: fourteen , including the three Mexico PEC participants. The organizational strategy was to include the full international executive – probably a first; and all seven of the North American PEN Centres – again probably a first. We had hoped to have some Latin American centres, but that didn’t work out. In any case, the approach was both international and regional. With the chair of WiPC, as well as Japan PEN and English PEN added to the group, plus a legal expert, it was a very strong delegation. We had a legal expert – again a new initiative – because we have been working on Mexico with a leading law school (the University of Toronto). We developed a very succinct policy position, easy to distribute and communicate. (Read the paper here).

We also took an approach which reflects the reality of PEN. That is, we made full use of our expertise and put forward a clear program for change. But we equally spoke and acted from the full reality of PEN. We are writers – writers of every sort and publishers and lovers of the word. We are people of the word. Our greatest strength lies in our ability to use those words and to do so publicly. We are thousands of writers around the world with an uncountable public. We can go to meetings with ministers and officials and argue our case for free expression very effectively. We do this and must continue to do it. But our weight, our force, our influence, comes from our voice and our readers and listeners and viewers. As the Delegation began its work on the ground, we published a full page ad in Mexico City – a letter to Mexican writers from writers around the world. It is on the website and we want all of you to add your names. Meanwhile, several members of the delegation have already written publicly about what they saw and heard and what they sense can be done. I am attaching them. More are coming. Please write your own articles or republish those already written; place them where you can, including on your website.

Finally, PEN Mexico, led by Jennifer Clement, organized a remarkable public event in which fifty-two writers spoke – Mexicans and the Delegation, famous novelists, leading columnists and small town journalists at risk. Each person spoke for one minute. It was beautiful, disturbing, moving. There was a large audience and every form off coverage. The message passed to the broad public and to the officials. It was a moment when our existence as a great literary organization and a freedom of expression leader produced a perfectly integrated voice

The outcome is that we have succeeded in putting the issue of writer/journalist safety on the public agenda. Now we have to help keep it there. But we also helped to push the public policy agenda in the right direction. Again, we must now be persistent, all of us, in supporting our friends in Mexico and the other organizations that work in this area.

*********

By the time you read this I’ll be in Korea with Gil-won Lee and our Centre there. Hori Takeaki is also coming, as are Markéta Hejkalová and Laura McVeigh. We’ll be talking about the upcoming congress. After that I will go on to Addis Ababa for the first national meeting of Ethiopian PEN, and then to Djibouti with both Afar and Somali speaking PEN Centres.

I can’t help but add that we seem to be entering into an unpredictable period. You will see from the website that there is a developing situation in India which raises serious questions about the legal system and the political will; there are new difficulties in Saudi Arabia; all of this adding to the already long list of threats to free expression and, yes, to the full expression of literature.

Please do follow up on the Mexico situation.

And do translate the Girona Manifesto into your language so that we can all make use of it.

Best to all of you,

John Ralston Saul

Read Renu Mandhane’s article from the University of Toronto’s website here.

Read past letters from John Ralston Saul here

The Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) of PEN International is deeply disappointed that the Ecuadoran Supreme Court decided, during the early hours of 16 February 2012, to uphold the draconian criminal libel sentences handed down to the publishers and former editor of the daily newspaper El Universo. The publishers, Carlos Eduardo Pérez Barriga, César Enrique Pérez Barriga, Carlos Nicolás Pérez Enrique, and the former editor, Emilio Palacio, each face three years in prison; a total of US$40million in damages will have to be paid in compensation to President Rafael Correa for offences to his honour. There are no further options for appeal within Ecuador.

In 2011, President Correa brought a criminal complaint against El Universo over an article that made a number of serious accusations against him. The president demanded jail sentences and large fines for those responsible. Despite the newspaper’s offer to publish a correction, on 20 July 2011 three-year prison sentences and US$40 million in fines were handed down to Emilio Palacio, (the writer of the article), and to each of the newspaper publishers. All the convicted appealed, but the decision was upheld by the Supreme Court on 16 February 2012.

The WiPC has grave concerns about the legal process that has led to the recent decision. On the same day that the Supreme Court upheld the ruling of 20 July 2011, a lower court judge responsible for this original ruling released an affidavit saying that the decision had been written for her in advance by President Correa’s lawyer. This judge also alleges that another judge was offered $750,000 to rule in President Correa’s favour.

This latest development is a crushing blow to those who wish to write and speak freely in Ecuador. On 8 February 2012, PEN International issued a statement expressing grave concern about the state of free expression in Ecuador and calling for an end to the use of antiquated criminal libel law to silence critical voices.

The Supreme Court’s decision comes a week after two Ecuadoran journalists, Juan Carlos Calderón and Christian Zurita, were ordered to pay President Correa US$2 million in moral damages due to the content of their book El Gran Hermano (Big Brother). The book alleged that US$600 million in government contracts had been awarded to businesses linked to President Correa’s older brother.

El Universo has said that it will continue to publish for as long as it can, and that it will seek international relief from The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). The paper has already presented its case to the IACHR and is seeking a ‘precautionary injunction’ that would order Ecuador to suspend execution of the sentences pending a full international review of the case by the commission and, later, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

Please send appeals:

Protesting the three-year prison sentences and US$40 million in fines imposed on El Universo columnist Emilio Palacio and the newspaper’s publishers Carlos Eduardo Pérez Barriga, César Enrique Pérez Barriga, Carlos Nicolás Pérez Enrique on 20 July 2011, and upheld on 16 February 2012 for allegedly libeling President Rafael Correa;
Calling on Ecuador to desist from executing the sentences pending a full international review of the case by the Inter American Commission on Human Rights;
Urging the President and government to decriminalize defamation and all other press offences in line with article 13 of the American Convention on Human Rights and the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

Appeals to:

President
Presidente Rafael Correa
Palacio de Carondelet, García Moreno No. 10-43, entre Chile y Espejo, Quito, Ecuador
Email: presidencia@presidencia.gob.ec, Rafael.correa@presidencia.gob.ec
Fax: +593 2 258 0714
Messages may also be sent through the Presidency’s official website: http://www.presidencia.gov.ec/index.php?option=com_contact&view=contact&id=2&Itemid=115
Salutation: Dear Mr President/ Sr. Presidente

Justice and Human Rights Minister
Johana Pesántez Benítez
Ministra de Justicia y Derechos Humanos
Av. Amazonas No. 34-451 y Atahualpa, Quito, Ecuador
Fax: +593 2 292 3804/ +593 2 246 4914
Email: info@minjusticia-ddhh.gov.ec
Salutation: Dear Minister/Sr. Ministro

And/ or via diplomatic representatives of Ecuador in your country (see http://www.embajada-online.com/embajadas-de-Ecuador-en-otros-paises-P53.htm).

***Please send appeals immediately. Check with International PEN if sending appeals after 30 March 2012***

For further details please contact Cathal Sheerin at the Writers in Prison Committee London Office: PEN International, Brownlow House, 50-51 High Holborn, London WC1V 6ER Tel: +44 (0) 207 405 0338 Fax +44 (0) 207 405 0339 email: cathal.sheerin@pen-international.org

Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world in which to be a writer. Since 2006, at least 45 journalists, writers and bloggers have been murdered or disappeared, most of them in the course of their work.

Since 2009 there has been an escalation in violence against writers, with women increasingly being targeted. Five of the nine Mexican writers killed in 2011 were women; their murders were particularly savage (see pdf).

On International Women’s Day, PEN International calls on PEN members to remember our fallen and missing female colleagues.

You can do this in two ways:

1. Arrange for obituaries to be placed in national or local press (please see pdf for very effective examples by Swiss German PEN and Swiss Italian and Reto-Romansh PEN).

2. Write to the Mexican authorities calling for an end to impunity and a thorough investigation into the killings and disappearances of these women and of all the murdered and disappeared Mexican writers (see pdf for addresses).

For a list of the women writers, examples of obituaries and addresses of the authorities to whom you should protest see MEXICO Women’s Day Eng

PEN will be campaigning on Mexico throughout 2012, building on the successes of both the PEN Protesta delegation in January 2012 and the Day of the Dead Campaign in November 2011.

Please let us know what you will be doing to commemorate the murdered and missing women writers of Mexico on International Women’s Day.

For further details please contact Cathal Sheerin at the Writers in Prison Committee London Office: PEN International, Brownlow House, 50-51 High Holborn, London WC1V 6ER Tel: +44 (0) 207 405 0338 Fax +44 (0) 207 405 0339 email: cathal.sheerin@pen-international.org

The Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) of PEN International protests the recent murders of two Brazilian journalists, Paulo Roberto Cardoso Rodrigues and Mario Randolpho Marques Lopes. Both men were killed in attacks that bore the hallmarks of contracted assassinations. In the last 2 years, seven print journalists have been killed in Brazil. The WiPC calls on the Brazilian authorities to investigate these murders as a matter of the utmost urgency, and to bring those responsible to justice.

Paulo Rocaro

Mario Randolpho Marques Lopes

Paulo Roberto Cardoso Rodrigues – better known as Paulo Rocaro – was shot to death in Ponta Porá on the night of 12 February 2012. He was the editor of the local daily Jornal Da Praça and the news website Mercosul News.

Rocaro had been driving home when he was attacked by two armed men riding a motorcycle. They fired at least five bullets into him.
Rocaro, 51, reported on politics. According to local reports, he had been critical of the local mayor and had publicly lent his support to a rival mayoral candidate. On the night he was killed, the journalist had been returning home after a meeting with the opposition candidate.

The killing took place near the Paraguayan border, a region of Brazil known for organized criminal activity and for political corruption. Police are reportedly investigating the crime as a possible contract killing, and are looking into political motives, among others.

In a separate incident, Mario Randolpho Marques Lopes, editor-in-chief of the news website Vassouras na Net was murdered alongside his girlfriend on 8-9 February 2012. The couple were abducted from his home in the city of Barra do Piraí in Rio de Janeiro state on 8 February. Both were found dead the following day; Randolpho had been shot in the head.

Randolpho, 50, wrote articles that frequently accused local officials of being corrupt; his most recent piece leveled charges of corruption at local judges and courts.

Randolpho had been the victim of violence previously. In July 2012, an unidentified gunman entered the Vassouras na Net newsroom and shot the journalist five times in the head. The attack left Randolpho in a coma for three days, but miraculously, he recovered.

For further information on previous PEN cases from Brazil please see:

Valério Nascimento (shot dead in May 2011);

Auro Ida (shot dead in July 2011).

Please send appeals:
Protesting the murders of Paulo Roberto Cardoso Rodrigues and Mario Randolpho Marques Lopes;
Noting that seven print journalists have been murdered in the space of two years;
Calling on the Brazilian authorities to carry out a full and impartial investigation into the killings as a matter of urgency, and to ensure that the culprits are brought to justice.

Appeals to:

Federal Minister of Justice
Exmo. Ministro
Sr. José Eduardo Cardozo
Ministério da Justiça
Esplanada dos Ministérios, Bloco “T”, 70712-902 – Brasília/DF Brasil
Fax: + 55 61 3322 6817/ 3224 3398
Electronic messages can be send via the Minister’s website
Salutation: Dear Minister

Federal Human Rights Secretary
Secretaria Especial de Direitos Humanos
Exmo. Secretário Especial
Sra. Maria do Rosário Nunes
Esplanada dos Ministérios, Bloco “T” – 4º andar, 70064-900 Brasília/DF – Brasil
Fax: + 55 61 3226 7980
Salutation: Dear Secretary

Please also send copies of your appeals to the Brazilian Embassy in your country. Details of some Brazilian embassies can be found here: http://www.worldembassyinformation.com/brazil-embassy/index.html

***Please send appeals immediately. Check with International PEN if sending appeals after 30 March 2012.***

For further details please contact Cathal Sheerin at the Writers in Prison Committee London Office: PEN International, Brownlow House, 50-51 High Holborn, London WC1V 6ER Tel: +44 (0) 207 405 0338 Fax +44 (0) 207 405 0339 email: cathal.sheerin@pen-international.org

Three years ago, Liu was taken from his Beijing home and arrested. He waited more than 12 months to receive a formal sentence – 11 years of imprisonment for “inciting subversion of state power.” After the announcement of Liu’s receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize last year, the Chinese authorities put his wife, Liu Xia, a poet and photographer, under strict house arrest. She vanished from the private and public sphere on October 18, 2010, and to this day no one can reach her, either through phone, cell or internet.

Liu Xiaobo was imprisoned three times before his last arrest in 2008. While serving his three years of “Reeducation through labor” between 1996 and 1999, he wrote many poems in prison, all dedicated to his wife Liu Xia. As a young man, Liu devoured books on western and Chinese philosophy and literature, and this experience is strongly reflected in his lyrical writing. From Confucius to Kant, from Sima Qian to Van Gogh or Jesus, for young Liu Xiaobo, knowledge had no borders. As a proliferate writer, his writing has influenced generations of young people in China since the 1980s. When his articles and books were banned and censored in mainland China, he began submitting his writings to overseas Chinese websites. His books have been published in Hong Kong, Taiwan and the USA. Liu’s explosive and lyrical style, marked by its razor sharp criticisms and pervasive irony, has cooled down in recent years and transformed into more thoughtful and objective prose. He changed his role from an agitated activist to an observer and analyst.

Mimicking the form of Czechoslovakia’s Charter 77, Liu Xiaobo and his Chinese colleagues selected a rational and peaceful way to express their concern for China’s future development through their own manifesto, Charter 08. Freedom, equality, justice and human rights are universal values, standard in a modern society, and not inconsistent with the official rhetoric of the Chinese government, which touts China’s rule of law. Both within the Chinese Constitution and within the international treaties the Chinese government has signed, there is a guarantee of the freedoms of expression, assembly and publication. Thus, the accusation that Liu was “inciting subversion of state power” is a joke and a slap to China’s own face.

In fact, the more than 800 articles authored by Liu in the past ten years indicate exactly the opposite. In his book, Civil Awakening, The Dawn of a Free China, published in 2005, Liu explained that the reform in China is bottom-up and not top-down; that is, it does not start with the government, but rather, the real momentum of reform is generated by civil society, among the people at the grassroots level. The constant confrontation between common citizens, peasants, workers and official forces has awakened the consciousness of the Chinese people, so that they now are aware of their basic rights. As Liu said: “The slow but progressive process of changes cannot be achieved through radical demands of the government to remodel the whole society. The present tendency is that the self-generated changes in the society will slowly push the regime to move toward change.”

Liu Xiaobo is not only a fighter for democracy and freedom of expression, but also a humble humanist. That’s why the Chinese regime cannot tolerate him, because he does not only demand reform and a democratic future for China, he also demands a re-examination of Chinese history and an end to China’s one party dictatorship. He truly touches on the root of the problem, which is why the CCP is afraid of him and prefers to keep this agitator behind bars.

The goal of the worldwide reading is to share Liu Xiaobo’s works with a broader readership, to remind the world that a humanist, a freedom fighter, an outstanding writer and Nobel Peace Prize winner is still in a Chinese prison and to express the protest against it.

The texts intended to be read on this worldwide reading are available in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. Institutions and persons who would like to participate in the reading are asked to inform us of their wish to be involved. The email address is: worldwidereading@literaturfestival.com

Read Charta 08 (pdf)

Read You Wait for Me with Dust in English (pdf)

Read You Wait for Me with Dust in Chinese (pdf)

See the International Literature Festival Berlin website

The Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) of PEN International condemns the seven-year prison sentence handed down to the writer Zhu Yufu on 10 February 2012 for his allegedly ‘subversive’ poem ‘Its Time’. The WiPC calls for his immediate and unconditional release, and that of all those currently detained in the People’s Republic of China for peacefully expressing their views.

The following information is given by The Guardian:

‘Zhu Yufu was jailed for “inciting subversion of state power” by a court in Hangzhou, eastern China, after a trial hearing on 31 January when prosecutors cited a poem and messages he had sent on the internet, his son Zhu Ang told Reuters…

The sentencing of Zhu followed the jailing of two other Chinese dissidents in December who received prison terms of 10 and nine years on subversion charges. Such charges are often used to punish ardent advocates of democratic change.’

Zhu Yufu, who is a member of the Independent Chinese PEN Centre (ICPC), spent seven years in prison for subversion after being convicted in 1999 for helping to found the banned opposition group, the China Democracy Party. In 2007, a year after his release, he was detained and sentenced to more than two years in prison after allegedly pushing a police officer while being arrested.

The poem at the heart of the indictment, “It’s Time” appears to have drawn the authorities’ attention for its timing around the Jasmine Revolution controversy.

The following is an English translation by A. E. Clark:

It’s time, people of China! It’s time.
The Square belongs to everyone.
With your own two feet
It’s time to head to the Square and make your choice.
It’s time, people of China! It’s time.
A song belongs to everyone.
From your own throat
It’s time to voice the song in your heart.
It’s time, people of China! It’s time.
China belongs to everyone.
Of your own will
It’s time to choose what China shall be.

Please send appeals:
Calling for the immediate and unconditional release of dissident poet Zhu Yufu, sentenced to seven years imprisonment by the P.R.China for the peaceful exercise of his right to free expression;

Expressing alarm at the crackdown on dissent in which writers, journalists and human rights defenders are amongst those to have been targeted;

Reminding the Chinese authorities of their obligations under Article 35 of the Chinese constitution and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which it is a state party;

Send appeals to:
His Excellency Hu Jintao
President of the People’s Republic of China
State Council
Beijing 100032
P.R. China

Please note that there are no fax numbers for the Chinese authorities. WiPC recommends that you copy your appeal to the Chinese embassy in your country asking them to forward it and welcoming any comments.

You may find it easier to write to the Chinese ambassador in your own country asking him or her to forward your appeal. Most embassies are obliged to forward such appeals to the relevant officials in the country. A letter or petition signed by an eminent member of your Centre may give make it more likely for your appeal to be considered. Similarly if your appeal is published in your local press and copied to the Chinese ambassador, this too may have greater impact.

See this useful link to find the contact details of the Chinese embassy in your country Chinese embassies abroad**Please contact the PEN WiPC office in London if sending appeals after 29 February 2012**

For further information please contact Cathy McCann at International PEN Writers in Prison Committee, Brownlow House, 50/51 High Holborn, London WC1V 6ER, Tel.+ 44 (0) 20 7405 0338, Fax: +44 (0) 20 7405 0339, email: cathy.mccann@pen-international.org

RAN 09/12

PEN International’s Writers in Prison Committee fears for the safety of writer Hamza Kashgari, who has been extradited to Saudi Arabia to face blasphemy charges. The writer fled to Malaysia on 7 February 2012 after he received death threats following statements he had posted on Twitter deemed to be insulting towards the Prophet Mohammed. Prominent clerics accused him of apostasy, which carries the death penalty in Saudi Arabia. PEN demands his immediate and unconditional release, in accordance with Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It also calls upon the Saudi authorities to provide him with immediate and effective protection.

According to PEN’s information, Kashgari, a 23-year-old writer from Jeddah, tweeted a series of messages addressed to the Prophet Mohammed on the anniversary of the Prophet’s birth on 4 February 2012, some of which conveyed questions about his faith. Twitter registered more than 30,000 responses to his tweets, many of which accused him of blasphemy and called for his death. On 5 February 2012 Nasser al-Omar, an influential cleric, called for Kashgari to be tried in a Sharia court for apostasy, which is punishable by death, and the Saudi King Abdullah called for his arrest, vowing to seek extradition if Kashgari left the country. On 6 February Kashgari issued an apology and deleted his feed, but to no avail. Someone posted his home address in a YouTube video, and people searched for him at his local mosque. On 7 February 2012, Kashgari fled to Malaysia. He was arrested two days later in Kuala Lumpur on 9 February as he was trying to continue his journey to New Zealand, where he planned to request asylum. He was deported to Saudi Arabia on 12 February 2012.

Kashgari is a poet and former columnist with the daily newspaper Al Bilad, and he is known for his reformist views. On 7 February 2012 Al-Bilad issued statement saying that they had fired Kashgari five weeks earlier “because of the inadequacy of his general views for the approach of the newspaper.”

Amnesty International gives the following background:

‘In Saudi Arabia, the death penalty is applied for a wide range of offences including for apostasy and sorcery. The criminalisation of apostasy is incompatible with the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion as set out in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights…
Amnesty International has documented cases in Saudi Arabia where people whose comments were deemed contrary to Islam have at times been considered to be tantamount to being an apostate and as such sentenced to death. Court proceedings in Saudi Arabia fall far short of international standards for fair trial. Defendants are rarely allowed formal representation by a lawyer, and in many cases are not informed of the progress of legal proceedings against them. They may be convicted solely on the basis of confessions obtained under duress or deception.’For more background about Hamza Kashgari and the case against him see Index on Censorship

TAKE ACTION
Please send appeals:

Expressing grave concerns for the safety of writer Hamza Kashgari, and urging that he is immediately and unconditionally released, in accordance with Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
Calling upon the Saudi authorities to provide him with immediate and effective protection.

APPEALS TO:
His Majesty King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud
The Custodian of the two Holy Mosques
Office of His Majesty the King
Royal Court,
Riyadh
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Fax: (via Ministry of the Interior) +966 1 403 3125
Salutation: Your Majesty

Crown Prince and Minister of the Interior
His Royal Highness Prince Naif bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud
Ministry of the Interior
P.O.Box 2933, Airport Road,
Riyadh 11134
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Fax: +966 1 403 3125
Salutation: Your Majesty Crown Prince and Minister of the Interior

Please copy appeals to the diplomatic representative for Saudi Arabia in your country if possible.

**Please contact this office if sending appeals after 29 February 2012**

For further information please contact Cathy McCann at International PEN Writers in Prison Committee, Brownlow House, 50/51 High Holborn, London WC1V 6ER, Tel.+ 44 (0) 20 7405 0338, Fax: +44 (0) 20 7405 0339, email: cathy.mccann@pen-international.org

John Ralston Saul, PEN International’s President, says, ‘In the midst of such violence and so many deaths, governments tend to forget the writers and the central role of freedom of expression. There cannot be progress in Syria if there is no capacity to speak and debate without being killed. Daily we hear of our friends and colleagues suffering. And their suffering is part of the breakdown of any sort of normal societal relationships in Syria.’

Anti-government protests were sparked in mid-March 2011 and have since spread across the country. Mass arrests have been taking place and security officers have responded to the continuing protests with excessive force, using tear gas and live bullets to disperse demonstrators, and bombarding opposition stronghold areas with mortar bombs and rockets. Thousands of civilians have reportedly been killed and many more wounded. Protestors continue to demand political reform and to call upon President Bashar al-Assad to step down. Syrian authorities continue to suppress these protests with force, often indiscriminately, despite promises to end the violence.

With the internet and media already severely curtailed in recent years, the Syrian authorities have imposed even greater restrictions on freedom of expression and assembly in reaction to recent events. Most foreign reporters and correspondents have been asked to leave the country and access to any independent media is denied.

READ:
A statement by Syrian writer Khaled Khalifa

For further information please contact Cathy McCann at PEN International Writers in Prison Committee, Brownlow House, 50/51 High Holborn, London WC1V 6ER, Tel.+ 44 (0) 20 7405 0338, Fax: +44 (0) 20 7405 0339, email: cathy.mccann@pen-international.org

Arabic translation:

(Homepage photo by syria2011 Source: http://www.flickr.com)

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