The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN (WiPC) and Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF) are reminding the international community this week of the plight of more than 100 writers and journalists imprisoned worldwide.

WiPC marked its annual Day of the Imprisoned Writer on 15 November by focusing on 13 individuals currently serving lengthy prison terms for exercising their right to free expression. They include Burmese opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Belarusian professor Yury Bandazhevsky, Moroccan editor Ali Lmrabet and Marwan Osman, a Syrian Kurd.

PEN Centres around the world will launch campaigns to raise public awareness of the 13 cases and send letters to various governments calling for their immediate release. The campaign will also commemorate the 23 writers and journalists who have been killed since November 2002.

Detailed information on these cases is available at: http://www.pencanada.ca/committ/events/day-imp-wri.htm

In France, RSF is dedicating 20 November to the 133 journalists it says are imprisoned around the world. The group is launching a book by acclaimed photographer Helmut Newton to raise funds for its activities. It is also asking media and other organisations to adopt an imprisoned journalist. Media sponsors are asked to publicise the plight of their adoptee, protest to authorities and write to the journalist in prison.

RSF says particular attention should be paid this year to the situation in Cuba, Iran, Burma, Eritrea and China. Thirty-six Internet dissidents are currently imprisoned in China, while 28 journalists in Cuba have been sentenced to jail terms ranging from 14 to 28 years.

Click here for more information on the RSF campaign: http://www.rsf.org

(Image: © RSF)