PEN America

Articles by PEN America

Danlambao

Appeal for immediate release of Vietnamese blogger Dieu Cay on hunger strike

Ten rights organisations have called on President Obama to raise the issue of ailing blogger Nguyen Van Hai (aka Dieu Cay), on hunger strike to protest jail conditions, when he meets the Vietnamese President on 25 July 2013.

Blogger Le Quoc Quan, https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/20153

Ahead of U.S.-Vietnam meeting, Obama urged to press for blogger’s release

Nineteen human rights organisations have written to U.S. President Barack Obama to raise the issue of the detention of human rights defender and blogger Mr Le Quoc Quan when President Truong Tan Sang of Vietnam meets Obama on 25 July 2013.

Link to: Campaign for Reader Privacy renews call to amend U.S. Patriot Act

Campaign for Reader Privacy renews call to amend U.S. Patriot Act

Citing recent revelations about the scope of the U.S. government’s secret surveillance programs, organizations representing booksellers, librarians, publishers, and authors call for privacy protections for bookstore and library records to be restored.

Police arrested HRNJ-Uganda's National Coordinator, Geoffrey Wokulira Ssebaggala, during protests about media closures in Uganda on 28 May., HRNJ-Uganda

IFEX members protest police attacks on journalists

IFEX members sent a joint letter to President Museveni calling for an end to impunity in cases of police violence against the media, after a violent crackdown on a demonstration in May over media closures.

Women protesting torture in Bahrain at a demonstration in the US in 2010., BCHR

Joint appeal to U.N. protests torture of detained rights defenders in Bahrain

Over 50 NGOs worldwide signed a joint appeal to the U.N. against the ill-treatment and torture of detained human rights defenders, activists and photojournalists in Bahrain, calling for U.N. and Red Cross visits.

Ayşe Berktay in Bakırköy Women’s Prison., Ali Berktay/PEN American Center

Don’t let Turkish rights activist stay in jail for 15 years

Over 400 people and NGOs from over 50 countries around the world signed a petition to help free translator and women’s rights activist Ayşe Berktay, along with many other publishers and journalists jailed in Turkey.

PEN American Center

Report on creativity and constraint in China

A report on creative freedom in China was released in tandem with an Open Letter to authorities signed by more than 100 global literary and cultural figures.

Ayşe Berktay in Bakırköy Women’s Prison. , Ali Berktay/PEN American Center

IFEX members call for Turkish translator, women’s rights activist to be freed

Two dozen IFEX members call on Turkey to free prominent translator and women’s rights activist Ayşe Berktay, winner of the 2013 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award.