Articles by PEN International
Historian, librarian and writer detained in Beijing, PEN concerned about reasons for imprisonment and for his health
WiPC is seriously concerned about the arrest of the Chinese historian, librarian and writer Song Yongyi employed at Dickinson College, Pennsylvania, USA. International PEN asks for further information on his arrest, and calls for his immediate release if he is detained solely for exercising his right to free expression. Song Yongyi is a highly regarded […]
Journalist Sihem Ben Sedrine Under Threat
(WiPC/IFEX) – Amnesty International has issued an alert expressing concern for the safety of journalist Sihem Ben Sedrine. The offices of her publishing house, Edition Aloes, have been burgled twice in the past month and her employees have been threatened by members of the security forces. International PEN shares this concern and appeals to the […]
Poet sentenced to twelve years in prison
On 9 December 1999, Flora Brovina, an ethnic Albanian poet, paediatrician and women’s rights activist, was sentenced to twelve years in prison in a court in Nis, Serbia. International PEN considers Brovina to be convicted solely for her condemnation of Serb human rights abuses in Kosovo, and for her humanitarian work in Pristina before and […]
WiPC condemns sentencing of journalists
**Updates IFEX alerts of 29 November, 10 November, 3 November and 8 September 1999** (WiPC/IFEX) – The Ayatollah Abdollah Nouri, a former politician and prominent newspaper editor, was sentenced on 27 November 1999 to five years in prison in a trial which failed to meet international standards for due process. That same day, the independent […]
Media workers released
(WiPC/IFEX) – WiPC has recently received good news concerning the fate of two arrested employees of the newspaper “L’Alarme”. Feu d’Or Bonsange and Kala Bongamba were released without charge on 29 September 1999, two days after their arrest. Their case received a great deal of international attention, which they say speeded their release. Clovis Kadda, […]
Trial against Flora Brovina postponed
(WiPC/IFEX) – Flora Brovina, a Kosovar Albanian pediatrician and poet who was arrested in Pristina in April 1999 and subsequently sent to a prison in Serbia in June, was due to stand trial in the city of Nis on 11 November. However, the trial has been postponed for two weeks and will now be held […]
Three students accused of publishing blasphemous play receive suspended sentences; academic acquitted
(WiPC/IFEX) – Students Mohammad-Reza Namnabati, Abbas Nemati, and Ali-Reza Aqaii were sentenced on 3 November 1999 to suspended sentences. This means that so long as they do not “re-offend” they will not have to go to jail. **Updates IFEX alert of 29 October 1999** Namnabati and Nemati, the authors of the play, were given three-year […]
Four students and an academic accused of publishing blasphemous play
(WiPC/IFEX) – WiPC reports that four students and an academic are accused of publishing a blasphemous play; three have already appeared in court and are to face a verdict on 30 October 1999. Students Mohammad-Reza Namnabati, Abbas Nemati, and Ali-Reza Aqali appeared before an Islamic court in Tehran on 20 October charged with having “offended […]