Articles by PEN International
Poet Xue Deyun sentenced
(WiPC/IFEX) – WiPC has received confirmation that Guizhou poet Xue Deyun has been sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment. He was convicted at Guiyang Municipal People’s Court in November 1998 of “engaging in subversive activities,” violating “article 105.2 of the Chinese Penal Code,” and attempting to overthrow “the socialist system by rumour-mongering [or] slander.” It is […]
Special action to mark the tenth anniversary of pro-democracy movement suppression
(WiPC/IFEX) – The following is a WiPC special action to mark the tenth Anniversary of the suppression of the 1989 pro-democracy movement, 1 to 10 June 1999: To commemorate the tenth anniversary of the brutal suppression of the 1989 Pro-Democracy Movement, the Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN is launching a campaign to release […]
Liberal scholar and writer imprisoned
(WiPC/IFEX) – WiPC is deeply disturbed by the imprisonment of Mohsen Kadivar, a liberal Islamic scholar and a professor of philosophy. Kadivar was arrested on 27 February 1999. He is accused of spreading propaganda against the Islamic republic, confusing public opinion and indirectly insulting the late Ayatollah Khomeini, and was sentenced to eighteen months’ imprisonment […]
Religious scholar and writer on trial; heavy sentence feared
(WiPC/IFEX) – International PEN is concerned that the writer and scholar, Shaikh Al-Jamri, who has now been in prison without trial for more than three years, might soon be sentenced to a long prison-term for his opposition activities and calls for Bahrain’s National Assembly to be restored. It calls on the new Amir of Bahrain, […]
Tahar Djaout, Metin Goktepe, Anatoly Levin-Utkin: still waiting for justice
(WiPC/IFEX) – The following is a 15 April 1999 WiPC press release: ** For background to Levin-Utkin case, see IFEX alerts of 7 September and 26 August 1998; for Goktepe case, see alerts of 20 March, 13 March, 9 January 1998 and others; for Djaout case, see alert of 30 June 1997** WiPC is joining […]
Journalist acquitted and freed after a month in detention
(WiPC/IFEX) – The Latvian PEN Centre is reporting that according to Latvian newspapers of 16 April 1999, journalist Tatyana Chaladze, who was arrested on 12 March to face trial on charges of defamation, was acquitted and freed from detention on 15 April. **Updates IFEX alert of 23 March 1999**
Editor reports death threats
(WiPC/IFEX) – WiPC is concerned for the safety of Colombian editor Gerardo Rivas Moreno. According to recent reports, an anonymous death threat was delivered to Moreno in January that read “you are the object of a death squad” in cut-out magazine letters. The note was signed by the paramilitary force, United Self-Defense Group of Colombia […]
Dissident writer Nguyen Thanh Giang officially charged
(WiPC/IFEX) – Amnesty International has reported the official confirmation that geologist and writer Nguyen Thanh Giang has been charged with violating Article 205A of the Penal Code, which provides for imprisonment for up to three years for abusing “freedom of speech, of the press or of religion… or other democratic rights to encroach upon the […]