PEN International

Sources: Bonded Labour Liberation Front of Pakistan; Amnesty International; others **Updates IFEX alerts dated 4 July and 9 June 1995** Journalist Zafaryab Ahmad (also reported as Zaffaryab Ahmed) has been released on medical bail, but may be required to return to prison within the next few weeks despite his ill-health. Ahmad was freed at the […]

Source: Amnesty International Publisher Yu Dok-ryol and editor Kim Chon-hee of the Han Publishing Company were arrested with bookshop owner Shim Bom-sok on 17 July 1995. The three were arrested for publishing and distributing the autobiography of the now deceased president of North Korea, Kim Il Sung. They are charged under Article 7 of the […]

**Updates IFEX CH alerts dated 31 July, 7 June, 5 May, 21 April, 22 March, 24, 17, 8, 6 February, 20, 11 January 1995** According to reports from Rivers State, Nigeria, Ken Saro-Wiwa’s publishing office in Port Harcourt was broken into in late July 1995. His books and the manuscripts of several other writers are […]

**Updates IFEX alerts dated 14 April, 27, 4 January 1995; 15, 9 December 1994** After nine months of hearings, the High Court ruled on 1 August 1995 that the trial should commence against Taslima Nasrin, the Bangladeshi author charged with “insult to religious sentiments.” Nasrin’s defence lawyers question the legal foundation of the government’s sanction […]

The former director of the Institute of Marxist-Leninist Philosophy and a founding member of the Club of Former Resistance Fighters have been charged with spreading “anti-socialist propaganda” following the publication of their writings. Hoang Minh Chinh, former director of the Institute of Marxist- Leninist Philosophy, is said to have been arrested on 14 June 1995 […]

**Updates IFEX alerts dated 7 June, 5 May, 21 April, 22 March, 24, 17, 8, 6 February, 20, 11 January 1995** The trial of jailed writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, adjourned on 6 July 1995, was scheduled to resume on 31 July 1995 despite the fact that Ken Saro-Wiwa may not have adequate legal defense. […]

Sabahat Varol, a journalist with the magazine “Devrimci Genclik” and Ahmet Duzgun Yuksel, a lawyer, are being held in Istanbul Police headquarters, where Amnesty International (AI) fears they may be facing torture in incommunicado detention. The two were detained on 20 June 1995 as they were leaving the Halkin Hukuk Burosu, People’s Law Office, in […]

Chen Ziming, a publisher and leader of the 4 June 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations, has been returned to prison. Human Rights in China reports that around 26 June 1995, Chen Ziming’s relatives reported that he had been re-arrested and returned to Beijing No 2 prison to serve the remainder of his 13-year sentence. It is said […]