PEN International

British investigative journalist David Bergman was convicted by a Bangladesh court and fined 5,000 taka. The case relates to three blog posts published by Bergman on his popular blog “Bangladesh War Crimes Tribunal”.

15 November is the 33rd anniversary of the Day of the Imprisoned Writer. This year PEN is highlighting the cases of five writers from Cameroon, China, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, and Paraguay and calls for their immediate and unconditional release and for the charges against them to be dropped, along with all other writers similarly threatened.

Teacher and poet Mahvash Sabet is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence in Evin prison, Tehran. PEN International is calling on the Iranian authorities to release her and all other writers imprisoned in Iran for their work.

PEN International talks to Honduran writer and former Interior Minister Victor Meza about the unintended gains of the 2009 coup for culture, creativity and resistance in Honduras.

PEN International called on Kazakhstan to comply with its obligation under international law to protect freedom of expression, and proposed a number of recommendations on how this right could be better protected.

The Vietnamese government should immediately cease the ill-treatment, physical and psychological abuse of Dang Xuan Dieu while in arbitrary detention. The activist, who is currently serving one of the longest politically motivated sentences in Vietnam, has been held in solitary confinement and subject to physical and psychological abuse.

On 17 October 2014, journalist and founding member of PEN Honduras, Julio Ernesto Alvarado, appeared along with other journalists before the Supreme Court of Honduras in a final attempt to fight the reinstatement of a 16-month ban on practising journalism.

Against the backdrop of the unprecedented crackdown on civil society, Khadija Ismayilova’s arrest on criminal defamation charges seems imminent and would confirm the authorities’ intent to silence all critical voices in the country.