PEN International

Shibal Ibrahim, an online writer and activist from Syria’s Kurdish minority who was detained in the country’s prisons for more than 20 months, was released in May 2013. Now out of Syria, he talked to PEN International about his experience in detention.

Many standard web programmes lack the necessary security for writers to be protected from surveillance and hacking. However, several organisations which defend freedom of speech online and promote digital security have developed simple guides to improve online security.

PEN International protests against the withdrawal by the publisher Penguin of Wendy Doniger’s “The Hindus: An Alternative History”, which is the third publication to be recalled in India this year. A case was filed against the publisher, claiming that the book was offensive to Hindus and therefore in violation of the Indian Penal Code.

Journalists Julio Ernesto Alvarado and Dina Meza have been subjected to intensified harassment in recent months, reports PEN International. The organization calls on the Honduran authorities to overturn Alvarado’s conviction and sentence for criminal defamation.

Raef Badawi’s wife, Ensar Haider, spoke to PEN International about her husband’s case and her family’s experience since his arrest.

Each year, 21 February marks International Mother Language Day, a day which recognises the importance of linguistic and cultural diversity and promotes the protection of languages. PEN International is campaigning for the immediate and unconditional release of Nurmuhemmet Yasin, a member of the Uyghur minority in China, imprisoned in connection with a short story he wrote in Uyghur.

It is believed that Mr. Quan’s detention is politically motivated and a reaction to his blog, where he frequently exposed human rights violations by the Vietnamese government.

Journalists, writers, civil rights activists, and independent or critical voices in Egypt are being targeted by security services for their reporting or peaceful activism.