PEN International

Whilst the amnesty granted to the two imprisoned members of Pussy Riot – Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Mariya Alekhina – is to be welcomed, we must view it for what it is: a political stunt by the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, argues Cathal Sheerin.

A Turkish court has thrown out Irfan Sancı’s acquittal appeal in a case against his having published Guillaume Apollinaire’s 1911 novel, Les Exploits d’un jeune Don Juan. Prosecution has merely been suspended for three years, meaning the publisher must live under constant threat of imprisonment.

IFEX members are calling on the president of Romania to veto proposed changes to the penal code passed by Parliament that would recriminalise insult and libel.

More than 500 writers from around the world are demanding a binding “International Bill of Digital Rights” and call upon the UN to enforce fundamental democratic rights such as the presumption of innocence and the right to privacy in the digital realm.

Four Syrian activists abducted in the Damascus suburbs, apparently in relation to their humanitarian work, must be released immediately and unconditionally, 16 human rights organisations said on 11 December 2013.

On International Human Rights Day, freedom of expression remains under attack in many parts of the world, even by the very countries who have been elected to uphold rights at the UN.

On 8 December 2008, writer and political activist Liu Xiaobo was arrested and subsequently imprisoned. At the time of his arrest, he was calling for peaceful political reform, greater human rights and a multi-party democracy in China.

Over 50 IFEX members and partners appeal to the civil society groups assisting in a consultation process with elected representatives to protect freedom of expression in the new Tunisian Constitution.