(PEN Canada/IFEX) – The following is a 23 December 2004 PEN Canada press release: PEN Canada Welcomes US Government Decision To Allow Publication Of Books From Authors In Sanctioned Countries Toronto, December 23 – PEN Canada joins its colleagues at PEN American Center in New York City in welcoming a decision by the U.S. Treasury […]
(PEN Canada/IFEX) – The following is a 23 December 2004 PEN Canada press release:
PEN Canada Welcomes US Government Decision To Allow Publication Of Books From Authors In Sanctioned Countries
Toronto, December 23 – PEN Canada joins its colleagues at PEN American Center in New York City in welcoming a decision by the U.S. Treasury Department to allow U.S. publishers to publish books from countries that are subject to trade embargoes.
Last week, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued new regulations that explicitly permit Americans to engage in “all transactions necessary and ordinarily incident to the publishing and marketing of manuscripts, books, journals and newspapers in paper or electronic format.” The decision comes in the wake of a lawsuit filed in federal court by a coalition of publishing trade groups and authors’ organizations, including PEN American Center, to strike down the regulations.
“We are pleased with the news that the U.S. government has reversed its position and allowed for the publication of writings from authors in such countries as Cuba, Iran and Sudan,” PEN Canada Executive Director Isobel Harry said. “It was through tireless efforts to fight the original decision by PEN American Center and other members of the coalition that a positive outcome was achieved.”
Harry added that the right to freedom of expression “means that publishers and authors must be free to pursue a broad range of publishing activities.”
Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian lawyer, author and human rights activist, joined the coalition’s effort in late October. The U.S. government had blocked publication of her memoirs in the United States.
