Current Cases

How we do this work and monitor cases

In July 1960, PEN International established a committee to monitor countries “where writers had been imprisoned because they spoke or wrote their minds.” Today the committee monitors hundreds of bloggers, editors, journalists, playwrights, poets, publishers, screenwriters and translators who have been threatened, attacked, detained, tortured or killed for expressing the truth as they see it.

These writers have been persecuted and, in many countries, imprisoned and tortured for peaceful dissent. Our centre works with other organizations on behalf of imperiled writers to secure pathways to freedom and safety, including as a recommending partner to the Canadian Ministry of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship (IRCC) expedited refugee stream for human rights defenders. Since 2019, PEN Canada has referred several cases to the new stream, including using it to facilitate the relocation of an imperiled Iranian blogger to safety in Canada.

Role of the Writers in Prison Committee and the Writers in Peril Committee

For more than 25 years, PEN Canada’s WiPC has defended the right to freedom of expression for such iconic figures as Salman Rushdie, Anna Politkovskaya, and Ken Saro-Wiwa. It has also taken on the cases of scores of lesser-known writers.

The committee circulates petitions, organizes letter-writing campaigns and undertakes advocacy on behalf of our Centre’s Honorary Members, urging governments to respect the universal right to freedom of expression set out in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The WiPC does not work on behalf of prisoners who have used or advocated violence or hatred.