PEN Canada envisions a world where
writers are free to write,
readers are free to read,
and freedom of expression prevails
‘They couldn’t take everything from me’ – an evening with Oleg Sentsov Ukrainian director and writer Oleg Sentsov is from Crimea. When Russia annexed the peninsula, he was arrested and sentenced to 20 years in a gulag-style prison in Siberia on trumped-up charges and became the face of Ukrainian struggle against Russia. International filmmakers, human […]
The PEN International community wholeheartedly supports Swedish PEN’s decision to bestow their annual Tucholsky Award upon Chinese-born Swedish publisher – and PEN International main case – Gui Minhai, said PEN International today in response to the fierce objection of the Chinese Embassy in Sweden. ‘This is not the first time that the Chinese regime has […]
The Russian authorities should drop all charges against Svetlana Prokopyeva, PEN International and PEN Moscow said today, as the journalist is facing a lengthy prison sentence for ‘justifying terrorism’ following comments she made on a radio show. The organisations further call on the Russian authorities to stop harassing and intimidating journalists who are reporting on […]
“You can imprison me but you cannot keep me in prison” – Ahmet Altan. Turkish authorities have re-arrested the internationally-known Turkish novelist Ahmet Altan just one week after his release from over three years in detention. ARTICLE 19 and the undersigned organizations said that his re-arrest on November 12 was an extraordinarily low blow in […]
The Russian authorities must uphold Yuri Dmitriev’s right to a fair and impartial trial, PEN International, St Petersburg PEN and PEN Moscow said today, ahead of a verdict expected by the end of the year. Yuri Dmitriev, historian and head of the Karelian branch of the human rights centre Memorial, North-Western Russia, stands accused of […]
London, November 19, 2019 – Attempts to censor the book Let the Little Children Come to Me (Dejad que los niños vengan a mí), as well as the legal harassment against Colombian journalist Juan Pablo Barrientos, demonstrate that the Colombian authorities are not acting in favour of free expression, said PEN International today. The organisation calls on the […]
ARTICLE 19 and the undersigned organizations call for the governing party in Poland, the Law and Justice party (PiS), and public broadcaster TVP to immediately drop their criminal and civil defamation lawsuits against Professor Wojciech Sadurski, a distinguished constitutional law scholar and public intellectual in Poland. The cases are based on two tweets he sent […]
PEN Delhi and South India condemn the recent revocation of writer and journalist Aatish Taseer’s Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) status by the Government of India. The OCI status, provided to millions, acts as a permanent visa for those who possess it. Till this September, Taseer, a UK citizen with a US Green Card, was […]
Poet, lyricist and activist Galal El-Behairy is currently serving a three-year prison sentence for ‘insulting the military’ and ‘spreading false news’. He is being held in the notorious maximum-security prison Tora prison in Cairo. Nicknamed ‘Scorpion’ Prison, Tora has been condemned by scores of human rights organisations for its serious abuses, including denying inmates access […]
Celebrated writer, journalist and activist Lydia Cacho Ribeiro has faced continued harassment, death threats and attacks due to her investigative journalism and activism. Such attacks occur despite the fact that she was awarded precautionary protective measures by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in 2009, which the Mexican authorities have failed to adequately implement. […]
Finding the Words: Writers on Inspiration, Desire, War, Celebrity, Exile, and Breaking the Rules