Before September 11, 2001, the United States criticized governments that violated human rights in the name of fighting terrorism. We condemned torture, protested trials by secret tribunals, decried disappearances, and challenged secret and arbitrary detentions. As one of the world’s oldest human-rights organizations, PEN defends writers and journalists who are the victims of torture, arbitrary detention, sham trials, and other violations of internationally guaranteed due-process rights. Our most powerful tool in challenging these abuses is the absolute clarity of the laws prohibiting them:

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment…

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.

—Universal Declaration of Human Rights

PEN condemns the violations of these rights by the United States since 9/11, and we are campaigning for the restoration of the right of habeas corpus and an end to torture, arbitrary detentions, extraordinary renditions, substandard trials, and secret prisons.

The U.S. Senate has acknowledged that the U.S. has engaged in torture. These links point toward the mounting body of evidence:

• First-Hand Accounts
• Official Documents
• Investigations
• Hearings
• Laws

The United States has joined the list of countries that violate the international ban on torture. PEN's Writers in Peril Campaign currently protests the torture and abusive treatment of the following writers around the world, and advocates for their release and safety:
 

He Depu (China) • Huang Jinqiu (China) • Yang Maodong (China) •  Zhao Changqing (China) • Dawa Gyaltsen (China/Tibet) • Tashi Gyaltsen (China/Tibet) • Ven. Ngawang Phulchung (China/Tibet) • Bernardo Arévalo Padrón (Cuba) • Normando Hernández González (Cuba) • Juan Carlos Herrera Acosta (Cuba) • Fesshaye (Joshua) Yohannes (Eritrea) • Zemenfes Haile (Eritrea) • Grand Ayatollah Yasub al-Din Rastgari (Iran) • Ko Aung Tun (Myanmar/Burma) • Song Du-Yol (South Korea) • Aref Dalila (Syria) • Mohammed Abbou (Tunisia) • Zouhair Yahyaoui (Tunisia) • Layla Zana (Turkey) • Mehmet Bakir (Turkey) • Suat Kolca (Turkey) • Yasar Duman (Turkey) • Selahaddin Sumeli (Turkey) • Mahmut Bozdag (Turkey) • Muhammad Bekjanov (Uzbekistan) • Khayrullah (Hairulla) Ernazarov (Uzbekistan) • Mamadali Mahmudov (Uzbekistan) • Gayrat Mehliboev (Uzbekistan) • Umida Niyazova (Uzbekistan) • Yusif Ruzimuradov (Uzbekistan) • Ruslan Sharipov (Uzbekistan) • Gift Phiri (Zimbabwe)

>> Learn more about the Writers in Peril Campaign

Please write to Attorney General Eric Holder urging him to ensure that his investigation into the use of torture and other due process violations is complete.

>> Sample letter

Reckoning with Torture: Memos and Testimonies from the “War on Terror”
October 13, 2009 | The Great Hall at Cooper Union | NYC

With Matthew Alexander, Jonathan Ames, K. Anthony Appiah, Paul Auster, Ishmael Beah, David Cole, Don DeLillo, Eve Ensler, Nell Freudenberger, Jenny Holzer, A.M. Homes, Jameel Jaffer, Susanna Moore, Jack Rice, George Saunders, Amrit Singh, and Art Spiegelman

>> Find photos, manuscripts, and audio from the event

Voices Against Torture: Writers and Lawyers on the Way Forward
December 16, 2008 | Judson Memorial Church | NYC

With Jane Mayer, Anouar Benmalek, Elisa Massimino, and Scott Horton; moderated by Dahlia Lithwick

>> Find photos, writings, audio, and video from the event

Dirty Wars: Readings Against Torture, Arbitrary Detention, Kidnapping, and Rendition
April 26, 2007 | Joe's Pub | NYC

With Lisa Appignanesi, Antoine Audouard, Breyten Breytenbach, Mark Danner, Dorothea Dieckmann, Alex Gibney, Nadine Gordimer, Arnon Grunberg, Daniel Oreskes, Francine Prose, Gloria Reuben, Rose Styron, and others

>> See photos and listen to readings from the event

State of Emergency: Readings Against Torture, Arbitrary Detention & Extraordinary Rendition
November 8, 2005 | Cooper Union's Great Hall | NYC

With Edward Albee, Paul Auster, Sandra Cisneros, Don DeLillo, Dave Eggers, Martín Espada, Philip Gourevitch, Jessica Hagedorn, Heidi Julavits, Nicole Krauss, Rick Moody, Walter Mosley, Grace Paley, Emma Reverter, Salman Rushdie, Martha Southgate, and Colson Whitehead

>> Listen to readings from the event