The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN is deeply
disturbed at the draconian prison sentences handed down to a
host of writers and independent journalists on in early April, 2003,
under laws governing the protection of the Cuban state. The
arrests appear, at least in part, to have been made in reprisal
for the continued detention in the US of five Cubans who
infiltrated Miami-based anti-Castro groups.
According to information received by International PEN, writer/economist
Marta Beatriz Roque, writer/journalist Raúl Rivero and 25 independent
journalists were handed down sentences of between 14 and 27 years.
The writers and journalists were arrested as part of a crackdown on
alleged dissidents that began on 18 March and in which around 80 people
were detained. As far as can be established, the majority were tried under
Article 91 of the Penal Code and Law 88. Article 91 deals with charges of
acting against “the independence of the territorial integrity of the state”,
the maximum penalty for which is death. Law 88 is a catch-all piece of
legislation that has been used in the past as a means for sending writers
and journalists to prison. It allows for prison sentences of up to twenty
years for those found guilty of committing “acts that in line with
imperialist interests are aimed at subverting the internal order of the
Nation and destroying its political, economic, and social system."
The one-day court hearings were held behind closed doors and it is
reported that there was insufficient time for the accused to put together
a cogent defence. The accusations focused on the alleged conspiratorial
dealings between the defendants and James Cason, the chief of the US
Interests Section in Havana. In recent months Cason has considerably
stepped up his contacts with Cubans who have voiced opposition to
Fidel Castro.
An official statement on the Cuban government website
(www.cubagov.cu) explicitly condemns the alleged actions of James Cason and, by
definition, those with whom he has allegedly conspired. The fact that the
statement goes on to mention the so-called Five Heroes Cuban nationals
who infiltrated Miami-based anti-Castro organisations suggests that the
arrests may also have been made as a reprisal, and possibly as a
bargaining chip to obtain their release. The Five Heroes have been
detained in the US for the last four years. It is also worth noting that the
crackdown coincided with the opening salvos in the conflict in Iraq. The
full statement reads as follows:
“No country, however, powerful, has the right to convert its diplomatic
representation into an organiser, financier, chief and headquarters of
activities [aimed at] destablizing and subverting constitutional order.
The Cuban people have been deeply indignant on learning of the shameful
and repeated provocations of the Chief of the US Interests Section in
Cuba, evidently conceived and carried out as part of the hostile and
aggressive policies of the current [US] Administration towards our
country, with the close cooperation and support of the terrorist mafia in
Miami and the extreme right in the United States.
Universal indignation has increased due to the cowardly and cruel vengeful
measures taken against our five compatriots who, in an abitrary and
underhand fashion, have been handed down long sentences, or life
sentences in some cases, and are detained far from their homeland and
families.”
The prison terms given to the writers and journalists (according to the Cuban
Commission for Human Rights, the Miami-based website Nueva Prensa
Cubana, and other sources) are as follows:
Marta Beatriz Roque (20 years), Raúl Rivero (20 years), Ricardo González
Alfonso (20 years), Víctor Rolando Arroyo (26 years), Normando Hernández
González (25 years), Oscar Espinoza Chepe (20 years), Julio César Gálvez
(15 years), Edel José García (15 years), Adolfo Fernández Saínz (15 years),
Jorge Olivera Castillo (18 years), Omar Rodríguez Saludes (27 years),
Manuel Vázquez Portal (18 years), Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez (20 years),
Mijaíl Barzaga Lugo (15 years), Carmelo Díaz Fernández (15 years), Pedro
Argüelles Morán (20 years), Pablo Pacheco Ávila (20 years), Alejandro
González Raga (14 years), Alfredo Pulido López (14 years), Mario Enrique
Mayo (20 years), Fabio Prieto Llorente (20 years), Iván Hernández Carrillo
(25 years), José Luis García Paneque (24 years), and Juan Carlos Herrera
(20 years).
The journalists Miguel Galván Gutiérrez, José Ubaldo Izquierdo, Léster Luis
González Pentón, Omar Ruiz Hernández and José Gabriel Ramón Castillo
are also believed to have been sentenced, presumably to terms similar to
those already announced.
Marta Beatriz Roque has already spent time in prison for her writing. She
was released in May 2000 after serving three years of a four-year sentence
for her co-authorship of a document entitled La Patria es de Todos (The
Homeland Belongs To Us All) which urged the Cuban government to hold
democratic elections, liberalise the economy and improve human rights.
International PEN cannot express strongly enough its dismay and
alarm at the trials, which are in blatant contradiction of international
instruments that protect the right to freedom of expression and fair
trial. International PEN calls on the Cuban authorities to recognize
this as a serious breach of human rights, order the dropping of
charges, release of all those who have been convicted.
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Please write a polite letter to the Cuban authorities calling for the immediate
and unconditional release of all convicted writers and journalists and the dropping
of all charges against them. |
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[Date]
His Excellency Fidel Castro Ruíz Your Excellency, I am writing to express my concern about the sentences handed down to a host of writers and independent journalists this April. I believe that these convictions constitute a clear violation of the detainees' universally guaranteed right to freedom of expression, and I therefore respectfully call upon the Cuban authorities to release them immediately and unconditionally and drop all charges against them. Sincerely, [Your name and signature]
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A journalist renowned for his articles alleging government corruption, Duvanov insists that he has been set up by the Kazakh authorities in retribution for his disclosure of government corruption. Duvanov was arrested on October 27, 2002, just three days before he was scheduled to travel to the United States, where he was to speak on corruption and the state of media freedoms in Kazakhstan
at a series of meetings in Washington D.C. and New York City.
PEN has repeatedly protested the trial process and shares the concern of many free expression and human rights groups that the accusations of rape against Mr. Duvanov may have been fabricated and that he is being penalized for his writings alleging bribery and extortion at the highest levels of the Kazakh government. It seeks an immediate review of Mr. Duvanov's
conviction and the judicial process by which it was secured.
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PEN is deeply troubled by the trial process that led to the sentencing of
journalist Sergei Duvanov to three and a half years in prison for "rape of a minor" in Kazakhstan.
His sentence was upheld at an appeal hearing on March 11, 2003.
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Gayrat Mehliboev, a 23-year-old recent graduate in journalism, was sentenced on February 20 to seven years in an Uzbek prison for possessing "illegal written material," inciting religious hatred, and supporting a banned extremist Islamist group. PEN is concerned by suggestions that the charges against Mehliboev could be politically motivated. It is further concerned by reports that he may have been ill treated in prison. International PEN is calling for clarification of the charges against him and assurances that he is
not detained solely for the legitimate practice of his profession.
Mehliboev was tried at the Shaikhataursky District Court in Tashkent on February 20 on accusation of inciting religious enmity, undermining the constitutional order and membership of Hizb ut-Tahir Islamic organization. Mehliboev has denied that he had banned literature in his possession but admitted that he had studied Hizb ut-Tahir ideology, aspects of which he had referred to in an article published April 2001 entitled "The Scales of Justice." Hizb ut-Tahir reportedly supports the establishment of a pan-Islamic caliphate, but has publicly reject violence as a means to achieving that goal. Human Rights Watch has stated that Mehliboev "has been charged and
imprisoned for expressing his ideas through the media."
Mehliboev has reportedly asserted that he suffered beatings in prison and was forced into signing a letter of remorse.
An appeal of his case is believed to be pending.
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This March 8, PEN observed International Women's Day by demanding
full resolutions of the cases of eleven courageous women who were killed in
connection with their work. They are: Larissa Yudina, a political activist and editor-in-chief of the
daily Sovietskaya Kalmykia, kidnapped and murdered in Elista in the Russian republic of
Kalmykia in June 1998; Parvaneh Forouhar, Iranian poet and activist, brutally murdered,
along with her husband, in their house in Tehran in 1998; and nine Algerian female journalists murdered during the height of the country's vicious civil war in the 1990s.
(For complete case information and letter writing instructions
click here.)
The actions form part of a year-long PEN campaign to challenge impunity for violations of
the essential right to freedom of expression. The campaign, which was officially launched on
November 25, 2002 in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico during a conference of the Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN, includes direct actions throughout the year and will culminate with the release of a PEN report on the problem of impunity and a series of public programs during International PEN's 69th World Congress of Writers in Mexico City from November 23 through November 28, 2003. PEN Canada, PEN American Center, and Mexico PEN are leading the push, in collaboration with the
Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN.
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PEN Members and Friends of PEN conducted a coordinated, worldwide campaign from February 17 through March 17, 2003 to focus attention on the plight of colleagues currently in prisons in Vietnam. This campaign, which was launched in response to a recent intensification of repression of the right to write by the Vietnamese authorities, focused on ten writers currently
in prison or under house arrest. They are:
Le Chi Quang- an attorney and dissident writer currently serving
a sentence of four years' imprisonment and three years' house arrest for the
"dissemination of propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam." Bui Minh Quoc - a journalist and dissident currently under formal house arrest
on charges of "possessing anti-government literature", including his own writings. Tran Van Khue - a writer and scholar currently thought to be under house arrest
in connection with a letter, which was distributed over the Internet, protesting recent border accords
between Vietnam and China. Nguyen Dinh Huy- Former newspaper editor and leading figure in
the pro-democracy organization, Movement for National Unity and Building Democracy currently serving
a fifteen year prison sentence. Nguyen Xuan Tu (pen-name: Ha Si Phu)- a biologist, dissident
and writer under effective house arrest since May 12, 2000 for "making contact with reactionaries living abroad to sabotage Vietnam and demanding the overthrow of
the socialist regime and the leadership of the Communist Party." Nguyen Vu Binh - a writer and leading member of the Democracy Club
for Vietnam who was arrested in 2002 for writing an open letter to the government
calling for political reform and the release of political prisoners. He has not been sentenced yet.
Pham Hong Son - a medical doctor and dissident writer arrested on
charges of espionage for translating into Vietnamese an article entitled "What is Democracy" published on the website of the
US embassy in Vietnam. Le Dinh Nhan (religious name: Thich HUYEN Quang )- the acting
Head of the Institute For The Propagation Of The Dharma, Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), An Quang Pagoda (Saigon).
He was arrested for publishing an open letter criticising government policy on freedom of speech and religious expression.
He is said to be held incommunicado in a house surrounded by guards. Nguyen Van Ly - a priest, scholar and essayist sentenced to
15 years' imprisonment and five years' probationary detention for publishing a written
testimony, 'Violations of Human Rights in Vietnam,' on the internet.
Dang Phuc Tue (religious name: Thich Quang Do )- a
Buddhist monk, writer, scholar, and the Secretary General of the outlawed Institute For The Propagation Of The Dharma, United Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV)
who was sentenced to 2 years, 3 months' house arrest.
For full information on PEN's Vietnam Campaign and on how to send letters in
support of these imprisoned writers,
click here.
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Sentence Upheld for Iranian Cleric
From: Lucy Kavaler, Case Minder for Honorary PEN member
Hojjatoleslam Hasan Yousefi Eshkevari
Eshkevari made the mistake of going to a cultural conference in Berlin,
along with other academics. The Iranian government had approved this, but
when the attendees returned, they were arrested and criminally charged.
Eshkevari had also written that wearing the veil was not ordered
in the Koran, though it had a long history in Islam. For these "crimes," he was
charged with "carrying out war on God, being corrupt on earth and apostasy,"
all of which carry the death penalty. There was no confirmation of his
receiving the death penalty, but he was sentenced to seven years in prison
(four years for his comments on the veil, 2 years for speaking against the
Islamic Republic, and 1 year for attending the Berlin Conference). As he is
a diabetic, there has been concern as to his health.
I (along with others at PEN, of course) wrote to Iranian officials and
started a correspondence with his son. Things appeared to be improving when
his son was allowed to visit him and to bring him a letter I had sent.
Eshkevari expressed great pleasure in receiving the letter. Then after the
inclusion of Iran in the "axis of evil," American appeals would have done
more harm than good, so that avenue was closed off.
Nonetheless, there was hope that his sentence would be commuted. He had
already served 31 months. However, early in March, an appeals court in Iran
upheld his sentence. I sent an e-mail to Eshkevari's son, expressing sympathy
and assuring him that his father is not forgotten by PEN. He wrote back,
"Your warm sentences is always best sympathy for me. A1ways I inform my
father about your activities at least your letters. We honor you and your
friends." I quote this to show that however little one can do for a case,
that is appreciated.
-Lucy Kavaler, PEN and FTW Committee Member
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The U.S. Department of Justice has informed PEN it would investigate the
treatment of a prominent Turkish writer and human right activist who was detained
with his wife on arrival at Newark International Airport and forced to return to Europe on the next flight.
Haluk Gerger is a respected writer and political scientist who was imprisoned twice in
Turkey in the 1990s for articles relating to the armed conflict with Turkey's Kurdish minority. In 1994 and 1995, the U.S. State Department's annual human rights country reports cited the jailing of Professor Haluk Gerger as an example of how the Turkish government was misusing Anti-Terror laws to violate the free speech rights of writers, journalists, publishers, academics, and students. In 1999, with Professor Gerger again under indictment and facing additional jail terms, the United States offered an even more concrete kind of solidarity, issuing Gerger a 10-year visa. But on October 1, 2002, when Gerger and his wife landed at Newark airport for a U.S. visit, he was informed that his visa had been cancelled by the State Department. He was photographed and fingerprinted,
and the couple was forced to return to Europe.
In a letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell and Attorney General John Ashcroft, PEN called the action a troubling example of how policies implemented under new anti-terrorism measures can undercut positions and values the U.S. has long advanced overseas. PEN also expressed fears that new visa restrictions may affect the free movement of peoples and ideas at a time when open international exchanges are critical to the success of U.S. policy initiatives. The October 11th letter requested a review of the decision to deny Professor Gerger entry into the U.S.
and an immediate reinstatement of his visa.
The January 21, 2003, the Justice Department wrote in response, "the INS does not condone rude and abusive treatment to travelers from its employees. As a result, we have initiated an investigation into the matter,
and you will be apprised of the final results."
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