PEN is gravely concerned for the health of veteran journalist and film critic Siamak Pourzand, who is reported to have suffered a heart attack in prison. Pourzand, age 72, was sentenced on May 3, 2002 by the Tehran Press Court to eight years in prison on charges of "undermining state security through his links with monarchists and counter-revolutionaries." It is widely believed that the charges against him are based on confessions that are thought to have been exacted under duress. It is likewise thought that Siamak Pourzand's arrest may be connected to his position as manager of the Majmue-ye Farrhangi-ye Honari-ye Tehran, a cultural center for writers, artists, and intellectuals. Pourzand has also written a number of articles critical of the Islamic regime, and is said to have been working with foreign-based Farsi language media prior to his detention.

PEN believes that Pourzand has been denied necessary medication for a heart complaint since his incommunicado detention began on November 24, 2001. It has issued emergency appeals and enlisted the help of the international community in pressing the Iranian authorities to ensure that he receives all necessary medical care as a matter of urgency.

PEN is seriously concerned that Pourzand has been sentenced in violation of his right to freedom of expression, and that his trial has not been conducted in accordance with accepted standards of fairness, and is therefore calling for his immediate and unconditional release in accordance with Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a signatory, and on humanitarian grounds.

HERE'S WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Please write a polite letter on your personal or institutional letterhead - or copy the one below - requesting that Siamak Pourzand be released and given medical attention as a matter of urgency and mail to His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed 'Ali Khamenei (postage 80¢) and to the Iranian Interests Section (postage 34¢).

[Date] His Excellency Ayatollah Sayed 'Ali Khamenei Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran c/o The Presidency Palestine Avenue Azerbaijan Intersection Tehran Islamic Republic of Iran Your Excellency, I am writing to express my grave and urgent concern about the imprisonment of journalist and film critic Siamak Pourzand. As you know, on May 3, 2002 the Tehran Press Court reportedly sentenced Pourzand to eight years' imprisonment on charges of "undermining state security through his links with monarchists and counter-revolutionaries." I understand Mr. Pourzand was tried in a closed proceeding, that your government has offered no explanation of the charges or case against him, and that he may in fact have been convicted on the basis of statements made under duress while in incommunicado detention. I am particularly concerned for Mr. Pourzand's well-being, as I understand he is of an advanced age, is in poor physical condition, and has not received adequate medical attention since his arrest. I fear Mr. Pourzand is being detained solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression as guaranteed by Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which your country has ratified. Please reconsider Mr. Pourzand's case and, in a spirit of humanity, facilitate his immediate release. Sincerely, [Your name and signature] Cc: Iranian Interests Section c/o Embassy of Pakistan to the United States 2209 Wisconsin Avenue NW Washington, DC 20007

On February 7, 2002, Brigadier General José Francisco Gallardo Rodríguez walked through the gate of Neza Bordo Penitentiary and into the glare of television cameras assembled to broadcast live the release of an officer imprisoned for more than eight years for writings advocating human rights reforms for the Mexican military.

Gallardo's abrupt release came two weeks before his case was to go before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, a hearing that would have brought an embarrassing new level of attention to the Mexican government's failure to comply with a 1996 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights ruling in the general's favor. Frustration over Mexico's refusal to abide by that ruling had been mounting within the Organization of American States, and in November the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued an ultimatum to the Mexican government to comply with its 1996 recommendations within two days or face proceedings in the Inter-American Court. With that hearing looming, President Vicente Fox, who has promised to lead Mexico into a new era of respect for human rights and international law, ordered the Secretary of Defense to reduce General Gallardo's sentence to time served, opening the way for his release.

PEN was one of two international non-governmental organizations scheduled to offer expert testimony on the Gallardo case before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Costa Rica at the scheduled February hearing, reflecting the long involvement of PEN, and particularly its North American centers, in efforts to free the general. PEN delegations twice traveled to Mexico to press for his release, including a June 2000 mission that included a visit with General Gallardo in the Neza Bordo prison. Gallardo was arrested in October 1993, one week after his Master's thesis entitled "The Need for a Military Ombudsman in Mexico" was excerpted in the Mexican magazine Forum, and from the start PEN insisted his arrest and imprisonment constituted a clear violation of his right to freedom of expression.

Mexican poet Homero Aridjis, President of International PEN, hailed General Gallardo's release as "an important victory for freedom of speech and a significant advance of justice in Mexico. PEN Centers worldwide who defended Gallardo's cause during the past eight years now celebrate his liberation. He is a Mexican Dreyfus."

Letters commending President Vicente Fox for ordering General Gallardo's release can be sent to:

His Excellency Vicente Fox Quesada
Presidente de la República Mexicana
Residencia Oficial "Lázaro Cárdenas"
Los Pinos
Colonia San Miguel Chapultepec
México, Distrito Federal
C.P. 11859
Mexico

Honorary Member	Country of Origin	Imprisonment Date
Georges Baongla	Cameroon	January 9, 2002
Liu Jingsheng	China	May 28, 1992
Tohti Tunyaz	China	February 6, 1998
Yusuf Mohamed Ali, Mattewos Habteab, Dawit Habtemichael, Medhanie Haile, Temesgen Gebreyesus, Emanuel Asrat, Dawit Isaac, Fessehaye Yohannes, Said Abdulkader, Wedi Ade, and Selayinghes Beyene	Eritrea	Days following September 23, 2001
Hojjatoleslam Hasan Yousefi Eshkevari	Iran	August 5, 2000
Akbar Ganji	Iran	April 22, 2000
Siamak Pourzand	Iran	November 24, 2001
Khalil Rostamkhani	Iran	August 26, 2001
Ezzatollah Sahabi	Iran	Released, however believed to be facing new charges
Aung Myint	Myanmar (Burma)	September 14, 2000
Grigory Pasko	Russia	December 25, 2001
Ven Ngawang Phulchung	Tibet Autonomous Region	April 16, 1989
Asiye Güzel Zeybek	Turkey	February 21, 1997
Mamadali Mahmudov	Uzbekistan	February 19, 1999

In January, in collaboration with the Prison Writing Committee and with PEN Center USA West in Los Angeles, the Freedom to Write Committee joined the effort to halt the execution of Stephen Wayne Anderson in California. Anderson, who was convicted in 1981 for a murdering a woman whose home he was attempting to burglarize, began writing poetry in prison and in 1990 was a co-recipient of PEN American Center's Prison Writing Award for Poetry. In its January 10, 2002 letter, PEN appealed to the governor of California for clemency and a commutation of the death sentence to life in prison without parole. Despite the efforts of PEN and a number of other organizations, Anderson was executed later that month.

Three other recipients of PEN's Prison Writing Awards are currently on death row awaiting execution. At its February meeting, Freedom to Write Committee agreed to join with the Prison Writing Committee in seeking to have their sentences commuted. You are urged to join in this effort, both by writing to the governors with jurisdiction over their cases and, if you wish, writing to them directly to express solidarity.

In your appeals for clemency, you may want to emphasize any or all of the following:

• your appeal is for commutation to a life sentence

• as a member of PEN, you support PEN's organizational opposition to the death penalty internationally, which is consistent with the position of every major human rights organization around the world

• there are serious concerns over fairness in the application of the death penalty, concerns which have led the governors of two states, Illinois and Maryland, to request a moratorium on executions

• continuing executions and questions over the fairness of death penalty proceedings in the U.S. compromises our ability to challenge unjust legal proceedings overseas

  
  

Keeping a close eye on the climate for freedom of information and expression in the United States, PEN has signed on to an amicus curiae brief challenging a presidential order and joined with other organizations in the Freedom of Expression Network in urging a review of troubling provisions of major post-September 11 security legislation.

Executive Order on Presidential Records

On November 1, 2001, President Bush signed Executive Order 13,233, which limits public access to presidential records and gives both sitting and former presidents power over the release of presidential papers and materials. Believing that the order undercuts the Presidential Records Act of 1978 and could seriously obstruct the work of historians and biographers, PEN American Center joined a coalition of organizations representing authors, journalists, and historians in submitting an amicus brief to the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia in connection with a lawsuit the public interest group Public Citizen filed seeking to overturn the order.

The brief, which was prepared by counsel for the Association of American Publishers' Freedom to Read Committee, argues that the Bush Order "attempts to undo the Presidential Records Act's deliberate shift in power over presidential materials to the public" by allowing sitting or former presidents to invoke privilege and forcing the person seeking the materials to go to court to challenge the claim. "By shifting the burden of seeking judicial review to the public, the Bush order creates an overwhelming - and fundamentally anti-democratic - presumption in favor of secrecy."

Seeking to build public understanding of the implications of the order, PEN, the Association of American Publishers, and the Authors Guild sponsored a forum entitled Controlling History? Presidential Historians Discuss the Craft of Biography and the New Limits on Archival Access on April 10, 2002 at the CUNY Graduate in New York. The program, part of PEN's Writers' Forum series moderated by Leonard Lopate, brought together presidential biographers Robert Caro, Richard Reeves, and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. All three voiced grave concerns over the order and spoke concretely and vividly about how a system like one proposed in the Bush order would have compromised their abilities to complete some of their most important work. C-SPAN taped the forum, and it will air nationally during the Congressional Memorial Day recess.

In a press release announcing its involvement in the case, PEN noted that the Executive Order was one of a number of instances in which the Bush administration had ignored laws and conventions governing the release of information from the executive branch. "This is an ominous pattern," outgoing PEN American Center President Frances FitzGerald noted, "and one that has nothing to do with the effectiveness of the war against terrorism."

A full text of the amicus brief challenging the Executive Order on Presidential Records is available at http://publishers.org/press/brief022002.pdf

The PATRIOT Act

Meanwhile, the Freedom to Write Committee joined with other members of the Free Expression Network in using the six-month anniversary of enactment of the USA PATRIOT Act to underscore PEN's uneasiness over a range of post-September 11 laws and their applications and general concern for the climate for dissent in the United States.

PEN signed a statement by members of the Free Expression Network that was released at a press conference and briefing in Washington DC on April 25, 2002. Flanked by Senator Russ Feingold, the lone member of the U.S. Senate to vote against the USA PATRIOT Act, and Representative Patsy Mink, one of only a handful of House members who did not endorse the bill, FEN representatives read the statement enumerating several aspects of the Act and related government initiatives that have disturbing implications for freedom of speech, saying the provisions collectively form "a troubling pattern, reminiscent of past judgment errors committed in the name of a worthy cause."

Among many troublesome developments connected to the Act and other anti-terrorism initiatives, the statement noted that:

• Investigators can obtain orders compelling booksellers or librarians to turn over private information about their customers and patrons, a bookseller can be ordered to turn over a list of the books a customer has purchased, and a librarian can be compelled to report what books a patron has borrowed. These orders can be issued following secret hearings in which a special court hears only the government's case, and the law forbids booksellers and librarians from making public the fact that they have received such orders.
  
• The Attorney General, in a memorandum dated October 12, 2001, restricted public access to documents under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Federal officials handling FOIA requests are now under instructions to deny requests on any "sound legal basis," whereas, previously, information could only be withheld if government officials could show that disclosure would cause "substantial harm."
  
• Administration officials have openly limited the ability of the press to cover the war on terrorism and prevailed on the media to censor statements by Osama bin Laden and other information, and the Defense Department disbanded a planned Office of Strategic Information only after a government employee revealed publicly the intent to use the office to disseminate both information and 'disinformation' to the American people and America's allies and enemies abroad.
  

The 2002 PEN/Newman's Own First Amendment Award of $25,000 was presented at this year's PEN Literary Gala to Vanessa Leggett, the freelance writer who was jailed in a federal detention center in Texas for 168 days for refusing to bow to a sweeping subpoena of confidential source materials. This is the tenth year that the $25,000 prize has been presented to a U.S. resident who has who has fought courageously, despite adversity, to safeguard the First Amendment right to freedom of expression as it applies to the written word.

For the past five years, Vanessa Leggett has been working on a nonfiction book about the killing of Houston socialite Doris Angleton, who was found shot to death in April 1997. Mrs. Angleton's millionaire husband, Robert, was accused of paying his brother, Roger, to kill his wife. Both brothers were charged with capital murder. In the course of her research, Leggett conducted a series of prison interviews with Roger Angleton, who subsequently committed suicide. She turned over tapes of those interviews to a grand jury. But after Robert Angleton was acquitted in state court, a federal investigation into his activities was launched, and a federal grand jury subpoenaed all of Leggett's tape-recorded conversations with anyone she had interviewed about the Angleton case. She refused, arguing that a reporter's privilege protected her from being forced to disclose confidential sources. On July 6, U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon ruled that the Fifth Circuit "does not recognize such a privilege as protecting a journalist from divulging confidential or nonconfidential information in a criminal case." Leggett was ruled in contempt and on July 20 was ordered imprisoned without bail for eighteen months or until termination of the grand jury.

Leggett was released on January 4, 2002, when the federal grand jury completed its term. Her 168 days in a federal detention center is by far the longest jail term in U.S. history for a journalist who has refused to turn over confidential work product. Two days before she was released, Leggett's attorney appealed her case to the U.S. Supreme Court. That appeal is still pending, though her release makes it less likely the case will be heard. Meanwhile, a federal indictment has been returned against Robert Angleton, creating the possibility that Leggett could be called to testify at his trial. If she is and once again declines to divulge confidential information, she could be returned to prison.

On accepting the award, Leggett said, "I'd like to salute each of you at PEN American Center and the several thousand other members of PEN around the globe for recognizing that a world without free expression is not a free world."