Members of PEN American Center's Freedom to Write Committee elected
Vietnamese internet dissident Lê Chi Quang
as Honorary Member at their May 5th meeting. Lê Chi Quang is one of the 2004 PEN/
Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award Recipients. The other recipient
this year is Iranian writer and lawyer Nasser Zarafshan,
who is also an Honorary Member of PEN American Center.
To read more about Lê Chi Quang, please visit the
Honorary Member
section of the Freedom to Write website by clicking here.
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Please write a polite letter to the Vietnamese authorities on behalf
of Lê Chi Quang calling for
his immediate and unconditional releases
and the dropping of all charges against him. You may copy the suggested text for your appeal or write your own. |
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[Date]
H.E. Tran Duc Luong Prime Minister of the Republic of Vietnam 1 Hoang Hoa Tham Street Hanoi, Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Excellencies, I am writing to express my serious and urgent concern about the detention and arrest of Vietnamese citizens for using the Internet to receive and transmit information globally. I am particularly concerned for the well-being of writer and attorney Lê Chi Quang, whose health has deteriorated since his detention. As you no doubt are aware, Lê Chi Quang was arrested on February 27, 2002 at an Internet café in Hanoi and charged with "acts of propaganda against the state of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam" and "communicating with overseas elements via the Internet" in connection with his on-line essay "Beware of Imperialist China," which reportedly first disclosed numerous details in the land and sea border treaties which were signed in 1999 and 2000 respectively. He was tried on November 8, 2002 in a closed court and sentenced to four years in prison followed by three years' house arrest. I am especially troubled by reports that Lê Chi Quang is critically ill and has been denied appropriate medical treatment for chronic kidney disease. I respectfully request the immediate and unconditional release of Lê Chi Quang and all other writers detained solely for the exercise of their right to freedom of expression. I also ask that Le Chi Quang receive medical treatment as a matter of urgency. Sincerely,[Your name and signature]
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Violence erupted in Tashkent the week of March 28th. Suicide bombings and shootings of Uzbek police occurred on the Chorsu market over four days and left more than 47 people dead. A wave of arrests immediately followed, many of which seemed to target peaceful Muslim dissidents and their relatives. Among those detained was Bobur Mahmudov,
son of writer Mamadali Mahmudov, who is an honorary member of our center.
On the morning of April 1, Human Rights Watch staff in Tashkent alerted PEN that Bobur Mahmudov was arrested in an apartment owned by the family between 5 and 6pm on March 30, 2004 by 9-10 non-uniformed officers from the criminal investigation department. These stripped off Bobur's pants and shirt, planted bullets in his pants pocket and asked him, "where's your father?" Bobur's arrest was witnessed by 3 workers doing renovations on the apartment. He was then was taken to the Miroulugbek ROVD, where his family went to inquire about him and bring food. The police wouldn't take the food or acknowledge that they had Bobur Mahmudov, stating that he had been taken to the GUVD. His family went to the GUVD on the evening of March 31 and learned that Mahmudov had been transferred to the City prosecutor's office who had the right to hold him for three days. The City Procuracy, however, maintained that anyone brought in during the day was returned to the prison or the GUVD and would not confirm whether Mahmudov had ever been there.
PEN American Center wrote a letter to the Uzbek government, urgently seeking information on Bobur Mahmudov's whereabouts and status and expressing our deep concern for his safety in custody. His arrest, following a wave of violence, had disturbing similarities to the arrest of his father, who was subsequently brutally tortured in custody.
Within a week, Bobur Mahmudov was released from police custody and was reunited with his family. However, his father, Mamadali Mahmudov, remains in prison for his alleged involvement in the Uzbek opposition movement. The elder Mahmudov testified to having been tortured under interrogation, including beatings, electric shock, and threat of rape of female family members. He is due for release in 2013.
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On April 22, 2004, American freelance journalist Eliza Griswold, journalist Sami Yousafzai, who is an Afghan national, and Mohamed Salim, who was serving as their driver, were detained at a military checkpoint in Bannu near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Ms. Griswold has since been released, but Mr. Yousafzai and Mr. Salim are being held incommunicado by Pakistani military intelligence. PEN has protested the detentions and is working to secure the men's release.
To read the letter,
please click here. |
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After two years in detention, Cuban authorities handed down prison sentences handed on April 27, 2004 to journalists
Léxter Téllez Castro and Carlos Brizuela Yera, and lawyer Juan Carlos González Leiva.
Léxter Téllez Castro, director of the Agencia de Prensa Libre Avileña (Avileña Free Press Agency), Carlos Brizuela Yera, director of the Cooperativa de Periodistas Independientes de Camagüey (Camagüey Cooperative of Independent Journalists), and Carlos González Leiva, a lawyer and member of the Fundación Cubana de Derechos Humanos (Cuban Human Rights Foundation), had been detained since March 4, 2002 when they formed part of a group of human rights activists who staged a peaceful protest at a hospital in support of a reporter, Jesús Alvarez Castillo, who had been earlier been assaulted by police.
At the one-day trial on April 27, 2004, Téllez Castro was sentenced to three years six months' imprisonment, while Brizuela Yera was handed a three-year sentence. González Leiva was sentenced to four years' imprisonment but immediately given a conditional release. The three are likely to have been charged with disorderly and disrespectful behaviour under Articles 144 and 200-1 of the Cuban Penal Code.
International PEN welcomes the fact that, after two years in
detention, Téllez Castro, Brizuela Yera and González Leiva were at last
brought to trial. However, it repudiates the sentences handed down to
the three men and calls upon the Cuban government to review its
treatment of those who dare to voice opinions contrary to the
official line. In that light, PEN reiterates its call for the
release of the 35 journalists and librarians sentenced following
the March 2003 clampdown on those deemed to be in opposition to the government.
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