Sentenced to Additional Seven Years in Prison
PEN has repeatedly protested Eshkevari's imprisonment, which it believes contravenes
Article 19 of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a
signatory. It seeks immediate assurances that he is safe and is being treated humanely
according to international standards, and that he be immediately and unconditionally
released.
PEN is deeply disturbed by reports that
Hojjatoleslam Hasan Yousefi Eshkevari
has been
sentenced to seven years in prison. PEN has received unconfirmed information indicating
that on October 12, 2002 the Clergyman's Special Tribunal in Tehran found Eshkevari guilty
on charges of "propaganda against the Islamic Republic" and "insulting top-rank officials,"
apparently in connection with his attendance of an academic and cultural conference in
Berlin in April 2000 at which political and social reform in Iran were publicly debated.
Eshkevari, who has remained imprisoned since August 2000 in connection with his participation
in the Berlin Conference, will reportedly be required to serve five years of the new
sentence.
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Please write a polite letter on your personal or institutional
letterhead--or copy the one below--requesting that Hojjatoleslam Hasan Yousefi Eshkevari
be released, and mail to President Khatami (postage 80˘) and to the Iranian Interests Section (postage 34˘).
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[Date]
H. E. Hojjat-ul-Islam Seyyed Mohammad Khatami Your Excellency, I am writing to express my serious and urgent concern about reports that PEN American Center Honorary Member Hojjatoleslam Hasan Yousefi Eshkevari has been sentenced to seven years in prison. PEN has received unconfirmed information that on October 12, 2002 the Clergyman's Special Tribunal in Tehran found Mr. Eshkevari guilty on charges of "propaganda against the Islamic Republic," "insulting top-rank officials," in connection with his attendance of an academic and cultural conference in Berlin in April 2000. According to this information, our colleague will be required to serve five years of the sentence, as he has already spent two years in detention. PEN has repeatedly protested Mr. Eshkevari's imprisonment and continues to believe that it is in direct violation of Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights, to which Iran is signatory. I sincerely hope that if this sentence has indeed been entered against him, it will be annulled and all outstanding charges against him will be dismissed. I therefore respectfully request that Mr. Eshkevari be unconditionally released as a matter of urgency. Sincerely, [Your name and signature]
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Sentenced to Five Years in Prison
PEN is gravely concerned about the imprisonment and sentencing of lawyer, author, and
translator
Nasser Zarafshan to five years in prison and 70 lashes for "disseminating state
secrets and possessing weapons and alcohol." Members of the Judicial Organization of Armed
Forces (JOAF) originally arrested Zarafshan in October 2000 after he had given a speech
in the city of Chiraz in which he stated that the intelligence services had murdered five
Iranian intellectuals in 1998 in Tehran. Those deaths came to be known in Iran as the
'serial murders' case, and Zarafshan has acted as legal representative to two of the
victims' families. He was initially charged with publishing information about the
assassinations. In February 2002 he was finally tried in a closed, military court where the
judge was a prosecutor with the JOAF. It is still unclear to this day why Zarafshan, a
civilian, was brought before the JOAF, the purpose of which is to try members of the armed
forces and Revolutionary Guards for violations of the military code.
Zarafshan's sentence was upheld as of July 16, 2002 and he has reportedly appealed to
the Supreme Court and is currently awaiting a decision, which should be imminent. He is
also reportedly undergoing medical examinations to ascertain whether he is healthy enough
to face the flogging sentence.
PEN believes that the actions against Nasser Zarafshan are in retribution for his
criticism of the official investigation carried out into the 'serial murders' of 1998 and as
a means of silencing others who seek the truth behind the killings. PEN is calling for his
immediate and unconditional release.
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When the sentence was announced Zeybek was in Sweden to receive the PEN Tucholsky Award,
granted annually to writers who have been persecuted, threatened, or in exile from his or
her own country. She has lodged an appeal to the Supreme Court against the sentence and
remains free while her case is under appeal.
PEN is shocked by the length of the sentence against Ms. Zeybek and urges that her
extraordinarily long pre-trial detention, as well as other concerns about ill treatment
while she was detained, be taken into account by the appeal court. It urges that she not
be forced to return to prison.
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Honorary Member |
Dear Colleagues,
I have just returned from the labor camp in Ussuriysk, where Grigory Pasko is serving his
sentence. I visited Pasko together with Anatoly Pyshkin, his lawyer. There were some
difficulties in getting into the camp, and we did not receive a visiting permit in advance.
However, we were allowed to meet with Pasko for three hours in the camp officer's presence.
Grigory did not look bad, but he has grown thin because of the hard work and the lack of
proper rest. His work as a carpenter from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. is very hard for him
because of his diseased back, and we asked the command of the camp to provide him an easier
work place.
One thousand people are serving their sentence in this labor camp. Grigory is working in
the detachment of 60 persons who are living together in the same barracks. There are given
three meals per day, but they are very bad. I brought him a food parcel of approximately
$200 and left $50 in his prison account so he could buy food in a camp provision shop.
He is allowed to receive food parcels once a month and soon his wife will have such an
opportunity. I brought him warm clothes--including fur-lined shoes--as the weather has
become cold there. Fortunately, there is no tuberculosis in that camp, like in other
Russian labor camps.
I gave Grigory best regards from all those who attended the Congress in Macedonia and
from all PEN Centers that have elected him as an Honorary Member. I told him that we
will continue our activities to see that he is released from prison. The main difficulty
he has encountered is intellectual isolation. "There is nobody to talk with--and this is
the main problem," he said to me, "Take me from here, I cannot stay any more."
On December 25 Grigory will have served two-thirds of his term. After that there exists
a possibility for Pasko to be released. With this in mind, the Pasko Defense Committee and
I are recommending that all appeals be addressed to the Justice Ministry, since that is
the ministry that will determine whether Grigory is eligible for early release. Of course
it could be politically useful to keep related pressure on Putin and the Russian government
as well.
I don't think anything will happen to Grigory in the camp. The other prisoners, criminals,
and murderers understand that Grigory is not a prisoner like them and he is watched over by
the high camp leadership. However, he tries to do everything to avoid any complications.
For example, Sunday is his day off, but Grigory is busy from 9:00 a.m. There is usually a
line of prisoners waiting for his help to write letters and appeals. You can understand
that the attitude of other prisoners cannot be bad.
Representatives from the European Parliament are going to visit Pasko soon, as well as
some human rights defenders and deputies. I'll inform you when it will be necessary to
write appeals and letters of support.
Grigory is informed of your support and sends you his thanks.
Sincerely yours,
Alexander Tkachenko
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PEN American Center received the following letter from Russian PEN Center General
Secretary Alexander Tkachenko, who recently visited with Honorary Member
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Since the campaign was launched, the Zimbabwean government has conceded that a section of
the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) is actually unconstitutional.
It is expected that the admission will have an impact on cases coming to court under the
act, particularly those of Geoffry Nyarota, editor-in-chief of The Daily News, and Lloyd
Mudiwa, the newspaper's municipal reporter. According to the Media Institute of Southern
Africa, both journalists are being charged under Section 80 of the AIPPA for allegedly
abusing their journalistic privilege by publishing falsehoods.
A full report of the campaign will appear in the next edition of the Bulletin.
Meanwhile, PEN members are encouraged to use the
campaign materials
and continue writing letters of appeal on behalf of our colleagues in Zimbabwe even after
the campaign comes to a close.
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The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN launched a campaign focusing attention
on the plight of journalists in Zimbabwe. The two-week push began on October 28, 2002.
Week one of the campaign highlighted the cases of 21 journalists who have been sentenced,
briefly detained, received death threats, or are facing charges or deportation. Week two of
the campaign examined and denounced legislation used to restrict freedom of expression and
the media in the country.
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In addition to challenging threats posed by the proliferation of anti-terror measures, the
Freedom to Write Committee is seeking to counter two other significant and urgent threats
to freedom of expression around the world.
One of the most alarming trends to PEN is the growing use of criminal libel and defamation
laws to jail or silence writers and journalists around the world. Of the nearly 900 cases
PEN is currently monitoring internationally, roughly a quarter involve writers or
journalists who are either in prison or ensnared in time-consuming, resource-draining
legal proceedings for allegedly violating laws supposedly designed to prevent calumnious or
mendacious writings. In Africa, half of some 200 active cases involve what PEN believes is
the misuse of insult laws to prevent the dissemination of damaging information or silence
unpopular or dissenting voices.
Abid Hussain, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Protection and Promotion of the
Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression, has identified criminal libel proceedings as
one of the most significant current threats to freedom of information and expression around
the world. In his 2000 Annual Report, Mr. Hussain outlined what he characterized as the
minimal protections necessary to ensure that defamation laws "are not used (or abused) to
stifle open public debate of matters of general or specific interest." Principal among these
are:
As an organization whose members pledge themselves to oppose both "any form of suppression
of freedom of expression" and "mendacious publication, deliberate falsehood, and distortion
of facts for political and personal ends," PEN supports the Special Rapporteur's guidelines.
PEN believes strongly that civil rather than criminal proceedings are adequate and
appropriate for the resolution of libel and defamation claims, and it has routinely
challenged the jailing of writers and journalists under insult laws. But as the misuse
of libel proceedings continues to spread, the Freedom to Write Committee is determined
to develop new materials to raise awareness of, and new strategies to confront, this
growing threat to freedom of expression. The Committee is to release its recommendations
in the spring of 2003.
Meanwhile, the Committee will also be co-leading a global PEN campaign against the
entrenched problem of impunity for those who commit human rights abuses, especially
state and private agents who threaten, attack, or murder writers and journalists. PEN
recorded almost 200 such cases during the first six months of 2002, many in countries
that have long faced criticism for failing to prosecute perpetrators of similar acts -
evidence that societies plagued by impunity for crimes against writers not only fail to
deliver justice for past abuse victims and their families, but also leave other writers
vulnerable to the censorship of the bullet.
PEN Canada is spearheading the year-long campaign, which will be launched when the
Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN holds its biennial meeting in San Miguel
de Allende, Mexico in late November. The push will conclude with a variety of public
events and press activities that will take place when PEN holds its 69th World Congress
of Writers in Mexico City in November 2003. In addition to pressuring governments to bring
to justice the perpetrators of specific unpunished crimes against writers and journalists
in a number of countries, the campaign also aims to generate publicity and public pressure
both in countries where impunity reigns and in the international community, and to advance
efforts at the Human Rights Commissions of the United Nations and the Organizations of
American States to address the problem. Eduardo Bertoni, the Rapporteur on Freedom of
Expression for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, will join PEN at the San
Miguel conference, and PEN will work with his office and the office of the UN Special
Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression throughout the year to share findings, inform IACHR
and UNCHR resolutions and recommendations, and coordinate actions.
The Canadian government is the lead sponsor of the United Nations Resolutions on freedom
of expression and impunity, and is providing campaign support through its Human Security
Program. The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN will provide research support
and international campaign coordination, and PEN American Center will coordinate press
strategy and publicity efforts.
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This year, at its annual Gala, PEN American Center will spotlight not only on a U.S.-resident
First Amendment hero and two international Freedom to Write champions, but also on a
publisher outside the United States who has paid a price for refusing to bend to
censorship.
PEN will join with the International Freedom to Publish Committee of the Association of
American Publishers to confer the first Jeri Laber International Freedom to Publish Award.
The award, which will be given annually to a book publisher outside the United States who
has demonstrated courage and fortitude in the face of political persecution, will carry a
cash prize of $5,000.
PEN American Center has had a long and close collaboration with the IFTPC, which was
established in 1975 to defend and broaden the freedom of the written word and to protect
and promote the rights of book publishers and authors around the world. The IFTPC and
PEN's Freedom to Write Committee often share information and coordinate campaign activities
on behalf of editors and publishers working in countries where freedom of expression is
under siege.
The IFTPC Freedom to Publish prize is named in honor of Jeri Laber, one of the founding
members of the IFTPC and the Committee's professional advisor for the past twenty-seven
years. She was a co-founder of Helsinki Watch, which ultimately became Human Rights Watch,
and was Executive Director of Helsinki Watch from 1979 to 1995. Her memoir, The Courage of
Strangers: Coming of Age with the Human Rights Movement, was published on May 14, 2002,
by Public Affairs Books.
The IFTPC and PEN Centers around the world will nominate candidates for the award, with a
panel of IFTPC and PEN representatives selecting the recipient. Jeri Laber will present
the first International Freedom to Publish Award at the PEN Literary Gala on April 22,
2003 at the Pierre Hotel in New York.
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Two months after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, PEN representatives from
around the world issued a statement expressing deep concern over a wave of anti-terrorism
legislation and executive orders that were being proposed or had already been enacted in
the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Denmark, Japan, Russian and many other
countries, warning that many of the measures threatened to place unacceptable restrictions
on essential human rights.
Many of the new laws of concern to PEN were patterned on presidential orders and
anti-terrorism and immigration legislation enacted in the United States in the immediate
aftermath of the attacks, most notably the USA PATRIOT Act--measures that PEN American
Center believes will significantly curtail freedom of expression, freedom of assembly,
freedom of movement, and due process protections guaranteed under the Constitution of the
United States and international law and human rights treaties.
With concerns mounting over the present implementation and possible future uses of many
provisions of these measures, PEN American Center's Freedom to Write Committee has
targeted three areas for action. They are:
Bookstore sales and library lending records
Under Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act, the FBI can obtain warrants to determine what
books a person may have purchased from a bookstore or borrowed from a library. The warrants
are obtained in a special court in secret proceedings and do not require a showing that
there is reason to believe the person is involved in criminal activity, and contain a gag
provision that prevents a bookseller or librarian from revealing the fact that they have
even received such an order.
The terms of Section 215 make it all but impossible for watchdog organizations to determine
whether the government may be abusing its power by issuing hundreds of such orders. At the
same time, the Bush Administration has made clear it is hostile to scrutiny even by the
Congressional committee charged under the law with overseeing the implementation of the USA
PATRIOT Act. The Justice Department has ignored repeated requests from the House Judiciary
Committee for statistical information on how many and what type of warrants have been issued
since the Act was passed, insisting that it will only release such information to
Congressional Intelligence committees - effectively blocking any release of information to
the public.
PEN is deeply concerned about the possible chilling effects of Section 215. Left
uncorrected, the section has potential to stigmatize whole bodies of knowledge and
literature, leaving Americans reluctant to seek out the very materials they need to evaluate
such complicated and pressing policy questions as what constitutes terrorism and terrorist
activity. This carries with it the disturbing long-range prospect that, as demand is
suppressed, less and less of these materials will be published or publicly available.
Working in coalition with the American Library Association and American Booksellers for
Freedom of Expression, and the National Committee Against Censorship, PEN has been urging
members of Congress to amend Section 215 to eliminate all threats to the First Amendment
and strengthen oversight of its application, and to persevere in efforts to secure
statistical information on how many times the government has sought records under the
section.
Visas for foreign visitors The Freedom to Write Committee is increasingly concerned that new guidelines governing visas for foreigners wishing to travel to the United States are affecting international cultural exchanges and inhibiting writers, journalists, and cultural figures with no connection to terrorist organizations from traveling to the United States. As an organization founded on the principle that the free international movement of people and ideas across international borders is essential to counteract the dangers posed by cultural isolation and extreme nationalism, PEN American Center believes that legitimate security concerns in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2002 should not affect the right of peaceful citizens from around the world to visit the United States for either professional or personal reasons - and that, indeed, in the current international climate U.S. interests can best be served by fostering a full and free exchange of people and ideas. A number of anti-terrorism and immigration laws and regulations enacted since 9/11 contain new restrictions on visa eligibility and issuing procedures. In May, the State Department announced that all visa requests from the seven so-called Axis of Evil countries would receive rigorous scrutiny, and there are reports that additional countries have since been added to that list. With the resulting backlog in visa processing, several prominent international artists and musicians have been unable to attend events for which they were scheduled to appear in the United States. The State Department recently pledged to cut the backlog and expedite visa processing. More troubling to PEN than the length of time required to receive a visa, however, are early indications that visa decisions made under controversial new definitions of terrorism and support for terrorism could lead to what amount to ideological exclusions of writers and intellectuals whose ideas or views may be challenging to the United States. Such appears to have been the case this past month, when prominent Turkish author and human rights activist Haluk Gerger and his wife were detained at Newark Airport, informed that their 10-year tourist visas had been cancelled, and forced to return to Europe on the next flight. PEN is deeply troubled by the treatment of Professor Gerger, one of hundreds of Turkish writers and intellectuals who were jailed under security and anti-terror laws that were routinely abused to jail peaceful critics of government policies, and especially Turkey's treatment of its Kurdish minority. Gerger appeared on PEN's case list consistently throughout the 1990s as he defended himself in numerous court proceedings and served two prison terms. PEN was not alone in supporting the well-known political journalist and co-founder of an independent human rights organization: the U.S. State Department highlights his treatment in its 1993 and 1994 country reports on Turkey as examples of the misapplication of overly-broad anti-terror measures in violation of international protections for freedom of expression. In a recent letter, both International PEN and PEN American Center protested the cancellation of Professor Gerger's visa. Meanwhile, the Freedom to Write Committee is launching a review of visa regulations enacted since September 11, 2002 and their application. Secret Trials and Detentions As an international human rights organization devoted to protecting the right to freedom of expression wherever it is threatened, PEN has consistently challenged the use of secret tribunals and indefinite detentions without charge or trial by abusive regimes around the world. Extra-constitutional military tribunals in particular have been used to circumvent due process protections and secure convictions of dissidents: in one highly-publicized example, in 1995 renowned Nigerian author Ken Saro-Wiwa was tried and convicted by a military tribunal, sentenced to death, and ultimately executed on trumped up murder charges. As in countless other instances in countries such as Burma, China, Egypt, Peru, Turkey, Iran, and Russia, the United States government joined with international human rights organizations in condemning that proceeding for clearly violating due process protections under international law. Now, under provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act and other anti-terrorism orders and legislation, the United States is developing an alternative justice system that mirrors some of the very systems it openly criticized prior to September 11, 2001. The constitutionality of secret detentions and trials of non-citizens before secret military tribunals is sure to be thoroughly tested in the U.S. courts. The terms and conditions of detentions, for example, have been challenged in two suits that have resulted in conflicting Appellate Court decisions, with the matter likely to be reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court later this year. PEN is following the progress of these and other related challenges to legal procedures outlined in anti-terrorism legislation, and will seek to participate in these challenges through amicus curiae briefs where appropriate. At the same time, fearful that the special courts and detention procedures established in the U.S. in the wake of 9/11 will be used by oppressive regimes to legitimize trial procedures in their own countries that violate basic norms of justice and due process, the Freedom to Write Committee is seeking to foster both public discussion and Congressional review of the use of special military tribunals and the new, extraordinary measures permitting secret and prolonged detentions in the United States.
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2003 PEN/Newman's Own First Amendment Award
Nominations are sought for the 2003 PEN/Newman's Own First Amendment Award. The award,
$25,000 and a limited-edition artwork, is presented each spring to a U.S. resident who has
fought courageously, despite adversity, to safeguard the First Amendment right to freedom of
expression as it applies to the written word.
Last year's winner, freelance writer Vanessa Leggett, was jailed in a federal detention
center in Texas for 168 days for refusing to bow to a sweeping subpoena of confidential
source materials. Previous honorees and nominees include writers, publishers, journalists,
editors, booksellers, schoolteachers, and librarians who have challenged attempts to censor
or suppress information and literature.
Each candidate must be suggested by a nominator, who can be an individual or be affiliated
with the literary, journalism, education, legal, or human rights communities. Nominators are
asked to complete an application form. The panel of judges will include three prominent PEN
authors and two First Amendment experts. The award will be presented at the annual PEN
benefit dinner in New York City in late spring 2003.
December 31, 2002
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