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DAY OF THE IMPRISONED WRITER November 15, 2004
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"Freedom of speech is a source of power. If used constructively,
it is amazing what speech can do. It can fight corruption,
free political prisoners, and make oppressive regimes crumble."
- His Royal Highness Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, 70th International Congress of International PEN, Tromsø, September 2004. Around the world today over 200 writers and journalists are in prison. Their only 'crime' is to have made known their opinions, through their writings and speeches, or to have been affiliated with others whose views are in conflict to those in power. From January to June 2004 alone, the Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN monitored over 740 attacks upon writers and journalists in 99 countries, ranging from long-term imprisonment, persistent harassment, threats, attacks, and, most shockingly, 11 murders. These are in direct violation of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights that protects the rights not to be subject to arbitrary detention, and guarantees the rights to freedom of expression and association. To consolidate and reinforce the worldwide efforts of the International PEN community of writers to advocate on behalf of their colleagues who are persecuted for expressing their thoughts, in 1980, November 15 was earmarked as a day when writers world wide would commemorate writers under attack. November 15, 2004 marks the 24th Day of the Imprisoned Writer. Each year since 1980, International PEN has selected cases - usually five, sometimes more - that illustrate the type of attacks that writers suffer. This year the focus will be on: Abbas Amin Fakhravar, serving eight years in Iran for writing a book critical of the authorities; Rakhim Esenov a writer banned and awaiting charges in Turkmenistan, unable to leave the country for essential medical treatment; four internet activists served with lengthy sentences in the Maldives who have also suffered at the hands of their jailers; Guy-André Kieffer, a journalist missing since April 2004 in the Ivory Coast and Roberto Mora, Francisco J. Ortiz and Francisco Arratia Saldierna, journalists murdered this year in Mexico. Twenty-seven other writers and journalists killed since 15 November 2003 in eighteen countries will also be commemorated. PEN members will also focus on 13 other cases of persons who have featured in previous years' Day of the Imprisoned Writer who continue to remain in detention or on trial. They are: In Myanmar, writer, icon of democracy and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, continues her 16th year in detention, mostly under solitary confinement. Writer and columnist, Taslima Nasrin (Bangladesh), charged with 'deliberate and malicious intention of hurting the religious sentiments' and tried on December 10, 1994 in absentia continues to remain in exile as her trial drags on into its 10th year. Pham Van Thuong (Vietnam), a Buddhist monk, writer and scholar under more or less constant arrest since 1978, and who is still held incommunicado at his residence. Jiang Weiping (China), journalist and poet, is serving a six years' imprisonment for his articles on corruption in the new economic zones. Siamak Pourzand (Iran), an elderly writer and film critic is serving 11 years' imprisonment on charges of "undermining state security through his links with monarchists and counter-revolutionaries". Professor Yury Bandazhevsky (Belarus), nuclear scientist and author of numerous widely published articles on the effects of radio-active fall-out from the Chernobyl disaster, is serving four years' imprisonment. In Cuba, given summary one-day trials, seven Internet journalists are serving prison sentences ranging from 16 to 26 years, held in remote prisons under máximo rigor- the harshest prison conditions allowed by the Cuban penal system. Repression of the freedom to expression continues unabated and on this day PEN members worldwide will express solidarity, support and a united voice against injustice meted out to their colleagues that will reverberate globally.
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