The Freedom to Write Committee has elected the following imprisoned or persecuted writers as Honorary Members of PEN American Center. Honorary Membership is a way of signifying PEN's serious concern for a particular writer and its commitment to press their case until the writer is freed, exonerated, or safe from further threats. International pressure is the single most critical factor in the fate of writers imprisoned or harassed around the world. PEN urges those concerned to assist its Honorary Members by sending clear, politely worded messages of protest to the foreign governments involved. Sample letters and all relevant contact information are included in each case sheet, and may be accessed by clicking on the names below.

CAMEROON Georges Baongla - Journalist and publication director of an independent weekly sentenced in absentia in October 2001 to five years' imprisonment and fined 17 million CFA francs (approx. US$22,800) for publishing several articles denouncing the misappropriation of funds by the Minister of the Economy and Finances. It is reported that his prison sentence was annulled on August 4, 2003.

CHINA Liu Jingsheng - RELEASED! Former co-editor of a dissident magazine serving a 15-year prison term for writing and distributing pro-democracy leaflets and for his involvement in peaceful opposition activities. His sentence was recently reduced for "good behavior" and he is due to be released in February of 2006. According to PEN's international colleagues, Liu Jingsheng was released on November 27, 2004.

TIBET AUTONOMOUS REGION Ven Ngawang Phulchung - Tibetan monk, human rights activist, and leader of the Drepung printing group sentenced to 19 years' imprisonment for promoting a democratic system in an independent Tibet. He is due for release on April 15, 2008.

XINJIANG UIGHUR AUTONOMOUS REGION Tohti Tunyaz - Ethnic Uighur historian and writer condemned to 11 years in prison with an additional two years' deprivation of political rights for researching his people's history.

CUBA Bernardo Arévalo Padrón- RELEASED! An independent journalist imprisoned since 1997 in connection with his independent news reporting, he was transferred in July from a labor camp to maximum security Ariza Prison. Arévalo Padrón remains in jail despite being eligible for parole since October 2000. Authorities maintain that he has not been sufficiently "politically re-educated." He has vowed to continue his journalistic work even behind bars by reporting news of prison conditions. According to RSF and other sources, Bernardo Arévalo Padrón was released on November 13, 2003 upon the completion of his sentence.

Raúl Rivero- RELEASED! Poet, writer, and independent journalist, sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in April 2003 under laws governing the protection of the Cuban state. He was arrested as part of a crackdown on alleged dissidents that began on March 18 and ended in the arrest of more than 80 people. Raúl Rivero was freed on November 30, 2004 after having been transferred from prison to a military hospital in the capital, Havana, for medical tests.

ERITREA Yusuf Mohamed Ali, Mattewos Habteab, Dawit Habtemichael, Medhanie Haile, Temesgen Ghebreyesus, Emanuel Asrat, Wedi Ade, Dawit Isaac, Fesshaye Yohannes, and Said Abdulkader - Journalists and members of the independent press in Eritrea arrested in the aftermath of the closure of eight private newspapers on September 18, 2001. All continue to be imprisoned without charge, and nine began a hunger strike on March 31, 2002 to protest their detention. It is reported that Dawit Isaac was hospitalized for being tortured.

IRAN Hojjatoleslam Hasan Yousefi Eshkevari - Researcher and journalist arrested for participating in an academic and cultural conference in Berlin in April 2000 and tried in the Special Court for the Clergy. His trial ended on October 17, 2000. He was sentenced to seven years in prison. In early March 2003, an appeals court in Iran upheld his sentence.

Akbar Ganji - Journalist arrested following his involvement in an academic and cultural conference in Berlin in April 2000. He was sentenced in July 2001 to six years’ imprisonment on charges of collecting confidential information harmful to national security and spreading propaganda against the Islamic system.

Siamak Pourzand - Veteran journalist, film critic, and manager of a cultural center for writers, artists, and intellectuals sentenced on May 3, 2002 to 11 years in prison. PEN fears the charges against him are based on confessions that were extracted under duress during the six months he was held in incommunicado detention.

Khalil Rostamkhani - Translator and journalist sentenced to eight years in prison for organizing an academic and cultural conference in Berlin in April 2000.

Ezzatollah Sahabi - Editor sentenced to four-and-a-half-years’ imprisonment for his participation in an academic and cultural conference in Berlin in April 2000. He is also believed to be one of 15 members of the National Religious Alliance to stand trial in camera in January 2002 on charges of "subversive activities against the state" and "blasphemy," both of which carry the death penalty.

Nasser Zarafshan - Author, translator, and attorney sentenced to five years’ imprisonment and 70 lashes for his criticism of the official investigation carried out into the murders of five Iranian intellectuals and writers in 1998 in Tehran.

MYANMAR Aung Myint - RELEASED! Journalist, poet, and head of the information department of the National League for Democracy (NLD) sentenced to 21 years' imprisonment on charges relating to a press release he and his assistant issued a few hours after NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi was arrested by security forces as she was trying to leave Rangoon in September 2000. Aung Myint was released in January 2005.

TUNISIA Zouhair Yahyaoui- RELEASED! Founded Internet magazine TUNeZINE.com shortly after graduating from college to disseminate information on the struggle for democracy in Tunisia and publish opposition material. Shortly after TUNeZINE invited readers to vote on whether Tunisia was "a republic, a kingdom, a zoo, or a prison," Yahyaoui was arrested and subsequently tried and sentenced to twenty-eight months in prison for "propagation of false news," "non-authorized usage of an Internet connection" and "theft from an employer." On appeal, his sentence was reduced to 24 months. Yahyaoui has gone on several hunger strikes since his imprisonment to protest the appalling prison conditions and ill treatment he has suffered. According to Tunezine.com, Zouhair Yahyaoui was released from prison on November 18, 2003.

TURKEY Asiye Güzel Zeybek - Former editor and writer sentenced in absentia to 12 and one-half years in prison, after having spent five years and four months in prison without being convicted of any crime, for her alleged connections with the now defunct Marxist-Leninist Communist Party. She remains free pending the appeal hearing.

Ragip Zarakolu - Writer and publisher who founded Belge Publishing House, a focus for censorship since its inception. Turkish authorities have brought a barrage of charges against him over the years, resulting in imprisonment, the wholesale confiscation and destruction of books, and the imposition of heavy fines. He is currently on trial for an article published in March 2003.

UZBEKISTAN Muhammad Bekjanov - Journalist sentenced to 15 years in prison for his alleged involvement in the Uzbek opposition movement. In December 2003, the lead witness in his prosecution told a press conference that he had given evidence under torture. Uzbek authorities responded by reducing the fifty-year-old journalist's sentence to 13 years. He suffers from tuberculosis, which he contracted in prison.

Mamadali Mahmudov - Writer sentenced to 14 years in prison for his alleged involvement in the Uzbek opposition movement. He 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.

Yusif Ruzimuradov - Journalist sentenced to 8 years in prison for his alleged involvement in the Uzbek opposition movement. According to a written statement released in January 2003, violent threats were made against members of his family, and torture and psychological incentives were used to obtain his "confession."

Ruslan Sharipov-RELEASED! 25-year old journalist and human rights activist, sentenced to 5 & 1/2 years imprisonment in August 2003 under laws criminalizing homosexuality. His sentence was reduced by one year upon appeal. In harrowing letters, Sharipov described the array of physical and psychological tortures he has been subjected to in detention and expressed serious fears for his safety. In October 2004, Ruslan Sharipov obtained political asylum and is now in the United States.

VIETNAM Lę Chi Quang - RELEASED! Lawyer and computer teacher whose essay "Beware of Imperialist China" was distributed on the Internet. He was arrested at an Internet café in Hanoi and sentenced to four years in prison and three years of house arrest after a half-day closed trial on charges of disseminating propaganda against the state. He suffers from serious kidney dysfunction, and there is concern that he has not been allowed to receive an appropriate diagnosis of his condition and effective medical treatment. He and another prisoner reportedly share a squalid six-square-meter cell. Lę Chi Quang was released on June 14th, two years before he was due to complete his prison sentence.