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PEN ADVOCACY
PEN works to protect the freedom of the written word wherever it is imperiled. It defends writers and journalists from all over the world who are imprisoned, threatened, persecuted, or attacked in the course of carrying out their profession. In the U.S. it protests book-bannings in schools and counters legal challenges to the First Amendment.
BREAKING NEWS

liu xiaobo July 2, 2008:
Chinese Journalist Sentenced, Others Prevented From Meeting U.S. Officials
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proseJune 19, 2008:
50 Days Before Olympics, PEN Urges U.S. Action for Writers Jailed in China
>> More

zarakolu 38x40 June 19, 2008:
PEN, Publishers Decry Conviction of Ragip Zarakolu in Turkey
>> More

chinese flagJune 13, 2008:
Detentions Escalate at China Quake Site
>> More

feng zhenghu 38x40June 6, 2008:
No Let-Up: China Detains Another Writer
>> More

Cuba: Normando Hernández GonzálezMay 30, 2008:
Normando Hernández González Removed from Hospital, Returned to Prison
>> More

woeser smallMay 28, 2008:
PEN Protests Cyber-Attacks Against Woeser
>> More



MORE NEWS:

May 22, 2008: Chinese Writer and Professor Guo Quan Detained

May 12, 2008: Crackdown Intensifies in China During Olympic Torch Relay

May 6, 2008: Chinese Authorities Detain Writer Zhou Yuanzhi

April 30, 2008: PEN Writer and Chinese Citizen Yu Zhang Denied Entry to Hong Kong

April 24, 2008: PEN to Present Petition to Chinese Mission Demanding Release of Jailed Colleagues

April 18, 2008: PEN Denounces Detention of Jamyang Kyi

April 11, 2008: Yang Tongyan to Receive 2008 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award

April 11, 2008: V.A. Nurse to Receive 2008 PEN/Katherine Anne Porter First Amendment Award

April 10, 2008: Zhu Yufu Receives Tougher Sentence After Re-Trial

April 3, 2008: Hu Jia Sentenced to 3 1/2 Years for for “Inciting Subversion”

March 31, 2008: British Author Sebastian Horsley Refused Entry to U.S.

March 18, 2008: Trial Reinforces Fears Hu Jia Is Being Silenced for His Writings

March 18, 2008: On Fifth Anniversary of Cuba's Black Spring, 28 Writers Still Imprisoned


>> All news

CAMPAIGNS






ADVOCACY CASES

China: Shi Tao
Incarcerated: November 24, 2004

shi tao small Journalist and poet arrested for posting meeting notes about China's Propaganda Department's treatment of the 15th anniversary of Tiananmen Square; currently serving 10-year sentence on charges of "leaking state secrets abroad." >> More

Cuba: Normando Hernández González 
Incarcerated: March 18, 2003

Cuba: Normando Hernández González Journalist imprisoned under crackdown on dissidents in 2003 and since held under dire conditions in various prisons and hospitals.
>> More

Uzbekistan: Dzamshid Karimov
Psychiatric confinement: September 2006

Uzbekistan: Dzamshid Karimov Journalist who has covered human rights abuses and written articles critical of government; held in psychiatric detention for over a year.
>> More

Russia: Stanislav Dmitrievsky
Risk of immediate imprisonment

dmitrievsky small Executive Director of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society and Editor-in-Chief of Pravo-zashchita (Rights Defense); convicted for "inciting interethnic hatred by using the mass media."
>> More



>> All PEN cases

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