On July 16, 2009, PEN American Center and PEN Canada sent the following open letter signed by over 100 of the world's most prominent writers to Iranian authorities calling for the release of journalist, editor, playwright, and filmmaker Maziar Bahari, who has been held incommunicado in Tehran since June 21, 2009. A PDF of the document is also available.

July 16, 2009

His Excellency Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Justice Ministry 
Pazdah-Khordad (Ark) Square
Tehran, Iran
Via fax: 98 21 222 90 151

Your Excellency,

We, the undersigned members of the international community of poets, playwrights, essayists and novelists, are writing to express our grave concern for our colleague Maziar Bahari, who was detained while covering events surrounding the disputed presidential elections in Iran on June 12, 2009.

Mr. Bahari has been held incommunicado and without charge since June 21, 2009, and has not been granted access to a lawyer. We are extremely troubled by reports of an alleged “confession” subsequently published by an Iranian state news agency, in which Mr. Bahari is said to admit to participating in an alleged western media effort to promote irresponsible reporting in Iran.

Maziar Bahari is an internationally respected and award-winning Canadian-Iranian journalist, editor, playwright, and filmmaker who has been living and working in Tehran for the past ten years and whose reporting is valued and respected around the world. His continued detention casts serious doubt on Iran’s commitment to a free exchange of information and ideas and to international guarantees of freedom of the press. We urge you to release Mr. Bahari, and all others detained in connection with their post-election reporting in Iran, immediately and without condition.

Sincerely,

Chris Abani, Nigeria/USA

Aravind Adiga, India

Edward Albee, USA

Martin Amis, UK

K. Anthony Appiah, USA

Nadeem Aslam, Pakistan/UK

Margaret Atwood, Canada

Paul Auster, USA

Russell Banks, USA

Sebastian Barry, Ireland

Ishmael Beah, Sierra Leone/USA

Giaconda Belli, Nicaragua/USA

Anouar Benmalek, Algeria/France

Breyten Breytenbach, USA

Ian Buruma, Netherlands/USA

Peter Carey, Australia/USA

Massimo Carlotto, Italy

Vikram Chandra, India/USA

Ron Chernow, USA

Billy Collins, USA

Alan Cumyn, Canada

Rebecca Curtis, USA

Jose Dalisay, Philippines

Edwidge Danticat, USA/Haiti

Bei Dao, China

Alain de Botton, Switzerland

Don DeLillo, USA

Kiran Desai, India/USA

E.L. Doctorow, USA

Ariel Dorfman, Chile/USA

György Dragomán, Hungary

Umberto Eco, Italy

Dave Eggers, USA

Dr. Carolin Emcke, Germany

Victor Erofeyev, Russia

Nuruddin Farah, Somalia/South Africa

Joshua Foer, USA

Charles Foran, Canada

Jonathan Franzen, USA

Neil Gaiman, UK

Forrest Gander, USA

Francisco Goldman, USA

Nadine Gordimer, South Africa

Philip Gourevitch, USA

Katherine Govier, Canada

Mark Greif, USA

David Grossman, Israel

Arnon Grunberg, Netherlands

Rawi Hage, Canada

Jessica Hagedorn, USA

Aleksandar Hemon, Bosnia/USA

Amy Hempel, USA

Lawrence Hill, Canada

Chenjerai Hove, Zimbabwe

Siri Hustvedt, USA

Ma Jian, China/UK

Ha Jin, China/USA

Lieve Joris, Belgium

Christian Jungersen, Denmark

Daniel Kehlmann, Austria/Germany

William Kennedy, USA

Etgar Keret, Israel

Yasmina Khadra, Algeria

Elias Khoury, Lebanon

Mark Kingwell, Canada

Naomi Klein, Canada

Michael Krueger, Germany

Mark Kurlansky, USA

Paul LaFarge, USA

Dany Laferrière, Haiti/Canada

Nick Laird, Ireland

Nam Le, Vietnam/Australia

Jonathan Letham, USA

Yiyun Li, China/USA

Geert Mak, Netherlands

Yann Martel, Canada

Colum McCann, Ireland/USA

Ian McEwan, UK

Patrick McGrath, UK

Suketu Mehta, India/USA

Catherine Millet, France

Luke Mitchell, USA

Daniyal Mueenuddin, Pakistan

Antonio Muñoz Molina, Spain

Cees Nooteboom, Netherlands

Michael Ondaatje, Sri Lanka/Canada

Susan Orlean, USA

George Packer, USA

Orhan Pamuk, Turkey

Richard Patterson, USA

Caryl Phillips, UK

Steven Pinker, Canada

Elena Poniatowska, Mexico

Jose Manuel Prieto, Cuba/USA

Francine Prose, USA

Nino Ricci, Canada

Adrienne Rich, USA

Roxana Robinson, USA

Philip Roth, USA

John Ralston Saul, Canada

Lionel Shriver, USA

Gary Shteyngart, USA

Zadie Smith, UK

Wole Soyinka, Nigeria

Rose Styron, USA

Wells Tower, USA

Jane Urquhart, Canada

Mario Vargas Llosa, Peru

M.G. Vassanji, Canada

Alice Walker, USA

Eliot Weinberger, USA

Edmund White, USA

Sean Wilsey, USA

Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Kenya

A.B. Yehoshua, Israel

Saadi Yousef, Iraq/UK

Adam Zagajewski, Poland