The Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) of International PEN strongly protests the recent decision of the Baku Court of Appeal to uphold the two-year and two and a half-year prison sentence handed down to Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade respectively. International PEN considers the continued imprisonment of both internet writers to be in breach of international standards of freedom of expression and urges for their immediate and unconditional release in accordance with Article 19 of the United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Azerbaijan is a state party.
On 11 November 2009 Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade were handed down a two-year and two and a half-year prison sentence respectively, on charges of ‘hooliganism’ and ‘inflicting minor bodily harm’. This verdict was upheld by the appeal court on 10 March 2010. Although charged with involvement in an alleged fight outside a bar, it is widely believed that these are fabricated charges, and that the reasons for their convictions are their postings on the Internet on government corruption, education and freedom of expression. One of their most popular pieces is a video that has been widely distributed on the internet that satirises the Azeri government’s decision to pay very high prices to import donkeys, leading them to become known as the “Donkey Bloggers”. The internet writers’ lawyers have announced they will be filing a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights.
Both internet writers were arrested in July 2009, and were accused of “hooliganism”, despite being the victims of an assault.
Emin Milli is the co-founder of the online Alumni Network organisation and the editor of the internet television site, ANOT. Adnan Hajizade is the co-founder of the youth movement OL (To Be).
For the previous WiPC alert, see:
http://www.internationalpen.org.uk/go/news/azerbaijan-internet-writers-sentenced-on-hooliganism-charges
For Milli and Hajizade’s YouTube video (in Azeri language with English subtitles) click here.
Recommended Action
Minimum action: send one appeal to one or more of the government addresses below.
Further Action: write a similar appeal to the Azeri Ambassador in your country or send a copy of your letter to Azerbaijan asking him/her to comment on your concerns.
Consider electing Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade as Honorary Members of your Centre – please let the PEN office in London know if you do so for further information.
Please send appeals:
· Calling for their immediate and unconditional release, in accordance with Article 19 of the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Azerbaijan is a state party; · Calling on the Azeri authorities to take urgent measures to ensure the safety of journalists and freedom of expression.
Send appeals to:
President
Ilham Aliyev
Office of the President of the Azerbaijan Republic
19 Istiqlaliyyat StreetBaku AZ1066
AzerbaijanFax: + 994 12 492 0625
Minister of Internal AffairsLt.-Gen. Ramil Usubov
Ministry of Internal Affairs
Husu Hajiyev Street 7, 370005 Baku
AzerbaijanFax: + 994 12 492 45 90
***Please contact us if sending appeals after 30 April 2010***
For further details contact Sara Whyatt at the Writers in Prison Committee London Office: International PEN, Brownlow House, 50/51 High Holborn, London WC1V 6ER UK Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7405 0338 Fax: + 44 (0) 20 7405 0339 e-mail: sara.whyatt@internationalpen.org.uk
Award-winning writer and journalist Tran Khai Thanh Thuy sentenced; health concerns.
VIETNAM:
The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN strongly protests the three and a half year prison sentence handed to writer and journalist Tran Khai Thanh Thuy. PEN considers Tran Khai Thanh Thuy to be convicted solely for peacefully exercising her right to free expression, and calls for her immediate and unconditional release in accordance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which Vietnam is a signatory.
According to International PEN’s information, Tran Khai Thanh Thuy, a novelist, poet, essayist and editor of the underground dissident magazine To Quoc (Fatherland), was sentenced by the People’s Court in Dong Da District of Ha Noi to three and a half years in prison and 47 months of probationary detention, on 5 February 2010. The verdict was given after a one day trial and was based on Article 104 of the Penal Code. At the same trial, Thuy’s husband was given a two year suspended prison sentence and 47 months of probation, but has been allowed to remain at home to care for the couple’s youngest daughter, aged thirteen.
Tran Khai Thanh Thuy was arrested on 8 October 2009, after publicly expressing her support for six dissidents facing trial. On the day of her arrest an incident took place near Thuy’s home, in which two men reportedly attacked Thuy’s husband, and she intervened on his defence. She was subsequently questioned and charged with assault, although it is widely believed that she herself was in fact the victim of the attack. Thuy suffers from diabetes and tuberculosis, and there are serious concerns that her health is deteriorating in prison. She is held at Hoa Lo Number 1 Detention Camp (Cau Dien), Han Noi.
Backgound
Tran Khai Thanh Thuy has been under heavy surveillance and harassment since September 2006 for her writings published online. She was arrested at her home in April 2007, where she had already been under house arrest for six months for her critical writings. She is a member of the Union of Writers and the Club of Women Poets of Hanoi, and is a recipient of the 2008 Hellman Hammet Award. She is among at least nineteen dissident writers currently detained in Vietnam.
BBC report: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/
Monsters and Critics : http://www.monstersandcritics.
Please send appeals:
- Calling for the immediate and unconditional of Tran Khai Thanh Thuy and all those currently detained in Vietnam in violation of Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Vietnam is a signatory;
- Seeking assurances that she is given full access to all necessary medical care whilst in prison.
NEPAL: Publisher Arun Singhaniya killed
NEPAL: Publisher Arun Singhaniya killed
Arun Singhaniya, publisher of Janakpur Today and owner of a local radio station, was shot dead at point blank range by four attackers on motorbikes as he travelled home after celebrating the Hindu festival of Holi. He is the second journalist to be killed this year, and many others have reportedly received death threats, leading to serious concerns that press freedom is sharply deteriorating in Nepal.
According to CPJ, five journalists have been killed in the past three years in Nepal (for more go to http://cpj.org/killed/asia/
Background
After a ten-year long insurgency, a peace agreement was reached by the government of Nepal and the CPN-Maoist party in November 2006, in which both sides agreed to respect press freedom. However, during 2007 this fragile peace process deteriorated, tension between the army and the Maoists grew and reports of attacks on journalists and media outlets began to escalate. The Maoists withdrew from the interim government in September 2007, demanding abolition of the monarchy. Parliament agreed to this condition in December that year, and the rebels rejoined the government. The Maoists emerged as the largest party in parliament following elections in April 2008, and the monarchy was abolished a month later. A new Maoist-dominated government finally took office in August 2008, but quickly disintegrated in May 2009, and was succeeded by another coalition excluding the Maoists led by veteran communist leader Madhav Kumar Nepal. Attempts are now being made to bring the Maoists back into the government, but there are mounting concerns that the peace agreement of 2006 could be under threat and violence is escalating in the country.
For the full FNJ report click here: http://www.ifex.org/nepal/
For the BBC report see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/
Please send appeals:
Appeals to:
Prime Minister
Madhav Kumar Nepal
Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers
Singh Durbar
Kathmandu, Nepal
P.O. Box: 23312
Email: info@opmcm.gov.np
Ministry of Home Affairs
Singha Durbar
Kathmandu
Republic of Nepal
Fax: +977 1 4211264
Email: moha@wlink.com.np
If possible please send appeals via the diplomatic representative for Nepal in your country.
The Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) of International PEN is shocked by the murder of publisher and media entrepreneur Arun Singhaniya, who was shot dead on 1 March 2010. The motive for his killing is not known. His murder adds to PEN’s concerns that journalists and writers continue to be targeted with apparent impunity in Nepal, and it urges the authorities to take immediate action to ensure all crimes against journalists are vigorously investigated and those responsible brought to justice, in accordance with Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Nepal is a signatory.
Arun Singhaniya, publisher of Janakpur Today and owner of a local radio station, was shot dead at point blank range by four attackers on motorbikes as he travelled home after celebrating the Hindu festival of Holi. He is the second journalist to be killed this year, and many others have reportedly received death threats, leading to serious concerns that press freedom is sharply deteriorating in Nepal.
According to CPJ, five journalists have been killed in the past three years in Nepal (for more go to http://cpj.org/killed/asia/
Background
After a ten-year long insurgency, a peace agreement was reached by the government of Nepal and the CPN-Maoist party in November 2006, in which both sides agreed to respect press freedom. However, during 2007 this fragile peace process deteriorated, tension between the army and the Maoists grew and reports of attacks on journalists and media outlets began to escalate. The Maoists withdrew from the interim government in September 2007, demanding abolition of the monarchy. Parliament agreed to this condition in December that year, and the rebels rejoined the government. The Maoists emerged as the largest party in parliament following elections in April 2008, and the monarchy was abolished a month later. A new Maoist-dominated government finally took office in August 2008, but quickly disintegrated in May 2009, and was succeeded by another coalition excluding the Maoists led by veteran communist leader Madhav Kumar Nepal. Attempts are now being made to bring the Maoists back into the government, but there are mounting concerns that the peace agreement of 2006 could be under threat and violence is escalating in the country.
For the full FNJ report click here: http://www.ifex.org/nepal/
For the BBC report see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/
Please send appeals:
- Protesting the murder of publisher and media entrepreneur Arun Singhaniya on 1 March 2010;
- Calling for a full, prompt and impartial investigation into his killing and all other attacks and murders of journalists and media workers in Nepal;
- Calling on the authorities to take all necessary measures to protect journalists and media workers in Nepal, in accordance with Article 19 of the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Nepal is a signatory.
Appeals to:
Prime Minister
Madhav Kumar Nepal
Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers
Singh Durbar
Kathmandu, Nepal
P.O. Box: 23312
Email: info@opmcm.gov.np
Ministry of Home Affairs
Singha Durbar
Kathmandu
Republic of Nepal
Fax: +977 1 4211264
Email: moha@wlink.com.np
If possible please send appeals via the diplomatic representative for Nepal in your country.
Escritor da Mauritânia libertado
Hanevy Ould Dehah, editor do sítio noticioso Taqadoumy (árabe para Progressivo) foi libertado da prisão de Dart Naim na capital Nouakchott a 26 February 2010 junto com outra centena de prisioneiros. O perdão presidencial chegou com os festejos do dia de aniversário de Maomé (Mawlid). Curiosamente, o 'site' continua em baixo - http://www.taqadoumy.com/
Mais informações no 'site' que lhe foi dedicado pelo P.E.N. Internacional - aqui.
Tan Zuoren condenado a 5 anos de prisão
Tan Zuoren, escritor e activista chinês, foi condenado a 5 anos de prisão após um julgamento duvidoso. Como Ai Weiwei, estava a conduzir uma investigação sobre as mortes de estudantes e crianças durante o terremoto de Sichuan no ano passado. Foi preso em 28 de Março por causa dos comentários de um e-mail seu sobre os acontecimentos de 4 de Junho, o ataque aos dissidentes de 1989 na Praça de Tiananmen; o longo julgamento seguiu-se ao de Ai Weiwei, entre outros, que foi atacado pela polícia quando ia testemunhar. Ai Weiwei ficou com danos cerebrais.Ver Apelos em Curso.
Our Society Will Be a Free Society” campaign launches online petition
In response to the brutal crackdown against journalists, writers, and bloggers in Iran, a coalition of leading press freedom and free expression groups, including International PEN, have launched a petition drive calling for the release of those imprisoned. More such professionals are now in prison in Iran than in any other country in the world—at least 60, 47 of them journalists.
“I know my jailers in Iran were aware of the depth of international concern,” said Newsweek correspondent Maziar Bahari, who was jailed for 118 days in Iran. “We need to raise a similar outcry on behalf of the more than 60 journalists, writers, and bloggers jailed there today. Adding your name to this petition will help us deliver the message that people around the world are watching.”
The “Our Society Will Be a Free Society” campaign—a reference to a pledge made by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini on the eve of the 1979 Revolution—is gathering signatures for an online petition to be sent to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on March 20, the Iranian New Year.
To sign the petition, visit the campaign Web site www.
"Imprisoning writers, journalists and bloggers is an affront to the Iranian people and their Constitution," said Marian Botsford Fraser, Chair of the Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN. "Signing this petition is a way of expressing solidarity with them, and with our imprisoned colleagues."
The Committee to Protect Journalists, PEN, Reporters Sans Frontières, Index on Censorship, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, the International Federation of Journalists, Article 19, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, and the International Publishers Association have joined forces for “a sense of shared, urgent concern for the welfare of journalists, writers, and bloggers and a profound alarm over the situation for free expression in Iran.”
For more information about the campaign and to find links to upcoming events and relevant articles please visit www.
“I know my jailers in Iran were aware of the depth of international concern,” said Newsweek correspondent Maziar Bahari, who was jailed for 118 days in Iran. “We need to raise a similar outcry on behalf of the more than 60 journalists, writers, and bloggers jailed there today. Adding your name to this petition will help us deliver the message that people around the world are watching.”
The “Our Society Will Be a Free Society” campaign—a reference to a pledge made by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini on the eve of the 1979 Revolution—is gathering signatures for an online petition to be sent to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on March 20, the Iranian New Year.
To sign the petition, visit the campaign Web site www.
"Imprisoning writers, journalists and bloggers is an affront to the Iranian people and their Constitution," said Marian Botsford Fraser, Chair of the Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN. "Signing this petition is a way of expressing solidarity with them, and with our imprisoned colleagues."
The Committee to Protect Journalists, PEN, Reporters Sans Frontières, Index on Censorship, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, the International Federation of Journalists, Article 19, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, and the International Publishers Association have joined forces for “a sense of shared, urgent concern for the welfare of journalists, writers, and bloggers and a profound alarm over the situation for free expression in Iran.”
For more information about the campaign and to find links to upcoming events and relevant articles please visit www.
Ataques à Liberdade de Expressão na Jordânia
Durante as últimas semanas houve retrocessos relativamente à Liberdade de Expressão na Jordânia. Estão en causa Desires of that Autumn o último romance de Laila al-Atrash, Presidente do PEN respectivo,
Reviews in Islamic Thought de Shaikh el-Nayyel Abdel Qader Abu Quroon (sudanês). Os activistas Dr. Safwan el-Tell e Dr. Muaffaq Mahadin foram presos após uma manifestação. Os proprietários de páginas na Internet estão a ser investigados.
[Ver notícia completa em Ameaças Recentes]
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