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Turkey: Overturn unjust sentences imposed on journalists
Prison sentences imposed on Cumhuriyet journalists
Can Dündar and Erdem Gül after their conviction on 7 May 2016 for
‘revealing state secrets’ are a further demonstration of the lack of
independence of the judiciary in Turkey. The journalists remain
free pending appeal. In a further shocking development, Dündar
narrowly escaped injury when a gunman shot at him outside the
courtroom, shouting ‘traitor’. Another journalist, NTV reporter Yağız
Şenkal, was injured in the leg. The gunman was arrested and
detained. Read more here »
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PEN’s 2015 Case List documents decline in freedom of
expression worldwide
PEN's 2015 Case
List, published on World Press Freedom Day (3 May),
spotlights freedom of expression violations around the world, detailing
over 1000 cases of harassment, arrests, attacks, killings and imprisonments
of writers worldwide and highlights the global deterioration of freedom
of expression. In 2015, writers faced extraordinary challenges
around the world. Beset by wars, increasing surveillance powers of
states, the growing threat of violence from non-state actors, cycles of
violence and impunity, and the use of defamation and libel laws to
silence critical voices, freedom of expression is increasingly under
threat. Read more here »
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Bangladesh:
Brutal murder of LGBT editor an appalling indictment of authorities’
failure to protect
The savage murder of Xulhaz Mannan, editor and leading gay rights
activist of Bangladesh’s only LGBT magazine in Dhaka, is another tragic
example of the government’s gross failure to protect intellectuals,
activists and writers in Bangladesh. Read more here »
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Fight with me
for freedom, and for truth – Khadija Ismayilova’s speech at Press
Freedom Award Ceremony
On World
Press Freedom Day, imprisoned Azerbaijani journalist and PEN
main
case, Khadija Ismayilova, was awarded the 2016 UNESCO/
Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. Ismayilova's mother, Elmira
Ismayilova, accepted the award on Khadija's behalf and read out the
speech that Khadija Ismayilova had written for the occasion. Read the speech here »
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Join PEN
America’s call for release of Egyptian writer Ahmed Naji
As writers and
artists, we join PEN America today to protest the unjust imprisonment
of our colleague, Egyptian novelist and journalist Ahmed Naji, and
request his immediate release. Mr. Naji, the recipient of the 2016
PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award, is serving a two-year prison
sentence for writing a novel that contains references to sex and
drugs... Read the full letter here.
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