A free press can be good or bad, but most certainly without freedom it will never be anything but bad.
[Albert Camus, 1960]
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Adelaide PEN news
 Local (Adelaide, South Australia)
PEN 'Empty Chairs' at Adelaide Writers Week
The PEN tradition of an 'empty chair', symbolising writers who cannot be present because they have been imprisoned, detained, disappeared, threatened or killed, featured at Adelaide Writers Week, 2-7 March 2008. In addition, the following writers dedicated the empty chair at their session to these absent colleagues:
David Malouf to ALI ASTAMIROV, a Russian journalist for the AFP newsagency, abducted July 2003. After nearly five years there is still no information regarding his whereabouts.
Gideon Haigh to HANI GHANNAWI, a freelance journalist and representative of the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate, killed in a targeted attack near Baqouba on the 13th of September 2006.
Geraldine Brooks to THICH HUYEN QUANG, one of the most respected of Vietnamese Buddhists. Originally arrested and currently held under “temple arrest” for publishing an open letter critical of the government's policy on freedom of speech and religious expression.
Patrick McGrath to LI CHANGQING, deputy news director of the Fuzhou Daily [China]. Serving a three-year prison sentence for '"spreading false and alarmist information" by writing an article more than two years previously, for a banned Chinese-language website, which disclosed for the first time an outbreak of dengue in Fujian province.
Lian Hearn to BAMBOU FAUSTIN, editor of Les Collins de l’Oubangui, [Central African Republic], serving a six-month prison sentence for publishing an article detailing corruption of two of the government's ministers. Subsequent charges included libel, insult and incitement to revolt. |
National
PEN [Aust] continues to campaign against Article 301
PEN [Aust] continues to campaign against Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code. Under the code, a person can be imprisoned for denigrating Turkishness, the Turkish Republic, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, the Government, the judicial institutions, or the military or security organizations of Turkey. Six months since editor Hrant Dink was murdered while on trial for charges of “insult to Turkishness”, the trial against his son, Arat Dink, and two co-defendants, continues. In addition, another case has been commenced against the author of an article apparently implicating the Turkish armed forces in the killing of Hrant Dink. Since Article 301 became law on June 1, 2005, more than 60 cases have been brought to trial.
Australia-China Council announces the Churchill Fellowship
The Australia-China Council (ACC) has announced the Australia-China Council Churchill Fellowship for projects undertaken by Australian citizens in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and/or Taiwan. The Fellowship is for the investigation of an issue in any field that promotes mutual understanding and fosters people-to-people relations between Australia and China.
The ACC Churchill Fellowship will involve travel to China of four to eight weeks duration and has a value of around $25,000. |
International
March 10, 2008: Chinese writer released
PEN has received word that Dr Teng Biao has been released. Dr Teng Biao, a writer, lawyer and member of Independent Chinese PEN Centre was last seen in front of his residence building in Beijing on 6 March 2008. Reports indicated that he was forced from his car into another, and driven to an unknown location. Dr Teng Biao had been incommunicado since that day. Dr Teng co-signed an open letter entitled, The Real China and the Olympics with fellow writer Hu Jia, the well-known activist who campaigned in China across a number of issues, including AIDS, the environment and human rights.
PEN marks International Women’s Day
PEN is marking International Women’s Day (March 8) by highlighting the plight of three women writers under threat in China: Zeng Jinyan, Activist and internet writer, is under house arrest and constant surveillance since husband, Hu Jia, was arrested in December 2007. Tsering Woeser, award-winning Tibetan writer and poet, has had her work banned in China, and employment and movement restricted. Li Jianhong, freelance Internet writer, has been subjected to intense police harassment, detentions, and interrogations, periods of house arrest, and several dismissals from posts of employment. Each of these women is continuing to write in the face of great personal risk.
Free the Word! A celebration of world literature
Throughout 2008, International PEN will carry out a program of events focusing on the promotion of literature, and in particular its role in the process of inter-cultural dialogue and understanding. A major new international festival Free the Word! will headline the program, which will take place in London from April 11 to 13. Alexis Wright, winner of the Miles Franklin Award for 2007 for her novel Carpentaria, will be presenting "Sacred Land: A Place Called Home" - a story about the land-rights of indigenous peoples, and what it means to have a place to call home in an ever-changing world. Other writers include Alaa Al Aswany and Salman Rushdie.
Myanmar: Leading Burmese poet arrested for a poem critical of the authorities.
Saw Wei was arrested on 22 January 2008 for publishing a love poem, which cryptically criticized General Than Shwe, the head of Burma's ruling military junta. The poem, entitled "February the Fourteenth" was published in that week’s issue of the Rangoon-based weekly magazine Love Journal, and is an eight-line verse about Valentine's Day. However, when the first letters of each line of the poem are put together, they read "General Than Shwe is crazy with power" in Burmese. Saw Wei's wife attempted to see her husband in Insein prison, but was denied access to him. No information has been made public about his detention or any charges against him, and he continues to be detained incommunicado. |
International PEN case list
International PEN publishes a case list of writers around the world who have or are being persecuted or harshly treated.
The caselist provides the full details of the plight of persecuted writers by country, including Australia. It is issued every six months and the latest statistics are:
Half-year Statistics
July to December 2007
Killed 5
Killed Investigation 8
Disappeared 18
Main Case (imprisoned) 118
Under Investigation (imprisoned) 65
Judicial Concern 5
Under Judicial Process 155
Non Custodial Sentence 45
In Hiding 10
Brief Detention 43
Death Threat 30
Other Threat/Harassment 44
Attacked/Ill-treated 34
Kidnapped 2
Deported/Expelled/Fled 1
Total 582
Released 52
To download the current case list click here. (PDF 490KB)
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