Fengslede Forfatteres Dag 2007
INTERNATIONAL PEN’S WRITERS IN PRISON COMMITTEEDAY OF THE IMPRISONED WRITER15 NOVEMBER 2007
15 November 2007 marks the Day of the Imprisoned Writer (DoIW) and the Writers in Prison Committee hereby appeals to all PEN centres to take part as actively as possible to show solidarity and express a unified voice on behalf of persecuted writers.
Focus Cases 2007
This year the focus will be on:
· Burma (Myanmar) – Zargana – a well-known comedian and poet who was among the many arrested in the recent crackdown against pro-democracy demonstrators that is still under way;
· Cuba – Normando Hernández González – a journalist imprisoned under crackdown on dissidents in 2003 and since held in dire prison conditions;
· Gambia – Fatou Jaw Manneh – a journalist on trial and facing a heavy sentence on charges of sedition for her articles criticising the Gambian president.
· Iran – Yaghoub Yadali – a novelist given a one year sentence for his fictional characterisation of the ethnic minority of which he is himself a member;
· Uzbekistan – Jamshid Karimov – a journalist who has covered human rights abuses, and wrote critical articles and who has been held in psychiatric detention for over a year.
