Author Tom Keneally, who presented the 2011 PEN/Keneally Award and was MC
Sydney PEN would like to thank all speakers and attendees at this year’s International Day of the Imprisoned Writer event at UTS Library on Tuesday, 15th November. The International Day of the Imprisoned Writer, observed annually on 15 November, is a day to recognise and support writers who stand up for the basic human right to freedom of expression, and to commemorate writers killed an imprisoned during the previous year.
Speakers were Julian Disney, Professor and Director of the Social Justice Project at UNSW and Chair of the Australia Press Council; Katharine Gelber, Associate Professor in Public Policy at the University of Queensland and author of Speech Matters: How to Get Free Speech Right (UQ Press 2011); and Thomas Keneally, Australian author and Sydney PEN Life Member.
Dr Katharine Gelber was awarded the 2011 PEN/Keneally Award, which recognises achievement in promoting freedom of expression.
Dr Katharine Gelber, winner of the PEN/Keneally Award, with Professor Julian Disney
Dr Gelber spoke about the importance of social attitudes in securing freedom of speech, and provided some fascinating recent examples of freedom of speech under threat in Australia.
An edited version of Dr Gelber’s speech was published in the Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney PEN thanks Thomas Keneally and Random House for their generosity in supporting this prize.
Professor Gail Jones, winner of the 2011 Sydney PEN Award
Professor Gail Jones received the 2011 Sydney PEN Award, which acknowledges outstanding work in support of PEN’s aims. Professor Jones’ engagement with PEN has been at several levels – from letter-writing to a role on the Sydney PEN executive. The winner of the Sydney PEN Award is nominated and voted by Sydney PEN’s management committee. The prize is made possible by the generosity of Sydney PEN member Jane Morgan with the support of Mr Charles Wolf at The Pen Shop, Sydney.
Sydney PEN and Russian PEN member Tatiana Bonch read a statement from Russian PEN on the human rights situation in Belorussia, where a number of activists and writers are being persecuted.
A group of UTS students have put together a moving and informative video for Sydney PEN. The video features UTS students telling the stories of writers on the International PEN Writers in Prison Committee Case List. See the clip on the web here!
Sydney PEN mag-Nov 2011
In this edition Alison M Martin investigates media censorship in Fiji and Jonathan Hassid looks at the slow progress for China’s media. We publish International PEN’s statement on the situation for writers in Mexico and take a look at media freedom in West Papua. We also report on the release of Burmese comedian Zargana and on the campaign for justice for murdered Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya.
There’s much more, so don’t miss the last edition for 2011!
Download it here: Nov 2011 edition (PDF)
[File size: 2.1MB]
Sydney PEN and the Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) of PEN International are horrified by the death of yet another blogger, who was murdered and decapitated by a Mexican drugs gang for writing about their crimes. We join the WiPC in calling on the Mexican authorities to bring the guilty to justice and bring to an end the impunity that exists for those who attack and kill journalists and writers in Mexico.
In Nuevo Laredo, on 9 November 2011, the body of a blogger known as ‘Rascatripas’ was found bound and decapitated. A message was left with the corpse which said: ‘This happened to me because I didn’t understand that I shouldn’t report on the internet.’ ‘Rascatripas’ was the moderator for a web site that denounced Nuevo Laredo’s organized crime.
This follows the September killing of another blogger and journalist from Nuevo Laredo, María Elizabeth Macías Castro, who was found dead and decapitated on 24 September 2011. Her killers also left a note with her body. The message was similar to that left beside ‘Rascatripas’, but was signed with a ‘Z’, the signature of the Zetas drugs gang.
These killings form part of a worrying trend in Mexico, where the drugs gangs are increasingly targeting the internet, forcing bloggers and chat-rooms to exercise self-censorship or face being killed, or shut down.
Mexico is one of the most dangerous places in the world in which to practice journalism. PEN International recently launched its Day of the Dead 2011 campaign, highlighting the violence suffered by print journalists and writers in Mexico and protesting the climate of impunity that exists there.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS:
- Calling on the Mexican authorities to carry out a thorough investigation into the latest murder
- Calling for an end to Mexico’s climate of impunity in which attacks such as these take place;
- Calling on the government of President Felipe Calderón to fulfil promises to make crimes against journalists a federal offence, by amending the Constitution so that federal authorities have the power to investigate, prosecute and punish such crimes.
SEND APPEALS TO:
President
Lic. Felipe De Jesús Calderón Hinojosa
Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Residencia Oficial de los Pinos Casa Miguel Alemán
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec, C.P. 11850, DISTRITO FEDERAL, México
Fax: (+ 52 55) 5093 4901/ 5277 2376
Email: felipe.calderon “at” presidencia.gob.mx
Salutation: Señor Presidente/ Dear Mr President
Attorney General
Lic. Marisela Morales Ibáñez
Procuradora General de la República
Av. Paseo de Reforma No. 211-213, Piso 16
Col. Cuauhtémoc, Defegacion Cuauhtémoc
México D.F. C.P. 06500
Tel: + 52 55 5346 0108
Fax: + 52 55 53 46 0908 (if a voice answers, ask “tono de fax, por favor”)
E-mail: ofproc “at” pgr.gob.mx
Salutation: Señora Procuradora General/Dear Attorney General
Special Prosecutor for Crimes against Freedom of Expression
Dr Gustavo Salas Chávez
Fiscal Especial para la Atención de Delitos Cometidos contra la Libertad de Expresión (FEADLE)
Email: gustavo.salas “at” pgr.gob.mx, feadle “at” pgr.gob.mx
Please also send copies of your appeals to the Mexican Embassy in Australia:
Her Excellency Mrs Maria Luisa Beatriz LOPEZ GARGALLO
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
14 Perth Avenue
Yarralumla ACT 2600
Tel: (02) 6273 3963
Fax: (02) 6273 1190
Email: embamex “at” mexico.org.au
Please send appeals immediately. Check with International PEN if sending appeals after 30 December 2011.
For further details please contact Cathal Sheerin at the Writers in Prison Committee London Office:
PEN International, Brownlow House,
50-51 High Holborn, London WC1V 6ER
Tel: +44 (0) 207 405 0338
Fax +44 (0) 207 405 0339
email: cathal.sheerin “at” pen-international.org
Sydney PEN is proud to be taking part in the worldwide commemoration of the Day of the Imprisoned Writer. You can learn more about what we’re planning here.
What is the Day of the Imprisoned Writer?
It's an international day observed annually on November 15 to recognise and support writers who stand up for the basic human right to freedom of expression, and to commemorate writers killed and imprisoned during the previous year.
What are PEN Centres around the world are doing on this important day?
English PEN will be hosting a special event entitled ‘Night of the Imprisoned Writer’ in London. The event will include a performance of Hello Mr. Miller, Hello Mr. Pinter, a unique work in which the words of persecuted writers from around the world have been woven together by award-winning playwright Sonja Linden and English PEN’s Cat Lucas.
German PEN will be hosting a literary event at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele. The event will be dedicated to the Arabic writers who have been persecuted in the last year, but also aims to draw attention to the situation in Belarus and the ongoing plight of Liu Xiaobo.
PEN German-speaking Writers Abroad will be hosting an event at the WDR Radio Studio in Cologne, including readings, music and an interview with Ragip Zarakolu’s lawyer. Highlights from the event will later be broadcast by the station.
Scottish PEN will be hosting a demonstration outside the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh at which poet Ron Butlin will be symbolically imprisoned inside a large cage. The event will include readings from the works of a number of PEN main cases.
Turkish PEN Centre will be holding a joint press meeting with the Turkish Authors Syndicate, Turkish Journalists Society, Contemporary Journalists Society and Turkish Publishers Association. The event aims to draw particular attention to the recent arrests of Ragip Zarakolu and Büşra Eşranli.
Photograph of Ragip Zarakolu courtesy of Mitch Albert, PEN International
Writer, academic and publisher Ragip Zarakolu released an open letter from prison on 2 November 2011 through his lawyer. In the letter, which is reprinted below, Zarakolu, pictured speaking at a PEN event during the recent Frankfurt Book Fair, was arrested on 29 October 2011 and has been formally charged with “membership of an illegal organisation”. He is detained alongside over 40 other opposition activists, including writer and academic Professor Büşra Ersanlı.
Open letter from Ragip Zarakolu:
My arrest and the accusations of being a member of an illegal organisation are part of a campaign to intimidate all intellectuals and democrats living in Turkey and, more specifically, to isolate Kurds.
The police forces that searched my home found nothing more than what you would normally find in a writer’s home and confiscated these items as ‘evidence’.
Among these items were Habiba by Ender Öndeş, a book that is published and freely sold in Turkey, the second volume of Doğan Özgüden’s Vatansız Gazeteciler (Stateless Journalists), Barış Süreci (Peace Process) by Yüksel Genç, notes prepared for the publication of Alman Belgelerinde Ermeni Soykırımı (The Armenian Genocide according to German Sources), a short piece I had prepared for the back cover of former CHP (Republican People’s Party) MP Sırrı Özbek'’s latest book and a draft of a work called Ermeni Sözlü Tarih Çalışması (Armenian Oral History Project).
The government must give an explanation for why I was arrested only a week before I was due to travel to a conference in Berlin and, from there, to conferences at Colgate University (USA) and in Los Angeles and Michigan. Under custody, I was deprived of all of my bank and credit cards, which are being kept by the authorities.
It is yet unclear when I will be able to exercise my right to trial, and it is evident that this state of affairs may last for months.
I have not been asked a single question regarding the organisation I am accused of being a member of; rather, I have only been pressed on works that I have written or edited, speeches I have given, and free and public meetings I have attended.
I believe that it is time to show a collective opposition to this wave of arrests, which has become a campaign of mass lynching, and that all moves by the authorities that go against the law and principles of due legal process must now cease.
With my greetings and my regards,
Ragip Zarakolu
[Note: the views expressed in this letter are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Sydney PEN or PEN International.]
For more background on this case, please see our post of 1 Nov 2011: Writer and academic Ragip Zarakolu formally charged alongside Professor Büşra Ersanlı.
The Writers in Prison Committee of PEN International is deeply troubled that since the introduction of the Public Emergency Regulations by the military authorities on 10 April 2009, the right to freedom of expression in Fiji has been severely curtailed.
According to PEN’s information, the enforcement of the Public Emergency Regulations has led to numerous human rights violations in the name of ‘maintaining public safety’, including the arbitrary arrest, harassment and intimidation of government critics, human rights activists, lawyers, judges and journalists, who can be held arbitrarily for up to seven days on suspicion of endangering “public safety or the preservation of the peace” solely for the peaceful expression of their views. Since April 2009 at least seven journalists have been targeted for their critical reporting. Most recently, on 18 February 2011, Fiji Times journalist Felix Chaudhary was briefly detained and warned for his investigative business reporting. His arrest appears to be part of an ongoing pattern of intimidation against journalists and others for their criticism of the authorities. PEN is also troubled by widespread reports of detainees being subjected to torture or other ill-treatment with apparent impunity. Many victims reportedly choose not to make complaints because of their lack of faith in the police force and the Fiji Human Rights Commission.
The Public Emergency Regulations grant broad powers to the authorities to implement severe restrictions on broadcasting and publication, and unprecedented powers appointed to the Permanent Secretary for Information to revoke the licence of any media outlet that prints, publishes or broadcasts anything that portrays the government in a negative light. Furthermore, a new media law promulgated on 25 June 2010 further restricts media freedom in Fiji by legislating for the arbitrary seizure of media equipment and documents, the forcing of journalists to reveal their sources, and mandating a rule that 90% of newspaper shareholders be Fijian residents and citizens. This has threatened the closure of Fiji’s oldest and most critical newspaper The Fiji Times, which is owned by an Australian company.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS:
- calling on the government of Fiji to immediately repeal the Public Emergency Regulations, and to stop the arbitrary detention, harassment and intimidation of government critics, journalists and activists solely for their critical reporting.
- urging an independent investigation into allegations of torture and other ill-treatment of those held for their critical views so that those responsible are brought to justice;
- calling upon the Fijian authorities to ensure that the right to freedom of expression is explicitly protected in domestic law, in accordance with Article 19 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.
- calling upon the government to ensure the full independence and effective functioning of the Fiji Human Rights Commission, and to put an immediate halt to the censorship of the Fijian media so that the people of Fiji are able to publish views critical of the government without fear of arrest or intimidation or punishment.
SEND APPEALS TO:
President of the Republic of the Fiji Islands
Ratu Epeli Nailatikau
Office of the President
Government House
Berkley Crescent
P.O. Box 2513, Government Buildings
Suva
Fax: +679 3301 645
Salutation: Your Excellency
Prime Minister & Commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces
Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama
Prime Minister’s Office
Government Buildings
Fax: +679 3306 034
Email: pmsoffice “at” connect.com.fj
Salutation: Dear Prime Minister
Please send a copy of your appeal to:
Ms Cheryl Jean BROWN-IRAVA
First Secretary
High Commission of the Republic of Fiji
PO Box 159
Deakin West ACT 2600
admin “at” aus-fhc.org
Chargé d'affaires
Australian High Commission, Fiji
PO Box 214
Suva
Fiji
public-affairs-suva “at” dfat.gov.au
The Writers in Prison Committee of PEN International has learned that writer, academic and publisher Ragip Zarakolu has today been formally charged under the Anti Terror Law, alongside Professor Büşra Ersanlı. PEN has received further details that lead it to fear that the charges are related to the exercise of their right to freedom of expression.
Ragip Zarakolu
As reported by PEN on 31 October, Zarakolu was arrested alongside Professor Büşra Ersanlı as part of mass arrests two days earlier. PEN understands that he has been charged with “membership of an illegal organisation” – reportedly related to a speech he made at an event by the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy (BDP) party, and articles published in the newspaper Ögür Gündem (Free Agenda). Zarakolu has reportedly filed an appeal, however, he faces months in pre-trial detention if this is unsuccessful. PEN International is seeking further details in relation to his detention.
This afternoon, Zarakolu and Ersanlı were taken to the Istanbul Courthouse. Bianet.org (Turkish) reports that during their hearing hundreds of people gathered outside the courthouse in protest. They held copies of Ersanlı’s book ‘Peace and History’ and chanted slogans demanding their release. Over 40 other individuals who were also arrested on 28 October 2011 were taken to the hearing and subsequently detained pending investigations.
BACKGROUND
Ragip Zarakolu and Professor Büşra Ersanlı were arrested on 28 October 2011. Forty one people had also been arrested around the same time under what is known as the Democratic Society Congress (Koma Civaken Kurdistan – KCK) operation that has been underway since 2009, leading to several hundred arrests and trials. The KCK is seen as the civil/political wing for and front of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), and thus also illegal.
Human rights groups monitoring the operation have reported concerns over a number of areas including lengthy pre-trial detention without bail (some prisoners have been held pending trial since the start of the operation in April 2009), that the charges may be politically motivated, and that fair trial standards are being ignored. Trade union and human rights activists, mayors and local politicians are among those arrested. This report by the Kurdistan Human Rights Project contains more information about the KCK arrests.
Among the organisations being linked to the KCK is the Peace and Democracy Party (Barış ve Demokrasi Partisi – BDP). Thirty BDP representatives took their seats in the Turkish parliament on 1 October, among them longstanding Kurdish rights activist, Leyla Zana, a former PEN case. The BDP was created after the Democratic Society Party (DTP) was forcibly closed down in 2009 on accusation of affiliation to the PKK. The BDP has made it clear that is not affiliated to the PKK and that the PKK does not influence its political policy. Despite this, BDP and former DTP members have been arrested and harassed. Some activists claim that over 1,000 have been arrested on charges ranging from speaking Kurdish to making statements critical of the government to having links to the KCK. The United Nations High Commission on Refugees has recently issued an analysis of the BDP and events since its formation in early 2010.
Professor Büşra Ersanli is an academic based at Istanbul’s Marmara University’s Faculty of Political Science and International Relations. She is an expert on constitutional law and at the time of her arrest was working with the BDP’s Constitutional Commission.
Ragip Zarakolu is a well known political activist who has been fighting for freedom of expression in Turkey for over 30 years, publishing books on issues such as minority and human rights. Zarakolu is one of the 50 writers chosen to represent the struggle for freedom of expression since 1960 for the Writers in Prison Committee’s 50th Anniversary Campaign – Because Writers Speak Their Minds. In the days leading up to his arrest he had been campaigning for the release of his son, Deniz Zarakolu, who was arrested three weeks earlier on 7 October, also under the KCK operation. Deniz is a PhD student of political thought and has translated academic works including Thomas Hobbes’ De Cive.
Among the early KCK operation arrests was Muharrem Erbey, lawyer, writer and Turkey PEN member, who was arrested in December 2009 and whose trial is being observed by representatives from PEN Centres.
PEN is monitoring the cases of several other writers similarly arrested for links to Kurdish political parties.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS:
- Condemning the charges against Ragip Zarakolu and Professor Büşra Ersanli which appear to have resulted from his exercise of his right to free expression, and calling for his immediate release.
- Also expressing alarm at the arrests of Deniz Zarakolu, as well as the continued detention of Muharrem Erbey, and other writers and journalists accused for their affiliation with Kurdish political parties.
- Referring to concerns that the arrests flout international standards protecting the rights to freedom of expression and association as guaranteed by both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the European Convention on Human and Democratic Rights, to which Turkey is a signatory.
- Raising concerns that the trial are politically biased and do not conform to fair trial standards, and seeking assurances that these concerns are addressed as a matter of urgency.
SEND APPEALS TO:
Mr Sadullah Ergin
Minister of Justice
06669 Kizilay
Ankara
Turkey
Fax: 00 90 312 419 3370
His Excellency Mr Oguz OZGE
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Embassy of the Republic of Turkey
6 Moonah Place
Yarralumla ACT 2600
Fax: (02) 6273 4402
Please contact the PEN WiPC office in London if sending appeals after 30 November 2011
“Persecuted and imprisoned for his beliefs, Jiří Gruša was the living embodiment of PEN’s devotion to freedom of expression and literature. He was beloved by all of us and we will miss him.” – John Ralston Saul, PEN International President
Jiří Gruša served as President of PEN International from 2003-2009. He will be remembered by all at PEN for his love of literature and his committed promotion of the ideals of PEN. Speaking of his role as International President he described his focus as: “My priorities are communication and openness. It is important to stress that freedom of expression is actually freedom from hatred.”
A well-respected Czech writer and diplomat, Jiří Gruša demonstrated great bravery and quiet determination throughout his life. He was persecuted by the communist regime in response to his novel Mimner in 1969 and was arrested in 1978 following his novel The Questionnaire. He protested against the totalitarian regime of of the former Czechoslovakia, signing up in 1977 to Charter 77. Since the 1990s he held a diplomatic and political career as Czechoslovak and then Czech Ambassador to Germany and Austria and subsequently as Education Minister in the Czech Republic.
“He was a champion all his life for freedom of expression. It is a great loss to all of us.” – Hori Takeaki, PEN International Secretary
He died aged 72 on Friday October 28th during heart surgery in Germany.
Our thoughts and condolences are with his wife Sabine, all his friends and family and with our colleagues in Czech PEN at this time.
The Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) of PEN International is highly concerned over reports that writer, academic and translator Deniz Zarakolu was arrested on 7 October 2011 under anti-terror legislation. Although no charges have been formally declared, it is believed that he is being held as the result of his peaceful exercise of the right to free expression. The WiPC condemns the arrest without charge of Mr. Zarakolu and calls on the Turkish authorities to secure his immediate release.
Deniz Zarakolu
Deniz Zarakolu, pictured here with award winning novelist Elif Şafak, was arrested on 7 October 2011. It is believed that he was arrested under anti-terror legislation after giving a lecture at the Political Science Academy of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy (BDP) opposition party. Such party-affiliated research academies are common in Turkey, with similar institutes run by the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Justice and Development Party (AKP). The exact accusation against Zarakolu is unknown and it has been alleged that his lawyer has been denied access to documents concerning the arrest.
Zarakolu, a PhD student specialising in political thought at Bilgi University in Istanbul, has written a books on Thomas Hobbes and the Turkish justice system, as well as translating Hobbes’ De Cive. He had previously been arrested and charged with “inciting revenge or hatred” over a speech he gave in 2002 at the funeral of his mother Ayşe Nur Zarakolu, a founding member of the Belge International Publishing House, although he was later acquitted.
It has also been alleged that several other scholars linked to the BDP Political Science Academy have also been arrested under anti-terror legislation, including Aziz Tunç, Ayse Berktay and A. Dursun Yildiz.
Deniz’s father, Ragip Zarakolu, a member of PEN Turkey and honorary member of several PEN Centres, is a well known political activist who has been fighting for freedom of expression in Turkey for over 30 years, publishing books on issues such as minority and human rights. As one of the 50 writers chosen to represent the struggle for freedom of expression since 1960 for the Writers in Prison Committee's 50th Anniversary Campaign - Because Writers Speak Their Minds – Ragip Zarakolu's case is emblematic of the ongoing struggles many writers, publishers and freedom of expression and human rights activists in Turkey continue to face.
Please send appeals:
· Condemning the arrest of writer and academic Deniz Zarakolu on charges that appear to be related to his peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression.
· Calling for a full, impartial investigation into the arrests of other academics arrested under anti-terror legislation, including Aziz Tunç, Ayes Berktay and A. Dursun Yildiz.
· Calling on the Turkish authorities to live up to their commitments to protect freedom of expression under Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Send appeals to:
Mr Sadullah Ergin
Minister of Justice
06669 Kizilay
Ankara
Turkey
Fax: 00 90 312 419 3370
His Excellency Mr Oguz OZGE
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Australian Capital Territory
Embassy of the Republic of Turkey
6 Moonah Place
Yarralumla ACT 2600
