Imprisoned but not silenced - Day of the Imprisoned Writer 2016
15 November 2016 - On Day of the Imprisoned Writer PEN stands in solidarity with writers imprisoned for their work
Each year, on 15 November, PEN International, PEN Centres and PEN members from around the world commemorate the Day of the Imprisoned Writer to highlight and campaign on behalf of writers who face unjust imprisonment, attacks, harassment and violence simply for expressing themselves.
Started in 1981 by PEN International’s Writers in Prison Committee, the day is marked by celebrating the freedom to write, and by taking action to call for justice and freedom for imprisoned and murdered colleagues. Since 15 November 2015 at least 35 writers have been killed worldwide as a result of their work.
Salil Tripathi, Chair of PEN International’s Writers in Prison Committee said: ‘Writers should be writing when they want to write. They should not be in prison. And yet, around the world, hundreds of writers are in jail today, and many more face intimidation and persecution because what they express upsets the authorities, offends the powerful, and unnerves governments. Writers are the conscience-keepers of society; they must remain free - their place is not in prison, but with pen and paper, with typewriters, with their keyboards. And on this day, every year, the entire PEN community says in one voice that we will continue to fight for freedom for any writer, anywhere in the world, who is prevented from doing his or her work. ‘
Each year, PEN International focuses its campaigning on five cases that are emblematic of the kinds of challenges and dangers writers face simply in the course of carrying out their free expression work. This year PEN is campaigning on behalf of:
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Novelist and journalist Ahmed Naji is currently serving a two-year prison sentence for ‘violating public modesty’ in relation to the publication of excerpts from his 2014 novel Istikhdam al-Hayat (The Use of Life) in Akhbar al-Adab magazine, also in 2014. Naji has now served almost eight months of his sentence.
Hanan Al-Shaykh's open letter to imprisoned writer Ahmed Naji:
My Dear Ahmed Naji,
I greet you with the warmest wishes.
What a horrifying age that is falling backwards instead of progressing forwards! I am sure you remember the Andalusian thinker and writer Ibn Hazm who authored a treatise of 80 thousand pages in which he wrote about literature, philosophy, religion, history, politics and literary criticism. He allotted hundreds of pages for love and sex; a volume which is called today as The Ring of the Dove. The volume of which the critics of ancient times and those of modern times agreed upon as a masterpiece of the 11th century, yet The Ring of the Dove is submitted to the scalpel of Egyptian censorship, in these days, in the 21st century.
What about One Thousand and One Night! A book that has almost became firewood in this century, particularly in Egypt, right after it was confiscated from book stores and piled up like modern day pyramids on the pretence of raising libido with its dissoluteness, I am grateful to the lawyers who stood in its defence, in defence of heritage, history, language, traditions, and dreams.
What about the Egyptian writer Ihsan Abdel Quddous, who was known for his candour and boldness as he wrote about love and sex, in addition to his criticism of the society and its traditions. Years after his passing, it was left to publishers to delete paragraphs of love and sex from his books, and to replace his fictional characters with other ones, just to satisfy the radicals.
Shall we forget about the Lebanese writer Layla Balabakki who was taken to the offices of the ‘virtue police’ for daring to write about what takes place between lovers, and the Kuwaiti writer Laila al-Othman who was dragged to prison just for writing about the same subject.
And there are others, many others who had their lines, as well as their wings, cut by the censor, their books were forbidden from spreading, circulating or reading, but to be imprisoned my dear Ahmed for two years, for 720 days just because you followed the path of your creativity that you were born with, like the colour of your eyes and the beats of your heart, just because you united with yourself and you wrote!
Wondering what is sex? Isn’t it the continuation of life, the gift of the world to humankind? Isn’t sex an act of freedom in the face of tyranny and incapability?
I am thankful, my dear Ahmed, for your book. I am thankful for your honesty. And I assure you, that we Arab writers, artists, and people who are fond of literature wherever we are, here or there, in the east or in the west, are thinking about you. We are nodding our heads in disappointment and anger, but we smile at you too, reaching out to hold your hand firmly, and ask you to be patient. We promise that we are all going to try to highlight your case, and remind the Egyptian authorities that your case is still alive and central in public debate, and that each second you spend in prison is lashing the dignity, the pride of our ancestors, the dignity that the enemies of freedom could only boast about in this age.
Yours,
Hanan Al-Shaykh
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Renowned novelist and PEN member Aslı Erdoğan was arrested at her home in Istanbul on 17 August 2016. She was sent to a prison in Istanbul on preliminary charges of “membership of a terrorist organisation” and “undermining national unity.” She has been in pre-trial detention since her arrest, and as of 15 November, no date has been set for her trial.
Margaret Atwood writes to imprisoned Turkish writer Asli Erdoğan:
Dear Asli Erdogan,
Today is your 91st day behind bars. I’m writing to tell you that even through the concrete walls of your prison, beyond the guards, the barbed wire, the locks and keys, we can still hear your voice. Your words still shape the fight for freedom and the right to free expression.
Like you, I and many, many other writers believe that literature can inspire the longing for justice, can generate tolerance, and can expand human sympathy and understanding. Although you are in prison, you are not alone: you have the entire PEN community of writers from around the world fighting for your freedom. They will continue to hope for you, and they will not stop working for you until you are free.
I have faith that you will very soon be free. I hope that you will find yourself in a Turkey where you can write and speak without fear and censorship, a Turkey that celebrates diversity of thought and opinion. I hope you will live in a Turkey that is proud of the voices of its talented thinkers, writers, and artists who have reached so many admirers far beyond its borders. I hope you will live in a Turkey that is proud of its democracy – a Turkey that is proud of voices like yours.
We send you our hopes and our warmest wishes, and keep you in our thoughts.
Margaret Atwood
Nina George writes to imprisoned Turkish writer Asli Erdoğan:
Dear Aslı,
Since the moment you were unjustly put in the “Cemetery of the Living“ - the women‘s prison of Bakirköy - you have been on my mind every single day.
I have to admit; I cried. I cried about the unfairness. The treatment against you. The cruelty. The lack of reason and good sense.
I have to admit too: I am also in fear. I am in fear, because the darker times came back sooner than I had ever expected. What is happening in Turkey - the country of many of my friends since I was a schoolgirl - reminds me in a painful manner of what my parents and grandparents told me about the darkest years of Germany.
Intellectuals, artists, teachers are hunted and imprisoned, just because they follow the values of democracy.
Freedom of expression is in acute danger in Turkey, but it’s not only there. All over the globe there are tendencies against freedom of words, freedom of opinion, freedom of religion; against gender, against sexual orientation. The destroyers and opinion-leaders have many names: Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Dear Aslı, I would like to to let you know that thousands and thousands of people in Germany as well as in the whole world are standing by your side. Each day, we read, write and talk about you, about your books – "your children", as you said. I promise; we will never forget them. In Germany, Poland, France, Austria we are campaigning to shout out our solidarity for you and every single writer in Turkey who is under arrest and persecution. We urge the European policy-makers to call for an uncompromising respect for freedom of expression in any related decisions, actions and statements they make.
But it is also now on us. The writers. The Europeans. The people of now. Writers and publishers; our mission has changed!
This is the world in which we live. Let us take our words, and a deep long breath, to lay light trails of courage and humanity, to hold against, to not keep the mouth shut.
We are no heroes. We will never be any.
But we're on it now. This is our work. This has to be our work more than ever.
My far colleague, my sister in mind, dear Aslı: I am sending you my deep respect. Beyond the bars of your cell, beyond the walls of your prison, you give us, the writers all over the world, the power to stand up, to fight for freedom in every language.
I will enjoy the day we will meet in person. We will step out in the sun, to talk, to laugh, to eat. The day will come.
And now: back to work. Never stop writing.
Yours,
Nina George
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A poet and a Palestinian citizen of Israel, Dareen Tatour is currently standing trial on charges of “support for a terrorist organisation” and several counts of incitement to violence in connection with her poetry and social media activity. Tatour was detained over a year ago and is currently under house arrest.
Jennifer Clement writes to imprisoned poet Dareen Tatour:
Dear Dareen,
I offer you my solidarity, my deep respect, and the value with which I hold your words, your poems: the ones you have been placed under house arrest for writing and speaking. I hope it helps – just a little– to know those words have reached me, and thousands of others, and been heard. Your voice continues to be magnified through your work and your message resonates clearly. We are listening.
When I read about your case, and heard that your poem’s mistranslation has led to these charges of ‘support for a terrorist organisation’ and that the prosecution has tried to prevent an alternative translation from being presented in court, I felt deeply disconcerted. Poetry – for me – is about the precision of every word the poet chooses, the nuance and the metaphor, the balance and the care. For your words to be distorted in this way, for your brave and essential act of resistance to be turned into something it’s not, is an act that takes away your truth.
Please know that this attempt to silence you has not worked. That we in PEN stand in solidarity with you, and will continue to do so all the time you are detained. We join you in asking for freedom of expression and the right to peacefully protest.
I send you and your family my best wishes,
Jennifer Clement
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In October 2015, publisher Gui Minhai disappeared from his holiday home in Thailand. Three months later he appeared in a televised ‘confession’ on state-controlled TV claiming that he had voluntarily surrendered himself to the Chinese authorities over his supposed involvement in a fatal hit-and-run incident in December 2003. Since then, his whereabouts have been unknown; he has reportedly not had access to legal counsel and has been allowed no contact with his daughter who lives in the UK.
Salil Tripathi writes to disappeared publisher Gui Minhai:
Dear Gui Minhai,
We are sending this letter into the dark, because we don’t know where you are. We don’t know how you are being treated, or whether you have the things you need.
What we know is how brave you are. We know your work as a publisher at Mighty Current spread banned but important works into mainland China and – like you - we want diverse, challenging, critical narratives to be available to everyone in China.
We remain in the dark – we don’t know exactly what charges you face. We don’t know when we will next hear news about you, nor do we know if we will have the chance to meet you.
What we know is that you stand for courage and peaceful protest, honesty, and integrity of thought. You stand for a writer's autonomy. We draw inspiration from your courage and resilience in the face of powerful oppression; thank you for showing us that, thank you for being a source of light.
I send this letter into the dark, hoping you will read it, that our message will reach you. I want you to know that your strength and bravery have given comfort and hope to us, and we hope that you may find some comfort in our solidarity. We raise our voices today against your forced disappearance, and wish with all our might that we will see you on the other side very soon.
Best wishes,
Salil Tripathi
As part of PEN’s campaign this year, renowned writers Hanan Al-Shaykh, Margaret Atwood, Gioconda Belli and Salil Tripathi have sent messages of solidarity to these five writers.
‘Like you, I and many, many other writers believe that literature can inspire the longing for justice, can generate tolerance, and can expand human sympathy and understanding. Although you are in prison, you are not alone: you have the entire PEN community of writers from around the world fighting for your freedom.’ – extract from a letter from Margaret Atwood to imprisoned Turkish writer and PEN member Asli Erdogan.