The Pen and The Sword:
A Kurdish writer was sentenced to 1-1/2 years in prison on Sunday for defaming Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani, in a case that has raised questions about the freedom of the press in postwar Iraq.-
Kamal Karim, an Iraqi-born Kurd with Austrian citizenship, was originally sentenced to 30 years in jail for defaming Barzani but was retried.
The Rapid Action Network (RAN) is an e-mail network that is activated from the PEN Canada office in Toronto. Each week, an appeal is sent out on an urgent freedom of expression case. Click the name of the person to find out what you can do to help.-
Syrian security forces have arrested a dissident writer after at least four other people including his son were detained for speaking out against the government, rights activists say.-
Both the Syrian Human Rights Organisation and Anwar Bunni, a human-rights lawyer, said Ali Abdullah, who spent five months behind bars last year, had been arrested at his home for "unknown reasons".
'I have not been alone. Not in prison, nor on the torture bed, nor while they announced my death sentence. PEN was with me. I was rescued from prison and death. Where do I belong to in exile? To nowhere except literature, the only concern that remained for me. To nowhere except PEN, the only family that remained for me.'-
On 23 November the Belfast home of Gary Mitchell - whose prize-winning plays As the Beast Sleeps, filmed by the BBC, and The Force of Change have exposed the realities of life in working-class, Protestant Northern Ireland - was attacked by loyalists and the family car petrol-bombed. Since then Mitchell, his wife and their eight-year-old son have been forced into hiding.-more here, and here
English PEN has learnt that the Microsoft Corporation has aided the Chinese authorities in closing down the website of Zhao Jing, a blogger who had discussed a high-profile newspaper strike.-
English PEN abhors this abuse of Mr Zhao's freedom of speech and calls on Microsoft to offer Zhao Jing a full apology and to reinstate his blog. The case follows last year's imprisonment of Shi Tao, when Yahoo co-operated with the Chinese government in disclosing details of his account usage. It marks a disturbing trend in the willingness of multinational corporations to aid and abet the Chinese authorities in their infringement of Article 19 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.
While in no way condoning David Irving's position on the Holocaust, English PEN nonetheless deplores the decision of an Austrian court to sentence him to three years imprisonment for 'Holocaust Denial'. It should not be a crime in a free society to publish opinion, however poorly dressed up as fact.-
At a time when freedom of expression is under increasing pressure and attack from governments around the world, it is more important than ever that democracies deal with contentious issues through debate and ridicule rather than through suppression by law.
Adolfo Fernandez Sainz, independent journalist, translator and advocate for democracy in Cuba, was among those arrested in March 2003. His trial was conducted in violation of internationally accepted judicial standards; it was held behind closed doors and there was insufficient time for the accused to put together a cogent defence. Sainz was convicted under Law 88 and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.-
Sainz is held in Holguin, 730 kilometres from his home and family in Havana. He is reported to have been on several hunger strikes in protest against harsh prison conditions, violence against fellow prisoners, and limited visiting rights for his family.
Harold Pinter's God Bless America-
'Writing or reading a book on the abuse and trade of children is neither easy nor enjoyable. Nevertheless, it is more dangerous for society to remain silent about this phenomenon. While society and the State looks on, thousands of children are victims of dealers who turn them into sexual objects to be traded and enjoyed by millions of men who find in child pornography and the sexual abuse of children a thing of delight which has no ethical repercussions'.-o-
-Factories of Lost Children
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said today that significant reductions in American forces in Iraq in the coming year were "entirely possible," apparently seeking to offset any impression that they might not come for years.-
Basque parties and unions have called for a national demonstration on April 1 in Bilbao,in favor of a democratic process to resolve conflict, Gara daily reiterated Saturday.
The call was made by over 40 social representatives from several organizations agreeing that after ETA's cease fire came into effect, there is a possibility to build a democratic process and overcome the conflict, the daily reads.
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It has now been revealed that two historical figures inside Sinn Fein and Father Alec Reid appear to have been instrumental in getting an ETA ceasefire. Alex Maskey, a former boxer who almost died from being shot in the stomach, and Gerry Kelly, who became famous after participating in an incredible escape from the Maze prison in Belfast, are the two Sinn Fein members who participated in the talks, traveling to the Basque Country dozens of times over the last ten years, whilst Father Reid spent the last four years practically domiciled in Bilbao.
