PEN Freedom to Write

Throughout the half century of The Literary Review’s existence as a journal devoted to writing from throughout the world, we have published the work of suppressed, imprisoned, and even assassinated authors. That is why we support the PEN American Center’s Freedom to Write Program and encourage our readers to support its efforts by participating in its campaigns.

In each of our quarterly issues we will feature the case of a writer selected by PEN and ask our readers to write letters in that writer’s behalf.  Our website will also provide that information and announce alerts issued by the Freedom to Write Rapid Action Network.

For Winter 2008, we will highlight a campaign focusing on China in the lead up to the Beijing Olympics because of the many writers and journalists imprisoned in China for exercising their right to speak and write freely, as guaranteed under Chinese and international law. For more information on the individual imprisoned and on conditions in China go to www.pen.org/china2008.

Our Summer 2008 issue will highlight the case of Yang Tongyan, a dissident writer and member of the Independent Chinese PEN Center., this year's PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Award winner.  Yang Tongyan is currently serving a 12-year sentence for “subversion of state power.” He is being held in Nanjing Prison in Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, where his diabetes and arthritis are reportedly worsening. He has submitted a petition to the Supreme People’s Court to challenge the verdict. You may take action by writing a letter to the Chinese government, writing your members of Congress, and writing etter on behalf of Yang Tongyan. Details may be found on the website dedicated to his case.

Our Spring 2008 issue focuses on Tibetan writer Dolma Kyab. On March 9, 2005, Dolma Kyab, who had written a manuscript about Tibet that mentioned sensitive topics, was arrested in Lhasa at the middle school where he was teaching history and taken to the TAR Public Security Bureau Detention Center, popularly known as “Seitru” in Tibetan. He was moved to the Seilong Labor Camp in Xining in early July 2007. PEN has received reports that he is in very poor health.

GOOD NEWS: PEN has learned that Feng Zhenghu, a writer and rights defender who was detained on June 5 for his articles critical of the Shanghai court system, was released on June 15. According to our sources, police were surprised that worldwide attention was brought to his case so quickly. Mr. Feng maintained throughout and after his detention that his work was just and legal, and said that he would continue to be a rights defender no matter what happened to him.

On October 29, 2007, PEN American Center hailed the release of Ven. Ngawang Phulchung, a senior monk of Drepung Monastery in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa who was jailed in 1989 for publishing literature critical of the Chinese occupation of Tibet. The release came six months before his sentence was due to expire, and marked the end of one of the longest imprisonments of any political prisoner in Tibet.

Unfortunately, the good news seems to end there. On June 27, journalist Sun Lin, a reporter for the overseas Chinese news site Boxun.com, was sentenced to four years in prison for “gathering crowds to cause social unrest” and “illegal possession of firearms.”  Two days later, three Independent Chinese PEN Center members were among those detained and harassed by Chinese authorities to keep them from meeting with two U.S. congressmen visiting Beijing.  Lawyer and writer Li Baiguang was held for three days in a suburb outside Beijing.  Teng Biao, a lawyer, writer and lecturer, was also briefly detained but then held under house arrest. Dr. Liu Xiaobo, a writer, dissident and former president and current board member of the Independent Chinese Center, was also harassed by authorities. PEN protested these latest actions here.

In our Fall 2006 issue, we requested that you support the case of Ven Ngawang Phulchung, senior monk from Drepung monastery near Lhasa. He has also been singled out as the leader of the Drepung printing group, which secretly produced literature critical of the Chinese occupation of Tibet in early 1988. The publications of the group included a Tibetan translation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the first Tibetan political manifesto, "The Meaning of the Precious Democratic Constitution of Tibet," which called for a democratic system based on Buddhist tradition. The group also produced pro-independence leaflets that were designed to be stuck on walls in Lhasa. One describes how Tibetans were shot dead by police in pro-independence demonstrations and is considered unusual in that it presents a sober account of the event rather than exaggerating the details for propaganda purposes. For more information about Ngawang and a link to information about other imprisoned writers in China, go to ngawang.html

Please continue to support the case of Cuban writer and independent journalist Normando Hernández González by writing to the Cuban authorities expressing alarm at reports of his deteriorating health; urging the Cuban authorities to provide as a matter of urgency all necessary medical attention to Normando Hernández González; and  requesting the immediate release of all writers and journalists held in Cuban prisons in violation of their right to freedom of expression as recognized in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

To access Normando Hernández González’s page, go to http://www.pen.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/912/prmID/174

Download sample appeal

We regret to report that on September 14, 2007, González was transferred to a hospital, according to a Bloomberg News report. He is one of 59 writers still imprisoned following a 2003 crackdown on dissidents. At the time, 75 writers were arrested, tried and convicted of ``endangering the state's independence or territorial integrity.'' The youngest of those originally arrested, Hernandez Gonzalez, now 39, suffers from tuberculosis and several other life-threatening diseases. All of them were contracted in jail.