Liu Xiaobo's sentence: a grievous betrayal of inalienable human rights
December 25, 2009 – In what amounts to a show trial, after weeks of courageous solidarity shown by hundreds of Chinese writers, intellectuals, and citizens, Liu Xiaobo was sentenced to 11 years in prison and two years deprivation of political rights on charges of "incitement to subversion of state power," for his role in writing and publishing Charter 08, a document calling for political reform and human rights.
A Joint Statement from the International PEN community
An Extraordinary Statement by Liu Di,
detained during Liu Xiaobo's trial
PHILIPPINES: PEN Canada condemns the attack in Ampatuan
November 25, 2009: PEN Canada joins the international community in condemning the politically motivated attack in the Philippines on November 23, 2009 in which at least seventeen journalists were killed. It calls on local authorities to take swift action to ensure that those responsible are brought to justice.
According to PEN's information, at least seventeen journalists were among the fifty seven
people confirmed to have been killed when a convoy they were travelling in was attacked by
gunmen in the Philippines on November 23, 2009.
Read more and take action
November 15: International PEN Day of the Imprisoned Writer
PEN Canada Marks Day of the Imprisoned Writer by granting One Humanity Award to Mexican journalist Lydia CachoLydia Cacho is an award-winning author, journalist and women's rights activist. Following the publication of her first book in 2005, on child pornography in Mexico, she was illegally arrested, detained and ill-treated before being subjected to a year-long criminal defamation lawsuit. She was cleared of all charges in 2007 but continues to be the target of harassment and threats.
Listen to Cacho/CBC As It Happens interview
(select Listen to Part 2)
Aung San Suu Kyi sentenced to eighteen months
August 11, 2009: PEN Canada joins writers around the world in outrage. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the NLD, writer and Nobel Peace laureate, was returned to her home after the trial, and will serve the sentence under house arrest. Aung San Suu Kyi was taken from her home in Yangon, where she has spent much of the past nineteen years under house arrest, to the notorious Insein prison on 14 May 2009. She was charged under Section 22 of the State Protection Law for "subversion" for allegedly breaching the conditions of her house arrest.
Read more and take action
Listen to the interview
with Alice Munro and Diana Athill
at the PEN IFOA Gala Benefit 2009.
PEN Canada mourns the death
of Georges Anglade, founder
and president of PEN Haiti
A tribute by John Ralston Saul
with Alice Munro and Diana Athill
at the PEN IFOA Gala Benefit 2009.
PEN Canada mourns the death
of Georges Anglade, founder
and president of PEN Haiti
A tribute by John Ralston Saul
Freedom to Write in the Americas
The Americas have become some of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists. Last year nearly 200 writers and journalists were attacked there, all but seven of them within Latin America. On World Press Freedom Day, May 3, twenty-nine regional PEN centres launched Freedom to write in the Americas, to raise public awareness of this situation and to call for an end to violence and impunity throughout the region. Follow the links below for more information.
International PEN's campaign website
PEN's Declaration of Freedom to write in the Americas, signed by dozens of eminent regional authors
PEN postcard to President Calderon: English / Spanish