PEN Canada Honorary Members released since January 2003: 40

Afghanistan

Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh

PEN Canada Honorary Member

Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh, a 24-year-old journalism student in Afghanistan, was arrested for blasphemy in October 2007 after circulating an article from a Farsi website which questioned the Prophet Mohamed's views on the role of women in Islamic societies. In January 2008, at a closed hearing with no legal representation, Kambakhsh was found guilty of blasphemy and sentenced to death. His trial lasted less than 10 minutes. In October 2008 a higher court in Kabul commuted the sentence to 20 years in prison for "questioning Islam." Kambakhsh’s lawyers appealed the sentence the Supreme Court of Afghanistan but it was confirmed at a closed hearing in February 2009.

He was released in September, 2009 and has left Afghanistan.

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China and the Tibet Autonomous Regions

Tohti Tunyaz

PEN Canada Honorary Member

The Uighur historian and writer Tohti Tunyaz (pen-name: Tohti Muzart) was released on February 10, 2009 from Prison No. 3 in Urumqi, Xinjiang province, after serving an eleven-year prison sentence for "stealing state secrets" and "inciting national disunity." Although Tohti has served his entire sentence, it is believed that he remains under travel restrictions imposed by the Chinese authorities.

Tohti was arrested on 6 February 1998 while on a research trip in Urumchi, Xinjiang, Uighur Autonomous Region. At the time he was studying for a Ph.D. in Uighur history and ethnic relations at Tokyo University in Japan. The charges against him are thought to be linked to his research, specifically to The Inside Story of the Silk Road, a book he allegedly published in 1998. The Chinese government has claimed that the book advocates ethnic separation, but no such book appears to exist.

Tohti was convicted on 10 March 1999 by the Urumqi Intermediate People's Court and, following an appeal, sentenced by the Supreme Court on 15 February 2000 to a total of eleven years' imprisonment and two years' deprivation of political rights.

His wife, who has been living in Japan for many years, recently obtained Japanese citizenship. She has asked the Chinese authorities to permit Tohti to return to Japan for medical treatment and to continue his studies at Tokyo University.

Hu Shigen
PEN Canada Honorary Member

University lecturer, political activist and dissident writer, arrested September 27, 1992 and charged with "counterrevolutionary crimes" for planning June 4 memorial activities in many of China's major cities.

Hu was released on August 26, 2008 after serving 16 years of a 20-year jail sentence for setting up a political party in defiance of a ban by ruling Communist authorities. He is still deprived of is political rights and not allowed to speak to the media.

Hu was a founding member of the China Freedom and Democracy Party (CFDP) and China Free Trade Union (CFTU) and has campaigned for government accountability for the violent suppression of the Democracy Movement in June 1989. He was originally sentenced to 20 years in prison and five years' deprivation of political rights and was held in Beijing No. 2 Prison.

Ngawang Phulchung, a senior monk in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa and an honorary member of PEN Canada, was released on October 29, 2007, six months before his sentence was due to expire. For more details click here.

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Cuba

Normando Hernández González

PEN Canada Honorary Member

Normando Hernández González is a writer and a reporter for the Miami-based website Cubanet, and a former director of the Camagüey College of Independent Journalists.

Hernández was arrested during Cuba's "Black Spring" of 2003, along with 74 other journalists labelled as dissidents by the Cuban government. He was detained on March 18, 2003 under Article 91 of the Cuban Criminal Code for criticizing – on Radio Marti, a US-based radio station – state-run services and the government's management of such matters as tourism, agriculture, fishing, and cultural affairs. Hernández received a 25-year prison sentence after a one-day closed trial, for which he reportedly had insufficient time to prepare a defence.

Hernández was released in July, 2010 under a Vatican-brokered prison release scheme, and he now lives in exile in Spain with his wife and family.

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Iran

Maziar Bahari

The Canadian-Iranian journalist, writer and film-maker Maziar Bahari was one of more than 20 journalists arrested in Iran following the disputed presidential elections on June 12, 2009. On October 17, 2009, Bahari was released on bail ($300,000) and he has since left Iran. PEN Canada calls for his charges to be dropped and for the immediate and unconditional release of all those still detained in Iran for peacefully exercising their right to free expression.

Writer, translator and barrister Nasser Zarafshan was released on 17 March, 2007. It is believed that international pressure contributed to his release. Zarafshan was arrested in October 2000 after giving a speech in which he stated that the intelligence services had murdered five Iranian intellectuals in 1998 in Tehran. He was initially charged with publishing information about the assassinations, imprisoned in December 2000, and released after one month, pending trial. While in detention, Zarafshan's office was reportedly searched, and weapons and alcohol were allegedly found. Zarafshan was sentenced on 19 March 2002, to five years' imprisonment (2 years for disseminating state secrets, 3 years for the possession of firearms) and 70 lashes for the possession of alcohol. Zarafshan denied the firearms and alcohol charges and claimed these were planted in his office by the authorities.

Myanmar

The prominent journalist, writer and Central Executive Committee member of the National League for Democracy (NLD) was arrested on July 4, 1989, during a nation-wide crackdown by the authorities on the opposition. Win Tin is the only senior member of the NLD arrested in June and July 1989 to remain in detention.
For more details click here.

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Vietnam