The first month of 2011 has witnessed arrests and imprisonment of brave people expressing their own or public opinion. In some countries these were the new cases, in other – finalization of long term persecution. Below you can find more details about individual cases in each country.
Belarus
English PEN is deeply concerned by the worsening situation in Belarus, 
which has seen the continued detention, maltreatment and impending prosecution of a number of writers and journalists , including many of our colleagues at the Belarus PEN Centre since the presidential elections in the country on 19 December 2010.
Many political activists are behind bars in the moment. Journalists of Charter97, Russian “Novaya Gazeta” are under arrest, prominent writers Vladimir Neklyaev (left), Aleksandr Fiaduta and author of several books Pavel Severinets are also held in detention.
Iran
PEN also condemns the eleven year sentence handed down on 9 January 2011 to prominent Iranian writer, journalist and lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh. Sotoudeh has also been banned from practisng law and from leaving the country for twenty years.
Nasrin Sotoudeh, mother of two young children, was arrested on 4 September 2010 when she was summoned to the special court in Tehran’s Evin Prison on charges of "propaganda against the state", "cooperating with the Association of Human Rights Defenders" and "conspiracy to disturb order".
The arrest followed a raid on her home and office by security officers on 29 August 2010, who confiscated her files and documents. Her lawyer was not allowed to represent her in court or accompany her during questioning.
Nasrin Soutadeh is currently being held in solitary confinement Evin Prison. She has been on hunger strike for much of the time since her arrest and concerns for her welfare are mounting. Since her arrest she has been allowed very limited access to her family, in violation of the
Iranian Penal Code which guarantees prisoners the right to weekly visits and to receive phone calls from relatives.
Nasrin Sotoudeh is best known as a human rights lawyer and activist, but has also worked as a journalist for several reformist newspapers including Jame’e. Since qualifying as a lawyer in 2003, she has specialised in women’s and children’s rights, and has continued to write articles on these issues.
Many of her articles have been rejected for publication, including a report written for a special issue of Daricheh on women’s rights for the occasion of 8 March (Women’s Day) earlier this year. Following the launch of the One Million Signatures Campaign for the Repeal of Discriminatory Laws in August 2006 by several leading Iranian women activists , and the widespread growth of the women’s rights movement in Iran, she has represented many women’s rights activists including Parvin Ardalan, a well-known PEN case.
PEN considers that Sotoudeh has been sentenced solely for the peaceful exercise of her right to freedom of expression as guaranteed by Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is a party. PEN calls for her immediate and unconditional release.
English PEN calls to take action and send an appeal. Find out the details here.
Tunisia
English PEN welcomes the release on 16 January 2011 of Nizar Ben Hassan and Hamma Hammami Hassan who had been arrested by Special Presidential Security officers a few days earlier. Organisation also welcomes the release of bloggers Azyz Amamy and Slim Amamou following the fall of the former President Ben Ali’s government on 14 January 2011.
However, PEN remains concerned about the continued detention of Ammar Amroussia, Soufiane Chourabi, Hamadi Kaloutcha, Nibras Mahzeeli, Mue’z al-Bai, Mue’z Jama’I and rapper El Général – real name Hamada Ben Aoun and continues to call for their immediate and unconditional release
.
Over the past month, mass arrests have taken place throughout the country and security officers have reportedly responded with excessive force, using tear gas and live bullets to disperse demonstrators. Dozens of civilians have been killed and many more wounded.
The internet and media had already been severely curtailed in recent years, but the Tunisian authorities have imposed even greater restrictions on freedom of expression and assembly in response to these recent events, whilst several newspapers and magazines have been confiscated and suspended including opposition newspapers “Al-Mawkif” and “Al-Tariq al-Jadid”, and the news broadcaster “Al-Jazeera”.
Yemen
English PEN protests the five-year prison sentence handed down to Yemeni journalist Abdulaelah Haider Shaea on 17 January 2011 for his coverage of Islamist groups in the Arabian Peninsula. PEN considers that he has been sentenced solely for the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression.
According to organisation’s information, Shaea was sentenced by the state security Specialised Criminal Court (SCC) in Sana’a for his alleged connection with Al-Qaeda, although there is no evidence to support the charges against him. It is widely believed that Shaea has been sentenced for his journalistic work. Shaea has stated that he will not appeal against the sentence because he does not recognise the legitimacy of the SCC court.
the People´s Republic of China
English PEN mourns the death on 31 December 2010 of writer, poet
and playwright Zhang Jianhong (aka Li Hong, right), who had been suffering from a rare neurological disorder since early 2007, shortly after his arrest on subversion charges for his critical writings.
Repeated calls for medical parole were turned down by the authorities, until he was finally released on 5 June 2010 in a critical condition after serving nearly four years of his six-year prison sentence. He was fifty-two years old.
According to PEN’s information, writer Zhang Jianhong was diagnosed in May 2007 with muscle atrophy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a progressive degenerative disease of the central nervous system, and his condition rapidly deteriorated in prison. On 5 June 2010 he was released on medical parole in a critical condition. He remained at a hospital in Ningbo city, Zhejiang Province in the east of the People´s Republic of China, requiring intensive care and dependent on a ventilator, until his death on 31 December 2010.
A prominent poet, playwright and author, Zhang Jianhong was arrested in September 2006 and sentenced in March 2007 to six years in prison for writing articles critical of the government. Zhang started publishing his poems in the 1980s, and was previously imprisoned from 1989-1991 for his pro-democracy activities.
Turkey
Pinar Selek (below), a Turkish writer, sociologist and founder of the Amargi Women’s Solidarity Cooperative, will be tried in Istanbul on 9 February 2011, on charges of which she has already been acquitted twice. If she is found guilty, she faces up to 36 years in prison.
English PEN is seriously concerned that Selek is being subjected to a campaign of judicial harassment as a means 
of penalising her for her long standing support for minority groups in Turkey. PEN is calling for the end of this pursuit of Pinar Selek and for the dismissal of charges against her.
Selek was accused of involvement in an explosion at an Istanbul market in 1998. experts concluded that the explosion had not been caused by a bomb, but by the accidental ignition of a gas cylinder. Despite these findings, the case against Selek and her co-defendants continued and in December 2005 a new trial was opened against her.
Commentators believe that the renewed prosecution of Selek is linked to her work as a sociologist researching Kurdish issues in the mid-to-late 1990s, and to supposed contact with the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). According to PEN sources, no evidence has been presented that shows Pelek to have been a member of the PKK or to have engaged in violent activities.
It is widely believed that she is being pursued through the courts as a means of penalising her for her legitimate research and commentary. These concerns are intensified by the allegations that Selek, during her imprisonment in 1998-2000, suffered torture under investigation in an attempt to make her confess to the charges.
Related articles:
PEN International sends letter to President Lukashenko
Belarus: repressions against journalists and writers
NGOs call on immediate release of the journalists and human rights defenders in Belarus
Attacks on journalists in Belarus, Ukraine and Russia – attacks on freedom of expression?
Iranian film director sentenced to 6 years in prison and banned from making films for 20 years
Take action to free Iranian blogger
Iranian journalist sentenced to six years’ imprisonment
Jailed Iranian blogger receives Freedom of the Press Award
Turkey: Publisher Ragip Zarakolu back on trial again, alongside Mehmet Güler
Turkish journalist has been sentenced to 15 months in prison under draconian anti-terror laws
