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On Sunday 9 November 2008, London witnessed the biggest one-day gathering concerning Somali language and literature in Europe. Around one thousand people, predominantly Somalis, from different parts of Britain attended a unique daylong festival promoting Somali language literature books mostly published in Djibouti and the UK.

English PEN strongly protests the two-year prison sentence handed down to leading poet Saw Wei, for a poem critical of the authorities. English PEN is calling for Saw Wei’s immediate and unconditional release, as well as of all those currently detained in Myanmar in violation of Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

In his attack on Mr Justice Eady, Paul Dacre, the editor of the Daily Mail, has overlooked the greater threat to media freedom. When it comes to defending legitimate journalism, Britain’s indulgent libel law poses a more serious danger to free expression than the encroaching privacy law.

In a statement, ARTICLE 19 and Index on Censorship called for the immediate release of JS Tissainayagam, a Sri Lankan newspaper editor and human rights activist serving in detention for 250 days under the controversial charges of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

Online we are all free to say what we like, write a blog, post a video, start a website or join a social network. Or are we? Who decides what goes up and what comes down? Which files can be shared or images downloaded?

ARTICLE 19 welcomes the commitment by the Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights’ (IACHR) to develop standards on the regulation of community
broadcasting.

ARTICLE 19 is alarmed by a recent statement by the Bahraini Interior minister, Shaikh Rashid Bin Abdalla Al-Khalifa, reported in the local press, calling for the enforcement of Article 134 of the Bahraini Penal Code against any citizen who attends meetings, conferences or seminars abroad or meets with representatives of foreign countries, organizations or bodies to discuss the internal affairs of Bahrain, without government authorization.

With the independent and most listened-to radios closed, a plurality of political views will not be available to the public and government critics will have considerably restricted access to broadcasting media airing their views, writes Vugar Gojayev.

In a statement dated 29 October, English PEN voiced its concern on the well-being of dissident poet Sakit Zakhidov, following reports that he was taken out of a prison medical centre prematurely, and was assaulted upon his return to penitentiary #14 in Baku, where he is serving a three-year sentence.