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Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi celebrated her 61st birthday at her Yangon home in Burma on 19 June. Unlike most birthdays, hers was celebrated under house arrest, and on 27 May she was informed that the junta had extended her detention term for another year. The English PEN Writers in Prison Committee declared her its Prisoner of the Month for July 2006. Suu Kyi has spent the last 17 years in and out of house arrest. As leader of the National League for Democracy and a prominent writer, she was and still is a main target for the military. She was most recently arrested in 2003 when her convoy was attacked and approximately 100 of her supporters were killed. (20-JULY-06)
 

Republic of Kazakhstan has passed amendments to its media law that will impose new restrictions on the media and make aspects such as registration more difficult and problematic. In the weeks before the passage there were pleas from groups including Article 19 asking the president to veto them and a demonstration involving hundreds of activists and journalists in Almaty on 24 June demanding the bills repeal. The Senate ignored these cries of international concern and local outrage and passed the amendments to the Mass Media Law, the Tax Code and the Code of Administrative Offences on 29 June. The president followed, signing them into law on 5 July. (14-JULY-06)
 

What happens when a repressive regime figures out how to use a “fundamental machine for crushing human beings physically, psychologically, and spiritually” to turn a profit not just from the labour of prisoners, but from their deaths as well? The answer has come to light over the past few years as reports have trickled out about the consequences Falun Gong practitioners have faced for leading spiritually, morally and physically healthy lifestyles: the removal of their organs for sale to facilitate a black market transplant trade. (7-JULY-06)

Following talks between the Maoist Communist Party of Nepal and the Seven Party Alliance (SPA), an agreement was reached on 19 June to dissolve the Nepalese House of Representatives, and put in its place an eight-party interim government including representatives of the Maoist rebels.  While this has been seen as a step towards lasting peace, there are serious concerns about disarmament. In this unstable environment, free speech remains in a state of flux, as it has been for many months. (3-JULY-06)
 

As African heads of state prepare visit Gambia for the 7th African Union Summit in July, African free expression organizations warn that the state of free expression and press freedom is deteriorating rapidly across the continent. The summit will provide groups with the opportunity to highlight rights abuses in the light of recent claims of an increase in the arrest and harrassment of journalists.  (23-JUNE-06)
 

A wave of suicides in Guantanamo Bay illustrates the despair of prisoners who cannot even hope that their governments might one day demand that they either have their charges heard in court, or be freed. For while the camp’s European citizens are now out, citizens of Arab states have been sent to the back of the queue. (16-JUNE-06)
 

The trial of writer Perihan Magden began on 7 June, only to be adjourned until 27 July. Magden faces charges of “alienating the people from military service” following an article she wrote as part of her regular column in Aktuel in which she defended imprisoned conscientious objector Mehmet Tarhan. She faces three years? imprisonment if convicted.  Magden´s trial was reported to have been adjourned to allow the prosecutors to collect further evidence on her case. (07-JUNE-06)
 

English PEN, the worldwide association of writers committed to promoting literature, protecting writers´ freedoms, and providing a platform for the free exchange of ideas, runs a lively and diverse events programme. Recent events included a celebration of International Writers’ Day, bringing together eight  international writers to explore writing, identity, community, and cultural exchange. Monica Ali and Jung Chang, pictured right, contributed to the event (30-MAY-06).
 

Several human rights organizations have voiced alarm at what appears to be an escalation of arrests and attacks on journalists and campaigners in Egypt. Prize-winning blogger Alaa Ahmed Seif al-Islam was among those arrested after after protesting against 30 April’s announcement that the country’s emergency law will be extended a further two years. (17-MAY-06)