Proposed Thai law gives police power to shut news media
Anti-free speech legislation is used as a weapon in the ongoing political war between the Thaksin Shinawatra political machine and the Democrat Party. Voranai Vanijaka reports
Take action to end impunity: Wadallah Sarhan
MURDERED NOVEMBER 2004
Wadallah Sarhan, Editor-in-Chief, Akhbar Al-Mosul — Mosul,Iraq
Join us in demanding justice for Wadallah Sarhan, gunned down in November 2004 by assailants near his home, which doubled as the newspaper’s office, according to local journalists and a local government official. The sources could not provide a precise date for his death. Sarhan may have been targeted because of suspicions that his newspaper had received US funding. According to one reporter, Sarhan’s name was included on an insurgent “hit list” of local journalists that was posted in some local mosques in 2004.
In 2011, Iraq – with an impunity rating three times worse than that of any other nation – is ranked first in the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Impunity Index for the fourth straight year. Plus, says CPJ, not a single one of the 92 journalists’ murders recorded in Iraq this past decade has been solved.
Take Action: Write a letter demanding justice for Wadallah Sarhan
International Day to End Impunity is on 23 November. Until that date, we will reveal a story each day of a journalist, writer or free expression advocate who was killed in the line of duty.
Take action to end impunity: Carlos Alberto Guajardo Romero
MURDERED 5 NOVEMBER 2008
Reporter, “Expreso Matamoros”, Matamoros, Mexico
Join us in demanding justice Carlos Alberto Guajardo Romero, the 37-year-old left home to cover a confrontation between military forces and drug traffickers in Matamoros on 5 November 2010. His pickup was reportedly shot at least 20 times as he was heading for the Secretariat of Homeland Security to gather more information. National news reports said army officers had fired at the journalist’s unmarked truck mistaking him for a gunman involved in the shooting – part of a major operation targeting Antonio Ezequiel Cárdenas Guillén, the kingpin of the Gulf drug cartel. The army deployed 150 soldiers, three helicopters and 17 vehicles; besides Guajardo and Cárdenas, three soldiers and four other gang members were killed.
At the same time, the government announced a strategy to protect journalists from death threats from common criminals, drug cartels and even the authorities. But IFEX members strongly denounced the programme – having been devised and run entirely by government officials.
Take action and send a letter to the authorities demanding an immediate and open investigation into this case here
International Day to End Impunity is on 23 November. Until that date, we will reveal a story each day of a journalist, writer or free expression advocate who was killed in the line of duty.
PAST EVENT: English PEN presents: Night of the Imprisoned Writer
Night of the Imprisoned Writer
Tuesday 15 November, 7.30pm (Doors at 7pm)
Venue: The Tabernacle, 34-35 Powis Square, London, W11 2AY
A unique performance evening to mark the 30th annual Day of the Imprisoned Writer, in association with ice&fire theatre company.
Hello Mr Miller, Hello Mr Pinter
Don’t miss your chance to see this special one-off performance in which the powerful words of persecuted writers from Mexico to Bahrain, from Kenya to Azerbaijan, have been woven together by award-winning playwright Sonja Linden and English PEN’s Cat Lucas. Directed by Christine Bacon and performed by Actors for Human Rights, ‘Hello…’ is both a moving celebration of PEN’s work on behalf of imprisoned and persecuted writers around the world and a concrete testament to the bravery of those writers who, often at great risk to themselves and their families, continue to speak out.
Stand Up For Writers In Prison
And because no-one speaks out quite like a comic, we’re delighted to be bringing you some of today’s finest acts to illustrate what freedom of speech is all about……
How to book
Tickets are £10 and all proceeds will go directly to English PEN’s Writers in Prison Programme.
To book, please click here: http://www.carnivalvillage.org.uk/all-events/night-of-the-imprisoned-writer/
English PEN’s Writers in Prison Programme would like to thank Richard and Elena Bridges for their invaluable support.