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MARCH 2023 newsletter
Dear PEN Perth Members and Friends, PEN Perth has been following ‘curious case of Hany Babu’ over the last couple of years. Globally, PEN International has advocated strongly for this former Delhi University Linguist. Some of you were able to join us for the video conference with Dr Babu’s wife Dr Jenny Rowena at our last…
Keep readingFEB 2023 – Mother Language Day
International Mother Language Day 2023 Held every year on 21 February, International Mother Language Day is observed to promote linguistic and cultural diversity, and multilingualism. To mark this anniversary, PEN International features the case of Belarusian writer, human rights defender, Nobel Peace Prize winner and PEN Belarus member Ales Bialiatski, detained since 2021 and currently on trial.…
Keep readingJAN 2023 newsletter
Dear Members and Fellow Travellers, It was a pleasure to see some of you at the seminar with Peter Greste, on Human Rights Day 10 December 2022. Peter Greste is an award-winning journalist and author, who, along with his colleagues from Al Jazeera, was imprisoned by Egyptian authorities in 2013-15. He started his talk by…
Keep readingSeason’s greeting list
Dear members/friends It is that time of year when we all start preparing to celebrate with family and friends. However, some of us will not have that opportunity. There are writers in prison in various countries who have been imprisoned for writing about human rights in defiance of a government policy. We at PEN will…
Keep readingNOVEMBER newsletter
Dear Members, Friends and Fellow Travellers, It was wonderful to see so many of you at our event on 10 November. Thank you for joining the conversation with Srijato, a critically acclaimed and highly popular Bengali poet and Perth-based poet Robert Wood. We managed to get through a wide range of topics: from translation to…
Keep readingOCTOBER newsletter
Contents -Chair’s message-Urgent adoptee update — Pham Doan Trang (Vietnam)-Happenings-Upcoming events-Recommended articles and media Chair’s message (Krishna Sen) Members and Fellow-travellers, it was wonderful to see those of you attended our AGM last month and stayed on for the discussion with Dr Jenny Rowena about the increasing challenges to freedom of expression in India under…
Keep readingSEPTEMBER News – AGM summary and local activities
Contents – Annual General Meeting- Thank you to vacating PEN Perth committee members- Happenings- Upcoming event Annual General Meeting (AGM) On 15SEPT2022, we held our AGM at the Centre For Stories. It was wonderful to see our members gathered to hear about the importance of PEN’s work in advocating for detained writers. We also finalised…
Keep readingAUGUST Newsletter – Annual General meeting alert
Contents Annual General Meeting (AGM)Upcoming eventNewsflash – support for Salman RushdieAchievements and other happenings Annual General Meeting (AGM) 2022 Date: 5:30PM, 15/SEPT/2022 Address: Centre for Stories (100 Aberdeen St, Northbridge, 6003) All members and prospective members are welcome but only members can vote. The agenda for the AGM is as follows: 1. Attendance, proxies and…
Keep readingJULY newsletter: Asia-focused issue
Contents Opening statement on the Hong Kong National Security LawBreaking news: Executions in MyanmarWriters and articles in focusActivities completed and achievementsUpcoming activitiesLetter-writing campaign Opening statement – 2 years into the Hong Kong National Security Law When Britain handed Hong Kong to China in 1997, the expectation was that Beijing would honour the principle of “one…
Keep readingJUNE newsletter: Post-election issue
Contents:- Opening statement from our patron and honorary member, Peter Greste- Australian writers in-focus- Events we held/attended- Brief overseas update – Ukraine- What’s happening next? Opening statement(from patron and honorary member Peter Greste) In an era when everyone’s nonsense detectors are dialled up to 11, you’d have thought the Liberal party might have been truer…
Keep readingURGENT CALL TO ACTION: Letter Writing Campaign
PEN International recently condemned the Myanmar military junta’s public declaration they intend to proceed with the execution of author and activist Kyaw Min Yu (also known as Ko Jimmy), who was arrested in 2021 for criticising the military coup in social media posts. Kyaw Min Yu, along with opposition lawmaker Phyo Zeya Thaw, has been…
Keep readingURGENT CALL TO ACTION: Julian Assange
The UK Home Secretary Priti Patel will make her decision on Julian Assange’s extradition on 18th May. That’s only 5 days away. It’s not too late to help. If extradited, Assange faces a 175-year sentence in a maximum security prison, most likely in solitary confinement. Why? Because he exposed war crimes. He published the truth.…
Keep readingMAY Newsletter – World Press Freedom Day special
‘Only the foolish would argue the fact of pluralism or deny its existence. Only the heinous would try to extinguish it. And only extremely foolish and heinous governments would try to extinguish it through repression and the imprisonment of dissidents, writers, journalists, social critics, and democracy and human rights activists.’ Pham Doan Trang’s final statement…
Keep readingApril 2022 Newsflash – Julian Assange
Who is Julian Assange? The world’s most famous political prisoner, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, has become an emblem of an international arm wrestle over freedom of journalism, government corruption and unpunished war crimes. Julian Assange is a journalist, publisher and the founder of Wikileaks. Wikileaks is a site created for whistleblowers to safely leak information…
Keep readingMarch 2022 newsletter
Contents Opening message featuring Andrey KurkovUpcoming event(s): Patron’s Lecture featuring Kylie Moore-GilbertEmergency headline: Ukraine-Russia conflictAustralian writers in prison: Yang Hengjun and Julian AssangeOceania focus: Hany Babu (India) and Zaw Lin Htut (Burma)Notable women writers and journalists Opening message COVID starts its third year of chaos. Combat continues in Ukraine and Russia. Australia’s east coast flooded.…
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Free Hany Babu
‘21 February each year was International Mother Language Day. PEN International joins worldwide observations of International Mother Language Day, which celebrates the importance of linguistic diversity around world’ The idea for such a day originated from Bangladesh, which won its independence from Pakistan in 1971 after a long struggle in which the linguistic rights of…
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Professor in Prison: The Curious Case of Hany Babu
On 28 July 2020, human rights defender Hany Babu was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Mumbai. He is now the twelfth accused arrested for his alleged involvement in the violence that broke-out at Bhima Koregan on 1 January 2018.
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PEN Sydney and PEN Melbourne Call for PM to Help Julian Assange
PEN Sydney and PEN Melbourne have called for Prime Minister Scott Morrison to stand up for the rights of Australian citizen Julian Assange. Read their full letter here.
Keep readingWant to get involved?
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