PEN’s Free Expression Digest brings you a daily curated round-up of the most important free expression-related stories from around the web. Please send your feedback and suggestions to [email protected]

Petition urges Ayatollah to pardon condemned Iranian poets *PEN Case List
Two Iranian poets sentenced to long prison terms and floggings have vaulted to international literary prominence over their prosecution, which appears to reflect a tough new crackdown on rights and creative arts in Iran. On Sunday, the PEN American Center, an advocacy group that promotes free expression worldwide, sent a petition signed by 116 poets and writers to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. NEW YORK TIMES

Al Qaeda affiliate claims responsibility for attacks in Bangladesh
A group affiliated with al Qaeda claimed responsibility for separate attacks on two publishing firms in the capital of Bangladesh on Saturday. The attacks in Dhaka were carried out by two groups of machete-wielding assailants police called hit squads, and resulted in the death of the owner of a publishing company and serious injuries to another publisher. Both men had published several books by Avijit Roy, the Bangladeshi-American atheist and writer who was killed in the capital in February. WALL STREET JOURNAL

China Xinjiang Daily editor sacked after ‘anti-terror criticism’
The editor of Chinese state newspaper Xinjiang Daily, Zhao Xinwei, has been criticized for not following official policy. His paper covered the restive western region that has seen deadly clashes between police and ethnic Uighurs. Mr. Zhao is alleged to have ‘improperly discussed’ party policies in the region, including combating terrorism. BBC NEWS

Journalist shot dead in latest Philippines media murder
A Philippine radio reporter has been shot dead, police and colleagues said on Monday, in the latest attack in a country known for dozens of unsolved killings of journalists. Jose Bernardo, 44, was shot repeatedly by one of two suspects aboard a motorcycle outside a Manila restaurant late on Saturday and died later in hospital, police said. NEWS24

Colombia: Suspect arrested over journalist murder
The Colombian Attorney General’s Office says it has arrested a man who was sentenced earlier this year after killing a well-known journalist. Ferney Tapasco had been a fugitive since June, when he was sentenced to 36 years imprisonment for the 2002 murder of journalist Orlando Sierra. LATIN CORRESPONDENT

Iran arrests prominent reporter on propaganda charges
Iranian authorities arrested prominent journalist Isa Saharkhiz on Monday for ‘insulting the Supreme Leader (Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) and propaganda against the regime’. The journalist previously spent four years in jail, from 2009 to 2013, on charges of insulting Iranian leaders and harming national security. REUTERS

Street in Paris named after slain Pakistani journalist Saleem Shahzad
In a protest to mark the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, international organization Reporters Without Borders on Monday renamed 12 streets in Paris after journalists who have been murdered, tortured, or disappeared. One of the streets has been named after Pakistani journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad, who was kidnapped, tortured, and killed in Islamabad four years ago. GEO.TV

Zimbabwe: Reporter’s body spends one week in mortuary
The body of freelance journalist Grail Kupakuwanda, who was knocked down by a vehicle in central Harare, spent more than a week in a hospital mortuary as he was not immediately identified. Kupakuwanda was killed on October 24, but his body was only identified yesterday. He was the secretary-general of the National Freelance Journalists of Zimbabwe and a member of the Southern Africa Mining Reporters Association. THE HERALD

Kurdish journalist fears execution if deported to Iran
Kayhan Yosfi, a Kurdish journalist and activist, says he fears for his life if he is returned to his native Iran, after Swedish authorities refused his asylum request. He is being questioned by Sweden’s Immigration Police and risks deportation if his appeal is denied. Sweden wants the 33-year-old deported to Bulgaria, where he arrived after fleeing Iran in 2008. RUDAW

The human cost of bringing information to the public
In the last decade alone, approximately 700 journalists have been killed while reporting. Many journalists have been murdered and tortured by violent groups, others have been silenced by governments and institutions. On November 2, The International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, we remember those killed, those imprisoned, and those who continue to risk all doing their job. AL JAZEERA