Day of the Imprisoned Writer
In any given year, International PEN’s Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) monitors around 1,000 attacks against writers, journalists, poets, publishers and editors worldwide. These range from persistent harassment and… More
Iran Frees Scholar Kian Tajbakhsh
PEN American Center welcomed the release of Kian Tajbakhsh, a social scientist and urban planner who was arrested at his home in Tehran on or about May 11, 2007,… More
PEN Welcomes Release of Haleh Esfandiari in Iran; Awaits News of Kian Tajbakhsh
PEN American Center welcomed today’s release on bail of Dr. Haleh Esfandiari, Director of the Middle East Program for the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and also a… More
PEN Condemns New Arrests in Iran
PEN American Center has expressed alarm over the arrests of two prominent international scholars in Tehran. More
Iranian Independent Publishing Community Gets Fifth Annual Jeri Laber Award
Members of the independent publishing community in Iran, facing increased harassment and persecution under the current regime, have been named by the Association of American Publishers’ International Freedom to… More
PEN Welcomes Release of Ramin Jahanbegloo in Iran
PEN American Center welcomed today’s release of Ramin Jahanbegloo, an Iranian writer and intellectual who was arrested at Tehran airport on April 27, 2006, as he was about to… More
‘We Don’t Want War’
Renowned Iranian investigative journalist and dissident Akbar Ganji discusses with Democracy Now! why he recently declined an invitation to the meet with President Bush in the White House. … More
Who’s Afraid of Shirin Ebadi?
Under cover of the international furor over its nuclear activities and its support for Hezbollah, Iran is trying to silence its most prominent human-rights activist, and, by extension, all… More
Akbar Ganji on Writing and Freedom of Expression in Iran
PEN welcomed Akbar Ganji, one of Iran's most prominent champions of human rights and freedom of expression, to New York City today to discuss writing, free expression, and recent… More
Tenth anniversary of the death of Ken Saro-Wiwa
Writers around the world in International PEN are commemorating today the life and death of Nigerian writer Ken Saro Wiwa, who was executed ten years ago on November 10,… More