Reports of state-sponsored violence against journalists and independent media outlets in Egypt have continued to flow in since February 2, when supporters of President Mubarak first clashed with anti-government protestors. Take action by sending appeals directly to the Egyptian government.
“Truth is always the first casualty in war.” A Norwegian lawmaker nominates WikiLeaks for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, saying that the organization has contributed to the advancement of human rights and freedom of expression, in much the same way as last year’s winner, Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.
Three journalists, including the former president of the Belarus PEN Center Vladimir Neklyaev, have been released from KGB prison in Belarus, though their movements and activities are being tightly controlled. Many other journalists and human rights activists remain incarcerated.
On the last day of the Sundance Film Festival, Doug Liman directed a production of PEN’s Reckoning with Torture project featuring Robert Redford, Ellen Barkin, America Ferrera, and other artists and authors. As Dahlia Litwick writes in Slate, perhaps “it is only through the arts and a campaign to create public outrage that America can begin to reckon with the moral and human consequences of the U.S. torture policy.”
In the latest PEN podcast, Don DeLillo reads an excerpt from his novel Mao II at PEN’s benefit event for the Belarus Free Theater.
