By KYAW PHYO THA / THE IRRAWADDY
Protesters gather near Sule Pagoda in downtown Rangoon during the nationwide pro-democracy uprising in 1988.
Exactly 26 years ago, on Aug 8, 1988, a popular democratic uprising took off in Rangoon that would sweep the country but end with a bloody crackdown by the Burma Army. In this article, which first appeared on Aug 8, 2012, participants in the uprising recall the heady days of revolt and its tragic ending. Continue reading
Calum MacLeod, USA TODAY
BEIJING — Chinese dissident and human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng has been released after spending three years in prison but authorities may severely restrict his freedom, his lawyer, friends and human rights activists said Thursday.
Gao, 50, has defended some of China’s most persecuted people. He was released Thursday after serving a sentence for “inciting subversion of state power,” a state security charge that Human Rights Watch, a New York-based group, says is often used against peaceful government critics. Continue reading
Chinese dissident freed but real freedom unlikely已关闭评论
Posted in Writers in Prison
Tagged Gao Zhisheng
By DIDI TANG — Aug. 2, 2013 11:33 PM EDT
U.S. Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Uzra Zeya speaks to reporters at a news briefing on the latest U.S.-China Human Rights Dialogue Friday, Aug. 2, 2013, in Beijing. The United States is deeply concerned about what it sees as a deteriorating human rights situation in China, with relatives of activists increasingly being harassed and policies in ethnic areas becoming more repressive, senior U.S. diplomat Zeya said Friday. (AP Photo/Didi Tang)
U.S. Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Uzra Zeya, left, speaks to reporters at a news briefing on the latest U.S.-China Human Rights Dialogue Friday, Aug. 2, 2013, in Beijing. The United States is deeply concerned about what it sees as a deteriorating human rights situation in China, with relatives of activists increasingly being harassed and policies in ethnic areas becoming more repressive, senior U.S. diplomat Zeya said Friday. (AP Photo/Didi Tang)
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By GILLIAN WONG — Aug. 6, 2014 4:52 AM EDT
In this photo taken Jan. 6, 2006 and released by Hu Jia, Gao Zhisheng, a human rights lawyer, second right, poses for photos with his son Gao Tianyu, right, and his wife Geng He, second left, and daughter Geng Ge, left, at their home in Beijing, China. A fiery critic of China’s authoritarian government whose imprisonment and accounts of torture triggered international criticism of Beijing appears set for release Thursday, Aug. 7, 2014 amid mounting concerns the authorities will continue to deny the lawyer freedom outside prison. (AP Photo/Hu Jia)
FILE – In this April 7, 2010 file photo, Gao Zhisheng, a human rights lawyer, gestures during an interview at a tea house in Beijing, China. A fiery critic of China’s authoritarian government whose imprisonment and accounts of torture triggered international criticism of Beijing appears set for release Thursday, Aug 7, 2014 amid mounting concerns the authorities will continue to deny the lawyer freedom outside prison. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe, File)
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CONCERNS GROW OVER CHINESE RIGHTS LAWYER’S RELEASE已关闭评论
Posted in Writers in Prison
Tagged Gao Zhisheng
1 August 2014
PEN International Condemns Killings of Journalists and Attacks on Media during Israeli Offensive in Gaza
Since 8 July 2014, when the Israel Defence Force (IDF) began ‘Operation Protective Edge,’ Israeli forces have reportedly killed seven journalists and media workers.
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PEN International Condemns Killings of Journalists and Attacks on Media during Israeli Offensive in Gaza已关闭评论
Posted in PEN International News
Tagged Killings of Journalists during Israeli Offensive in Gaza
By: Dominic Moran
PUBLISHED ON AUGUST 1, 2014
On Wednesday, China indicted 2014 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award Winner Ilham Tohti, a prominent ethnic Uyghur economics professor and Uyghur PEN member, on charges of separatism. The announcement on Tohti’s case came as security forces flooded parts of southern Xinjiang, the Uyghur Autonomous Region, after the government said dozens of knife-wielding attackers were shot dead this week. Continue reading
This Week in Free Expression: August 1, 2014已关闭评论
Posted in Uighur, Writers in Prison
Tagged Ilham Tohti
Title: Liu Xiaobo Courage to Write Award
Awardee: one or two individual annually;
Candidacy: Anyone in the case list of Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN who is still imprisoned or released under legal restriction of the right to freedom of expression, such as “deprivation of political rights”; Continue reading
Announcement of Nomination for 2014 Liu Xiaobo Courage to Write Award of Independent Chinese PEN Center已关闭评论
Posted in ICPC News
London, 7 May 2014 – Five prominent dissident writers arrested for taking part in events to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the crackdown on the 1989 pro-democracy protests should be released immediately and unconditionally, PEN International said today.
Two of those detained are members of the Independent Chinese PEN Centre (ICPC), an affliate centre of the global organisation of writers. A third member of ICPC is also feared detained separately.
On 3 May 2014 at least 15 people – writers, scholars, activists – gathered at a private residence in Beijing to commemorate the upcoming 25th anniversary of the brutal crackdown on 4th June 1989 pro-democracy protests. An estimated 2,000 unarmed individuals were killed by Chinese troops in Tiananmen Square, Beijing and other Chinese cities.
PEN International:China:Renewed crackdown on writers and journalists ahead of 25th anniversary of Tiananmen protests已关闭评论
Posted in June 4th Commemoration, PEN International News
Tagged Gao Yu, Hu Shigen, June 4th Commemoration, Liu Di
