{"id":7856,"date":"2016-12-10T10:34:50","date_gmt":"2016-12-10T15:34:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/?p=7856"},"modified":"2020-01-30T19:14:22","modified_gmt":"2020-01-31T00:14:22","slug":"pen-internationals-open-letter-time-for-china-to-release-writers-journalists-and-activists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/pen-internationals-open-letter-time-for-china-to-release-writers-journalists-and-activists","title":{"rendered":"PEN International’s Open Letter: Time for China to release writers, journalists and activists"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"pen2016\"Today, on World Human Rights Day<\/span><\/a>, our Pen International community of writers, readers, activists and publishers condemn the Chinese authorities\u2019 sustained and increasing attack on free expression and call for an immediate end to China\u2019s worsening crackdown on\u00a0fundamental human rights.<\/p>\n

We cannot stand by as more and more of our friends and colleagues are silenced. Where is the voice of Ilham Tohti<\/span><\/a>, the Uighur scholar and Pen member currently serving a life sentence, when his life\u2019s work has been about creating peace and dialogue in China? Where is the voice of veteran journalist Gao Yu<\/span><\/a>, who spent close to two years in prison and is now under house arrest? Where is the voice of publisher Gui Minhai<\/span><\/a>, who disappeared from his holiday home in Thailand and\u00a0is now being held incommunicado? Where is the voice of Nobel peace laureate and former president of the Independent Chinese Pen Centre, Liu Xiaobo<\/span><\/a>, serving an 11-year prison sentence and the voice of his wife, the poet Liu Xia<\/span><\/a>, who has been under house arrest for over six years without even having been accused of a crime?<\/p>\n

These writers represent the many critical voices across China<\/span><\/a> currently being silenced, including the imprisoned and persecuted members of the Independent Chinese Pen Centre: Yang Tongyan, Zhu Yufu, L\u00fc Gengsong, Chen Shuqing, Hu Shigen, Qin Yongmin, Liu Yanli and Liu Feiyue; and honorary members Zhang Haitao, Sun Feng, Lu Yuyu, Li\u00a0Tingyu, Huang Qi and Su Changlan. The enforced silence of these friends and colleagues is deafening, and the disappearance of their voices has left a world worse off for this egregious injustice and loss.<\/p>\n

Today we call for their words to reverberate across the globe as we commit to fighting for their freedom until China heeds our call. On days like today we have to reaffirm our refusal not to be complicit in their silence. We have to use our own words to give power to theirs.<\/p>\n

China and the rest of the world can only be enriched by these opinions and voices. We therefore urge the Chinese authorities to release the writers, journalists and activists who are\u00a0languishing in jail or kept under house arrest for the crime of speaking freely and expressing their opinions.<\/p>\n

We\u00a0urge them to uphold freedom of expression and all human rights.<\/p>\n

Abraham Zere<\/span><\/strong> Pen Eritrea<\/em><\/span>
\nAdriaan van Dis<\/strong>
\nAh Phyu Yaung Shwe<\/strong>
\nAleid Truijens<\/strong>
\nAlejandro S\u00e1nchez-Aizcorbe<\/strong><\/span> Peruvian Pen<\/em>
\nAlexander McCall Smith<\/strong> Pen Writers Circle<\/em>
\nAnders Heger<\/strong><\/span> Pen International<\/em>
\nAndrew Solomon<\/strong><\/span> Pen America<\/em>
\nAnna Nasi\u0142owska<\/strong> Polish Pen<\/em>
\nAnnika Thor<\/strong> Swedish Pen<\/em>
\nAnotnio Della Rocca<\/strong> Pen Trieste <\/em>
\nBaoqiang Sun<\/strong>
\nBurhan S\u00f6nmez <\/strong>Pen Writers Circle <\/em>
\nCarles Torner<\/strong> Pen International <\/em>
\nCarme Arenas<\/strong> Pen Catala <\/em>
\nCatherine Vuylsteke <\/strong>
\nChaw Ei Mahn <\/strong>
\nChimamanda Ngozi\u00a0Adichie \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>
\nChit Kyi Aye <\/strong>
\nChristine Otten <\/strong>
\nChu Cai <\/strong>
\nColm Toibin<\/strong> Pen Writers Circle <\/em>
\nDe Novo <\/strong>
\nDepu He <\/strong>
\nDr Mirror (Taung-gyi) <\/strong>
\nElif Shafak<\/strong> Pen Writers Circle <\/em>
\nEugene Schoulgin<\/strong> Pen International <\/em>
\nFeng Hu <\/strong>
\nFiona Graham<\/strong> Scottish Pen <\/em>
\nFrank Mackay Anim-Appiah<\/strong> Pen Ghana <\/em>
\nGhareeb Asqalani <\/strong>
\nGloria Guardia<\/strong> Pen International <\/em>
\nGo Go Mawlamyaing <\/strong>
\nGuozhen Xiao <\/strong>
\nHakan G\u00fcnday<\/strong> Pen Writers Circle<\/em>
\nHan Zaw <\/strong>
\nHanan Al Shaykh<\/strong> Pen Writers Circle <\/em>
\nHanan Awwad<\/strong> Pen Palestine <\/em>
\nHtar Oak Thon <\/strong>
\nIman Humaydan<\/strong><\/span> Pen Lebanon <\/em>
\nIsabel\u00a0Allende<\/strong> Pen Writers Circle\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em>
\nJennifer Clement<\/strong> Pen International <\/em>
\nJianguo Zha <\/strong>
\nJianhong Li <\/strong>
\nJianhua Li <\/strong>
\nJianzhen Qi <\/strong>
\nJiro Asada<\/strong> Japan Pen <\/em>
\nJM Coetzee <\/strong>
\nJoanne Leedom-Ackermon<\/strong> Pen International<\/em>
\nJudyth Hill<\/strong> Pen San Miguel <\/em>
\nJuly Moe <\/strong>
\nJuraj \u0160ebesta<\/strong> Slovak Pen <\/em>
\nKhin Aung Aye <\/strong>
\nKhin Mg Oo <\/strong>
\nKhin Moe Shwe <\/strong>
\nKhin Mya Zin <\/strong>
\nKyar Phyu New <\/strong>
\nKyaw Zin Ko Ko <\/strong>
\nKyawt Darli Lin <\/strong>
\nLebao Wu <\/strong>
\nLet Yar Tun <\/strong>
\nLiyong Sun <\/strong>
\nLucina Kathmann<\/strong> Pen International <\/em>
\nMa Thida<\/strong> Pen International <\/em>
\nMagali Tercero<\/strong> Pen Mexico <\/em>
\nMagda Carneci<\/strong> Pen Romania <\/em>
\nManon Uphoff <\/strong>
\nMargaret Atwood<\/strong> Pen Writers Circle <\/em>
\nMargie Orford<\/strong> Pen South Africa <\/em>
\nMay Zun Aye <\/strong>
\nMi Chan Wai <\/strong>
\nMichelle Franke<\/strong> Pen Centre USA <\/em>
\nMingmin Lin <\/strong>
\nMircea Cartarescu <\/strong>
\nMohamed Sheriff<\/strong> Pen International <\/em>
\nMoris Farhi<\/strong> Pen International <\/em>
\nMya Thway Ni<\/strong><\/span>
\nMyat Lwin Lwin Aung <\/strong>
\nMyat Su Lwin <\/strong>
\nMyay Hmone Lwin <\/strong>
\nMyo Myint Nyein<\/strong> Pen Myanmar <\/em>
\nNan Kyar Phyu <\/strong>
\nNedzad Ibrahimovic<\/strong> Pen Bosnia-Herzegovina<\/em>
\nNeil Gaiman <\/strong>
\nNguy\u00ean Ho\u00e0ng Bao Vi\u00eat<\/strong> Pen Suisse Romand <\/em>
\nNgwe Kyel Sin <\/strong>
\nNyi Pu Lay <\/strong>
\nPandora <\/strong>
\nPer \u00d8hrgaard<\/strong> Danish Pen <\/em>
\nPer W\u00e4stberg<\/strong> Pen International <\/em>
\nPing Hu <\/strong>
\nRandy Boyagoda<\/strong> Pen Canada <\/em>
\nRegula Venske<\/strong> Pen Germany <\/em>
\nRenate Dorrestein <\/strong>
\nSalil Tripathi<\/strong><\/span> Pen International<\/span><\/em>
\nSalman Rushdie<\/strong> Pen Writers Circle <\/em>
\nSamay Hamed<\/strong> Afghan Pen <\/em>
\nSaw Wai <\/strong>
\nShiying Zhao <\/strong>
\nShwe Eain Si May <\/strong>
\nShwe Naung Yoe <\/strong>
\nSirpa K\u00e4hk\u00f6nen<\/strong> Finnish Pen <\/em>
\nSj\u00f3n<\/strong> Icelandic Pen <\/em>
\nSofi Oksanen<\/strong> Pen Writers Circle <\/em>
\nSuu Mie Aung <\/strong>
\nSuzanne Nossel<\/strong> Pen America <\/em>
\nSyeda Aireen Jaman<\/strong> Pen Bangladesh <\/em>
\nThet Wai Hnin (Aung Lan) <\/strong>
\nTienchi Liao<\/strong> Independent Chinese Pen Centre<\/em>
\nTung Van Vu<\/strong><\/span> Vietnamese Abroad Pen Centre <\/em>
\nVida Ognjenovic<\/strong> Pen Serbia<\/em><\/span>
\nVonne van der Meer<\/strong> Pen Netherlands <\/em>
\nWaheed Warasta<\/strong> Pen Afghanistan <\/em>
\nWenxiu Lin <\/strong>
\nWillem Jan Otten<\/strong><\/span>
\nWilliam Nygaard<\/strong> Pen Norway<\/em><\/span>
\nYang Shu<\/strong>
\nYann Martel<\/strong> Pen International <\/em>
\nYe Shan <\/strong>
\nYeliang Xia <\/strong>
\nYongmei Cai <\/strong>
\nYrsa Sigurdard\u00f3ttir <\/strong>
\nYu Zhang <\/strong>
\nZeynep Oral<\/strong> Pen Turkey <\/em>
\nZhao Chen <\/strong>
\nZwel <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, on World Human Rights Day, our Pe … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7858,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,33],"tags":[1341,1578,1258,1948],"views":9653,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7856"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7856"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7859,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7856\/revisions\/7859"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}