Tuesday November 15th marks the International Day of the Imprisoned Writer. PEN international, the global movement of writers, will use this important day to highlight cases of writers who resist repression of the basic human right to freedom of expression, and stand up to attacks made against them and their communities. The international PEN Writers in Prison Committee monitors human rights abuses against writers, journalists and editors, and has over 1,000 names on its official case list.
The Scottish branch of PEN will mark this important day with a unique event at the Scottish parliament.
At 14:00 the Edinburgh Makar, Ron Butlin, will be imprisoned in a cage outside the Parliament, in order to highlight cases of writers and journalists who continue to languish in prison. These include the 2010 Nobel Prize winning Chinese author, Liu Xiaobo, currently serving an eleven year jail sentence, and the Iranian writer and human rights lawyer, Nasrine Sotoudeh, who is being held in solitary confinement for 'propaganda against the [Iranian] state.' Writers, editors and journalists around the world also face other forms of repression, including recurring death threats, for continuing their work.
Members of Scottish PEN will be attending this event, doing readings from imprisoned writer's work, and inviting passers-by to sign postcards demanding government interventions on behalf of imprisoned writers. The event will last for one hour.
Louisa Waugh
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