The COVID pandemic has had a "devastating” effect on freedom of expression in many countries, according to the international writers association, PEN.

PEN: No freedom for the word

Philippines: Maria Ressa

Maria Ressa is co-founder and editor-in-chief of the 'Rappler' online news portal in the Philippines. Previously, she worked as a reporter for CNN. In the Philippines, the Nobel Peace Prize winner is considered the harshest critic of outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte and his brutal anti-drug policy. The government is trying to silence Ressa by court order.

Turkey: Selahattin Demirtas

Turkish opposition politician Selahattin Demirtas ran against President Erdogan in the 2014 and 2018 elections. He has been held in a high-security prison since November 2016 for alleged terrorist propaganda. The European Court of Human Rights is demanding his release. Turkey, a member of the Council of Europe, is not responding. While in prison, Demirtas began writing.

China: Rahile Dawut

Like hundreds of Uighur intellectuals, Rahile Dawut disappeared from public view without a trace in 2017. According to Human Rights Watch, the well-known ethnologist from Xinjiang was arrested during a crackdown on Uighur poets, academics, and journalists. She is presumably being held in an internment camp. The German PEN Center is campaigning for Rahile Dawut.

Zimbabwe: Tsitsi Dangarembga

Tsitsi Dangarembga, author and filmmaker, is once again on trial in her native Zimbabwe for anti-government protests. She is accused of inciting public violence, breach of peace and bigotry. Dangarembga received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade in 2021.

Writers, journalists and critics taking issue with COVID restrictions were especially targeted. "The free word is unfree as never before. The world has not become better,” said Cornelia Zetzsche, the newly-elected deputy president and chair of the Writers in Prison committee of the German PEN center in Darmstadt.

Online platforms were closed in many countries, PEN reports, while journalists in Bangladesh and Venezuela landed in prison for allegedly spreading fake news. In Kazakhstan, poet Aron Atabek died in prison when he received no medical aid following a COVID infection.

What is happening on the planet and in each particular city

right now and any future day, you can find out here:

 https://ixyt.info/en/Ukraine/Vinnytsia

Paste the desired city into this link!

In Uganda, author Kakwenza Rukirabashaija was taken to hospital in January this year after being beaten in prison. 

Worldwide author repression

In many countries, autocrats have brutally suppressed freedom of expression. In Myanmar, at least five writers, including the poets Myint Myint Zin and K Za Win, who were participating in a peaceful demonstration, were killed by the Junta's security forces. 

In Afghanistan, PEN members Abdullah Atefi and Dawa Khan Menapal were shot after the Taliban regained power in August, 2021.

Repression and force were characteristic of the countries of Mexico, Bangladesh and Lebanon. In the Ethiopian region of Tigray, journalists who tried to report on the conflict were harassed and arrested. In Europe as well, the Dutch crime reporter Peter R de Vries was shotin Amsterdam on July 2021.

Common accusations against writers

The new PEN report also points to problems in China, Turkey, Egypt and Iran as well – countries that have featured in the organisation's case list for a long time.

Last week, on the fifth death anniversary of the Chinese Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo (1955-2017), PEN's headquarters in London published its latest Case List of human rights abuses suffered by writers.

The rationale for such suppression is common across diverse regions, Zetzsche of PEN's Writers in Prison committee says. Sometimes, writers are accused of jeopardizing national security. Other times, it is alleged that they belong to a terrorist organization.

"The cases are similar," said Zetzsche. "The instruments of suppression are always the same."

Author Stefan Dege

Permalink - https://p.dw.com/p/4ESsl