Honourable senators, I rise today to mark the PEN International Day of the Imprisoned Writer, which took place Sunday, November 15.

This annual event calls upon all of us who value freedom of the press and freedom of artistic expression to speak out in support of writers and journalists around the world who are being held as political prisoners, or who are under threat of arrest because of their words. This year, PEN asks us to pay urgent attention to the cases of five brave, remarkable writers who are in prison or under threat of imprisonment.

Chimengül Awut is an award-winning Uighur poet and editor from Kashgar. She has been held without any contact for two years in a re-education camp in China. Her crime? Editing a Uighur-language novel.

Osman Kavala is a publisher and cultural rights activist in Turkey, who has been imprisoned in Istanbul since 2017. He was acquitted of his original trumped-up charges in February of 2020, but he is now facing a new trial for the crime of threatening the constitutional order.

Kakwenza Rukirabashaija is a novelist from Uganda who has been the subject of arbitrary arrest and torture. He was released temporarily in September under a peace bond, but PEN reports that he and his family are under constant surveillance by Ugandan state security agents.

Paola Ugaz is a Peruvian investigative journalist and author who has been the subject of a campaign of legal and social media harassment because of her in-depth investigations of corruption and sexual abuse within powerful Catholic organizations in Peru. She is currently facing trial for the crime of aggravated defamation, which carries a three-year prison sentence.

Sedigeh Vasmaghi is a poet and theologian from Iran. This August, she was convicted of the crime of signing a petition criticizing police brutality. A subject of harassment and surveillance in Iran for years, she now faces a six-year sentence.

In an open letter, Vashmaghi wrote:

You can imprison my body, but never my conscience!

I protest against the government that wants to deprive us of humanity and turn it into indifferent and silent statues.

Vashmaghi addressed her letter to Iranian authorities, but I think she speaks for all the courageous writers I honour today.

We cannot be indifferent and silent statues. We need to acknowledge the humanity of these writers and join with PEN International in calling for their liberation. Journalists and writers around the world are under threat today. The act of telling the truth itself has become dangerous, so we need our truth tellers more than ever.

Let’s honour the courage of those who risk everything to tell us the stories we need to hear and stand united in support of writers who need our voices when they cannot speak freely for themselves.

Thank you, hiy hiy.