Joint Statement of the Global PEN Associations in Defense of Iranian Writers
More than 35 branches of the Global PEN Association have strongly condemned the repression and arrest of poets, writers, and members of the Iranian Writers’ Association in a joint statement. They have called on the authorities of the Islamic Republic to end the harassment of the members of this association, to unconditionally revoke the political charges against its member writers, and to release Ali Asadollahi and Keyvan Mehregan from prison.
The statement also expresses solidarity with all writers in Iran and calls for an end to their repression, demanding the release of all writers and poets who are imprisoned in Iran due to their writings, translations, and works.
The authors of this statement have written that the 2021 Freedom of Expression list of this association shows that Iran was the fourth country in the world that year in terms of the highest number of arrested and imprisoned writers and intellectuals.