Banned Books Week
Updates
Recent Focus Cases
Tohti Tunyaz
CHINA - still imprisoned
Banned Books Week 2002-2006
Tohti Tunyaz Mozat, a 46-year
old ethnic Uighur historian and
author, remains in prison. Arrested
in 1998 when he traveled
back to the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous
Region to research his
thesis on the region's pre-1949
history, he was charged with "inciting
splittism" and "illegally
procuring state secrets" in February
2000. When he was visited
by the UN Special Rapporteur on
Torture in November 2005, he
said that he does technical work
eight hours a day, has received
visits from his family, and writes letters. Such statements are difficult
to assess as prisoners may not be able to speak openly. Since Tohti
Tunyaz has been convicted of a political "crime", possibly on the
basis of torture, the Special Rapporteur appealed for his release.
Fessahaye Yohannes
ERITREA - still jailed
Banned Books Week 2003-2005
Approximately ten editors and
journalists jailed since the mid-
September 2001 crackdown on
privately owned newspapers
in Eritrea have virtually disappeared,
since authorities have
refused to provide information on
their health, whereabouts or legal
status. The detainees reportedly
are accused primarily of having
published interviews with political
leaders who had been calling
publicly for "democratic reforms"
in the country.
Yu Dongyue
CHINA released
Banned Books Week 1995
After 16 years of wrongful imprisonment,
Tiananmen dissident
Yu Dongyue, journalist and
deputy editor of the Liuyang
Daily, was freed on 22 February
2006, but with his mental health
impaired after periodic beatings,
torture and years in solitary con-
finement. Other inmates said that
on one occasion he had been tied
to a pole and left in the sun for
several days before being locked
in solitary confinement for another
two years. According to a
fellow dissident who visited him
later in another prison, he was scarred, did not recognize life-long
friends, and kept repeating words over and over. Upon his release, he
reportedly could not recognize family members and kept mumbling to himself.
Zafaryab Ahmed
PAKISTAN - deceased
Banned Books Week 1996
The journalist & defender of
child bonded laborers, Zafaryab
Ahmed, a former prisoner of
conscience who had faced death
by hanging for alleged sedition in
Pakistan, lived in the United States
from 1999 to the end of 2005.
He was given the CJFE Press
Freedom International Award
in 1999 in Toronto, Canada, for
meritorious services to journalism.
Zafaryab Ahmed died of
cardiac arrest at age 53 in Lahore,
Pakistan, on 25 January 2006.
1990–2005 CASES-prisoners released:
Jack Mapanje, poet in Malawi
Nguyen Chi Thien, Vietnamese poet
Miriam Firouz, Iranian writer
Nguyen Khac Chinh, novelist & poet, Vietnam
Wang Xizhe, Chinese writer & editor
María Elena Cruz Varela, poet in Cuba
Duong Thu Huong, Vietnamese writer/dramatist
6 Indian theater artists in the United Arab Emirates
Münir Ceylan, Turkish union spokesman
Nguon Non, editor of Khmer newspaper, Cambodia
Zikrayat Mahmud Harb, newspaper editor in Kuwait
Tri Agus Susanto, Indonesian student magazine worker
Wei Jingsheng, Chinese writer & democracy advocate
Christine Anyanwu, news magazine editor in Nigeria
Kim Ha-ki, South Korean novelist
Thich Quang Do, scholar/monk, Vietnam
Usama Suhail 'Abdallah Hussain, journalist in Kuwait
Drs Adnan Beuransyah, Indonesian journalist
Ma Thida, physician/writer in Myanmar
Gao Yu, economics editor in China
Ragip Duran, Turkish journalist
Zhang Jingsheng, Chinese songwriter, activist
Mohamed Nasheed, journalist in the Maldives
Freddy Loseke, DRC newspaper editor
Faraj Birqdar, Syrian poet
Esber Yagmurdereli, Turkish playwright
Daw San San Nwe, activist/writer in Myanmar
Mirtha Bueno, student in Peru
Lucien Messan, Togo journalist
José Gallardo, general & critic, Mexico
Hassan Bility, Liberian journalist
Ibtisam al-Dakhil, jounalist in Kuwait
Zouheir Yahiaoui, Tunisian website operator
Ali Lmrabet, newspaper editor in Morocco
Le Chi Quang, Vietnamese writer
Zaw Thet Htwe, Myanmar sportswriter
Bui Minh Quoc, journalist & poet in Vietnam
Ko Khun Sai, activist/writer in Myanmar
Jamphel Jangchub, Tibetan leafleter
Nguyen Dan Que, Vietnamese writer
Sein Hla Oo, news editor & film critic in Myanmar
* Ilker Demir, after the first year of AI Banned Books Week observance:
“I would like to thank all Amnesty members who worked on my behalf. I will never forget what you have done for me.”
Ilker Demir, Turkish journalist*
