BANNED BOOKS WEEK 2022

Each year during Banned Books Week, Amnesty International draws attention to people around the world who have been imprisoned, threatened, or murdered because of their writing, art, or other published work. As a member of the Banned Books Week Coalition and in solidarity with the American Library Association (ALA) and organizations around the world, Amnesty activists work to fight challenges to freedom of expression.

Banned Books Week 2022 is September 18 – 24, but you can take action on the cases below until October 31. AIUSA will also host a launch event on September 15 at 8pm ET/5pm PT. We hope you will join us and take action!

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2022 Cases

Take action on these cases now through October 31, and sign up to join our launch event September 15!

Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel Castillo PÉrez

ARTIST and MUSICIAN, Cuba

Alaa Abdel Fattah

ACTIVIST AND author, Egypt

Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani

LGBTI ACTIVIST, Iran

Jeannot Randriamanana

Teacher, Madagascar


Janna Jihad

Student Journalist, Occupied Palestinian Territories


Vladyslav Yesypenko

Journalist, Ukraine/Crimea

LUIS MANUEL OTERO AlcántarA AND Maykel Castillo PÉrez

ARTIST and MUSICIAN, Cuba

Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, a visual artist, and Maykel Castillo Pérez, a rap singer also known as “Osorbo,” have been in pre-trial detention for nearly a year. On June 24, 2022 they were sentenced to 5 and 9 years in prison respectively, for participating in a peaceful demonstration and artistic performance, and criticizing President Miguel Díaz-Canel. The Cuban government should immediately and unconditionally release them.

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Alaa Abdel Fattah

ACTIVIST AND AUTHOR, Egypt

Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah has now endured over 1,000 days in unjust detention, where prison and security officials have subjected him to a catalogue of human rights violations including torture and other ill-treatment, in reprisal for his prominent role in the 2011 revolution.

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Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani

LGBTI ACTIVIST, Iran

Zahra Sedighi-Hamadani, known as Sareh, is a gender nonconforming LGBTI human rights defender and in October 2021, Revolutionary Guards arbitrarily detained her in connection with her real or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as her social media posts defending LGBTI rights. She was convicted of “corruption on earth” and sentenced to death on September 4, 2022.

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Jeannot Randriamanana

Teacher AND ACTIVIST, Madagascar

School teacher and human rights defender Jeannot Randriamanana was sentenced to two years in prison for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression when he denounced on Facebook the alleged mismanagement and embezzlement of humanitarian aid by several authority figures in the district of Nosy Varika, in east Madagascar.

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Janna Jihad

Student Journalist, Occupied Palestinian Territories

Janna Jihad just wants a normal childhood for herself and all other Palestinian children. But the 15-year-old Palestinian teen lives in the Israeli-occupied West Bank – and life under systematic discrimination is anything but normal. Having begun documenting military violations at the age of seven, Janna’s principled journalism has attracted unwanted attention. She’s been harassed and threatened with death, but she won’t give up – not until institutional racism against Palestinians ends.

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Vladyslav Yesypenko

Journalist, Ukraine/Crimea

Freelance journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko was arrested by de-facto authorities in Russia-occupied Crimea on March 10, 2021 and was sentenced to 6 years in prison on February 16, 2022.

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Jailed for Words and Art:

Uplifting Critical Voices and Fighting Censorship

Thursday, September 15 at 8pm ET / 5pm PT

You have the right to say what you think, share information and demand a better world. Exercising these rights – without fear or unlawful interference – is central to living in an open and fair society. Yet across the globe governments have increased censorship and routinely imprison people for speaking out! This event will feature the works of critical voices that governments are trying to silence. We will hear from local advocates who work to promote and protect free speech!

tools to take action together

​​These resources will help you organize actions in your community and with people you know. Please report your actions here by October 31.

Action Toolkit

2022 Banned Books Action Toolkit

 

Order Bookmarks

2022 Banned Books Bookmark

 

Banned Books Week 2022 Booklist

2022 Booklist

 

Printable Resources

PRINTABLE Petitions
Printable Case Sheets
Printable Action Flyer

 

Post on Social Media

Social Media Toolkit
Graphics & Videos

 

Kid-Friendly resources

ABC’s Activity Book

BBW Classroom Posters (Janna and Loujain)

BBW Bookmark (to color)

BBW Bookmark (Janna+Loujain)

BBW Classroom Posters (B&W)

Janna and Loujain Story and Coloring Pages

 

 

Recent victories

Ahnaf Jazeem, Banned Books Week 2021

Ahnaf Jazeem, a Sri Lankan poet and teacher, was arrested on May
16, 2020 because of a collection of his poems, and other unsubstantiated claims, under the
Prevention of Terrorism Act. He was arbitrarily detained until December 2021, when Ahnaf was
granted bail and released.

Andrea Sahouri, Banned Books week 2020

Andrea Sahouri, a journalist with the Des Moines Register, was pepper sprayed, arrested, and detained by police while covering a protest. She was charged with failure to disperse and interference with official acts. On March 10, 2021, Andrea was found not guilty of all charges. Read Amnesty’s press release here.

SHAKTHIKA SATHKUMARA, Banned Books week 2020

Shakthika Sathkumara, an award-winning Sri Lankan writer, was arrested and charged with propagating hatred and incitement of racial or religious violence for a fictional short story that he wrote. On February 9, 2021, charges against Shakthika were dropped.

BANNED BOOKS WEEK Archives

The case information in the Banned Books Week archive has not been updated. For more information about any of the cases included here, contact [email protected].

Banned Books Week & AI

A short history of Amnesty International’s work during Banned Books Week.

 

2021 Resources

View 2021 Banned Books Week cases, actions and resources.

 

2020 Resources

View 2020 Banned Books Week cases, actions and resources.

 

2019 Core Packet

View 2019 Banned Books Week cases and actions.

 

2019 Banned Books list

Books by authors who have suffered human rights abuses because of what they write or publish.

 

2018 CORE PACKET

View 2018 Banned Books Week cases and actions.

 

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