Friday, 26 August 2022

Writers and free speech champions celebrate Salman Rushdie's work

In support of Salman Rushdie, Index on Censorship, English PEN, Article 19, and Humanists UK have invited writers and free speech champions to read excerpts from Rushdie’s writing. Through these videos we invite you to explore the author's work. We also encourage you to reflect on the significant risks writers across the world face.

Watch novelist Lisa Appignanesi and author Kenan Malik read from Haroun and the Sea of Stories and from the essay In Good Faith.

Saudi woman's "death sentence" for using her voice

Last year Salma al-Shehab returned to Saudi Arabia on holiday to see her family, taking a break from her studies at the University of Leeds. She was arrested, tried and convicted by a terrorism tribunal of aiding dissidents seeking to “disrupt public order” and publishing “false rumours”. Her initial sentence was six years in detention. However this month, after an appeal, her sentence has been increased to 34 years followed by a 34-year restriction on travel. For the ‘crime’ of occasionally using social media while in the UK to highlight the detention of others in Saudi Arabia. Read our CEO Ruth Smeeth's blog here.

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Index on Censorship defends people's freedom to express themselves without fear of harm or persecution. We publish censored writers and artists, monitor and campaign against censorship, and encourage debate.

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