Scottish PEN Writers-in-Prison Committee
The members of Scottish PEN's Writers in Prison group are: Robin Lloyd Jones (convenor), Sue Hemmings, Zoe Strachan, Drew Campbell, Martin Chick, Jean Rafferty, Harry Watson, Anne Clarke, Julie Johnstone and Maggie Anderson.
Any queries should be sent to
robinlloydjones@btinternet.com.
Our Writers in Prison Group has expanded to include four new members: Anne Clarke, Harry Watson, Jean Rafferty, Julie Johnstone and Maggie Anderson, bringing our numbers up to 10. We were extremely sorry to lose Beth Junor from our group when she departed for a new job in London. Beth was one of our most committed and experienced campaigners and we shall miss her greatly. Many thanks to Beth for all her hard work in the cause of justice and freedom of expression.
Ayad Alhiatly (Palestine/Syria and one of our own Scottish PEN members) - His UK asylum application has run into a series of difficulties and what seems like deliberate obstruction until finally his application was rejected. An appeal was also rejected. He has appealed again on family grounds and his solicitor has asked for a full judicial review. The Home Office is now making fresh attempts to deport him. At the time of writing this report, the outcome of this unnecessarily vindictive action by the Home Office is not known. The Rapid Action Network is as active as ever with several new members joining the support group. In the last three months multiple messages on behalf of persecuted writers have been sent to Libya, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Mexico, Tunisia, China, Suadi Arabia, Pakistan, Tajikstan, the USA.