Dying for the Right to Write

If you have been following the news in recent months you cannot fail to have noticed that authors and booksellers seem to be the latest in a long list of professions that are deemed dangerous to totalitarian (and worse, purportedly democratic) regimes and people in the literary world are having to risk dying for the right to write.

In January we reported on the disappearing booksellers in Hong Kong who were vanishing from the streets only to reappear several months later in custody in China, then in February we wrote about an Egyptian author who was imprisoned for two years for causing distress to a man who had read an excerpt of his book in a national newspaper and the news that the fatwa on Salman Rushdie has been reinstated.

This week the news for anyone involved in the world of literature is if it is possible, even worse. In Jordan, author Nahed Hattar was shot dead outside the country’s Palace of Justice in Amman when on his way to stand trial for contempt of religion and inciting sectarian strife. The charges came after the Christian author published an image on Social Media that allegedly insulted Islam, the caricature depicted ‘a bearded man in heaven smoking in bed next to two women, calling on God – seen looking into the room as a figure with a white beard and golden crown – to bring him nuts and wine’. Titled “God of Daesh“the caricature was intended to satirise the Islamic State Militant group but many conservative Jordanians were offended believing that the image mocked their faith despite Hattar denying he intended to insult God.
Hattar was shot on Sunday by a man dressed in the traditional garb of ultra-conservative Muslims who is around fifty years of age and who has been taken into custody.

Then we come to Turkey a country in turmoil and a country where following the failed coup against President Erdoğan on July 15th twenty-nine publishing houses have been closed down and several prominent writers including Ahmet Altan – a novelist who sells millions of books and his brother Mehmet Altan, a professor and academic have been arrested on charges of terrorism.
Ahmet has since been released on probation, however his brother and several other journalists and writers remain in custody.

World renowned authors and writers including Ian McEwan, Julian Barnes, Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie, Elena Ferrante and JM Coetzee have called for the Turkish government to cease its persecution of prominent writers after news of the September 10th raids became known. Other detainees include Aslı Erdoğan, a well-known author in Turkey, and writer and linguist Necmiye Alpay who were both arrested on charges of terrorism with Alpay denying that she had anything to do with terrorism saying “journalism is not a crime” and criticising the arrests.
“What I know is that the actual way of prosecuting everyone is not the way to restore a peaceful country, neither that of combatting terrorism,” she wrote. “I call all those who are responsible, and the government, to put an end to the politics of violence and repression, free writers and peace activists, recognise the right of criticism and begin to talk and negotiate with the representatives of Kurdish movements who declare themselves ready for that. Jailing peace activists and writers is not new in our country. Interestingly enough, now there are more women writers and peace activists in prison than ever. And, this time, considering the problems of the region, we risk to find us in a civil war, and our country fallen apart. Only peaceful politics can serve [to] avoid this.”

These recent developments have caused leading publishing chiefs from around the world to collectively condemn the arrests with the PEN International Publishers Circle organising a petition in August that condemned the actions being taken against Turkish writers and journalists expressing ‘deep concern’ and calling for president Tayyip Erdogan to protect writers’ freedom of expression. The petition has been signed by publishing chief executives including Markus Dohle of Penguin Random House, Carolyn Reidy of Simon & Schuster and Arnaud Nourry of Hachette Livre to name but a few.

Talking to The Bookseller last month Arnaud Nourry is quoted as saying “What could president Erdogan possibly be afraid of? Books? Opinions? Contrary opinions? Does Erdogan believe authors, let alone publishers, played a role in the failed coup? Or is he seizing on an opportunity to clamp down on what is left of freedom of expression in his country? Whatever the motivation, Turkey must at once rescind its gag order imposed on publishers if it still wants to be considered a democracy.”
Whatever the truth it seems that we are rapidly returning to the dark ages and people really are dying for the right to write.