Press release of September 23, 2025
Rally in Klütz: »Violence begins where talking ends«
The decision to disinvite our founding member Michel Friedman from the Uwe Johnson Literature House in Klütz (Mecklenburg) has caused irritation – including for us. That is why we are calling for a rally on 29 September at 5 p.m. at the market square in Klütz. […] We cannot judge which of the publicly stated reasons led to Michel Friedman’s disinvitation and to what extent. That is why we are upholding four principles, which the rally in Klütz will also advocate. MORE
Press release of September 16, 2025
Mr. Dobrindt, would you reject the Dalai Lama?
In the initial period after the uprising was crushed, the German government issued visas to particularly vulnerable Iranian opposition figures without bureaucratic red tape; PEN Berlin was also able to bring several persecuted colleagues to safety in Germany with the support of the German authorities. However, in practice, entry permits under Section 22 of the Residence Act are no longer being issued – neither for Iranian citizens nor for others. MORE
Press release of September 11, 2025
Lahav Shani and the right to remain silent
PEN Berlin criticizes the decision to disinvite Israeli conductor Lahav Shani from the Flanders Festival Ghent, in particular the reasoning that he had not provided »sufficient clarity about his attitude to the genocidal regime in Tel Aviv«. Freedom of expression is not only the right to express oneself freely and without fear of reprisals, but also the right not to express oneself if one wishes. Forcing people to confess is a characteristic of authoritarian and totalitarian regimes. Demanding confessions from artists violates the fundamental right to freedom of expression and disregards the principle of separation between art and artists.« MORE
Press release of August 27, 2025
Greater protection for journalists in Gaza!
On Monday, twenty people, including five journalists working for international media were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Journalists are protected under international law. They are not a party to the conflict. Their job is to inform the public. PEN Berlin spokesperson Deniz Yücel said: »This protection only applies to the extent that they are actually acting as journalists. But it applies regardless of their political views. Freedom of the press is indivisible.« MORE
Press release of August 11, 2025
Well done, Mr. Minister! But gender-inclusive language alone is not enough
About Wolfram Weimer’s recommendation to refrain from using gender-neutral language in publicly funded institutions: »The best argument and, in my opinion, the only convincing for gender-neutral language has always seemed to me to be the gasping for breath it triggers in its opponents«, said PEN Berlin spokesperson Deniz Yücel. »Rarely has this argument been so brilliantly confirmed as now by the Minister of State for Culture.« MORE
Press release of Juli 3, 2025
Yes, even hate can be a legitimate opinion
A week ago, as part of an »action day against criminal hate posts and hate crime«, the Federal Criminal Police Office carried out over 180 »police measures«, including 65 house searches, for which investigators were deployed across Germany in the early morning. PEN Berlin is concerned about this development. This relates to the subject of the investigations, the police’s actions and the framework – the »action day«. MORE
Press release of Juli 3, 2025
Sansal’s five-year prison sentence confirmed
Today, the Court of Appeal in Algiers confirmed the five-year prison sentence without parole handed down to French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal. This upholds the sentence issued on 27 March 2025. PEN Berlin and the German Publishers and Booksellers Association once again condemn this sentence in the strongest possible terms. MORE
Press release June 26, 2025
Concerned by arrest of Danial Moghaddam
PEN Berlin is deeply concerned about the re-arrest of rapper Daniel Moghaddam by the Islamic Republic of Iran. (…) Moghaddam has repeatedly criticised the mullah regime in his songs and videos, and has spoken out in support of families whose relatives were killed in the »Woman, Life, Freedom« protests. »The regime is now cracking down even more brutally on its own people«, said Daniela Sepehri, PEN Berlin board member. MORE
Press release of June 23, 2025
Protest against the arrest of Fatih Altayli
The regime has now targeted a journalist who has worked for major media outlets for a long time, as long as critical journalism was still possible. PEN Berlin spokesperson Deniz Yücel said: »The specific accusation is, at the very least, laughable. ›Threatening‹ the president. The man who controls the entire state, including the judiciary, is accusing a journalist, who has spent his entire 43-year career with no means other than the power of his words at his disposal, of ›threatening‹ him.« MORE.
Press release of June 15, 2025
Newly elected to the board: Fricke, Mangold, Sepehri
At an extraordinary General Assembly on Sunday, PEN Berlin filled vacancies on its eleven-member board and admitted new members. Newly elected to the board are writer Lucy Fricke (»Töchter«), poetry slammer and human rights activist Daniela Sepehri, and journalist and author Ijoma Mangold, writer for Die Zeit. Among the 35 new members are … MORE.
Press release of Mai 7, 2025
Poet Peyman Farahavar sentenced to death
PEN Berlin is deeply shocked by the death sentence passed on the poet Peyman Farahavar from the province of Gilan in Iran. n his political poems, Peyman Farahavar campaigns for environmental protection and social justice. »The death sentence against a poet who has done nothing but denounce environmental destruction and corruption exposes the Iranian power apparatus for what it is: a system of organised barbarism«, said PEN Berlin spokesperson Deniz Yücel. MORE
Press release of April 24, 2025
Fundraising campaign for independent media in Turkey
Since the arrest of Istanbul’s mayor Imamoğlu’s, independent media outlets have come under even greater pressure, facing fines, arrests and intimidation. This is why PEN Berlin is launching a fundraising campaign to support independent media outlets in Turkey with the support of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association, the Federal Association of Digital Publishers and Newspaper Publishers, the German Journalists’ Association, the German Journalists’ Union in ver. di, the KulturForum TürkeiDeutschland, the Media Association of the Free Press, Reporters Without Borders, the taz Panter Foundation and the ver.di trade union. MORE
Press release of April 16, 2025
Death threats against journalist Nicholas Potter
Threats against taz journalist Nicholas Potter have reached a new level of escalation. (…) »There are many things that can and must be discussed, and we are always in favour of interpreting the limits of freedom of expression as broadly as possible«, said Deniz Yücel. »But when it comes to death threats, there is nothing to discuss. Criticism is not a crime, but incitement to murder is. (…) Our solidarity goes out to our colleague who has been the target of hostility. Nicholas, you are not alone.« MORE
Press release of April 5, 2025
»Omri Boehm: Disinvitationitis strikes again«
»Ludicrous« is not the worst term to describe the whole process. From PEN Berlin’s point of view, Omri Boehm would have been an eminently suitable speaker for the commemoration. Now the Israeli ambassador to Germany is free to see things differently. But it shows a rather idiosyncratic understanding of his office if Ron Prosor sees himself as a kind of arbiter of German remembrance culture, who, as he announced via dpa, is »proud to show the red card« to forms of Holocaust remembrance that do not suit him or the Netanyahu government. MORE
Press release of April 1, 2025
Do not create a truth law
The CDU/CSU and SPD are planning laws that would unduly restrict the fundamental right to freedom of speech. This applies to the passage in the coalition agreement which states that they want to ›combat hatred and agitation even more intensively‹ and to tighten up the criminal offence of ›incitement to hatred‹. It also refers to the planned creation of a new offence of ›information manipulation‹. (…) But in an open society, truth is always subject to social debate, however painful. ›Do not create a truth law if you do not want a Ministry of Truth‹, said Deniz Yücel.« MORE
Press release of March 27, 2025
Five years in prison for Boualem Sansal
The verdict in the swift trial of the Algerian-French writer Boualem Sansal was announced today by the criminal court in Dar El Beïda, near Algiers. Sansal was sentenced to five years in prison and a fine of 500,000 Algerian dinars (around 3,500 euros). PEN Berlin strongly condemns the trial and sentence and calls for the immediate release of the 80-year-old writer. »According to the current coalition negotiations, Algeria is to be declared a safe third country«, said Deniz Yücel, spokesperson for PEN Berlin. »Algeria is not safe, least of all for people who dare to criticise those in power.« MORE
Press release of March 20, 2025
Boualem Sansal faces ten years in prison
A swift trial against the Algerian-French writer Boualem Sansal began today at the criminal court in Dar El Beida near Algiers. The public prosecutor demanded a ten-year prison sentence for the 80-year-old writer, who has been awarded the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. Sansal had to be represented by a court-appointed defence lawyer. The verdict is expected on 27 March. Deniz Yücel said: »What we are witnessing here is a judicial farce. We are concerned that the verdict has already been determined before this swift trial began. This is how rogue states act.« MORE
Press release of January 18, 2025
Saman Yasin arrived in Berlin
The rapper Saman Yasin, who comes from the Kurdish part of Iran, had been imprisoned since October 2022 for writing lyrics critical of the regime. (…) Joachim Helfer, board member of PEN Berlin, said: »Saman Yasin is finally free, and our other Iranian honorary member Toomaj Salehi has been free since December 2024. This is probably a consequence of the critical situation in which the Islamic Republic of Iran currently finds itself. But it also shows that international solidarity and commitment to human rights can make a difference.« MORE
Press release of January 8, 2025
Uganda: Freedom for Eron Kiiza
On 7 January, the well-known Ugandan lawyer and poet Eron Kiiza was initially prevented from taking his seat in the military court in Kampala as the lawyer for Kizza Besigye, the opposition’s multiple presidential candidate. After protesting, he was forcibly arrested, taken away and shortly afterwards, now in the defendants’ cage, sentenced to nine months in prison for alleged contempt of court. MORE