Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Thursday, November 14, 2019

Official Report 1021KB pdf

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Day of the Imprisoned Writer

The next item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S5M-19205, in the name of Ruth Maguire, on the day of the imprisoned writer. The debate will be concluded without any question being put. It is a very tight debate, as we already have seven members wanting to speak, so speeches should be very brief—four minutes, please—and everyone must keep to time.

Motion debated,

That the Parliament recognises 15 November as the Day of the Imprisoned Writer, a day to stand in solidarity with writers across the globe who have been persecuted, exiled, imprisoned and killed for expressing themselves; notes with grave concern the continued decline in free expression across the globe, as documented by organisations such as PEN International, Amnesty International, the Committee to Protect Journalists, ARTICLE 19 and Reporters without Borders; acknowledges what it sees as global efforts by state and non-state actors to attack and silence writers and journalists; recognises the impact of censorship on writers that restricts the free exchange of ideas and the unhampered transmission of thought; notes the importance of protecting the right to free expression for all, irrespective of background or identity; notes how a climate of impunity threatens both global free expression and trust in systems of justice; notes calls for governments around the world to guarantee justice for murdered, persecuted and imprisoned writers; supports initiatives to secure adequate protections for persecuted and imprisoned writers; commemorates writers who have been killed for exercising their right to freedom of expression, and finally, notes calls for the Day of the Imprisoned Writer to be officially recognised by the Parliament.

12:50  

Every year, on 15 November, PEN International and PEN centres around the world mark the day of the imprisoned writer and stand in solidarity with at-risk and imprisoned writers around the globe. I welcome to the gallery representatives of PEN, and I thank them for all the work that they do on this matter.

The day of the imprisoned writer marks a moment to call for all imprisoned writers to be released and all at-risk writers to be protected. I thank members from all sides of the chamber for supporting my motion and the debate today. I hope that we can, as cross-party representatives from across Scotland, unite to call for all writers in prison to be released and for all threats and attacks to be defended against and investigated in line with the law and international standards, and, where individuals have been murdered, to demand full, transparent and robust investigations in order to ensure that those behind such crimes are brought to justice.

Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right and is essential for society to function well. If we are to have good governance and democracy, intercultural dialogue and peace, we must have freedom of expression. I would ask anyone who might be inclined to shut down freedom of expression in the name of their cause or belief, no matter how benign or positive they feel that their views are, to reflect on where that leads and what it might mean in the long run.

The International Cities of Refuge Network states:

“A closed, censored society will soon become something like an autocracy with corruption and frightened servants instead of citizens.”

Whether people in power like it or not, critique, dialogue, different ideas, different opinions, robust challenge and scrutiny are essential in the long run, and writers everywhere provide those things. They inform the public, speak out for the marginalised, interrogate power, challenge censorship and speak words that others need to hear. When writers are censored, imprisoned, attacked or murdered, the world loses vital voices that strengthen democracy everywhere. Globally, far too many writers, journalists, novelists, poets, essayists, translators, publishers, editors, playwrights, cartoonists, bloggers and citizen journalists are jailed. Around the globe, laws about defamation, hate speech, national security and blasphemy are misused by oppressive regimes to silence dissenting voices.

There has never been a more dangerous time to be a journalist. According to Reporters without Borders, 80 journalists were killed worldwide in 2018. So far this year, 234 journalists, 136 citizen journalists and 17 media assistants have been imprisoned in the course of their duties. They have been imprisoned for doing their jobs, informing the public, speaking out for the marginalised, interrogating power, challenging censorship and speaking words that others need to hear. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 1,354 journalists around the world have been killed between 1992 and 2019, and 31 journalists have lost their lives so far this year.

In addition to raising awareness of the plight of imprisoned writers in general, PEN uses the day of the imprisoned writer to direct attention to several specific persecuted or imprisoned writers and their individual circumstances. Colleagues on all sides of the chamber will, in their contributions, talk about the work of those individuals and the injustice around their situation that needs to be resolved. On the day of the imprisoned writer, we read the words that others have tried to silence.

Those who try to suppress people’s work should hear loud and clear that censorship or imprisonment cannot silence the voices of writers. Today, in the Scottish Parliament, we stand together to protect at-risk writers and to stand up for free expression.

To close, I would like to share the words, a poem, of Behrouz Boochani, who is an Iranian-Kurdish journalist, associate professor, human rights defender, poet and film producer. This morning, Amnesty International shared the very good news that he had been freed. I am delighted that he will be appearing at WORD Christchurch, where he can read his own words.

In celebration of his freedom, and in solidarity with writers who are still imprisoned, I will share his poem, “The Black Kite”.

Over Manus Island,
a black kite flies.

A few youths-
still with energy
to bear the difficulties
of this prison camp-
made it.

The black kite flies,
a messenger of freedom
for us, the forgotten prisoners.

It circles
higher and higher
above the camp,
above the beautiful coconuts.

Our eyes follow its flight,
it seems to want to tear its rope.

It breaks free,
dances towards the ocean,
flies far and again farther
until no one can see it.

The youths stare into the empty sky
after their impossible dream.

12:56  

I thank my colleague Ruth Maguire for bringing this important debate to the chamber.

Given that I am a former journalist, the debate is particularly close to my heart. Despite never having been in the line of danger myself, I believe that freedom of speech and freedom to write are the foundations of our democracy. Therefore, I thank PEN and all those involved who work so tirelessly to ensure that persecuted, imprisoned and murdered writers around the world are given a voice after being so unjustly silenced.

Those brave men and women continue to risk their lives and their freedom every day in pursuit of the truth. So far in 2019, 36 journalists have been killed and a further 341 are currently in prison. The numbers do not even take into account those who have been imprisoned and released or who are currently in exile: that is horrific and shocking. Those heroes deserve to be celebrated, their cases deserve to be championed, and their stories deserve to be told. They should not be silenced.

That is why I welcome the opportunity that the Parliament has to stand in solidarity with at-risk or imprisoned writers. I am sure that I speak on behalf of everyone in the chamber when I say that the importance of the work that those writers do in pursuit of truth and justice cannot be understated, with each story being as important as the next.

In its briefing, Scottish PEN provided us with a shocking number of case studies, which represent just a fraction of the number of people who are being persecuted. I will take the opportunity to highlight the work and life of Lyra McKee, who was killed in April this year while covering a riot in Derry, Northern Ireland. A journalist and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activist, Lyra was born in north Belfast, where a quarter of all deaths from the conflict in Northern Ireland occurred. Her work focused on the forgotten victims of violence during the troubles, and she was of the generation that was promised better. Much like the very principle that is at the heart of the day of the imprisoned writer, Lyra strove to give a voice to the voiceless, and it is a cruel irony that she lost her life in the process.

Lyra recognised that the war in Northern Ireland continues to haunt individuals and families and that the first step to true peace for many families would be allowing their stories to be told. That is why it is such a profound tragedy that such a talented and caring rising star in the journalist community would be taken so abruptly and senselessly by the very violence on which she shone a light.

Nevertheless, Lyra’s life and work serves as a testament to the risks that such writers throughout the world take and the importance of their taking those risks. Their courage exposes the truth, it allows us to learn and it leaves a legacy that will last for generations.

We must remember their stories, we must strive to do better ourselves and we must challenge persecution and abuses of human rights whenever we can.

12:59  

I thank Ruth Maguire for this important members’ business debate.

A free press speaks to the very core of the ideals that we hold dear. The ability to speak truth to power is essential in any functioning democratic system. Unfortunately, across the world, we have seen the erosion of civil liberties and the rights of writers, activists and journalists to speak their minds without fear of reprisal.

It is with that in mind that we mark the 2019 day of the imprisoned writer. This year, PEN International has chosen to highlight the cases of five writers who have been persecuted in their home countries, to raise awareness of the risks that they and their colleagues are facing around the world. Whether it is Lydia Cacho, who has faced harassment, death threats and attacks due to her investigative journalism in Mexico, or news editor Nedim Türfent, who is serving eight and a half years in a Turkish prison on terrorism charges after a trial in which 19 witnesses said they had been tortured into testifying against him, their stories are simply harrowing. Sadly, they represent a global picture that is very troubling.

As colleagues may have seen, Reporters Without Borders does excellent work evaluating the trends in global press freedom. Compared with a few short years ago, we have real cause for concern. The 2019 world press freedom index indicates that only 9 per cent of the world’s population live in countries where journalists can operate freely and independently. Even regions that have previously performed well have their issues. The demonisation of the media and debasement of public debate serve only to increase hostility against institutions that, at their best, give a voice to those without one and shine a light on the hidden challenges that the world faces.

Sadly, stories such as those are all too common. They are happening every day: arrests, assaults and even murder. They can come at the hands of state institutions as well as non-state actors. We all remember the stories of Marie Colvin, James Foley, Steven Sotloff, and, more recently, Jamal Khashoggi and Lyra McKee—each a tragedy.

The truth is that for each case we hear about, there is no telling how many others we do not hear about. Therefore, it is imperative that we take every opportunity to set out the absolute and indeed resolute belief that we all share in the right to freedom of speech and expression.

In 1787, Thomas Jefferson wrote:

“were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”

A free society relies on freedom of expression and on the ability of ordinary citizens to question and to criticise those who hold political power. When writers and journalists are harassed, jailed or worse, simply for holding the powerful to account, we should stand against that at every turn.

As politicians, we might not like everything that is said about us. However, critical comment comes with the territory and that must always be the case. I welcome this opportunity to mark the day of the imprisoned writer and I hope that the year ahead sees vast improvement in the treatment of writers and journalists across the world, because—quite honestly—democracy depends on it.

13:03  

I thank Ruth Maguire for bringing this debate to Parliament ahead of tomorrow’s day of the imprisoned writer. This is a welcome opportunity for us to voice our support for writers who are being persecuted, imprisoned and exiled across the globe.

We also have a responsibility as parliamentarians to consider what role we have to work with organisations such as PEN International, Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders and others to continue to apply pressure on Governments to highlight and address the issues.

We live in a democracy and we have freedoms that many others do not. We have often fought hard to hold on to those rights and we are able to fight to protect them, whereas others cannot. The freedoms and legal protections that we have here are vital and we should not take them for granted. The day of the imprisoned writer serves as a reminder that many parts of the world do not have such commitments, and that in those places, people find themselves imprisoned, persecuted or executed for acting in a way that we would see as entirely normal. There are parts of the world where people are taking risks every day just by expressing their creativity or their views.

The importance of maintaining creativity and upholding its place in society is crucial, and we must all seek to do all that we can to ensure that people are not denied such freedom of expression. We must support those who make personal sacrifices to defend and uphold those human rights, and we must fight against any attempt to censor or otherwise restrict the exchange of ideas.

I thank Amnesty International UK for its briefing for the debate, and for its continued work in sharing the voices of writers who have seen their human rights compromised for exercising freedom of expression. The briefing highlights some of its current and recent cases and—alongside the PEN International case list—focuses attention beyond the numbers and tells us the stories of the individuals whom we are talking about today. Each individual case of a writer who is imprisoned, exiled or executed is a story that is deserving of our attention. Each of those cases underlines the need for action, and I welcome the fact that some of those stories are being shared today.

In Uganda, Stella Nyanzi was sentenced to 18 months in prison following a Facebook post that insulted President Museveni. She founded a campaign to provide sanitary pads to schoolgirls—a similar campaign, about which we have had a debate, has been successful in Scotland. We should recognise that in another country, that campaign has led to a woman being imprisoned.

In Egypt, Galal El-Behairy was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for insulting the military and spreading false news, which were charges that related to a book of his poetry.

In other cases, it is not always legal or judicial action that is taken against writers. In Cuba, Francis Sánchez Rodríguez and Ileana Álvarez were sent into exile following persistent harassment and restrictions. They are husband and wife, and poets and independent journalists.

The freedom of the press, and of all writers, is an important part of our culture and society. We defend our right to speak and to write about our views, and the contribution of writers is something that we are able to celebrate. Each year, the Edinburgh international book festival is just one of the events at which we are able to do that. An important part of the festival is the imprisoned writers series, which is run by PEN and Amnesty International and shares writing by those who have had their freedom of expression denied or threatened. The contrast between the stories of those imprisoned for their writing, and a festival in Edinburgh that is about celebrating literature, is a stark reminder of the challenges that those authors face. The day of the imprisoned writer seeks to raise awareness of the situation of those individuals across the globe.

The power of the written word is vital in spreading messages, communicating ideas and connecting individuals and groups. However, it can also make writers a target for oppressive regimes and other actors who seek to prevent such activity. The freedom to speak as we choose, and for our words to be shared, must not depend on where a person lives or what they seek to write. Freedom of expression is central to creativity, communication and societies. We must do all that we can not only to highlight instances where it is prevented, but to protect it where it exists and promote change where it does not.

13:07  

I also thank Ruth Maguire for bringing the debate to the chamber, as she does every year. I also thank PEN International and Amnesty International for the briefings that they gave us.

I will talk about what can happen when a writer goes up against organised crime. Child sexual exploitation absolutely falls under that description, and it is the poor of this world who are most affected by it. The organised sexual slavery of children is even harder to tackle when you have Governments who turn a blind eye to it. Lack of action on tackling it is one thing, but dysfunctional criminal justice systems add to the problem and protect the perpetrators.

Through her journalism, Lydia Cacho Ribeiro has trained a spotlight on child prostitution cartels in Mexico. As a result of her investigative journalism, she has been subjected to assault, arrest, police detention, ill treatment during that detention, and defamation lawsuits that threatened to financially destroy her.

Lydia’s first book on the subject of child pornography in Mexico, “The demons of Eden: the power that protects child pornography”, which was published in 2005, drew attention from those who would wish to silence her. Her writing exposed several people in power, including Kamel Nacif Borge and Jean Succar Kuri, who ran a paedophile ring in Cancún. It also threatened to expose those men’s clients, who were businessmen and men of power in Mexico—and the power behind pornography, it would seem, is significant.

Weeks after her book was published, Lydia was abducted by men in a van that pulled up outside her place of work. During the abduction, she was sexually assaulted, beaten and threatened with assassination if she did not stop writing about sex trafficking.

Soon after the incident, she was arrested. In 2007, after a two-year period of legal action following her arrest and detention, she was cleared of all charges. She has tried since then to get legal redress for her ill treatment, but to no avail.

Throughout the whole time, she has been the target of harassment and threats due to her investigative journalism. However, she has persevered. She has kept writing and she set up a shelter for women and girls who are victims of trafficking.

The intimidation continued. She says that, to date, she has received 27 death threats because of her work, but she was determined to stay in Mexico, run the shelter and keep writing about the organised crime of sexual exploitation and gender-based violence.

On 21 July 2019, someone invaded her home, killed her two dogs and stole reporting records by way of her recorder, laptop and other equipment. This summer, Lydia reluctantly left Mexico to live in exile in London, because she knows that the justice system in Mexico will not protect her and she might be murdered if she stays.

In today’s debate, we will hear a lot about persecution by the state, but the enabling by the state of violent crimes against journalists is arguably as bad. I offer solidarity to you, Lydia, as you use your voice to save women’s and girls’ lives. Mexico needs you—you need to go back, keep reporting and be protected as you do so.

13:11  

I congratulate Ruth Maguire on bringing this important motion to the chamber for debate. My late mother used to say, “You only know what you know”, but, actually, you only know what you are told. Key to that are the people who deliver information to us, such as writers, journalists and photojournalists.

Let me build on the good news that Ruth Maguire gave us earlier about Behrouz Boochani. Last year, my colleague Andy Wightman highlighted the case of Oleg Sentsov, the Ukrainian filmmaker who was jailed by the Russian authorities for 20 years. There is good news to report, as he was released on 9 September following a prisoner swap. In even better news, he will receive the Sakharov prize in the European Parliament on 26 November. We hear a lot of gloom, but it is important that we are positive, too.

The Reporters Without Borders website says:

“At the turn of the 21st century, nearly half of the world population still lacks access to free information.”

We could spend a long time—I suspect that the Presiding Officer would not want us to—discussing what is meant by “free information”. That is a debate in itself, and reporters and writers have an important role to play in it.

The website goes on to say:

“Deprived of knowledge that is essential for managing their lives, denied their very existence, they are prevented from living in pluralist political systems in which factual truth serves as the basis for individual and collective choices.”

Like other members, I am grateful to PEN and Amnesty for all their work, including their briefings for the debate. I refer members to my entry in the register of members’ interests, as I am a member of Amnesty. Over the years, I have enjoyed participating in Amnesty’s campaign to write to prisoners.

In countries such as Iran, China and South Sudan, which we often hear about, many people look to so-called progressive countries in the west, but we have heard examples from the north of Ireland, and we have heard about the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta for exposing wrongdoing. Professor Clara Ponsati is presently in custody a short distance from here—

I just have to give you a wee alert about that. It is a live case, as you know, so mentioning it in passing is enough.

Thank you, Presiding Officer; I was simply mentioning it in passing.

I will move on to talk about the role that journalists have played in the evolving situation of protests in Catalonia, which was highlighted by the Committee to Protect Journalists. Journalists were there to cover the story and they very clearly identified themselves as such, yet they were targeted. On 19 and 20 October, 77 people were injured, including 38 journalists. We have to ask ourselves who would target them and why, and members have already talked about the role of the state in such matters. It is important that unfolding events are disclosed to citizens and that any wrong-doing is exposed; it is also important that those who expose it are protected.

No sanctions have been taken against the perpetrators of the violence in those instances, but there has been appeasement from the elites—they form, of course, the flawed fascist kingdom of Spain, and the role played by King Felipe VI in the situation is also a disgrace.

People will be aware that the state apparatus needs to support reporting and journalism. However, the World Economic Forum has reported that China ranks 46th, and Spain 58th, for judicial independence, which gives us a flavour of things.

On honest reporting, in Israel, the celebrated reporter Gideon Levy has been vilified for his accurate reporting on Gaza.

I finish with a quote from Win Tin, a Burmese journalist, who said:

“Freedom of information is the freedom that allows you to verify the existence of all the other freedoms.”

13:15  

I congratulate Ruth Maguire on securing this important debate and thank Scottish PEN for taking the issue forward and its briefing for us today.

As someone who had worked as a journalist all my working life until coming into Parliament, I know what a great privilege it is to be able to write in a society where we have the freedom to do so. Ruth Maguire outlined the shocking statistics about hundreds of journalists being imprisoned around the world, including citizen journalists. We must bear it in mind that many of the journalists who are persecuted are not just newspaper journalists but bloggers, for example.

Ruth Maguire mentioned the shocking figure of 1,354 journalists who have been killed around the world since 1992. One of those journalists was Jamal Khashoggi and one of the most shocking pieces of television that I have seen recently was the “Panorama” account of Mr Khashoggi’s death in the Saudi embassy in Istanbul. The United Nations rapporteur Agnes Kalamar and the Scottish barrister Helena Kennedy listened to the tapes that were recorded in the Istanbul embassy by the Turkish secret service of what happened to Mr Khashoggi, who was a very educated and confident man. Helena Kennedy described the rising anxiety in his voice as he realised that he was about to be killed—she said that they believed that they could hear him being suffocated. They then heard a discussion among the men present about cutting off Mr Khashoggi’s head with a surgical saw—absolutely horrific.

Mr Khashoggi was a well-connected man who wrote for the Washington Post, a major international paper that is based in America, which is a key ally of Saudi Arabia. Mr Khashoggi was quite a wealthy man from a well-connected family, but he was not protected and was murdered. If Mr Khashoggi can be murdered by the Saudi regime, what hope is there for the many other writers who are imprisoned by Saudi Arabia?

I am grateful to Scottish PEN for highlighting the plight of some of those writers, such as Raif Badawi, who was sentenced to 1,000 lashes—absolutely barbaric. There is also Ashraf Fayadh, a poet and artist, who was arrested by the religious police in Saudi in 2013 in a cafe following a complaint that he was cursing God and promoting atheism. His poetry was used in evidence against him and at one point he was threatened with execution—absolutely barbaric.

I also want to mention some writers who are not included in the extensive Scottish PEN briefing. Many feminists and women activists have been detained in Saudi Arabia since a crackdown in May 2018. Those women previously campaigned against the driving ban and guardianship laws. As we all know, women are treated as less than chattels in Saudi Arabia. I highlight the cases of two of those women: Loujain al-Hathloul, who is just 30, and Nouf Abdulaziz al Jerawi. We do not know where Nouf is at all, and Loujain, a well-known activist, was offered release but refused it because of the condition that she denied that she had been tortured. We know from many investigations that those women have been tortured and threatened with rape and death, and that they have been held for an inordinate amount of time.

What is happening in Saudi Arabia is absolutely dreadful, all the more so because it is a key ally of the United Kingdom. Since 2017, Saudi Arabia has benefited from £790 million in UK licences for arms, despite its treatment of writers, including feminists, its human rights abuses in Yemen and the murder of Mr Khashoggi. It is absolutely appalling that the UK does business with Saudi Arabia, given its treatment of writers and other citizens of the country. I regard that as a great source of shame.

13:20  

I thank Ruth Maguire for promoting the debate and for her recitation of “The Black Kite”. I thank members for their contributions, and I join them in supporting the day of the imprisoned writer. As Ruth Maguire did, I express my gratitude to Scottish PEN, Amnesty International and others for their efforts to raise awareness of the difficulties that many writers face today.

It is essential that we continue to stand in solidarity with imprisoned writers around the world and that we add our voices to calls for freedom and justice. The role of the state is not always about imprisonment; in some cases, it is about condoning other persecution. Gillian Martin highlighted effectively what a Mexican writer has had to face in challenging criminality and child exploitation.

As John Finnie set out, writers and journalists play a critical role in upholding democracy and freedom and, whenever they come under attack, the liberties that we enjoy across society are put at risk. As Rona Mackay said, the freedom to write is the foundation of our democracy. Tom Mason said that free society needs freedom of expression.

Reporters Without Borders estimates that, in 2019 alone, 234 journalists and 136 citizen journalists have been imprisoned and that 31 journalists have lost their lives. The brutal reality is that hundreds of people have lost their liberty simply because they are committed to writing in the public interest. On average, every month, three people are murdered because they dare to speak truth to power, and that scandalous state of affairs is repeated month after month, year after year.

In 2017, the world was shocked by the murders of several prominent journalists and campaigners. They included Gauri Lankesh, who campaigned for women’s rights and spoke out against right-wing religious extremism in India, and Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was murdered for her work exposing corruption in Malta. In 2018, Ján Kuciak, who was investigating high-level fraud and corruption, was assassinated in Slovakia. In 2019, the Committee to Protect Journalists records that five journalists have been murdered in Mexico alone. Let us also remember, as Rona Mackay did, Lyra McKee, who was shot dead by paramilitaries in Northern Ireland in April. Their stories serve as a sobering reminder of the true price of liberty and the democratic values on which this Parliament is founded.

The day of the imprisoned writer is a time not just to remember and pay tribute; it is a time to stand up and be counted. It is a time for us to call for justice for those who are imprisoned and for the callous and cowardly murders that have been committed to be fully investigated so that all those responsible, however powerful and influential they may be, are held to account. The bitter truth is that only 10 per cent of the 930 killings of journalists between 2012 and 2016 have been resolved and seen genuine justice.

Nor should we forget the low-level intimidation and attacks to which writers and journalists are increasingly subject, or the dangers that are posed by surveillance and our collective loss of privacy in a digital age. We should not assume that the absence of the most extreme abuses of human rights means that there is no threat. Members of the Scottish Parliament have voiced their concerns about the increasingly toxic nature of public discourse and political debate in Britain. Whatever our politics, we must be united by our collective commitment to the constructive and respectful exchange of views. Looking to the future, we must ensure that human rights safeguards are built into innovations in digital technology—the technology that has given rise to the bloggers and citizen journalists to whom Joan McAlpine referred.

Erosion of freedom can happen in subtle and insidious ways. It can happen over time—sometimes with the best of intentions, but sometimes, unfortunately, with the worst. One of the most important jobs of writers and journalists is to investigate and make transparent the nature of such emerging potential threats.

Right now, more than 341 journalists are in prison worldwide. Claire Baker set out a number of those important cases. The biggest jailer of writers is Turkey. Yesterday, I was shocked and disappointed to hear that Turkish novelist Ahmet Altan has again been arrested. After three years in jail, Ahmet was released from prison only on 4 November. Among his best-known work is a deeply personal account of the harsh reality of unjust imprisonment:

“Never again would I be able to kiss the woman I love, embrace my kids, meet with my friends, walk the streets ... I would not be able to watch the sunrise.”

Amnesty International and PEN International have rightly condemned as a scandal and a disgrace the continued persecution of Ahmet Altan. Ahmet has committed no crime. His only offence has been to stand up to injustice and refuse to be silenced. His case reminds us that freedom of expression is one of the most basic human rights. It is central to our ability to function as individuals and members of wider society. That freedom must be prized and protected.

It is important that we do not just express solidarity with those who take a stand for human rights. Where we can, we must offer practical support. One such initiative is the Scottish human rights defender fellowship. This year, one of the fellows on the programme is from Russia—a country that is ranked 149th in the world press freedom index. As the fellowship continues to grow, I hope that there will be further opportunities to celebrate and support the role of writers and journalists as human rights defenders.

As we mark the day of the imprisoned writer, the individuals who we have heard about remind us how indispensable human rights are, and of the undeniable danger of neglecting them.

As a Parliament, we are collectively determined to take the words of international human rights law and make them a tangible reality.

Will the member take an intervention?

I am about to close.

As Scotland’s national Government, we are happy to embrace that duty. We acknowledge our duty to stand with those who are brave enough to raise their voices, to do everything in our power to maintain freedom of expression throughout the world and to call for justice for victims, no matter where they are.

13:27 Meeting suspended.  

14:30 On resuming—