arthra
Baha'i
An international association focusing on the plight of writers has recognised Mahvash Sabet... From the article:
Of 900 writers who were harassed, imprisoned, murdered or “disappeared” worldwide last year, Pen says 283 were imprisoned and 33 were killed.
Mahvash Sabet, a 62-year- old Iranian teacher, is among the five chosen by Pen. She is unusual because she is not a professional writer. “Sabet was imprisoned because of her faith, not her writing, but she has been writing this wonderful poetry since she’s been in prison,” says Ann Harrison, director of the Writers in Prison Committee at Pen.
Founded in 1921, Pen originally stood for Poets, Essayists and Novelists, but has been broadened to include journalists and bloggers.
“Poetry is very dear to a large part of our membership,” Ms Harrison says. “We can use this literature to highlight human rights violations.”
In her poem Lights Out, Sabet describes the sounds made by fellow prisoners at night. “You can’t see the sorrow after lights out./I long for the dark, the total black-out.”
Sabet is from the Baha’i faith. Considered a “deviant sect” in Iran, the Baha’is have been targeted by a “systematic campaign of government repression since the 1980s”, says Human Rights Watch. At least 734 Baha’is have been arrested in the past decade, and 136 are still imprisoned, according to the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran.
Read more at
Writers? group Pen champions jailed poet Mahvash Sabet
Of 900 writers who were harassed, imprisoned, murdered or “disappeared” worldwide last year, Pen says 283 were imprisoned and 33 were killed.
Mahvash Sabet, a 62-year- old Iranian teacher, is among the five chosen by Pen. She is unusual because she is not a professional writer. “Sabet was imprisoned because of her faith, not her writing, but she has been writing this wonderful poetry since she’s been in prison,” says Ann Harrison, director of the Writers in Prison Committee at Pen.
Founded in 1921, Pen originally stood for Poets, Essayists and Novelists, but has been broadened to include journalists and bloggers.
“Poetry is very dear to a large part of our membership,” Ms Harrison says. “We can use this literature to highlight human rights violations.”
In her poem Lights Out, Sabet describes the sounds made by fellow prisoners at night. “You can’t see the sorrow after lights out./I long for the dark, the total black-out.”
Sabet is from the Baha’i faith. Considered a “deviant sect” in Iran, the Baha’is have been targeted by a “systematic campaign of government repression since the 1980s”, says Human Rights Watch. At least 734 Baha’is have been arrested in the past decade, and 136 are still imprisoned, according to the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran.
Read more at
Writers? group Pen champions jailed poet Mahvash Sabet