Guillermo Arias/AP
Lydia Chaco
Lydia Chaco
Women of Honor: Writers Who Won’t Be Silenced
Lydia Cacho
In 2005, Mexican journalist Lydia Cacho published “Los Demonios del Eden” (“The Demons of Eden”), an expose about a child pornography and prostitution ring in Cancun, run by Jean Succar Kuri, a well-connected hotel owner.
Nine months later, her coworkers watched through security cameras as Cacho was taken away by police officers outside her office. She had told her coworkers of the danger she might be in, so they immediately started calling NGOs and other international human rights organizations for help.
Nine months later, her coworkers watched through security cameras as Cacho was taken away by police officers outside her office. She had told her coworkers of the danger she might be in, so they immediately started calling NGOs and other international human rights organizations for help.
In a 2007 interview with Mother Jones magazine, Cacho described how the officers had driven her hours from town, before stopping at a beach. “[T]he police … told me I was going to jump in the ocean and die there.” But a phone call interrupted the men, and they brought her back to town. As Cacho later learned, Amnesty International had sent “an urgent action” fax to the governor of Puebla, the man who had issued her arrest, and to media outlets throughout Mexico.
Cacho was released on bail but made to stand trial on charges of defamation by another Mexican businessman, a textile magnate, implicated in her book, according to Reporters Without Borders.
In 2007, Cacho made history as the first woman to bring her appeal before the Mexican Supreme Court. Unfortunately, it ruled that Cacho “had not suffered serious human rights violations” during her 2005 arrest.
Although she has received much positive attention for her writing, and for her work running a shelter for abused women, Cacho continues to receive death threats. Last year, The National Human Rights Commission found that 50 journalists had been killed in Mexico between 2000 and 2009, according to Amnesty International.
Cacho was released on bail but made to stand trial on charges of defamation by another Mexican businessman, a textile magnate, implicated in her book, according to Reporters Without Borders.
In 2007, Cacho made history as the first woman to bring her appeal before the Mexican Supreme Court. Unfortunately, it ruled that Cacho “had not suffered serious human rights violations” during her 2005 arrest.
Although she has received much positive attention for her writing, and for her work running a shelter for abused women, Cacho continues to receive death threats. Last year, The National Human Rights Commission found that 50 journalists had been killed in Mexico between 2000 and 2009, according to Amnesty International.
Tran Khai Thanh Thuy
In October 2009, after publicly offering her support to pro-democracy activists, Tran Khai Thanh Thuy, an outspoken Vietnamese novelist, essayist and writer for the underground magazine To Quoc (Fatherland), was arrested. She was charged with assault although “it is widely believed that she was in fact the victim of an assault,” The English Centre of International PEN noted.
In February, authorities sentenced Thanh Thuy to 3 1/2 years in prison. Her husband, Do Ba Tan, received a two-year suspended sentence, according to Agence France-Presse.
In 2008, Thanh Thuy, who writes under the pen names Nguyen Thai Hoang and Nguyen Thi Hien, was awarded a Hellman/Hammett grant, a prize given to persecuted writers by Human Rights Watch. According to the aid organization, because of her work, she has been “humiliated in public meetings organized by the authorities” and threatened by mobs of intruders in her home. The police have refused to protect her.
Thanh Thuy’s supporters created the Web Site Free Tran Khai Thanh Thuy to fight for her release.
In February, authorities sentenced Thanh Thuy to 3 1/2 years in prison. Her husband, Do Ba Tan, received a two-year suspended sentence, according to Agence France-Presse.
In 2008, Thanh Thuy, who writes under the pen names Nguyen Thai Hoang and Nguyen Thi Hien, was awarded a Hellman/Hammett grant, a prize given to persecuted writers by Human Rights Watch. According to the aid organization, because of her work, she has been “humiliated in public meetings organized by the authorities” and threatened by mobs of intruders in her home. The police have refused to protect her.
Thanh Thuy’s supporters created the Web Site Free Tran Khai Thanh Thuy to fight for her release.
Simin Behbahani
Simin Behbahani, an 82-year old poet known as the “lioness of Iran,” has been battling for equal rights for women for decades. In January 2009, she was awarded the Simone De Beauvoir Prize for Women’s Freedom for her work on the One Million Signatures Campaign, a movement to eliminate discriminatory laws against women, according to Radio Free Europe.
Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iran has been subject to “Sharia-based” law. “Under Iranian laws, a woman's life and her testimony are valued at half those of a man. Married women can be prevented from working by their husbands and need his consent to obtain a passport,” the English/Arabic Web site Al Arabiya explains.
On March 8, Behbahani was prevented from going to France to attend International Women’s Day ceremonies, where she had planned to give a speech. “After I crossed customs and my passport was stamped, two officials called me, took my passport away, kept me till 5 a.m. (0130 GMT) and asked questions," she told Al Arabiya.
One of the most celebrated poets in Iran, Behbahani gave the “Ghazal” poetry form a new dimension by interweaving events from everyday life and conversations, and “theatrical subjects.” She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1997, awarded a Hellman/Hammett grant in 1998 and given the Carl von Ossietzky Medal in 1999.
In a 2009 NPR interview, Behbahani spoke about her vision for Iran and the loss of Neda, a young woman who died in the 2009 riots (the incident was widely shared on YouTube). She also read two poems.
Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iran has been subject to “Sharia-based” law. “Under Iranian laws, a woman's life and her testimony are valued at half those of a man. Married women can be prevented from working by their husbands and need his consent to obtain a passport,” the English/Arabic Web site Al Arabiya explains.
On March 8, Behbahani was prevented from going to France to attend International Women’s Day ceremonies, where she had planned to give a speech. “After I crossed customs and my passport was stamped, two officials called me, took my passport away, kept me till 5 a.m. (0130 GMT) and asked questions," she told Al Arabiya.
One of the most celebrated poets in Iran, Behbahani gave the “Ghazal” poetry form a new dimension by interweaving events from everyday life and conversations, and “theatrical subjects.” She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1997, awarded a Hellman/Hammett grant in 1998 and given the Carl von Ossietzky Medal in 1999.
In a 2009 NPR interview, Behbahani spoke about her vision for Iran and the loss of Neda, a young woman who died in the 2009 riots (the incident was widely shared on YouTube). She also read two poems.
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