 The next item of business is a member's business debate on motion 14312, in the name of Ruth Maguire, on day of the imprisoned writer. The debate will be concluded without any questions being put with those members who wish to speak in the debate. Please press the request-to-speak buttons now, and I call on Ruth Maguire to open the debate. Ms Maguire, please. Freedom of expression is a fundamental right, and the need to fight for fundamental rights is not new, of course. It has always been important to protect people around the world from the threat of violence or state suppression. As with so many things this year, that need feels even sharper. According to reporters without borders, more professional journalists were killed worldwide in connection with their work in the first nine months of 2018 than in all of 2017. The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that, since 1992, nearly 2,000 journalists and media workers have been killed. Moving beyond journalists alone, according to Deutsche Well, in 2015, 1,054 authors were attacked, imprisoned, tortured or killed. Protection is vital to ensuring that people around the world can express themselves free from the threat of violence. The day of the imprisoned writer is organised by Penn International as a day of solidarity and action for those writers who are denied the right to freedom of expression and who are struggling and fighting for it. I am grateful to colleagues from across the chamber for standing in solidarity with persecuted, exiled and imprisoned writers across the globe, and I thank all those who signed my motion, which secured this debate, and everyone who is contributing in the chamber today. Each year, Penn highlights the cases of persecuted writers, their emblematic of the persecution and threats faced by writers and journalists across the world. Last year, in this debate, I spoke about Zara Dogan, and I take no pleasure in seeing that she is one of this year's cases again. I take no pleasure that she is still imprisoned by Turkey. A state that is infamous for its violation of the rights of authors, publishers and academics. Zara Dogan was born in 1989. She is a painter and the founding editor of the all-female news agency, Gyn News Agency, which was closed on 29 October 2016 by statutory decree number 675. It is one of more than 180 media outlets that have been closed since the beginning of the state of emergency in Turkey. For her work for the agency between 2010 and 2016, she received numerous awards, including the prestigious Metangotep award for her reporting of Yazidi women escaping from ISIS captivity. On 12 June 2017, Zara was taken into custody enroute to visiting her family. She is in prison as a result of her reporting and her painting being deemed terrorist propaganda by the Turkish state. The painting at issue is her recreation of a photograph taken and distributed by the Turkish military of the Kurdish town of Nusibun following its destruction by Turkish forces. The picture shows destroyed buildings draped with Turkish flags and surrounded by tanks. In her painting, Zara turned the army tanks into huge grotesque creatures consuming innocent civilians. However, although the Turkish flags were present in the original photograph, Zara was found guilty of painting the Turkish flags on the destroyed buildings. The painting was condemned as anti-Turkish terrorist propaganda. As Zara herself stated after the ruling, she gave me a prison penalty for taking a photo of destroyed houses and putting Turkish flags on them, but it was not me who did it, it was them. I just painted it. The offending news report featured the following quote from a child who was affected by the clashes in the town. We are hearing the gunfire right now. When the shots intensify, we run to our homes. When the tanks go away, we take to the street to protest. I think we are right. I know our voices will be heard one day. Zara's reporting of the five sentences that were spoken by a child were also deemed terrorist propaganda. I wrote to the Turkish Prime Minister last year, expressing my deep concern at the arrest and imprisonment of Zara Dogan and never received a response. Zara is an inspirational and skilled painter and journalist, not a criminal, and I add my voice to the global calls for her immediate and unconditional release. Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right and should not be persecuted. It is particularly alarming that the action was taken against an award-winning journalist and painter whose voice is proven crucial in sharing the stories of underrepresented communities. I also understand that the imprisonment of Zara Dogan is unconstitutional, violating articles 26 and 28 of the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey, which guarantees freedom of expression and a free press, respectively. The Turkey has always been one of the most restrictive countries among the Council of Europe member states in terms of media freedom and freedom of expression, and it is now becoming infamous. It violates globally recognised norms protecting the right to freedom of expression in agreements such as the universal declaration of human rights, the international covenant on civil and political rights, and the international covenant on economic, social and cultural rights to which Turkey is a party. As per article 90 of the Constitution, international agreements duly put into effect have the force of law. I again strongly urge Turkey to immediately and unconditionally release the artist and journalist Zara Dogan. She is guilty of no crime, and I say to Zara and to all those who are wrongfully imprisoned for simply exercising their fundamental rights. You are not alone, we stand with you, we are proud of your work and your courage, and we will continue to advocate for your freedom. Thank you very much. As always, gently to the public area that we do not propit applause in the gallery. I know that you feel it with your hearts, just let it stay there, but not have a lot. You may wish to take the opportunity, Ms Maguire, to welcome folk to the gallery. You may do so now, if you wish. Presiding Officer, I would like to welcome representatives from Penn International and Amnesty International to the gallery. Thank you very much. I call Annabelle Ewing to be followed by Alexander Stewart. I congratulate Ruth Maguire on securing this important debate today. It is entirely fitting that, on the day of the imprisoned writer, this Parliament is marking the occasion. I fully support Ruth Maguire's calls on her motion for this Parliament to officially recognise the day of the imprisoned writer. In preparing for today's debate, Presiding Officer, I was struck by the information that Ruth Maguire has already quoted from and information about the statistics involved. It is worth stressing this shocking information. We have heard that reporters without borders have reported that more professional journalists were killed worldwide in connection with their work in the first nine months of 2018 than in all of 2017. I feel that that information is worth reiterating because it puts in very stark focus the terrible prevalence of the problem that we see right across the world. Those shocking statistics demonstrate the continuing and pressing need for each of us to be vigilant to defend freedom of expression here in Scotland and right across the world. Surely, we all have a duty to stand shoulder to shoulder with those writers who are being persecuted simply for speaking out. We must do all that we can to ensure that their voices are heard and are not silenced. Marking the day of the imprisoned writer, therefore, affords us the opportunity to do just that by highlighting individual cases across the world. Ruth Maguire has highlighted the particular case that she referred to. In that vein, I would like to raise the case flagged up by Penn. I apologise to all concerned if I do not get pronunciations correct, but I will do my best. Her country of origin is Iran. He holds a master's degree in political science, political geography and geopolitics. He is a Kurdish Iranian writer, journalist, scholar, cultural advocate and filmmaker. In Iran, he worked as a journalist for several newspapers, including national dailies and the Kurdish language monthly magazine Varia. Buchhane claims that, due to his focus on business and politics, he was subject to constant surveillance by the Iranian authorities. In 2013, he was reportedly arrested, interrogated and threatened by the Iranian intelligence services. Fearing that he would be imprisoned, he fled Iran on 13 May 2013. After he left Iran, he was rescued at sea by the Australian Navy, whom he asked for asylum. Due to Australia's offshore processing policies, Buchhane was taken to Manus Island's regional processing centre at Lombroum Papua New Guinea. In April 26, he was accorded refugee status in Papua New Guinea. While detained, he has faced harassment for reporting to the Australian media and other organisations on conditions inside the detention centre and the alleged human rights abuses taking place there. He reports being the target of beatings as a direct result of his reporting. After Manus Island processing centre was closed, Buchhane was relocated to a refugee transit centre, where I understand that he remains to this day in a sort of no-man's-land limbo. That is just one case highlighted by Penn. Obviously, there are many more individuals that we could talk about, and I am sure that other members will raise specific cases as well. We do not have time to mention all the cases flagged by Penn, but it is important to bear witness to such individual cases. I will conclude by stressing that we include in our thoughts and in our deliberations all those writers across the world who have been in prison simply for speaking out. I am sure that we all commend the bravery and determination of those writers and by participating in the debate today in our Scottish Parliament. It is important therefore that our Parliament is playing its part in ensuring that the voices of those writers are not silenced. I am pleased to have the opportunity to take part in today's debate, and I congratulate Ruth Maguire on bringing it to the chamber. As Ruth Motion acknowledges, today is known in the literary circles as the day of the imprisoned writer. This is the day when people are invited to stand up and support the persecuted, exiled and imprisoned writers across the globe, acknowledging what they see as an international decline in free expression. Many of such examples are recently documented by the organisation of Penn International, and I am delighted that representatives are here this afternoon in the chamber. I am particularly harrowing and cruel. However, many of those examples of government or religious motivated acts against writers and journalists must also be remembered, condemned and acted upon. One such that I remember as a youngster myself was the writing that was put forward by Saman Rushdie. As a youngster, I took on board some of the difficulties that he was experiencing by expressing his views and opinions. He was a British Indian novelist, an essay writer and a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. His second novel, Midnight Children, won the booker prize back in 1981, and he was deemed to be the best novelist of all writers in two separate occasions on the 25th and the 40th anniversary of that prize. It was his fourth novel, The Sadanic Verses, when he published that in 1988, which generated a particular reaction from individuals. That, as I said, was the first time that I started to think about writers and how they would express themselves and the individuals and the circumstances that they found themselves in. Penn International has been campaigning for the freedom of writers since 1921, and priority campaigning on behalf of many individuals, because they saw and knew that what was occurring across certain parts of the world was something that should be recognised and should be condemned. Today serves as a commemoration of those who have been killed from the previous year of imprisoned writers. Over the years, dozens of writers and journalists from around the world have been killed in circumstances that appear to be related to their profession and only to their profession. That is totally unacceptable and utterly unacceptable, as I said. Individuals should have the right to express their views and opinions without persecution or imprisonment or even death. Amnesty International has played a major role in that, and they should be commended and congratulated for the work that they have done to ensure that imprisoned writers get acknowledgement. They acknowledge that the world that people who are persecuted, tortured or imprisoned for writing about individuals and Governments and their own countries is a freedom that we would expect to have. Other people across the world do not have that right and do not have that opportunity. Many well-known writers and journalists who have also stood up for and backed individuals who have found themselves in that position have also put themselves in the line of danger. Topics such as children's rights, LGBTI equality, Syria, Russia, the United States and the global refugee crisis have all highlighted what individuals want to say, but they have found themselves in a arms way for even contemplating to discuss that and to write about that. I commend and congratulate Ruth Maguire for being in this very motive subject today. It is vitally important that we as politicians ensure that our voices are heard, that we stand up and are counted on to ensure that individuals have the right to express their views and their opinions in verbal written form. Democracy is the cornerstone to our nation. We have the privilege to serve, but we must also have the responsibility to ensure that other nations who do not have the same beliefs, the same standards and the same liberties as we do are challenged for their lack of understanding and help to account for their actions and held to account for their actions, because that is vitally important. Those individuals have a right, and we have a right to support them. I thank Ruth Maguire for bringing forward the motion for this debate to take place today in the Scottish Parliament. I am also grateful to Scottish Pen and Amnesty International for providing materials to support the debate. It is right that we have this debate, but it is also right that, as parliamentarians in Scotland, we think how we can work with these organisations to continue to put pressure on Governments to highlight the issues that are being raised. In 1948, the United Nations said in article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that freedom of opinion and expression implies the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. In the turn of the 21st century, nearly half of the world population still lacks access to free information, so it is fitting that, today, on 15 November, alongside Pen International and other Pen centres, Scottish Pen will mark the day of the imprisoned writer by promoting and celebrating the freedom to write, calling for justice and freedom for persecuted, imprisoned and murdered writers across the world. Raising awareness of the issue is more important today than it has ever been for us. Ruth Maguire and others have said that, according to reporters without borders, more professional journalists were killed worldwide in connection with their work in the first nine months of 2018 than all of them in 2017. That is scandalous, and it is also important to make the point that the UK continues to work with many countries and would claim to be partners with many countries, trade with many countries, where those types of persecutions are happening. That persecution and murder goes beyond journalists to affect authors and media workers, turning to the motion and the information provided that they make for chilling reading. It is clear that the attempts to silence journalists are coming from states and also from powerful bodies within states. Power has been abused through imprisonment, physical attacks, torture and death to protect the vested interests and to sustain a state apparatus that dominates society and monopolises most of the wealth within those societies. Events have set out in the motion and the briefing appear on the face of it to be far removed from our relatively safe and secure democratic society here in Scotland. To ignore the threat to free speech and to continue as if it was only happening in another place is to disrespect the memory of those who have lost their lives in defence of free speech and ignore the courage and sacrifice being made every day around the world to fight for free speech. It is therefore very important here in Scotland that we stand in solidarity with oppressed and imprisoned writers and ensure that their voices cannot be silenced. There are pen centres in over 100 countries whose aims include defending freedom of speech and writing against many of the threats to its survival which the modern world poses. I am pleased to stand with them today in the Scottish Parliament and with all parties here on this day of the imprisoned writer. I thank you very much Mr Rowley and I call Andy Wightman to be followed by Gillian Martin. Ms Martin will be the last speaker in the open debate. Mr Wightman, I thank you to Ruth Maguire for bringing this important debate to Parliament. I declare an interest as a member of Scottish Pen. This summer, I was very pleased to attend a performance in Edinburgh by Pussy Riot and afterwards I was pleased to get the chance to speak to one of the band members, Maria Alliokina. I discussed the state of Russian democracy and, in particular, the plight of the imprisoned Ukrainian filmmaker and writer Oleg Sensoff. Maria has been campaigning loudly and clearly for the release of Oleg and knows a thing or two about Russian persecution of artists having herself been imprisoned for two years for singing a song critical of Vladimir Putin. Maria asked me to raise his case in the Parliament and I am pleased to be able to do so today. Oleg was born in Simferopol in 1976, a city on the Crimean peninsula of Ukraine, which is now the capital of Russian-occupied Crimea. He has two children, Alina, aged 15 and Vladislav, who is 14. Oleg is a filmmaker and a writer and, after participating in the Euromaidan protest in Ukraine in late 2013, was arrested on 10 May 2014 at his home by members of the Russian Security Service, the FSB. According to Amnistin International, his arrest was a barbaric affair. The officers placed a plastic bag over his head and suffocated him until he passed out. They then threatened him with rape and murder to force him to confess to organised bombings possessing illegal firearms and other terrorist acts, including membership of the Ukrainian right-wing group Pravy sector. A fortnight ago, a fortnight later, he was transferred to Moscow, over 1,400km away, where he was placed in pretrial detention for a year. Oleg denies all his charges, but after a show trial before a military court where not one single piece of evidence was presented, he was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Political figures in civil society in the EU and the US have condemned this verdict, including his network of peers at the European Film Academy, where famous filmmakers including Pedro and Madovar, Ken Loach and Wim Menders have specifically objected to his detention. Through his succession of prison transfers, Oleg is now held in what international observers report as inhumane conditions at a penal colony in Lleab Tianghi, a small Siberian town above the Arctic Circle, 5,000km from his home. In May this year, four years after his arrest, Oleg began a hunger strike to seek the release of all Ukrainian nationals currently imprisoned in Russia on politically motivated grounds. After suffering from excruciating heart and kidney problems, he ended his hunger strike after 145 days, an action in which he lost 30kg in weight and now has irrevocable damage to his health. Despite the authorities routinely denying him access to appropriate medical care and contact with the outside world, Oleg has been a critical and persuasive force. The European Union, for example, commended him for his actions that have shown incredible courage, determination and selflessness in his fight for freedom for all those who have been unfairly convicted on politically motivated grounds. Oleg Sensoff is an innocent man. Just a few weeks ago, he was awarded the prestigious European Parliament's Sakharov prize for freedom of thought. It is fitting that, in 2018, the 30th anniversary of the Sakharov prize and the 70th anniversary of the universal declaration of human rights, Oleg Sensoff is honoured in this way. The Russian Federation ranks 148th in the latest world-press freedom index, and more bloggers and journalists are detained now in Russia than at any time since the collapse of the Soviet Union. We must keep Oleg Sensoff and all those suffering unjust imprisonment and detention in the public eye. As public figures, we have special responsibilities in not giving succour to repressive regimes such as the Russian Federation. I thank my friend and colleague Ruth McGuire for once again bringing our attention to the important work of Scottish Pen and Amstead International and giving us all a chance to air the stories of those whose voices are silenced. As we have this debate today in the Scottish Parliament, 29-year-old Abad Yaya is stranded in Doha in Qatar and is unable to return home to Palestine. Abad is a fiction writer and it was ordered that all copies of his novel, Crime and Romala, were confiscated because of what they deemed to be offensive language. He has been the victim of a hate campaign in social media. He suffered death threats and copies of his novel were reportedly burnt on the Gaza Strip. Crime and Romala tells the story of three Palestinian men working a bar where the murder of a young woman takes place. It goes on to chart how the murder affects each man's life and explodes the themes of politics, religion and homosexuality through its protagonists. The language used to explore these important themes has been used against him to silence him and remove his rights. Abad Yaya received a summons from the Attorney General, as well as the book's publisher and distributor, Fad Alik, who was reportedly arrested and held for six hours. His right to freedom of speech has been taken and he has left fearing for his life. Salial Tupathi, the chair of Pen International's Rights and Prison Committee, said that it is appalling that Abad Yaya cannot return home because he fears that he might be arrested over a novel that he has written. The response to his novel was not only disproportionate, it is entirely out of place. Abad Yaya's novel may have challenged political and religious orthodoxy but he has the right to express his thoughts. The Palestinian authority should take immediate steps to overturn the ban and ensure that he will be able to return home safely and be protected from any of those threats. Abad Yaya should be able to return home without fear of prosecution and danger. His book should be allowed to be read once more and the charges against him should be dropped. Banning books and novels and imprisoning their writers, as we know from history, is a very sure sign that a society has gone very wrong. All of us sitting here reserve the right to question and criticise our political system. It is our job and it is our right and I would always argue vociferously that it is also the job and the right of every Scottish citizen. Many people have said that when we see when those rights are taken away from other people across the world, we must use our voices to defend them and argue for their rights. We are fortunate to express our views through writing without any fear of arrest because we live in a democracy. Ruth Maguire talked about Zara Dogan. She highlighted again in her excellent speech when she mentioned Zara Dogan before. The first time I heard of her was when Banksy did a mural in defence of her and asked her for her conviction to be overturned. He produced a piece of street art with her behind bars. It is like this debate that today is important and draws our attention to the injustice of silencing artistic expression and freedom of speech. Some members will know that I am not a great artist by any means that I have passed created political art. I created art in 2014-15 around the Scottish independence question. It was highly critical of the UK Tory-led government and the Labour Party's campaign to deny Scotland its independence. Myself and my sister established a touring art show in 2014, representing the call for independence over 50 artists. If we were not in Turkey, we would all be facing conviction. It is important that we recognise that we have the freedoms that others do not. I commend the work of Pen given that there is a chance to hear the stories of the injustices that are perpetrated by writers, artists, journalists and filmmakers throughout the world. Again, I thank Ruth Maguire for securing the debate. Presiding Officer, I thank Ruth Maguire for raising the subject in debate today and all the members for their contributions and for joining them in expressing my support for the day of the imprisoned writer. I also thank Scottish Pen, Amnesty International and others for all the work that they do to raise awareness of the persecution faced by many writers throughout the world. It is essential that we call for freedom and justice for imprisoned and murdered writers. In Scotland, we defend fiercely the right to say what we think and we do it very often. Like most rights, we often take it for granted, which we do very often. It is only when it comes under threat that we realise how important that is. As Scottish Pen, Amnesty and others have highlighted, journalists, poets, bloggers, novelists, artists, filmmakers and Africa, Asia, South America, Europe and the Middle East have all suffered threats, attacks, imprisonment, been exiled and even killed for their activities. Despite the United Nations declaring 2 November the international day to end impunity for crimes against journalists, many of those violations go unchallenged and, more importantly, unpunished. Let's look at some of the people who I wish to highlight in response to Ruth Maguire's debate today. Daphne Corunagilizia, who was murdered by a car bomb in October 2017, fallen her work exposing corruption connected to the Panama Papers. Her David Isaac, a poet, playwright and journalist, was arrested in 2001 and was reported to have been tortured and kept in solitary confinement in Eritrea for the last eight years. In Turkey, of which we have heard much today, writers and journalists, just like Zerah Dorgan, highlighted by Ruth Maguire today, remain in prison, many of them being caught up in the wave of repression following the failed coup attempt in 2016. In turning to Myanmar, Wa Loan and Cho So-woo, who were sentenced to seven years in prison for reporting on military violence against the Rohingya people. None of us could have been any less horrified because the whole world was by the brutal murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi just over a month ago. Let's turn to someone that I've met. I've met Rafe Badawi's wife, Ensav, and Rafe Badawi remains in prison in Saudi Arabia having been sentenced to 10 years and 1,000 lashes for daring to write a blog. The barbarity of the treatment that he has been subjected to is absolutely appalling. The reason why I highlight those people is because none of them are criminals. They have been attacked, oppressed and murdered because they have worked to expose truths that are unwelcome. They have suffered for daring to challenge and daring to question, yet they are working to do something that we in Scotland consider to be a public service. Their crime is to have worked to promote informed debate and to support the exchange of facts and opinions. Reading and hearing those accounts forces us to reflect on the difference that human rights makes in our own lives. Ruth Maguire painted a very vivid picture in her opening speech on that. I had a very similar experience when I spoke to three human rights defenders participating in the Scottish human rights defenders fellowship at Dundee University. I hope that this fellowship will go some way in reassuring Alex Rowley that the Scottish Government is taking seriously our responsibility to international solidarity to stand against those things. In the year of the 20th anniversary of the UN declaration of human rights defenders, the fellowship is one good example of how we in Scotland can stand shoulder to shoulder with people who put themselves and their families at considerable risk to defend the human rights that they are entitled to. Let's look a wee bit at human rights in Scotland. The rights that the fellows and the writers that we have heard from about today are working to uphold. Those rights are incredibly important, often in the face of incredible difficulties and powerful opposition. Those rights that we hold, we are fortunate to hold, should be protected both internationally and in Scotland. This year, we mark the 17th anniversary of the universal declaration of human rights, the rights that it contains and gives to all of us, belong to all of us in equal measure, no matter who we are or where we come from. Turning to freedom expression, which has been a lot said today, the right to freedom of expression and opinion are contained in the European Convention of Human Rights, and the European Court of Human Rights has consistently described them as essential foundations for a democratic society. Those rights have been given practical effect in Scotland through the Human Rights Act. Alexander Stewart reminded us of the right to freedom expression when he spoke about the world reaction to the writings of Salmond Rushdie and the right of people to express their feelings on that—a very powerful example indeed. However, we have heard much about art and culture and poetry in writing and books today, so I want to talk a wee bit about what we are doing for culture and literature in Scotland, which would hopefully add to our international solidarity. Alongside the Government's responsibility to uphold and protect human rights and the freedom of expression, it is our duty to promote cultural activity. We do really enjoy it, don't we, including in ways that we can enable literature and writing to flourish. In High Link, in the songs of Pussy Riot and a Whiteman, it demonstrates the power of culture and the risk that creative people take every single day in expressing that right. I hope that Oleg Story tells us absolutely clearly how important it is to maintain and uphold that creativity. We all have a right to participation in cultural life and our responsibility to support and protect literary and statistic endeavour. We are very proud to help to support Scotland's world-class cultural system. Gillian Martin raised the issue about Abad Jaya and the rights to freedom of thought and the book that he had written. Next week, the 7th annual Book Week Scotland, which demonstrates the Scottish Government's commitment to literature and ensuring that more people can enjoy reading that is hopefully inspired to write just like Abad 2. As well as protecting core grant funding, we have made available an additional £6.6 million to Creative Scotland to guarantee the next three financial years to support that artistic endeavour across Scotland. That is just one aspect of the Scotland that we are trying to create, Presiding Officer. Our human rights dignity and equality are embedded at the heart of everything that we do. As we mark the importance of the written word in today's debate, I want to affirm that, as a Government, we intend to put our words into practice to take the action that is necessary to make human rights real for each and every one of us. We are building dignity, fairness and respect into our social security system. That is one example. The Government has been clear in its insistence that the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights be retained in UK law following the withdrawal of the European Union, but whether that might have all changed for the whole of the time that we have been in the chamber today, Presiding Officer. I want to conclude. Annabelle Ewing said that we bear witness to the persecution and we raise our voice in solidarity in our Parliament today, and she is absolutely right. Joseph Conrad, Presiding Officer, described the written word as having power, power to make you hear, to make you feel and to make you see. As we mark the day of imprisoned writer and reflect on the individual highlights by Scottish Pen and others, their stories give us insight into the acute importance of human rights and the terrible consequences when they are ignored and neglected. The only appropriate response that we can make is to stand with those who suffer for raising their voices and make it our ambition to do all that we can to ensure that freedom of expression is maintained throughout the world. I lend my support to Ruth Maguire's motion today. That concludes the debate, and I suspend this meeting of Parliament until 2.30.