Worldwide Reading in support of Ashraf Fayadh
Under the auspices of the International Literature Festival Berlin, New York-based writers participate in a worldwide reading of selected poems and other texts in support of Ashraf Fayadh, on 14 January 2016.
Ashraf Fayadh, a 35 year-old Palestinian poet and art curator, who lives in Saudi Arabia, has been sentenced to death by a Saudi court on 17 November 2015 for the crime of apostasy. He was denied access to a lawyer throughout his detention and trial and has been jailed for more than 22 months in the city Abha without clear legal charges beyond “insulting the Godly self” and having “ideas that do not suit the Saudi society.”
Participating artists include Michael Cirelli, Ram Devineni, Catherine Fletcher, Mohammed Hodeib, Bob Holman, Kewulay Kamara, Vikas Menon, Meera Nair, Richard J. Newman, Idra Novey, Amir Parsa, Roger Sedarat, K.C. Trommer, Vaughn Watson. We express our solidarity with Fayadh, hoping to increase support for the poet as well as pressure to release him.
For more information on Mr. Fayadh’s case, please visit:
http://www.worldwide-reading.com/archiv-en/14-01-2016-worldwide-reading-of-selected-poems-and-other-texts-in-support-of-ashraf-fayadh . Can’t attend the event? Please consider signing the petition at https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Amnesty_international_Save_the_palestinian_poet_and_artist_Ashraf_Fayadh/?pv=1.
Produced in collaboration with Rattapallax, First Tuesdays, and Terraza 7