Mahvash Sabet Wins 'Courageous Writer' Award from PEN International

Mahvash Sabet, a leader of the Baha'i community in Iran, poet, and teacher, who was recently released from prison after 10 years, has won the annual 'Courageous Writer' award from PEN International in the UK. On Tuesday, October 10, Michael Langley, an Irish poet, announced Ms. Sabet as another winner for 2017 at the award ceremony known as the 'Pinter International Prize for Courageous Writers,' which has been awarded alongside the 'Pinter Prize' since 2009. The PEN International ceremony was held at the 'British Library' in London and organized by PEN International in the UK. Michael Langley himself is another joint winner of these awards this year. The Irish poet stated during the ceremony that he humbly shares the Pinter Prize with Mahvash Sabet and added that Ms. Sabet is 'a deeply lyrical poet who sings the beauty of the world.' Mr. Langley remarked that 'her dreaming is epic. Her poems aspire to soar.' He also stated that Mahvash Sabet's imprisonment was 'a sin against the light.' Mahvash Sabet, who is also a leader of the Baha'i community in Iran, was released from prison on September 18 after serving a 10-year sentence. Ms. Sabet was arrested in March 2008 in Mashhad and was one of seven individuals who managed the Baha'i community in Iran, known as the 'Yaran.' At the time of her arrest, she was 54 years old and had previously been a teacher and school principal. The global Baha'i community stated regarding the arrest of the leaders of this community in Iran that 'all seven were held in solitary confinement for weeks, deprived of contact with the outside world, and endured severe and exhausting treatment and psychological and physical pressures.' The Tehran prosecutor's office accused these seven individuals of 'spying for Israel,' 'insulting sacred beliefs,' and 'propaganda against the regime.' However, a spokesperson for the Baha'i community stated that 'the only crime of the detainees is their belief in the Baha'i faith.' Previously, individuals such as Margaret Atwood, Ahmad Rashid Chaudhry, a Bangladeshi publisher, Hanif Qureshi, a British Pakistani playwright, Mazen Darwish, a Syrian journalist, and Raif Badawi, a Saudi writer and activist, have been among those who won the 'Pinter International Prize for Courageous Writers' and the 'Pinter Prize' from PEN International.