Sign Petition for Imprisoned Poet

Michael Rothenberg and Terri Carrion from 100 Thousand Poets for Change are asking supporters to sign an extremely important petition in response to Qatari poet Mohamed Ibn Al Ajami‘s imprisonment for the crime of reciting a poem extolling the courage and values of the popular uprisings in Tunisia. He as been sentenced to life in prison. Read the full petition here.

Rothenberg and Carrion write: “As poets and artists we have a personal stake in seeing this poet released from prison. His persecution is the persecution of all poets and we feel this is something we can’t stand by and watch without taking immediate action. We are very excited by the broad community support we have received thus far and it would be a great honor to have you join us in support of this action by signing the petition and forwarding it to like-minded friends.”