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A poet has been sentenced to life in prison for reciting a poem.  Share this action on Facebook  Share this action on Twitter Qatari poet Mohamed Ibn Al Ajami’s crime consisted of reciting a poem extolling the courage and values of the popular uprisings in Tunisia. For that he's been sentenced to life in prison. We have the opportunity to join with a remarkable list of prominent poets from around the world in urging the court in Qatar to reconsider. Rather than making itself an instrument for cracking down on dissent, we believe that the Court should uphold Mohamed Ibn Al Ajami’s right to free speech. The poem he recited called for an end to intolerable conditions, a demand that for the past two years has been aired by millions throughout North Africa and the Arab world. In this spirit, we poets and non-poets who perceive the need for worldwide change at the social, political and ecological level, call on the Court to review the appeal, stop siding with repression and lend its ear to the movements that have sprung up all over the world for dignity, social justice and freedom, virtues that poets all over the world are endeavoring to voice and deliver using the beauty and power of poetry. Please sign the petition and forward this email widely to like-minded friends. -- The RootsAction.org team First signatories: Michael Rothenberg, Terri Carrion cofounders 100 Thousand Poets for Change Michael McClure, Poet/ Playwright, USA Sam Hamill, Poets Against War, USA Sarah Browning, Split This Rock, USA PEN American Center Code Pink Abraham Entin-Move To Amend Sonoma County, founder Susan Lamont-Peace & Justice Center of Sonoma County, coordinator Philip Levine, United States Poet Laureate (2011-2012) Ron Silliman, Poet/Silliman's Blog Alice Walker, USA Pina Piccolo, 100 Thousand Poets for Change-Bologna Roberto Malini, Genoa, Italy Naomi Shihab Nye, USA Sergio Rotino, Italy Adam Vaccaro, Milanocosa, Italy Steed Gamero, Peru/Italy Rebeca Covaciu, Italy Alessandro Brusa, Italy Shailja Patel, USA/Kenya El Habib Louai, Morocco Natalia Molebatsi, Azania raphael d’abdon, Azania/Italy Jack Hirschman, San Francisco, USA Agneta Falk-Hirschman, San Francisco, USA Gabor Gyukics, Budapest, Hungary Karam Youssef, Cairo, Egypt Kristaq Shabani, President of the I.A.P.W.A "Pegasi" Albania Robert Priest, Toronto, Canada Eliot Katz, Hoboken, New York, USA Lance Henson, Cheyenne/USA Ipat Ciuraro, Italy Fabio Petronelli, Italy Alexéi Tellerías Díaz, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Betty Esperanza, Montreal, Canada Alfredo Gonzalez-Baranquilla, Colombia Nana Nestoros,Volos, Greece Mariposa de la Rocio, Montevideo, Uruguay Chapal Saha-Bogra, Bangladesh Bart Plantenga, The Netherlands Elliis Ebakor, Nigeria Pilar Rodríguez Aranda, Mexico City, Mexico Dean Johnson, Birkenhead, United Kingdom Songwriter/Playwright Karim Metref, Italy Antar Mohamed Marincola, 100 Thousand Poets for Change-Bologna, Italy Mohamed Malih, Italy Gassid Babilonia, 100 Thousand Poets for Change-Bologna, Italy Paul Polansky, Serbia Ed Warner-Poesia, Italy Marina Mazzolani, 100 Thousand Poets for Change-Bologna, Italy Patricia Quezada, 100 Thousand Poets for Change- Bologna, Italy Andrea Garbin, poesiadalsottosuolo, Italy Chris Abani, USA Martín Espada, USA Teresa Mei Chuc, USA Marcia Lynx Qualey, Cairo, Egypt Khaled Mattawa, poet USA/Libya Fady Joudah, USA Glenys Robinson, UK/Italy Mitko Gogov, Strumica, Macedonia RootsAction Dennis Formento, New Orleans, LA, USA Carolyn Forché, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., USA Patricia Smith, USA