News: Qatar: Poet detained; unfair trial and fears of ill-treatment. RAN 71/12 1 November 2012 International PEN's Writers in Prison Committee is seriously concerned by the detention of poet Mohammed Ibn al-Dheeb al-Ajami. Al-Ajami was arrested on 16 November 2011. He was then reportedly held incommunicado for months before being allowed family visits, and remains in solitary confinement in Doha's Central Prison. He is believed to be facing charges of inciting to overthrow the ruling system, which carries the death penalty under article 130 of Qatar's penal code. His court sessions have been held in secret without any legal representation. PEN is alarmed at reports that he has been ill-treated and tortured , and there are mounting concerns for his well-being in detention. PEN International urges the Qatari authorities to abide by their obligations under Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and calls for the immediate and unconditional release of poet Al-Ajami. According to PEN's information, Al-Ajami was summoned on 16 November 2012 to the Qatari state security to be interrogated about a poem entitled 'Tunisian Jasmine', which he wrote in January 2011 and in which he criticized governments across the Gulf, stating that "we are all Tunisia in the face of the repressive elite". He previously recited a poem that criticised Qatar's emir, which was posted online in August 2010. Al-Ajami has appeared before Doha's Criminal Court on five occasions; his lawyer has not been allowed to attend the sessions and has reportedly