UK authors on this year’s festival lineup include novelists Ian Rankin and Jasper Fforde, historians Beevor and Peter Frankopan, and children’s authors Kate Pankhurst and Lissa Evans. Beevor, who has attended the festival twice, announced his decision to withdraw from the festival in the Times(£) on Thursday. He told the Guardian he had first voiced his concerns with festival CEO Isobel Abulhoul when Hedges’ case was made public in October. Not out of anything against the festival, but that they shouldn’t even consider traveling to the UAE in these circumstances. The human rights of UAE citizens should be no less precious than those of a UK citizen,” campaign organiser Jonathan Emmett said, citing the case of human rights advocate Ahmed Mansoor.

Source: The Guardian November 22, 2018 16:56 UTC