As president of English PEN (1990-93), Ronald Harwood (obituary, 10 September) was responsible for many campaigns against the unjust imprisonment of writers and overseeing a significant raising of its profile. He then became president of PEN International, an independent organisation.
His quiet assertion of human rights around the world, but especially in his native South Africa, should be recalled with profound admiration. One of his several under-appreciated plays awaiting rediscovery is An English Tragedy, his account of the “traitor” John Amery, hanged in 1945.
