Also the Norwegian free speech organization Fritt Ord was critical towards letting Irving speak at the festival and had requested that its logo be removed from the festival.
PEN's letter notes that Turkey's "routine use of counter-terrorism legislation against the media" has long been a concern for the free speech organization.
"The fact that a world-class cartoonist like Zunar struggles to publish his work in print anywhere in Malaysia is an indication of the sorry state of freedom," David Heinemann, who works with free speech organization Index on Censorship, told VICE News.
Schizophrenia is a mental illness that has been grouped among the psychotic disorders, that is, those chiefly characterized by delusions, sensory hallucinations, and severe impairments of speech organization.
Critics of the decision, which include Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and numerous anti-censorship and free speech organizations, say that the ruling has too much potential for abuse, and give leverage to those who would see information suppressed from public view.
The exact scope of the new regulations, which come into full effect in 2018, is unclear, but they require certain data to be stored on Chinese which has raised concern among free speech organizations.
That's why the law is now being challenged by a collection of book and newspaper publishers, librarians, free speech organizations, photographers, content providers, and bookstores in a lawsuit filed by the ACLU last week.
On the other hand, free speech organizations such as the National Coalition Against Censorship ― which stood by Milo Yiannopoulos' book before the title was pulled ― would likely argue that cutting ties with O'Reilly would be a violation of his rights.
The Supreme Court asserted in its 2010 Citizens United ruling that as part of the Constitutional right to free speech, organizations and individuals could use their money as they wish, privately and anonymously, in support of whatever political views they might hold.
"The solution isn't to impose standards," said Nina Crowley of the Massachusetts Music Industry Coalition, a free-speech organization.
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a national campus free-speech organization, posted the video to their Web site.
