Stanislav Dmitrievsky | Status: Under Threat | Russia
Stanislav Dmitrievsky, a human rights advocate, is continually under threat for his work promoting human rights in Chechnya. More
Eskinder Nega | Status: Released | Ethiopia
Eskinder Nega, a journalist and dissident blogger who is one of Ethiopia’s leading advocates for press freedom and freedom of expression, served almost 7 years of an 18-year sentence… More
Mamadali Mahmudov | Status: Deceased | Uzbekistan
Mamadali Mahmudov is a renowned Uzbek writer and opposition activist who was released in 2013 after serving a 14-year sentence on charges related to a series of explosions in… More
Ahmed Naji | Status: In Exile | Egypt
Ahmed Naji was temporarily released from prison in Egypt on December 22, 2016, after his two-year prison sentence for “violating public modesty” was suspended by an appeals court on… More
Mohammed Benchicou | Status: Released | Algeria
Mohammed Benchicou is the former director of Le Matin, a private daily newspaper that maintained an independent, critical editorial line toward the Algerian government. On August 23, 2003, Benchicou was… More
Liu Jingsheng | Status: Released | China
Liu Jingsheng is a peaceful opposition activist and a former co-editor of Tansuo (Explorations), a journal he founded in the late 1970s along with Wei Jingsheng. More
PEN America Joins Belarusian PEN Center in Call to End Persecution of Writer and Activist Paviel Sieviaryniec
The harassment of renowned writer Paviel Sievaryniec and his fellow activists in Belarus has gone on for too long, and his arrest this week is proof of the continuous threat to… More
Nasser Zarafshan | Status: Released | Iran
Nasser Zarafshan, a prominent writer and attorney, was released on March 15, 2007, after serving a five-year prison sentence on politically motivated charges. More
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ICYMI: We spoke with Quiara Alegría Hudes, author of MY BROKEN LANGUAGE, about which writers she's most excited by right now, what prompted her to write MY BROKEN LANGUAGE, and more: https://pen.org/the-pen-ten-quiara-alegria-hudes. #PENTen
I imagine there are still likely to be scores of UF professors who will sidestep getting involved in any form of public testimony, just b/c the politics, risk, intimidation factors here are so high. The damage may already be done in FL. #academicfreedom https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/21/us/florida-professors-free-speech.html
THE SENTENCES THAT CREATE US: Crafting a Writer’s Life in Prison just launched on @HaymarketBooks with @PENAmerica! A comprehensive resource told through compelling first-person essays by @dwaynebetts @MitchSJackson + @Piper, among many others. http://pen.org/sentencesthatcreateus
