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
Yang Tongyan | Status: Death in Custody | China
A writer and member of the Independent Chinese PEN Center, Yang Tongyan was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for “subversion of state power,” and died in November 2017 while… More
Liu Xiaobo Must be Allowed to Seek Treatment Abroad
NEW YORK--In response to the statement from Western medical experts that it is safe to transport Liu Xiaobo abroad for cancer treatment, PEN America Executive Director Suzanne Nossel released… More
Dzamshid Karimov | Status: Released | Uzbekistan
Dzamshid Karimov is a journalist who was held in psychiatric detention for over a year. He is known for being an outspoken critic of the government, and for his… More
Egypt: In Wake of Legal Setback, PEN America Renews Call for Release of Ahmed Naji
NEW YORK—The denial this weekend of Egyptian novelist Ahmed Naji’s motion to stay his two-year sentence perpetuates the injustice of punishing a writer for the exercise of free expression,… More
Letter from Khadija: Don’t let Azerbaijan use political prisoners as props
This is a letter written by Khadija Ismayilova from jail. It originally appeared in The Washington Post. Khadija Ismayilova is an investigative journalist and contributor to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s… More
Joint Letter to Rouhani: Secure Release of Iranian Cartoonist Atena Farghadani
PEN American is among 40 rights groups who have signed a letter to President Hassan Rouhani below, asking him to work with Iran’s judiciary to release cartoonist Atena Farghadani. More
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