PEN America Condemns Arrest of Iranian Writers and Translators, Another Attack on the Iranian Writers Associaton
(New York, NY) — The abrupt arrest of writers and translators Keyvan Mohtadi and Anisha Asadollahi is the latest targeted judicial attack on members of the historic and vital… More
Truth-Telling And Its Dire Consequences: PEN America Hosts Conversation with Writers Targeted by Authoritarians Around the Globe
By Suzanne Trimel (NEW YORK)—The difficult plight of writers living under authoritarian rule has been well-documented over decades, with some enduring impossibly harsh treatment for their truth-telling and resistance to… More
PEN America 2021 Freedom to Write Index: Myanmar Joins China and Saudi Arabia as World’s Top Jailers of Writers
During 2021, Myanmar accounted for the single-largest increase of writers and public intellectuals newly jailed for exercising free expression, due to the military junta’s crackdown on influential voices such… More
PEN America Statement on the Death of Reza Baraheni: A Legacy of “Courage and Defiance”
PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel said: "The international writing community has lost a giant of free expression and human rights with the death of former PEN Canada president, author,… More
Toomaj Salehi
Rapper Toomaj Salehi, known for the dissident nature of his songs, was arrested in a home raid in September 2021 and was detained with no visitation rights before being… More
Touraj Amini
Historian, researcher, and literary writer Touraj Amini was tried for “spreading propaganda against the state” and given a reduced sentence of six months in prison. While he was detained,… More
Yasin Qasemi Bajd
A member of the Sunni minority in Iran who writes on politics and religion, Yasin Qasemi Bajd was arrested and reportedly interrogated in February 2021 on a number of… More
Nasrullah Lashani
Lashani, a Kurdish freelance journalist and political commentator, was released from prison on early release in 2019 but was once again arrested on June 7, 2020 while trying to… More
Nima Ghasemi
Ghasemi, a philosophy scholar who holds a PhD from Shahid Beheshti University, was arrested on February 8, 2021 and taken to Evin Prison where he was kept in solitary… More
Qasem Bahrami Sheyda Hamedani
Iranian poet and musician Qasem Bahrami was detained on September 15, 2021 on unknown charges, most likely due to his original poems and online readings of verses that criticze… More
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