Abdel-Rahman Mekled

Mekled was arrested in August 2017 as part of a group of journalists and writers who had criticized the Egyptian government's decision to renounce its claim on several Red… More

Writers at Risk Database

Abdel-Halim Qandil

A prolific journalist whose work has been censored many times in the past decade, Qandil was jailed in December 2017 for comments he made in a TV interview criticizing… More

Medhat Safwat

Sawfat, who has written critically about fundamentalist groups’ strict interpretation of Islam, has faced verbal abuse and intimidation after each piece he has written. He was also formally admonished… More

Writers at Risk Database

Léster Luis González Pentón

González, co-founder of the Movement for Democracy, was arrested in a 2003 roundup of dissidents known as the Black Spring and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was… More

Writers at Risk Database

Raúl Rivero

Rivero was arrested in a 2003 roundup of dissidents known as the Black Spring and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was released in 2010 after multilateral talks… More

Nedim Yasar

On November 20, 2018, Yasar died after he was shot leaving the launch of his memoir Roots on his life as the founder of a gang who left in… More

Writers at Risk Database

Fernando Villavicencio

In April 2017, Villavicencio, a journalist and author, sought asylum in Peru due to threats against him and his family, and a pre-trial detention order alleging he leaked documents… More

Writers at Risk Database

Ahmed Naji

Charged with ‘violating public modesty’ for sexual content in his novel The Use of Life, Naji served 10 months in prison in 2016. After a prolonged legal battle during… More

Writers at Risk Database

Fatima Naoot

Long famous for her politically-charged poetry, Naoot was sentenced to three years in prison in 2016 for defaming Islam in a Facebook post critical of the Eid al-Adha tradition… More

Francis Sanchéz Rodríguez

Francis Sánchez Rodríguez

A prolific author and founder of a magazine seen as a platform for free expression in Cuba, Sánchez faced government harassment and intimidation for decades in connection with his… More