Writers at Risk Database

Berhane Abrehe

A former top government official, Abrehe was arrested in September 2018, barely a week after he published a book criticizing Eritrea's autocracy. Abrehe's continued detention calls into question Eritrea's… More

Fessehaye Yohannes Johannes

Co-founder of the newspaper Setit, Yohannes was arrested in a sweeping crackdown on print media following the September 11 attacks and has been detained incommunicado since, drawing grave concern… More

Idris Said Abu’Are

Freelance journalist and author of short fiction Idris Said was arrested in October 2001, after questioning the arrests en masse of his colleagues following the September 11 attacks. Since… More

Magdi Ahmed Hussein Gad

Hussein, who has authored pieces that comparatively examine Islam and Western values, was given a reduced five-year sentence in 2016 for his “contempt of Islam,” alleged distortion of the… More

Writers at Risk Database

Wael Abbas

Known for his blogging to expose police brutality, Abbas was detained in May 2018 on charges of terrorism and dissemination of false news until he was conditionally released in… More

Ibrahim Al-Husseini

Ibrahim Al-Husseini

In December 2018, Al-Husseini was arrested on charges of "inciting protests" for social media posts criticizing authoritarian rule and religious extremism in Egypt. He was released on bail in… More

Hesham Gaafar

Hesham Gaafar

Gaafar was detained without warrant in October 2015 for suspected involvement with the banned Muslim Brotherhood. He was held for 41 months in pretrial detention, often under prolonged solitary… 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

Karam Saber

Karam Saber

In June 2013, author and land rights activist Saber was sentenced to 5 years in prison for “contempt of religion” in connection with his 2010 collection of short stories,… 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