Fayez Bin Damakh
In September 2017, poet and reporter Bin Damakh was reported missing days before he was due to launch a TV news channel in Kuwait. Local press reports suggest he… More
Ali Al-Domaini
Pro-democracy activist Al-Domaini was arrested in March 2004 for criticizing Saudi Arabia's National Commission of Human Rights and planning to set up his own organization. In August 2005, he… More
Warsame Shire Awale
Poet, playwright, radio actor, and singer-songwriter Awale was shot near his house in Mogadishu in October 2012. He had received threats for comments he made about gunmen targeting civilians,… More
Naema Ahmed Ibrahim
Ibrahim, a poet, was arrested without charge in January 2018, and held incommunicado at the Central Police Station. In March, she was charged with “bringing the nation or the… More
Abdirahman Ibrahim Adan Abdirahman Abees
Adan, a poet in Somaliland, was arrested on January 12, 2019 after publicly reciting a poem the previous day in which he called on the Somaliland government to reform… More
Matsemela Manaka
Manaka was an artist, poet, and playwright who was honored with the first PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award in 1987, and funded a playwright workshop for young authors… More
Nizametdin Akhmetov
Poet and the first PEN Freedom to Write honoree, Akhmetov was arrested in 1966 on fabricated charges of theft for association with a movement advocating for the return of… More
Ashraf Fayadh
Fayadh, a poet and artist, was jailed on charges of apostasy for writing about humanistic themes in his poetry collection Instructions Within, which explores Fayadh’s experience as a Palestinian… More
Gioconda Belli
Writer and poet Belli was one of three PEN Nicaragua members to be subjected to harassment through the circulation of an anonymous video which identified them as behind a… More
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