Writers at Risk Database

Qurban Mamut

Mamut, who had worked with Uyghur-run cultural publications for over four decades, disappeared in 2017 after visiting his exiled son in the United States. Authorities told Mamut’s son that… More

Wahitjan Osman

Osman was arrested without charge in 2018 and is currently detained in one of the many Uyghur re-education camps. There is no known date set for his trial; others… More

Yasin Zilal

Yasin Zilal is a poet and the editor of Tarim, a monthly Uyghur literary magazine. In 2018, Zilal was arrested without charge and detained in a concentration camp as… More

Chimengül Awut

Awut, an award-winning poet and editor at Kashgar Publishing House, was reportedly arrested in July 2018. She was sent without a trial to a “re-education camp” after her involvement… More

Writers at Risk Database

Ma Jian

Chinese-born British author Ma Jian and his books have faced government censorship since his first publication Stick Out Your Tongue in 1988. After publishing The Dark Road in 2013,… More

Druklo Shokjang

Druklo Shokjang

Shokjang was arrested in 2015 and sentenced to three years in prison for inciting separatism, evidenced by his blog posts about police violence and possession of pro-Tibet books, according… More

Writers at Risk Database

Kunchok Tsephel Gopey Tsang

Founder of Tibetan literary website Chomei, Kunchok Tsephel was arrested in 2009 and sentenced to 15 years in prison for disclosing state secrets; though, the precise reasons for the… More

Writers at Risk Database

Jo Lobsang Jamyang Lomig

Jamyang, a blogger and writer who has written on free speech, environmental issues, and social movements, was arrested in 2015 and sentenced in 2016 to seven and a half… More

Writers at Risk Database

Tsering Woeser

An award-winning Tibetan writer, Woeser was placed under house arrest in 2008 and again in 2014 for her activism for Tibetan rights. Her books are currently banned in China… More

Xue Deyun Ma Zhe

A leader of the Guizhou cultural revival movement, which called for increased literary freedom in China, Xue was jailed from 1987-90 and again from 1998-2001 for attempting to overthrow… More