Josep Miquel Arenas Beltrán Valtònyc

Josep Miquel Arenas Beltrán Valtònyc

Musician "Valtònyc" was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison for “grave insults to the crown,” “glorification of terrorism and humiliation of its victims,” and “threats,” for… More

César Montaña Lehmann

César Montaña Lehmann César Strawberry

For tweets allegedly “glorifying terrorism” and “humiliating its victims,” musician Lehmann was sentenced in 2017 to 1 year in prison and barred from public office for 6.5 years. In… 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

Writers at Risk Database

Kitzito Mihigo

A musician, Mihigo was arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison for allegedly plotting to kill President Paul Kagame and for inciting hate against the government. He was… More

Pierre Pierson Vilchez

Writer and artist Pierson Vilchez was one of three PEN Nicaragua members to be subjected to harassment through the circulation of an anonymous video which identified them as behind… More

Augustine Ford

Rapper Ford (AKA: A.Fo4doe) was harassed and detained by police in September 2018 after he was identified as the producer of a song that critiques government corruption. He was… More

Mohammad Bamm

Bamm, whose writing focuses on workers' rights, was detained in December 2017 and held incommunicado, unable to access lawyers or his family, and charged with anti-state propaganda. In 2018,… More

Writers at Risk Database

Srijato Bandyopadhyay Srijato

In January 2019, a group reportedly led by a member of the All Assam Bengali Hindu Association stormed an event where Bandyopadhyay, a poet previously under police investigation, was… More

Kovan

S. Sivadas Kovan

The folk singer popularly known as Kovan uses his music as a platform for activism. He was arrested in 2018 after performing a song at a protest that mocked… More

Arun Ferreira

In August 2018, Ferreira was arrested and detained on politically motivated charges of incitement to violence along with other leftist writer-activists in a coordinated raid. His charge sheet was… More