Zarganar | Status: Conditional Release | Myanmar

Maung Thura (“Zarganar”) is a poet, opposition activist, and leading comedian in Burma. He began a career in political activism through comedy while completing his undergraduate degree. As a… More

Mehdi Salimi

Salimi writes on gender and politics. He was detained for a month in July 2020 and released on bail. In July 2021, a court convicted him of propaganda and… More

Amin Moradi

Moradi, a poet and member of the Iranian Writers’ Association, was arbitrarily arrested and detained on November 28, 2020 in a home raid. Authorities confiscated his devices and books… More

Siarzh Miadzvedzeu

A member of PEN Belarus, Miadzvedzeu was detained at a peaceful protest in Minsk on September 8, 2020, after the election of Aleksander Lukashenka. He was conditionally released the… More

Kakwenza Rukirabashaija

In late December 2021, novelist Rukirabashaija was detained for a month on charges of “offensive communication” over tweets criticizing President Museveni and his son. After his release, he fled… More

Writers at Risk Database

Fariba Adelkhah

French-Iranian anthropologist Adelkhah was detained in June 2019 while visiting Iran to conduct research. In May 2020, she was sentenced to six years on propaganda and national security charges.… More

Shimaa Samy

After writing critically of the government's detention of political prisoners on the news website Darb, Samy was abducted in Alexandria by security forces on May 20, 2020 and held… More

Ahmed Kabir Kishore

Cartoonist Kishore was arrested with 10 other defendants in May 2020 for criticizing the government’s response to COVID-19 in an online cartoon series “Life in the Time of Corona.”… More

Writers at Risk Database

Mehdi Rajabian

Rajabian was imprisoned in 2016 after co-founding a music sharing website with his brother. They were released in 2017, but Rajabian was re-arrested in 2020 for publishing clips of… More

Writers at Risk Database

Loujain Al-Hathloul

Al-Hathloul, a women's rights advocate, was detained in a sweep of arrests in May 2018 and held for 1,000 days in prison, during which time she was reportedly tortured… More