Dang Phuc Tue Thich Quang Do

Tue was a patriarch of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam who became the public face of religious dissent in the country. He spent his last 30 years… More

Writers at Risk Database

Nguyen Chi Thien

A dissident writer and political activist, Thien spent a total of 27 years in prison between 1960 and 1991. While in prison, he composed over 400 poems, which were… More

Tayseer Al-Najjar

On December 13, 2015, Al-Najjar, a Jordanian national, was arrested by authorities for a Facebook post in which he criticized Israel and the UAE. He served nearly four years… More

Writers at Risk Database

Ruslan Sharipov

Sharipov was detained in 2001 after publishing a series of articles challenging the government. In 2002, he was beaten three times, and, in 2003, was arrested on suspicion of… More

Writers at Risk Database

Mamadali Mahmudov

Mahmudov was released in 2013 after serving 14 years in prison on charges of “threats” to the president and the constitutional order. A supporter of the opposition Erk party,… More

Ayşe Nur Zarakolu

Ayşe Nur Zarakolu

Founder of the Freedom to Publish Commission, Zarakolu was a pioneering female figure in Türkiye's literary world. A political essayist herself, she was arrested over 30 times for her… More

Writers at Risk Database

Doğan Akhanli

A writer specializing in genocide studies, Akhanli has been arrested and imprisoned several times for his work on the Armenian Genocide. In 1991, he fled Türkiye for Germany where,… More

Rakhim Esenov

In February 2004, Esenov was charged with “inciting social, national, and religious hatred using the mass media” for statements made by characters in his novel, Ventsenosny Skitalets (The Crowned… More

Writers at Risk Database

Zouhair Yahyaoui Ettounsi

Founder of TUNeZINE.com Yahyaoui was arrested in a cybercafe on charges of 'false news' and unauthorized use of the internet in June 2000. Having served half his sentence, he… More

Writers at Risk Database

Michel Kilo

In 2006, Kilo was arrested after signing a declaration in support of diplomatic relations between Syria and Lebanon. He was sentenced to three years in prison for spreading false… More