Abraham Serfaty

Abraham Serfaty | Status: Deceased | Morocco

Abraham Serfaty is an editor and political activist, jailed for his writing and political activities while he advocated for the independence of Morocco. His voice and work toward liberation… More

Nguyen Chi Thien

Nguyen Chi Thien | Status: Deceased | Vietnam

Vietnamese poet Nguyen Chi Thien spent almost 27 years in prison for his "politically irreverent poems" between 1960 and 1991. In 1989 he received the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to… More

Pramoedya Ananta Toer

Pramoedya Ananta Toer | Status: Deceased | Indonesia

Pramoedya Ananta Toer (1925–2006) was the author of novels that chronicled much of that Southeast Asian country's turbulent history. Passing away in 2006, he leaves behind a legacy of… More

Ayse Nur Zarakolu

Ayşe Nur Zarakolu | Status: Deceased | Turkey

Founder of Turkey’s Freedom to Publish Committee, Ayşe Nur Zarakolu was a political essayist, the director of Belge Publishing House, and the only woman publishing director in Turkey at… More

Flag Map Of South Africa

Matsemela Manaka | Status: Deceased | South Africa

Matsemela Manaka was a writer, director, actor, poet and cultural theorist. His career in playwriting was spurred much in part by the Soweto uprising in 1976. Manaka received the… More

Zhang Jianhong (pen name: Li Hong) | Status: Deceased | China

Zhang Jianhong passed away on December 31, 2010, at a hospital in Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province. He was diagnosed with muscle atrophy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known… More

Michel Kilo | Status: Deceased | Syria

Prominent writer and journalist Michel Kilo contributes to the leading Lebanese daily Al-Nahar and the London-based daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi. Initially, Kilo was arrested on May 14, 2006 when he… More

Zouhair Yahyaoui | Status: Deceased | Tunisia

The Freedom to Write Committee mourns the passing of Zouhair Yahyaoui. According to his family, he died of a heart attack on Sunday, March 13, 2005. He was arrested… More

Siamak Pourzand | Status: Deceased | Iran

Siamak Pourzand was a journalist and film critic. He was manager of the Majmue-ye Farrhangi-ye Honari-ye Tehran, a cultural center for writers, artists, and intellectuals. More