Zhang Zhan

Zhang Zhan

After seven months in pretrial detention, on December 28, 2020, a court sentenced Zhang, a citizen journalist covering COVID-19, to four years in prison for “picking quarrels and stirring… More

Yury Alexeyevich Dmitriev

Yury Alexeyevich Dmitriev

A historian who researched Stalinist atrocities and head of the Karelia branch of the human rights organization Memorial, Dmitriev was imprisoned on baseless charges of sexual assault. On September… More

Mehmet Baransu

Baransu has been detained since March 2015 for his reporting on an alleged coup attempt that referenced leaked military documents. He faces charges in at least four distinct court… More

Pham Doan Trang

A blogger, democracy activist, and non-fiction author, Trang resigned from the Liberal Publishing House in July 2020, citing security threats. In October 2020, she was detained on charges of… More

Writers at Risk Database

Chen Yunfei

On March 25, 2021, Chengdu authorities detained Chen on “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” after he wrote an online article about schools in Sichuan. In December 2021, he was… More

Nagyz Muhammed

Muhammed worked in Altay’s State Intangible Cultural Heritage Office and was arrested for gathering with friends and expressing his opinion on policies in Xinjiang in 2018. He was sentenced… More

Xie Fengxia Xie Wenfei

Xie spent 4.5 years in prison for subverting power after publicly supporting the Umbrella Movement. Released in March 2019, he has since been harassed and was again detained in… More

Sultan Gökçek Grup Yorum

Gökçek is a member of activist collective and band Grup Yorum, whose critical songs have angered the Turkish government since its inception. She has been arrested in police raids… More

Writers at Risk Database

Xu Zhiyong

Xu, a noted essayist and public intellectual, had for decades advocated for good governance and citizen engagement through his writing. In February 2020, he was detained amid a crackdown… More

Pham Chi Dung

Pham Chi Dung

Founder of the Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam, Pham was arrested in November 2019 for articles he wrote criticizing human rights by the government. On January 5, 2021, he… More