Mehmet Altan
In September 2016, authorities detained Altan and his brother Ahmet for allegedly giving subliminal messages “suggestive” of the July coup attempt during a television panel the night prior. Though… More
Zehra Doğan
In July 2016, Doğan was arrested for creating a painting of Turkish city Nusaybin bombarded by state security forces. In 2017, she was sentenced to nearly three years in… More
J.S. Tissainayagam
In August 2009, writer and journalist Tissainayagam was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment with hard labor under the Prevention of Terrorism Act for “causing communal disharmony” with reporting on… More
Faraj Ahmad Birqdar
Syrian poet and activist Birqdar was arrested in March 1987 on suspicion of being a member of Syria’s Party for Communist Action. He was held without trial for 6… More
Aref Dalila
Academic economist Dalila was arrested in 2001 in relation to his participation in the movement to democratize the Syrian government. In 2002, Dalila was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment… More
Zana Al-Shahri
Female journalist and writer Al-Shahri was detained as part of a wave of arrests by Saudi authorities in November 2019. She was released in early December. More
Naema Ahmed Ibrahim
Ibrahim, a poet, was arrested without charge in January 2018, and held incommunicado at the Central Police Station. In March, she was charged with “bringing the nation or the… More
Abdirahman Ibrahim Adan Abdirahman Abees
Adan, a poet in Somaliland, was arrested on January 12, 2019 after publicly reciting a poem the previous day in which he called on the Somaliland government to reform… More
Sulaiman Al-Saikhan Al-Nasser
A banker and prominent analyst who was arrested in a wave of detentions targeting Saudi intellectual and reformist circles in mid-November 2019, Al-Nasser was released later that month after… More
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Is the best remedy for disfavored speech more speech? Here are five myths about #freespeech debunked by PEN America's CEO @SuzanneNossel. https://wapo.st/2NVzN4V
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