Writers at Risk Database
PEN America champions the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. The bedrock work of the global PEN network is advocacy and assistance on behalf of individuals persecuted for their use of the written word or other forms of expression. PEN America’s Writers at Risk Database is a searchable catalog of the writers, journalists, academics, public intellectuals and others under threat around the world. The database includes historical cases PEN America has worked on from 1987 onwards; non-active cases are color-coded black. PEN America is grateful to the John Templeton Foundation for support that enabled the establishment of the Writers at Risk Database and to PEN International for their collaboration in assembling this database.
Filters
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Status
Recorded HarassmentJosé Viñuela
Journalist, Literary writerArgentinaAmericasAn author and journalist, Viñuela received death threats from an unknown telephone number on September 8, 2022. Viñuela has written extensively about the 2023 Argentine presidential election, Bolsonaro’s re-election in Brazil, the return of Donald Trump, and the ultraconservative Vox party in Spain. He is also the author of the…
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Conditional ReleaseKhadija Al-Harbi
Literary writerSaudi ArabiaMiddle East and North AfricaFeminist writer Khadija Al-Harbi was detained, alongside her husband, following a raid on their home on April 4, 2019. Their arrests were part of a larger crackdown on dissidents in April 2019, commonly referred to as the “April Campaign” in Saudi Arabia. She was reportedly in the late stages of…
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Custodial/Wrongful DeathLiu Xiaobo
Activist, Literary writer, ScholarChinaAsia-PacificLiu Xiaobo, the renowned Chinese poet, literary critic, pro-democracy activist, and and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was arrested in 2009, charged with “inciting subversion of state power,” and sentenced to 11 years in prison. Liu died from complications of liver cancer, and passed away in 2017 while in state custody,…
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ImprisonedMaria Ponomarenko
Journalist, Online CommentatorRussiaEurope and Central AsiaJournalist Ponomarenko was detained in April 2022 for publishing information on an airstrike in Ukraine. Granted house arrest in November, she returned to detention in January 2023 after an assault by her ex-husband. In February, she was sentenced to 6 years for spreading “false information.” She endured beatings in prison…
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Recorded HarassmentMedhat Safwat
Activist, Journalist, Literary writer, ScholarEgyptMiddle East and North AfricaSawfat, who has written critically about fundamentalist groups’ strict interpretation of Islam, has faced verbal abuse and intimidation after each piece he has written. He was also formally admonished for ‘distorting the picture of Egypt’ after leading a seminar overseas. In 2022, he published a new book and presented his…
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ReleasedMozhgan Kavousi
Creative artist, Literary writer, TranslatorIranMiddle East and North AfricaKurdish writer and filmmaker Kavousi was arrested at her home in September 2022, and spent at least 35 days in solitary confinement. She was tried for “corruption on earth” among other charges, and was acquitted of corruption but sentenced to 5 years imprisonment on collusion and propaganda charges. She began…
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Recorded ThreatMuhammad Zafar Iqbal
Literary writer, ScholarBangladeshAsia-PacificIn March 2018, professor and writer Iqbal survived a stabbing incident on the campus of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST). The attack was linked to his outspoken views on various social issues. The assailant, Foyzul Hasan, was subsequently convicted under anti-terrorism laws and sentenced to life imprisonment in…
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MurderedNedim Yasar
Journalist, Literary writerDenmarkEurope and Central AsiaOn November 20, 2018, Yasar died after he was shot leaving the launch of his memoir Roots on his life as the founder of a gang who left in 2012 to then become a radio host and mentor. In 2020, two men—the shooter and the getaway car driver—were sentenced to…
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DetainedOrkesh Abdurehim
Literary writer, Poet, ScholarChina/Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous RegionAsia-PacificOrkesh Abdurehim, a poet, author, and former teacher at Chapchal High School in Ili Prefecture, was arrested in September 2022 under unknown charges. Since then, he has been in detention, with no updates on his location or condition. Abdurehim is a father of two, and his family remains unaware of…
Writers at Risk Database Key:
STATUS box that is red: Active case
STATUS box that is black: Inactive case
Funder
PEN America is deeply grateful to the John Templeton Foundation for its generous support of the Freedom to Write Index and Writers at Risk Database.
Partner
PEN America thanks the PEN International Secretariat and the Writers in Prison Committee for their extensive contributions to and collaboration on compiling the cases included in this database.