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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ImprisonedPham Doan Trang
Activist, Journalist, Literary writer, Online CommentatorVietnamAsia-PacificA 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 making anti-state propaganda under Article 117. In December 2021, she was sentenced to 9 years in prison following over a year…
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ReleasedMustafa Sheta
Creative artist, Journalist, Online CommentatorIsrael/Occupied Palestinian TerritoryMiddle East and North AfricaSheta, known for his activism, is a columnist and producer at The Freedom Theatre. In early December 2023, the Israeli Army forces broke into and destroyed The Freedom Theatre and its offices during a raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. They then stormed Sheta’s house and…
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Conditional ReleaseArun Ferreira
Creative artist, Literary writer, Singer/SongwriterIndiaAsia-PacificIn August 2018, Ferreira was arrested and detained on politically motivated charges of incitement to violence along with other leftist writer-activists in a coordinated raid. His charge sheet was seized, and his requests for bail had been repeatedly rejected, despite a court order to resolve the charges against him. In…
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ReleasedAlaa Abd El Fattah
Activist, Online CommentatorEgyptMiddle East and North AfricaAlaa Abd El-Fattah is an Egyptian activist, author, software developer, and blogger, renowned for his pivotal role in the Arab Spring.
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Custodial/Wrongful DeathBaktash Abtin
Creative artist, Literary writer, PoetIranMiddle East and North AfricaPoet and filmmaker Abtin, with two other board members of the Iranian Writers Association, was convicted in 2019 for opposing state censorship policies. Abtin’s six-year prison sentence was upheld, and the trio started their sentences at Evin prison in September 2020. On January 8, 2022, Abtin died from COVID-19 contracted in…
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Detained
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DetainedNarges Mohammadi
Activist, Journalist, Literary writer, Online CommentatorIranMiddle East and North AfricaNarges Mohammadi, a human rights defender, author, journalist, and deputy director and spokesperson of the Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC) in Iran, has been repeatedly targeted and arrested since 2009 by the Iranian authorities. She has spent more than 10 years of her life in prison, most recently from…
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ImprisonedMehmet Osman Kavala
Activist, PublisherTürkiyeEurope and Central AsiaA noted philanthropist and publisher focusing on promoting intercultural understanding, Kavala was setting up a cultural center for Syrian refugees when he was detained on terrorism charges in late 2017. He was sentenced to life in prison on April 25, 2022 for “attempting to overthrow the government.” His life sentence…
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Conditional ReleaseNasrin Sotoudeh
Activist, Literary writer, Online CommentatorIranMiddle East and North AfricaA human rights lawyer and prominent voice of conscience, Sotoudeh had been previously released from prison in 2021 on a medical furlough from serving a combined 38-year sentence handed down in 2019. In October 2023, she was beaten and temporarily rearrested while attending a funeral of a slain teenage girl.…
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.