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
ImprisonedIlham Tohti
Online Commentator, ScholarChinaAsia-PacificTohti, an influential Uyghur writer and economist, co-founded the website Uyghurbiz. He was arrested at Beijing airport in January 2014, and found guilty of separatism and sentenced to life imprisonment in September 2014. Tohti had endured years of repeated instances of harassment and detentions for his peaceful advocacy for the…
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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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DetainedAmanuel Asrat
Journalist, Literary writer, Poet, Singer/SongwriterEritreaSub-Saharan AfricaAmanuel Asrat, an esteemed Eritrean poet, journalist, and former editor-in-chief of Zemen newspaper, was arrested on September 23, 2001, amid a government crackdown on independent media. Since then, he has been detained without charge or trial, with his exact whereabouts and health status remaining unknown. He has published poetry, songs,…
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ImprisonedValery Pazniakievic
Journalist, Online Commentator, Poet, Singer/SongwriterBelarusEurope and Central AsiaPoet and bard Valery Pazniakievic was detained in August 2024 after posting political poems on social media. His poems were analyzed in the investigation against him and he was questioned for writing them in Belarusian as opposed to Russian. He received a series of fines over the next year totalling…
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ImprisonedXu Zhiyong
Activist, Literary writerChinaAsia-PacificXu, 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 on activists critical of Chinese government policies who had gathered in late December 2019. He was tried in secret in June…
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Conditional ReleaseLoujain Al-Hathloul
Activist, Online CommentatorSaudi ArabiaMiddle East and North AfricaAl-Hathloul, a women’s rights advocate, was detained in a sweep of arrests in May 2018 and held for 1,000 days in prison, during which time she was reportedly tortured and assaulted. In December 2020, she was found “guilty” of broad terrorism charges and sentenced to nearly six years in prison.…
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ImprisonedNasrin Sotoudeh
Activist, Literary writer, Online CommentatorIranMiddle East and North AfricaA human rights lawyer and prominent voice of conscience, Nasrin Sotoudeh has been targeted and jailed by the Iranian government for more than a decade for her activism and expression. After undertaking a gruelling hunger strike to protest prison conditions while serving a combined 38-year sentence handed down in 2019,…
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ImprisonedGolrokh Ebrahimi Iraee
Activist, Literary writer, Online CommentatorIranMiddle East and North AfricaGolrokh Ebrahimi Iraee has faced more than a decade of harassment, detention, and repeated imprisonment for her writing and activism on a range of human rights themes. First arrested in 2014 on charges related to an unpublished short story criticizing the practice of stoning and sentenced to 6 years in…
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ImprisonedSvetlana Petriychuk
DramatistRussiaEurope and Central AsiaPlaywright Svetlana Petriychuk was detained in May 2023 for writing the play Finist, the Bright Falcon. She was accused alongside the play’s director, Zhenya Berkovich, of “justifying terrorism” in their play, which was about women who meet jihadists on the internet to go to Syria. Following several delays and detention…
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.