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
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 ReleaseAsma N Hreash
Journalist, Online CommentatorIsrael/Occupied Palestinian TerritoryMiddle East and North AfricaOn April 3, 2024, journalist Asma Hreash was arrested and sentenced to six months in administrative detention without charges due to several Facebook posts she published on the war in Gaza. While she was released on October 2, 2024, Hreash’s brother recieved a call from an Israeli officer threatening her…
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DetainedRadwan Qatanani
Journalist, Online CommentatorIsrael/Occupied Palestinian TerritoryMiddle East and North AfricaRadwan Qatanani is a columnist for the Palestinian news website ETAR as well as an online commentator posting primarily on Twitter. He previously spent 20 months in administrative detention between 2017 and 2018, and was most recently arrested in his home on the outskirts of Nablus in the West Bank…
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ReleasedAhmed Abu Damous
Online CommentatorIsrael/Occupied Palestinian TerritoryMiddle East and North AfricaDamous worked in political analysis and translation before founding Facebook and Telegram pages on which he actively published news updates and political commentary. In October 2023, he was arrested from his home in the West Bank following tweets he posted about the Israeli occupation’s targeting of Palestinian civilians. By the…
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ReleasedHaneen al-Masaeed
Activist, Online Commentator, Singer/SongwriterIsrael/Occupied Palestinian TerritoryMiddle East and North AfricaOn October 11, 2023, Israeli forces raided singer/songwriter and activist Haneen al-Masaeed’s home in Aida Camp in Bethlehem, confiscated her phone, and detained her. She was ultimately charged with incitement, but released on November 28, 2023. In January 2024, she gave an interview recounting her experience in the Israeli prison…
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DetainedNawef Al-Amer
Journalist, Literary writer, Online CommentatorIsrael/Occupied Palestinian TerritoryMiddle East and North AfricaColumnist and online commentator Al-Amer authored Days of Ashes (2013), recounting his experience as a detainee for 13 months in an Israeli prison in 2011. In October 2023, Israeli soldiers raided his West Bank home, confiscated his phone, and arrested him without charge. He was placed under administrative detention for…
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Conditional ReleaseAhed Tamimi
Activist, Literary writer, Online CommentatorIsrael/Occupied Palestinian TerritoryMiddle East and North AfricaTamimi, a Palestinian activist, is author of They Called Me a Lioness. In November 2023, she was arrested in the West Bank for incitement based on an Instagram post (she denied writing it, alleging her account had been hacked). After being detained in Israeli custody for 3 weeks, she was…
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DetainedImad Al-Ifranji
JournalistIsrael/Occupied Palestinian TerritoryMiddle East and North AfricaPalestinian columnist Imad al-Ifranji was found in Israeli custody after he went missing during Israel’s attack on Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital on March 19, 2024. The next day, Israeli forces raided the family home and occupied the house for several hours, interrogating his children. In November 2024, it was reported that…
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Displaced/In ExileMohammed El-Kurd
Literary writer, Online Commentator, PoetIsrael/Occupied Palestinian TerritoryMiddle East and North AfricaEl-Kurd is an award-winning poet, journalist, and social media activist from East Jerusalem. Currently the Palestine correspondent for The Nation, El-Kurd’s debut poetry collection Rifqa focuses on the Palestinian struggle for freedom and his grandmother’s exile during the Nakba. Following its publication in October 2021, El-Kurd was the subject 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.