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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DetainedMustafa 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 ReleaseLama Ghosheh
Journalist, Online Commentator, ScholarIsrael/Occupied Palestinian TerritoryMiddle East and North AfricaA journalist and online commentator, Ghosheh also worked as a researcher at the Palestinian Museum in Birzeit. She was arrested at her home in August 2022 after sharing social media posts and detained for two weeks. She was released into house arrest on September 13, pending trial proceedings. Ghosheh was…
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DetainedMusab Khamees Qafeisha
Journalist, Online CommentatorIsrael/Occupied Palestinian TerritoryMiddle East and North AfricaQafeisha, a freelance reporter from the West Bank who writes commentary online, has been detained several times in the past decade. In October 2023, Israeli soldiers surrounded Qafeisha’s home in Hebron, urging him and his brother to come out. He was detained, and six days later, he was transported to…
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ImprisonedBilal Al-Saadi
Creative artistIsrael/Occupied Palestinian TerritoryMiddle East and North AfricaThe founder and chairperson of the Freedom Theater in Jenin, Al-Saadi was arrested at a military checkpoint by the Israeli Defense Forces on September 11, 2022. Later in the month, he was sentenced to 6 months administrative detention on undisclosed charges, and without a trial.
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ReleasedMosab Abu Toha
Literary writer, Online Commentator, PoetIsrael/Occupied Palestinian TerritoryMiddle East and North AfricaAbu Toha is a poet and essayist. In 2017 he opened Gaza’s first English-language library, and in 2022, he published a collection of poems titled Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear. In November 2023, he was detained by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), interrogated, and beaten as his…
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ReleasedImad Barghouthi
Online Commentator, ScholarIsrael/Occupied Palestinian TerritoryMiddle East and North AfricaPalestinian astrophysicist and professor Barghouthi was arrested on June 16, 2020. On August 2, 2020, after being detained for more than two weeks without explanation, he was charged with “incitement and support for a hostile organization” because of his Facebook posts. Bargouthi was released on June 1, 2021 after nearly…
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Continued HarassmentMohammed Sabaaneh
Creative artist, Literary writer, Online CommentatorIsrael/Occupied Palestinian TerritoryMiddle East and North AfricaSabaaneh, a Palestinian cartoonist, has been repeatedly harassed by both Palestinian (PA) and Israeli authorities. He has been detained multiple times by Israeli border forces at Allenby Bridge without any explanation. In January 2023, as instigated by the PA, he was dismissed from his job at Al-Hayat Al-Jadida newspaper for…
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MurderedShireen Abu Akleh
Journalist, Online CommentatorIsrael/Occupied Palestinian TerritoryMiddle East and North AfricaKnown as “the voice of Palestine,” Abu Akleh spent 25 years reporting on the Palestinian struggle for freedom, writing about life under Israeli occupation, and providing critical commentary on human rights abuses, media restrictions, and free expression issues. On May 11, 2022, while covering an Israeli military raid in the…
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DetainedMohamed Al-Atrash
Journalist, Online CommentatorIsrael/Occupied Palestinian TerritoryMiddle East and North AfricaAl-Atrash, a host on Radio Alam and co-founder of Space Media, which covers Palestinian issues, also writes commentary online. He was arrested at his home in the West Bank on November 8. At a hearing a few weeks later, Israeli prosecutors charged Al-Atrash with incitement based on posts from his…
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.