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.
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Status
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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Conditional ReleaseNadhir Al-Majid
Journalist, Literary writer, ScholarSaudi ArabiaMiddle East and North AfricaNadhir Al-Majid was arrested and sentenced to seven years in prison in January 2017 in connection with an opinion piece he wrote in 2011 titled “I protest, therefore I am,” supporting the right to protest in the Shia city of Al-Qatif. Despite his attempt for appeal, Al-Majid’s prison sentence, which…
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MurderedJamal Khashoggi
Journalist, Online CommentatorSaudi ArabiaMiddle East and North AfricaKhashoggi, a prominent columnist for The Washington Post and outspoken critic of the Saudi regime, was killed inside the Saudi consulate on October 2, 2018, where he had gone to obtain documents for his upcoming marriage. His death, which was carried out by a team of Saudi agents, was meticulously…
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Conditional ReleaseAli Al-Saffar
Journalist, Online CommentatorSaudi ArabiaMiddle East and North AfricaAli Al-Saffar is one of several commentators and writers arrested in April 2019. He had previously written about the Syrian Civil War and regional conflicts but had not been active at the time of his arrest. He was detained until March 2021, when he was conditionally released. Throughout his detention…
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ImprisonedManahel Al-Otaibi
Online CommentatorSaudi ArabiaMiddle East and North AfricaIn November 2022, influencer Manahel al-Otaibi was arrested. In January 2024, she was sentenced to 11 years in prison on multiple charges, including calling on social media for an end to the Saudi male guardianship system, wearing “indecent clothes,” using digital technology “in terrorist crimes,” and broadcasting “false or malicious…
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ImprisonedOsama Khaled
Online Commentator, TranslatorSaudi ArabiaMiddle East and North AfricaOsama Khaled, a high-ranking Wikipedia volunteer administrator, had privileged access to edit protected pages. In 2020, he was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison, a sentence later increased to 32 years upon appeal. Reports suggest that Khaled and his colleague, Ziyad Al-Sofiani, edited pages of prominent dissidents and…
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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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ReleasedHatoon Al-Fassi
Activist, Journalist, ScholarSaudi ArabiaMiddle East and North AfricaAl-Fassi is a historian of women’s history, author, columnist, and leading women’s rights activist. On June 27, 2018, Al-Fassi was detained as a part of a crackdown on women’s rights defenders. Authorities provisionally released Al-Fassi on May 2, 2019. She later resumed her scholarly work, publishing on women’s history and…
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ReleasedAshraf Fayadh
Creative artist, Literary writer, PoetSaudi ArabiaMiddle East and North AfricaFayadh, a poet and artist, was jailed on various charges of blasphemy for writing about humanistic themes in his poetry collection Instructions Within. The collection explores Fayadh’s experience as a Palestinian refugee in Saudi Arabia. After great public outcry, his initial death sentence in 2015 was reduced to eight years…
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.