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
ImprisonedAbduqeyum Ablimit
Online Commentator, ScholarChina/Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous RegionAsia-PacificAblimit, one of Ilham Tohti’s students, was arrested from his home in 2014 for his involvement with the website Uyghurbiz, which promotes ethnic understanding between Uyghurs and Han Chinese. In a secret trial held by the Intermediate People’s Court of Urumqi, Ablimit was sentenced between three and eight years in…
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Conditional ReleaseAigul Otepova
Online CommentatorKazakhstanEurope and Central AsiaBlogger Otepova was placed under house arrest in September 2020 and accused of supporting the Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DVK), labelled an extremist movement. She was forcibly brought to a psychiatric clinic and then released to house arrest. On April 29, 2021, Otepova was sentenced with 1 year of “restricted…
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ImprisonedAnisha Asadollahi
Activist, Literary writer, TranslatorIranMiddle East and North AfricaTranslator, activist, and teacher Anisha Asadollahi was detained on May 9, 2022, when authorities raided her home, arresting her and her husband. She had been arrested twice before for labor activism. She was released on bail on August 20. In May 2023, she was convicted on charges of “propaganda against…
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Displaced/In ExileArif Yunus
Activist, Literary writer, ScholarAzerbaijanEurope and Central AsiaYunus, a writer and political analyst, was sentenced in 2015 on retaliatory charges of financial fraud. He was conditionally released after four months in prison due to health concerns, and granted the ability to travel to the Netherlands for treatment. Now in exile, he continues his advocacy work focusing on…
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DeceasedAyşe Nur Zarakolu
Literary writer, PublisherTürkiyeEurope and Central AsiaAuthor and activist Ayşe Nur Zarakolu was the founder of the Freedom to Publish Commission and was a pioneering female figure in Türkiye’s literary world. A political essayist herself, she was arrested over 30 times over the course of her lifetime for her writings on taboo subjects like the Armenian…
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ReleasedCao Peizhi
Activist, Online CommentatorChinaAsia-PacificCao Peizhi is an activist and the founder of Warm House, a WeChat blog group discussing democracy issues in China. On July 3, 2022, he was detained on charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” because his blog allegedly validated foreign propaganda and carried insulting remarks about party and state…
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ReleasedChimengül Awut
Editor, PoetChina/Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous RegionAsia-PacificAwut, an award-winning poet and editor at Kashgar Publishing House, was reportedly arrested in July 2018. She was sent without a trial to a “re-education camp” after her involvement in editing a novel by another Uyghur writer. According to reports, she was released in August 2020, although some later indicated…
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Recorded HarassmentDmitry Strotsev
Online Commentator, Poet, PublisherBelarusEurope and Central AsiaDmitry Strotsev publishes poetry as a preserver of the “Minsk school of poetry” and has written poetry about the August 2020 Belarusian election and subsequent violence against protesters. On October 21, 2020, he was abducted with a bag over his head, detained, and was brought to interrogation at the KGB.…
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Conditional ReleaseEman Al-Nafjan
Activist, Journalist, Online CommentatorSaudi ArabiaMiddle East and North AfricaColumnist and activist Al-Nafjan was detained in May 2018 in relation to her women’s rights advocacy as she filmed a female driver breaking the ban. She was later charged with “undermining the kingdom’s stability” among other charges. While in prison, Al-Nafjan was reportedly sexually harassed and severly beaten. In March…
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.