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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Obaidat has written political commentary for both his own channels and news outlets, and has authored two books: Cries in the Time of Apostasy and From the Memory of Families. He was detained in 2021 and again in December 2023 for sharing his critical views of Israel. His East Jerusalem…
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Well-known for his anti-government writing, Ramazanov has been jailed multiple times on retaliatory charges. In May 2022, he was arrested for “drug trafficking,” which he denies and claims are in response to his writing on Facebook. In 2013, he was sentenced to 9 years in prison on fabricated drug possession…
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Parsi is an Islamic law scholar and former professor at Herat University who was arrested by the Taliban in March 2023 for comments he posted on Facebook. In October 2023, he was sentenced to 16 months in prison for “propaganda against the regime” and blasphemy.
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Rivero was arrested in a 2003 roundup of dissidents known as the Black Spring and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was released in 2010 after multilateral talks in which Cuba agreed to release those jailed in the Black Spring. On November 6, 2021, Rivero passed away following respiratory…
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Al-Boori was arrested in April 2019 in a wave of arrests targeting writers and commentators. Prior to his arrest, he had written about regional politics, though he had not been active in years. In March 2021, he was conditionally released after almost two years detained.
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Alareer, a writer and scholar, was also co-founder of the “We Are Not Numbers” project. In December 2023, Alareer and several family members were killed in an Israeli airstrike that surgically targeted the second floor of his sister’s apartment building, where he was staying after being displaced. He had reportedly…
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Sultana is one of the “Miya” (Bengali-language Muslim) poets charged in July 2019 after the online publication of a poem by Hafiz Ahmed that authorities claimed promoted sectarian enmity in the state of Assam. On July 17, 2019, all ten poets were granted anticipatory bail.
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Carvalho faces police harassment, death and rape threats, and attempted physical attacks for acting in O Segundo Jesus, Rainha do Céu, a play that explores the multiplicity of trans communities.
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Keshvari is a poet, artist, and online commentator. He was arrested for participating in protests in October 2022. He suffers from multiple sclerosis which he was diagnosed with in summer 2022. Sentenced to 5 years in prison on undisclosed charges, he was released sometime in early 2023 and is currently…
Writers at Risk Database Key:
STATUS box that is red: Active case
STATUS box that is black: Inactive case
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.
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.