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
ConvictedSaeed Minai
Activist, Online CommentatorIranMiddle East and North AfricaMinai is an ethnic Azeri activist and online writer. He was summoned to court in 2019 for a Telegram article. In August 2023, he was arrested at home after writing an online post about local environmental issues. He was released but was rearrested for unknown reasons in February 2024. He…
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AcquittedSaid Djabelkhir
Literary writer, Online Commentator, ScholarAlgeriaMiddle East and North AfricaScholar Djabelkhir was—without notice—charged with “offending the precepts of Islam” after writing 3 Facebook posts of “academic reflections” on the Quran and Islamic traditions in 2020. In April 2021, he was sentenced to 3 years in prison and fined 50,000 Algerian dinars. His appeal to the Supreme Court argues that…
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ReleasedSaida El-Alami
Activist, Online CommentatorMoroccoMiddle East and North AfricaIn March 2022, human rights activist El-Alami was summoned to authorities and interrogated about her Facebook posts. She faced several charges including “insulting a body regulated by law.” She was fined and sentenced to 2 years in prison in April. Her prison sentence was extended an additional year in September.…
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Displaced/In ExileSaied Al-Ghamdi
Online Commentator, ScholarUnited KingdomMiddle East and North AfricaWhile exiled in the UK, Saied Al-Ghamdi has faced retaliation for his writing through the imprisonment of his brothers. One of them, Mohammed, was arrested on June 11, 2022 and sentenced to death on July 10, 2024. In August 2024, his sentence was repealed and a verdict of 30 years…
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Conditional ReleaseSajid Soomro
Literary writer, ScholarPakistanAsia-PacificSoomro was arrested on June 10, 2020, when dozens of police officers raided his home. Authorities filed a blasphemy case under the Pakistan Penal Code for Soomro’s writings that allegedly criticized religious beliefs and Pakistan. After six days in detention, a court granted Soomro release on bail. The professor of…
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DetainedSakineh Asoudi
Activist, Online Commentator, PoetIranMiddle East and North AfricaAsoudi is a blind poet and activist who has a history of intimidation by authorities due to her political poems. In 2021, she was threatened by security agents for supporting the “No to Vote” campaign. In January 2025, she was summoned to the prosecutor’s office and arrested for “disturbing public…
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ReleasedSalah Al-Haidar
Journalist, Literary writer, Online CommentatorSaudi ArabiaMiddle East and North AfricaAl-Haidar, arrested without charge during a wave of arrests in April 2019, has been denied access to a lawyer while in detention. He is the son of a prominent Saudi feminist who was released just two weeks prior to his detention. Al-Haidar was conditionally released in 2021 but continued to…
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Custodial/Wrongful DeathSaleh Al-Shehi
JournalistSaudi ArabiaMiddle East and North AfricaIn January 2018, Al-Shehi, a well-known anti-corruption columnist critical of the government, was sentenced to five years in prison for “insulting the royal court.” He was released in May 2020 in poor health and died on July 19, 2020, from complications believed to be related to COVID-19. The pandemic’s devastating…
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ImprisonedSalim Al-Jabali
Online CommentatorTunisiaMiddle East and North AfricaSalim Al-Jabali ran a Facebook page called “Minister of Hypertension and Diabetes” in which he posted political opinions. He was detained for several Facebook posts in which he called the President a “dog” and a “coup maker” and was sentenced to 1 year in jail on October 13, 2021. In…
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.