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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Skochilenko, an artist and writer from St Petersburg, was was arrested in March 2022 after she replaced five shelf tags in a grocery store with anti-war stickers. She was charged with spreading false information about the military and placed in pretrial detention. In November 2023, she was convicted and sentenced…
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Mirqaid is a poet and artist. He was arrested in December 2021 for his involvement in protests and was released on bail after 5 days in detention. In September 2023, he was given a suspended prison sentence of 3 years for “propaganda” and “insulting the leadership.” His sentencing is believed…
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A researcher and columnist whose published works include political commentary on Saudi political, economic, and social issues, Al-Sarhan went missing in October 2021 after writing an article that acknowledged his past criticism of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Reports surfaced in December 2021 that confirmed his detention by Saudi authorities,…
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Reggae singer and public figure Saw Phoe Khwar was detained on February 1, 2021 on the first day of the military coup. He was sentenced to two years in prison in December; charges against him were likely due to his support for the NLD party and his song “Son of…
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Saw Wai, a lifelong activist and well-known poet, was charged in October 2019 with making defamatory statements at a public gathering in April after a case was lodged against them by Myanmar’s military. He remains on trial in connection with these allegations.
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An editor and columnist at Youm7, Shehta was arrested by security forces on August 30, 2020 on unknown charges and held in pre-trial detention. Days earlier, he had tested positive for COVID-19 and was self-isolating. He lost consciousness during the arrest and was taken to an intensive care unit, where…
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Fincancı, a human rights activist and expert, was arrested after serving as a guest editor for pro-Kurdish newspaper Özgür Gündem. Her acquittal was overturned in November 2020 and she is currently on trial. She was detained in October 2022 for additional “terror propaganda” charges. She was released from detention in…
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Vasmaghi was imprisoned in a sham trial in 2017 for her human rights work but was released on bail. In October 2020, she was sentenced to a year in prison for signing a letter against police brutality at protesters, added to her existing sentence for a total of six years.…
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Writer and leader of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party, Demirtaş has been jailed since 2016 despite his detention being ruled unconstitutional and the ECHR ordering his release. In March 2021, he was convicted for insulting President Erdoğan in remarks from 2015. In October 2022, he was sentenced to an additional…
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.