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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Altın sings in the activist collective and band Grup Yorum. Since the band’s inception, its critical songs have angered the Turkish government and members have faced serious threats. Altın was granted refugee status in France in 2018 after $40,000 was offered for her capture.
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Babaei is an award-winning dramatist, journalist, translator, and literary writer. Her work includes plays, literary criticism, theater criticism, and social satire for magazines. She was arrested at her home on December 5, 2022 for unknown reasons and taken to Ward 209 of Evin Prison. Babaei was released on bail on…
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Jodeyri’s translation of Blue Is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh into Persian made her persona non grata in Iran. Already facing a campaign of public persecution for her own writing and reformist views, Jodeyri fled into exile in Italy, Prague, and ultimately the United States.
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Rashnu was arrested in June 2022 for defying hijab laws and released in August. In June 2023, she was charged with offenses relating to “propaganda” and “encouraging promiscuity” before being released on bail. In October, she was fined and handed a 6-month prison sentence for “propaganda” and “encouraging corruption.” In…
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Gulyaev, an exiled Russian writer and politician, was censured by prominent public figures in May 2023 for his 2022 book on the war in Ukraine, Sunset in Brown Tones. An investigation for “discrediting the army” was launched against him and his home was searched. Copies of the book were seized…
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A musician and songwriter, Mikhalok has been banned from entering Belarus since 2015 for “insulting the president” and currently lives in Ukraine. He has faced transnational repression and pressure this year with his concerts being canceled in Europe.
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Notable literary writer and winner of the 2017 Cervantes Prize, Ramirez is an outspoken critic of the Nicaraguan government. He wrote a novel Tongolele no Sabia Bailar in 2021 illustrating the 2018 protests against Ortega’s regime. A warrant was issued against him, and on February 23, 2023, he was stripped…
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Turkish Armenian writer Sevan Nişanyan was imprisoned in 2012 for a blog entry he wrote criticizing government attempts to ban criticism of the Prophet Muhammad. However, in July 2017, he escaped from prison and established political asylum in Greece. He was detained in 2021 due to residency issues and released…
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.