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
Conditional ReleaseSemiramis Babaei
Dramatist, Editor, Journalist, TranslatorIranMiddle East and North AfricaBabaei is an award-winning dramatist, journalist, translator, and literary writer. Her work includes plays, literary criticism, theater criticism, and social satire for magazines. She is also known for translating Tom Stoppard and F. Scott Fitzgerald, and compiling a widely referenced monologue anthology in 2018. She was arrested at her home…
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ReleasedSepideh Gholian
Journalist, Literary writer, Online CommentatorIranMiddle East and North AfricaReporter and activist Gholian has been targeted by authorities since 2018. She was imprisoned in July 2020 to serve a 5-year sentence for “propaganda” and “disturbing the public mind.” She was released in March 2023 for medical reasons but was rearrested on the same day after a video was posted…
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Displaced/In ExileSepideh Jodeyri
Poet, TranslatorIranMiddle East and North AfricaAward-winning poet, literary critic, translator, and journalist Sepideh Jodeyri has published many works. However, it was her translation of Blue Is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh into Persian that made her persona non grata in Iran. Already facing a campaign of public persecution for her own writing and reformist…
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ConvictedSepideh Rashnu
Activist, Creative artist, Online Commentator, PoetIranMiddle East and North AfricaRashnu, a poet and writer online, was arrested for two months in June 2022 for defying hijab laws. In June 2023, she was charged with offenses including “propaganda.” In October, she was fined and handed a 6-month sentence for “propaganda” and “corruption.” In December 2023, she was sentenced to 4…
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Displaced/In ExileSergei Gulyaev
Journalist, Literary writerRussiaEurope and Central AsiaGulyaev, an now-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 Gulyaev. Authorities followed him and raided his home, seizing copies of the…
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Displaced/In ExileSergei Mikhalok
Singer/SongwriterBelarusEurope and Central AsiaA 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. One of Lyapis Trubetskoy’s songs was designated as “extremist material” in 2024.…
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Displaced/In ExileSergio Ramirez
Literary writer, Online CommentatorNicaraguaAmericasNotable literary writer Sergio 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. In September 2021, President Ortega issued a warrant against him, and on February 15, 2023, he was stripped of his…
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ImprisonedSetiwaldi Kerim
Literary writer, ScholarChina/Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous RegionAsia-PacificAccording to local police in Atush, Xinjiang, Uyghur author and schoolteacher Setiwaldi Kerim was arrested in 2017 for “promoting separatism” in his books. Uyghur activist Abdulweli Ayup believes Kerim’s detention is likely linked to his work on a Uyghur literature textbook project during the 1990s and 2000s. Kerim was sentenced…
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Displaced/In ExileSevan Nişanyan
Journalist, Literary writer, ScholarTürkiyeEurope and Central AsiaTurkish-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. After being detained for eight days in January 2022 by Greek authorities…
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.