Writers At Risk
PEN’s bedrock work is long-term advocacy on behalf of individual writers who are being persecuted because of their work. This page features our highest priority cases. With the help of our members and supporters, we are carrying out campaigns to win their release and ensure they are safe and can write and publish freely.
PEN America examines threats to free expression in our annual Freedom to Write Index, a year-end count of imprisoned writers worldwide. Explore our Writers at Risk Database for updated tracking of cases of writers, journalists, artists, academics, and public intellectuals around the world facing myriad threats for their writing and expression. Read the most recent PEN International case list here.
Take a moment to share information about these writers and take action on their behalf. This is only a small sampling of writers under threat around the world.
Huang Zerong (Tie Liu) | Status: Released | China
Chinese writer Huang Zerong (also known by his pen name Tie Liu) was disappeared by authorities from his Chengdu home in early May 2016. More
Marcos Hernández Bautista | Status: Murdered | Mexico
Journalist Marcos Hernández Bautista was shot in the head on January 21, 2016, as he climbed into his car at night outside a bar in the Mexican state of… More
Anabel Flores Salazar | Status: Murdered | Mexico
The body of Anabel Flores Salazar, a 32-year-old journalist from Veracruz state in Mexico, was found on February 9, 2016, along a highway in neighboring Puebla state. The coroner… More
Atena Farghadani | Status: Detained | Iran
Atena Farghadani is an Iranian artist and political activist. On June 7, 2023, she was summoned to the Evin prosecutor’s office and arrested after posting a political cartoon on… More
Fatima Naoot | Status: Convicted | Egypt
An Egyptian poet, Fatima Naoot has published 19 books to date, including seven poetry collections, nine translated anthologies from English into Arabic, and three books in literature criticism. In… More
Htin Lin Oo | Status: Imprisoned | Myanmar
Htin Lin Oo, a former information officer for the National League for Democracy, was sentenced to two years in prison with hard labor in June 2015 on charge of… More
Dawit Isaak | Status: Detained | Eritrea
Dawit has been held in prison for more than a decade without being charged or brought to trial by the Eritrean government. He is a playwright, writer, and co-owner… More
The Unity Five | Status: Released | Myanmar
Four journalists Lu Maw Naing, Yarzar Oo, Paing Thet Kyaw, and Sithu Soe for the newspaper, Unity, along with the CEO, Tint San, of the newspaper were sentenced to… More
Anna Politkovskaya | Status: Murdered | Russia
Anna Politkovskaya was an accomplished journalist, writer, and human rights activist. She produced a large body of work on human rights abuses in Russia and was murdered for her… More
Support for the freedom to read with exclusive designs by Todd Parr, Mike Curato, Art Spiegelman, and more!
