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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Political commentator Al-Amri has been missing since November 2016 after tweeting out to protest a clampdown on Saudi media, which included blocking the online newspaper he worked for. Authorities have not confirmed whether he has been detained.
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Al-Jasser is a blogger, who often wrote on politics, social issues, and religion between 2013 & 2015; including women’s status in islam and the uprising in Egypt. He was arrested at his home on March 15, 2018 and taken to an unknown location. There were rumors about his death between…
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A project manager at PEN Belarus, Liankevich was detained at a peaceful protest in Minsk on September 8, 2020, after the election of Aleksander Lukashenka. He was sentenced during an unfair trial to six days in jail for allegedly violating orders related to mass events. He was released on September…
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Matskevich is a philosopher who was arrested in a home raid on August 4, 2021 and detained in restrictive conditions, justified by the authorities’ claims that he is “prone to extremism.” He underwent a hunger strike in February 2022 to protest his detention. On June 23, 2022, he was sentenced…
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Writer and columnist Uthaya was taken in for investigation on April 11 and arrested for making a Facebook post on April 6 that allegedly insulted Prophet Muhammad. He was released a day later on bail. An investigation into him continues on charges of causing disharmony on grounds of religion and…
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Ahmadpour is a rapper whose work engages with political themes. On February 4, 2024, he turned himself in to the authorities after a year spent in hiding. He had received threats from the authorities after he dedicated works to fallen protesters. He was temporarily released on bail after two weeks.…
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Tamil poet and lyricist Vairamuthu was the target of protest in 2018 after he made comments linking the 7th century female mystic poet Andal to the Devadasi community, which is associated with sex slavery. Vairamuthu issued a public apology for any offense caused.
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Political analyst and writer Kostyugova is editor of the online community Our Opinion and its annual publication Belarusian Yearbook. In June 2021, she was detained in a home raid and later charged with baseless crimes including “conspiracy” with the aim of “seizing state power.” Her trial began in February 2023,…
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.