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
-
Status
Continued HarassmentAli Aracı
Creative artist, Singer/SongwriterTürkiyeEurope and Central AsiaMusician Aracı is a member of activist collective and band Grup Yorum who plays the flute and kaval. The band’s music has angered Turkish authorities and members have faced serious threats. Arrested June 19, 2019, a court ordered Aracı’s release on September 3, 2020. He was again arrested and released…
-
Status
Ali Aracı Grup Yorum
-
Status
ReleasedAli Asadollahi
Literary writer, Online Commentator, Poet, TranslatorIranMiddle East and North AfricaA noted poet and the secretary of the Iranian Writers’ Association, Asadollahi was detained on November 21, 2022 after he had published poems on his website about a teenager named Nika Shakarami who was found dead after attending a protest. He was held incommunicado for weeks and faced abuse in…
-
Status
Conditional ReleaseAli Bahrampour
Literary writer, TranslatorIranMiddle East and North AfricaA literary writer and translator, Bahrampour was arrested on November 3, 2022. After 78 days of detention he was released. He was sentenced to over 8 years in prison on charges of “destabilizing national security,” “insulting the supreme leader,” and “distribution of misinformation,” among other charges. He is under a…
-
Status
ConvictedAli Bulaç
Journalist, ScholarTürkiyeEurope and Central AsiaA former columnist for the shuttered Zaman newspaper, Bulaç was one of many journalists rounded up after the failed 2016 coup in Türkiye. He spent over a year in pre-trial detention on charges of “membership in a terrorist organization.” After a lengthy legal process, he was sentenced to two years…
-
Status
ImprisonedAli Ünal
Journalist, Literary writer, Scholar, TranslatorTürkiyeEurope and Central AsiaA columnist at the daily Zaman, Ünal was arrested in August 2016 during a purge of followers of exiled preacher Fethullah Gülen following the coup attempt. Ünal had previously translated many of Gülen’s works into English. He is serving a 19 year sentence on terror charges, for which appeals to…
-
Status
ImprisonedAliaksandr Novikau
Literary writer, Online CommentatorBelarusEurope and Central AsiaA historian and blogger, Novikau was arrested on June 27, 2022 for publishing articles on his website that aim at revising history. He was convicted and found guilty of leaking personal data of employees of internal affairs bodies. He was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment in a closed door court…
-
Status
Conditional ReleaseAlireza Adineh
Activist, PoetIranMiddle East and North AfricaA poet and member of the Iranian Writers’ Association, Adineh was arrested on November 30, 2022, a week after he was summoned for questioning by the Ministry of Information where he was threatened. His home was searched and personal belongings were seized. He was then released on bail on December…
-
Status
ReleasedAlireza Nouri
Literary writer, Online Commentator, PoetIranMiddle East and North AfricaNouri, a member of the Iranian Writers’ Association, was sentenced to two years imprisonment on the charge of “blasphemy through writing offensive poetry online” in 2017. While his prison sentence was postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak in Iran, authorities enforced his sentence on February 11, 2021 and imprisoned him…
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.