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
ImprisonedYalqun Rozi
Literary writer, ScholarChina/Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous RegionAsia-PacificRozi is a Uyghur writer, literary critic, and historical researcher. Rozi was detained in October 2016 and formally arrested two months later for inciting separatism. Convicted in January 2018 in a sham trial, Rozi is now serving a sentence of 15 years in prison for inciting subversion of state power…
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Displaced/In ExileYanelys Nuñez Leyva
Creative artistCubaAmericasLevya, an art critic and co-founder of the Museum of Dissidence in Cuba, was arrested in December 2018 while protesting Decree 349, a law that criminalizes unauthorized forms of artistic expression. She was released in January 2019 and now lives in exile. In 2023, she was granted asylum in Spain…
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ImprisonedYang Hengjun
Literary writer, Online Commentator, ScholarChinaAsia-PacificChinese-born Australian writer Yang was seized by Chinese authorities during a visit to China in January 2019. Held incommunicado and interrogated for nearly two years, he was formally charged with espionage in late 2020 and his closed-door trial was held in May 2021. In February 2024, he was given a…
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ReleasedYang Licai
Creative artist, Online Commentator, PoetChinaAsia-PacificIn December 2019, artist Yang Licai was arrested on charges of inciting disruption. His arrest was closely linked to posts he made online in support of Hong Kong protesters. He was released in late 2021 after nearly two years in detention. This is not Yang’s first encounter with the Chinese…
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ImprisonedYang Maodong
Activist, Literary writer, Poet, PublisherChinaAsia-PacificYang served six years in prison for protesting against corruption and censorship in 2013, where he was assaulted and denied medical care. After his conditional release in August 2019, he was detained again in January 2021 while en route to visit his ailing wife abroad. In May 2023, he was…
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ImprisonedYang Shaozheng
Online Commentator, ScholarChinaAsia-PacificIn 2017, Guizhou University fired professor Yang over his “politically sensitive” academic writings. In June 2021, Yang was charged with “inciting subversion of state power” and detained after disappearing in May. Yang reported being tortured during his imprisonment. Yang was tried in secret on July 29, 2022 for the same…
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Custodial/Wrongful DeathYang Tongyan
Journalist, ScholarChinaAsia-PacificYang, a Chinese writer and democracy activist, passed away on November 7, 2017, after being released on medical parole due to an aggressive brain cancer diagnosis. Previously persecuted for his role in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, Yang spent over two decades in prison for “counter-revolutionary activity,” serving sentences from…
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ReleasedYao Wentian
PublisherChinaAsia-PacificIn 2013, Yao was sentenced to ten years in prison for smuggling ordinary items, but his friends believe the publisher was set up. In 2014, he was officially sentenced to 10 years in prison. As of 2019, he is reported to be severely ill, but his family’s petitions that Yao…
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ReleasedYarzar Oo
JournalistMyanmarAsia-PacificYarzar Oo was arrested with four other employees of the Unity newspaper after it published an exposé about an alleged secret chemical weapons factory. The “Unity Five” were sentenced to seven years in prison in 2014, but were released in 2016 by a presidential amnesty. The case drew widespread international…
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.