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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Playwright and key figure in the Puppet Theatre, Cordillo was arrested with his son in Damascus on August 11, 2012. He is reportedly detained for his writing on Syria, and his opposition to atrocities committed by all sides. He is detained incommunicado as of October 2022.
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Female journalist and writer Al-Shahri was detained as part of a wave of arrests by Saudi authorities in November 2019. She was released in early December.
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Jamyang is a literary writer and online commentator who has been vocal about the importance of teaching the Tibetan language in schools and actively criticized the Chinese government. He disappeared on June 4, 2020. In 2023, it was reported that Jamyang had a secret trial and was sentenced to 4…
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On April 6, 2021, comedian Zarganar was arrested in a broader campaign against cultural figures following the 2021 military coup. He was released conditionally on October 18, 2021 after over six months in arbitrary detention. In 2011, he was released with amnesty from a 35-year sentence related to his disaster…
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Zaw Lin Htut, a member of the Peacock Generation satirical poetry troupe that specializes in the traditional art form of Thangyat, was arrested by military officers in December 2021 while on his way to a protest. He was sentenced in April 2022 to three years in prison on the charge…
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Zaw Thet Htwe was arrested without charge, but his detention came shortly after he and comedian Zarganar engaged in private disaster relief following a cyclone. He was arrested as part of a broad crackdown on attempts to report from regions hit hardest by the disaster.
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Zay Yar Lwin, a member of the Peacock Generation satirical poetry troupe specializing in Thangyat, a type of slam poetry, was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for mocking the military in a performance that was also streamed online. He was released in April 2021 in a…
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.