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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ImprisonedWalid al-Tabtabie
Online CommentatorKuwaitMiddle East and North AfricaFrom 2011-2019, Walid al-Tabtabtie, a former Member of Parliament, was exiled to Turkey and faced various legal actions for storming Kuwait’s parliament to protest lawmakers being denied the right to question then-prime minister Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah over corruption allegations. On May 12, 2024, Al-Tabtabie was arrested for an Twitter…
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ReleasedWang Aizhong
Activist, Online CommentatorChinaAsia-PacificWang, a well-known activist during the 2013 protests in Guangzhou and online commentator, was detained ahead of the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen protests in May 2021, likely because of his tweets regarding social justice and pandemic control. He was formally charged with “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” in July…
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Recorded HarassmentWang Fang
Literary writer, Online CommentatorChinaAsia-PacificWang Fang, who also goes by the pen name Fang Fang, is known for her book Wuhan Diary, which documented daily life during the city’s COVID-19 lockdown. Fang Fang has been subjected to online abuse, death threats, and censorship. Her Weibo account was temporarily suspended due to her writings. Despite…
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ImprisonedWang Gang
Online CommentatorChinaAsia-PacificWang, known as Noah’s Ark, is a former associate professor at Hubei University of Technology who created multiple WeChat groups since 2018 including “Shanghai People’s Rights Defending” and “Chinese People’s Rights Defending,” in which he posted commentary calling on the Chinese Communist Party to fight corruption. He is currently held…
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ReleasedWang Jianmin
Journalist, Literary writerChinaAsia-PacificWang, a U.S. national, was sentenced to five years in prison in 2014 on business-related charges for publishing two political gossip magazines. He was released in March 2019 upon the expiry of his sentence.
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ImprisonedWang Yi
PoetChinaAsia-PacificIn January 2020, preacher and poet Wang Yi was sentenced to nine years in prison for inciting subversion of state power after being held incommunicado with his wife since March 2019. He was initially detained in December 2018 during a crackdown on house church leaders. Wang has faced ongoing harassment…
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ReleasedWang Yuwen
Online Commentator, PoetChinaAsia-PacificPoet Wang Zang was taken by police from his home in Chuxiong City in May 2020 and charged in July with “incitement to subvert state power.” Evidence against him includes his poetry and essays. His family has reportedly been harassed and detained to compel him to confess. In November 2022,…
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MurderedWarsame Shire Awale
Creative artist, Dramatist, Poet, Singer/SongwriterSomaliaSub-Saharan AfricaAwale, a Somali poet, playwright, and journalist, was shot in Mogadishu in October 2012 after receiving threats for his work and critical views on Al-Shabaab, a militant islamist group based in Somalia. Despite the circumstances surrounding his death, no one has been arrested or prosecuted for his killing, and investigations…
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Continued HarassmentWasim Akram Tyagi
Journalist, Online CommentatorIndiaAsia-PacificIn July 2024, alongside his brother journalist Zakir Ali Tyagi, Wasim Akram Tyagi reported on the death of a Muslim resident of Shamli district and implied that authorities might have been attempting to shield the alleged perpetrators by not categorizing the death expliictly as a murder. As a result, he…
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.