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
DetainedXu Guang
Activist, Online CommentatorChinaAsia-PacificXu is a long -time democracy activist who has been arrested multiple times in past years; his latest arrest was on May 26, 2022. After he had been warned by police not to comment ahead of the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, Xu went to the police station with…
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ImprisonedXu Lin
Literary writer, Poet, Singer/SongwriterChinaAsia-PacificXu Lin, an active democracy activist, was sentenced to three years in prison in 2018 for, according to the court, causing serious public disorder by repeatedly posting “false information” online that insulted national leaders. While he was released on September 25, 2020, upon completion of his sentence, Xu Lin was…
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ReleasedXu Zhangrun
ScholarChinaAsia-PacificWhile under house arrest for penning an essay in February 2020 regarding China’s repressive response to COVID-19, Xu was detained on July 6 on spurious charges but released six days later. In 2019, Tsinghua University barred Xu from teaching after he criticized Xi’s mandate. In 2020, Xu was also fired…
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ReleasedXu Zhiqiang
Literary writerChinaAsia-PacificXu was arrested on national security charges after holding a seminar to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement. After his conviction, he was imprisoned for four years and released in 2018 upon expiry of his sentence.
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ImprisonedXu Zhiyong
Activist, Literary writerChinaAsia-PacificXu, a noted essayist and public intellectual, had for decades advocated for good governance and citizen engagement through his writing. In February 2020, he was detained amid a crackdown on activists critical of Chinese government policies who had gathered in late December 2019. He was tried in secret in June…
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ReleasedXue Deyun
Editor, PoetChinaAsia-PacificXue Deyun (pen name Ma Zhe) was a prominent leader of the Guizhou cultural revival movement, which advocated for increased literary freedom in China. He was arrested on January 26, 1998; though the three poets detained with him were released later in the year, Xue was convicted of “engaging in…
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MurderedXulhaz Mannan
Activist, JournalistBangladeshAsia-PacificMannan, a prominent LGBTQ+ rights activist and the founder of Roopbaan, Bangladesh’s first and only LGBT magazine, was hacked to death on April 25, 2016, by Al-Qaeda-linked extremists. As a high-profile face of the LGBTQ+ movement in the country, he was targeted along with his colleague, Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy. Despite…
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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…
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.