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.
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Continued HarassmentYasin Qasemi Bajd
Literary writer, Poet, TranslatorIranMiddle East and North AfricaA member of the Sunni minority in Iran who writes on politics and religion, Yasin Qasemi Bajd was arrested and reportedly interrogated in February 2021 on a number of charges before being released on bail a month later. In September, he was acquitted of two charges, blasphemy and spreading lies…
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DetainedYasin Zilal
Editor, PoetChina/Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous RegionAsia-PacificYasin Zilal, a poet and editor of Tarim, a monthly Uyghur literary magazine, was arrested without charge in 2018 and detained in a concentration camp during the mass internment of Turkic ethnic minorities in Xinjiang. His trial remains unknown, and there are no updates regarding his condition. His current whereabouts…
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Displaced/In ExileYasir Elsir Ali
Activist, Online CommentatorSudanSub-Saharan AfricaHuman rights defender Ali was shot by a sniper while at a December 2018 protest in Khartoum. The bullet punctured his lung and remains lodged in his spinal cord. After being arrested in January 2019 by Sudanese security services, Ali was held without charge and spent periods incommunicado detention. His…
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ImprisonedYassin Benchekroun
Online CommentatorMoroccoMiddle East and North AfricaYassin Benchekroun, also known as “Yassin the Revolutionary,” was arrested on January 24, 2023 by Moroccan security forces on charges of “insulting legally organized and other constitutional institutions and disrespecting judicial decisions” due to Facebook posts he published criticizing the king and the security services. On February 3, 2023, Benchekroun…
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ConvictedYavuz Ekinci
Literary writer, Online Commentator, ScholarTürkiyeEurope and Central AsiaEkinci is a scholar focused on Türkiye’s Kurdish minority, whose pro-Kurdish tweets led to an indictment for “terrorist propaganda.” He was sentenced in March 2022 to over a year in prison, though the sentence was deferred. In 2023, a court banned his 2014 novel Rüyası Bölünenler, triggering a second trial…
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DetainedYeung Ching-kei
JournalistChina/Hong KongAsia-PacificThe lead opinion writer for Apple Daily, Yeung has written over 800 editorials and opinion pieces in which he has been critical of government crackdowns on dissent. On June 23, 2021, following a police raid and forced closure of Apple Daily, Yeung was arrested, charged under the National Security Law,…
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Custodial/Wrongful DeathYevhen Bal
Journalist, Literary writerUkraineEurope and Central AsiaYevhen Bal authored several books about the early years of war in Donbas, drawing on his experience as a retired naval captain in memoirs, and wrote about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for local press. On March 18, 2022, Russian soldiers raided his house in the suburbs of Mariupol. He was…
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ImprisonedYi Xie Bu Yu Xie
Literary writerChinaAsia-PacificYi Xie Bu Yu Xie, an online author of homoerotic fiction novels, was arrested on June 20, 2024, as part of China’s crackdown on “pornographic” content, particularly targeting writers on the Taiwan-based platform Haitang Literature City. On December 16, 2024, she was sentenced to one year and five months in…
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Continued HarassmentYihe Zhang
Literary writer, ScholarChinaAsia-PacificA historian and literary writer, Yihe has seen her work continually be censored by the Chinese government. She reported on her Facebook account that she was a victim of surveillance by Chinese officials. In addition to her books being banned, she is prohibited from leaving the country. Zhang said her…
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.