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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Recorded ThreatÁngela Hernández Nuñez
Literary writer, PoetDominican RepublicAmericasA prolific poet and novelist, Hernández Nuñez was verbally attacked and threatened by anti-Haitian nationalists she encountered while walking in December 2018. This led to calls for her protection and for anti-hate legislation by global intellectuals such as Noam Chomsky.
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On TrialAnisa Jafari-Mehr
Activist, JournalistIranMiddle East and North AfricaJafari-Mehr is a writer and literary critic at J, a Germany-based Kurdish-language magazine. She was arrested on November 23, 2020 for alleged propaganda and anti-state charges, until her conditional release on December 9. In April and June 2021, respectively, a court acquitted Jafari-Mehr of “propaganda” and “membership in a terrorist…
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ImprisonedAnisha Asadollahi
Activist, Literary writer, TranslatorIranMiddle East and North AfricaTranslator, activist, and teacher Anisha Asadollahi was detained on May 9, 2022, when authorities raided her home, arresting her and her husband. She had been arrested twice before for labor activism. She was released on bail on August 20. In 2023, she was convicted on charges of “propaganda against the…
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MurderedAnna Politkovskaya
Journalist, Literary writerRussiaEurope and Central AsiaJournalist and writer Politkovskaya was found murdered in her apartment in central Moscow in October 2006, shot at point blank range. There is widespread outrage that her murder was a contract killing for her reporting on human rights abuses and corruption. Justice in the case remains elusive.
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Displaced/In ExileAnnah Ashaba
Online Commentator, PoetUgandaSub-Saharan AfricaAshaba is an exiled poet and online commentator. In 2021, she was forced to leave Uganda after she wrote a satirical poem about the country’s president. She fled to Israel where she had received a scholarship for further studies. As of 2023, she has not returned to Uganda.
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Annah Ashaba Ashana
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ConvictedAnouar Rahmani
Literary writer, Online CommentatorAlgeriaMiddle East and North AfricaSince 2017, Rahmani has been threatened with legal action for content in his books, including a gay relationship and a depiction of God. In November 2020, he was found guilty of “insulting the President of the Republic” and fined 50,000 dinar for online political writings.
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ConvictedAnte Tomić
Dramatist, Journalist, Literary writerCroatiaEurope and Central AsiaIn November 2019, Tomić, a writer and journalist, was ordered to pay 15,000 HRK (US$ 4,300) in psychological damages, plus legal fees, to the Minister of Culture after publishing an article in a Serbian newspaper that described the minister in derogatory terms.
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Recorded HarassmentAntónio Aly Silva
Online CommentatorGuinea-BissauSub-Saharan AfricaFreelance journalist and editor of the blog Dictatorship of Consensus, António Aly Silva is a strong critic of President Úmaro Sissoco Embaló and the current regime. He was detained for nine hours for publishing photos of the coup in 2012. On March 9, 2021, he was abducted, robbed, and savagely…
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.