Writers At Risk
PEN’s bedrock work is long-term advocacy on behalf of individual writers who are being persecuted because of their work. This page features our highest priority cases. With the help of our members and supporters, we are carrying out campaigns to win their release and ensure they are safe and can write and publish freely.
PEN America examines threats to free expression in our annual Freedom to Write Index, a year-end count of imprisoned writers worldwide. Explore our Writers at Risk Database for updated tracking of cases of writers, journalists, artists, academics, and public intellectuals around the world facing myriad threats for their writing and expression. Read the most recent PEN International case list here.
Take a moment to share information about these writers and take action on their behalf. This is only a small sampling of writers under threat around the world.
Oleg Sentsov | Status: Released | Russia
Oleg Sentsov, a Ukrainian film director, was sentenced to 20 years in a Russian prison on charges of terrorism on August 25, 2015. PEN believes that the charges stem… More
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo | Status: Released | Myanmar
Prosecutors have charged the journalists with obtaining important and secret state documents relating to the crisis in Rakhine State, from which some 680,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled since August… More
Dareen Tatour | Status: Released | Israel
Poet Dareen Tatour, a Palestinian citizen of Israel who has spent more than two years in jail or under house arrest since October 2015, was convicted on May 3,… More
Ashraf Fayadh | Status: Imprisoned | Saudi Arabia
Ashraf Fayadh is a Palestinian poet, artist, and curator living in Saudi Arabia, who was sentenced to eight years in prison and 800 lashes on charges of apostasy on… More
Pham Doan Trang | Status: Imprisoned | Vietnam
Pham Doan Trang is a Vietnamese writer, publisher, journalist, and pro-democracy activist currently imprisoned in Vietnam due to her writings in support of human rights. More
Narges Mohammadi | Status: Imprisoned | Iran
Narges Mohammadi is an independent journalist and the former vice-president and spokesperson of the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC), which advocates for human rights reform and represents political… More
Pınar Selek | Status: Displaced/In Exile | Turkey
In July 1998, writer, sociologist, and feminist Pınar Selek was arrested in connection with an explosion at the Istanbul Spice Bazaar, a tragedy that led to the deaths of… More
Şebnem Korur Fincancı, Ahmet Nesin, and Erol Önderoğlu | Status: On Trial | Turkey
Şebnem Korur Fincancı, Ahmet Nesin, and Erol Önderoğlu are human rights defenders and journalists. On June 20, 2016, they were arrested and questioned about their involvement in a freedom… More
Ragip Zarakolu | Status: Displaced/In Exile | Turkey
Ragip Zarakolu, director and owner of Belge Publishing House and a longtime activist against censorship, is on trial for "aiding and abetting an illegal organization" under Turkey's sweeping anti-terror… More
Ali Al-Domaini | Status: Deceased | Saudi Arabia
Ali Al-Domaini is a poet and writer whose publications include three collections of poetry and one novel in Arabic. As a political activist, he has campaigned for a move… More
Support for the freedom to read with exclusive designs by Todd Parr, Mike Curato, Art Spiegelman, and more!
