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
Conditional ReleaseAung San Suu Kyi
Activist, Literary writerMyanmarAsia-PacificMyanmar’s ousted political leader Aung San Suu Kyi, previously a key figure in the country’s democratic transition and one of the most prominent political prisoners, was formerly detained under house arrest for 15 years and is now detained again after the February 2021 coup. She faces decades in prison for…
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ReleasedAung Than
Activist, PoetMyanmarAsia-PacificZeya Aung and Aung Than collaboratively wrote a book of poems and were subsequently arrested on politically motivated charges. Others involved in the production of the book were also arrested. Originally sentenced to 19 years in prison, Aung Than was released under amnesty. The charges included associating with outlawed organizations,…
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MurderedAvijit Roy
Literary writer, Online CommentatorBangladeshAsia-PacificA prominent secular writer and blogger, Roy was known as a founder of the popular rationalist blog Mukto-mona. On February 26, 2015, he was murdered by machete-wielding assailants at a book fair in Dhaka. In 2022, two of the five suspects in his murder fled custody and their whereabouts are…
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Continued HarassmentAwad Al-Sawafi
Activist, Online CommentatorOmanMiddle East and North AfricaAl-Sawafi, an activist and blogger, was arrested and immediately charged on June 3, 2020. Two weeks later, he was handed down a suspended sentence of one year in prison and banned from using social media on charges of “incitement” and “misuse of social media.” These charges are related to his…
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ImprisonedAye Ko
PoetMyanmarAsia-PacificAye Ko, a poet and state officer, was arrested on March 11, 2021 after posting letters and poems on Facebook concerning the coup. He was tried and sentenced in November 2021 to three years in prison under Section 505(a) of the penal code, which criminalizes “incitement.” Although he is belived…
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Conditional ReleaseAyman Al-Drees
Online Commentator, TranslatorSaudi ArabiaMiddle East and North AfricaThe U.S.-educated Al-Drees was arrested in April 2019 amid a broader crackdown on activists and writers advocating for women’s rights and expressing support for detained women’s rights defenders. He was released on bail in early 2021 due to international pressure but continues to face trial proceedings. As of March 2021,…
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Continued HarassmentAyşe Berktay
Activist, Literary writer, Scholar, TranslatorTürkiyeEurope and Central AsiaAlongside her literary career, Berktay is a staunch advocate for women’s and Kurdish rights. In October 2011, she was arrested on charges of “membership in an illegal organization” related to her pro-Kurdish cultural activities. She spent over two years in jail before being released pending trial in January 2014. In…
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ReleasedAyşe Düzkan
Journalist, Literary writerTürkiyeEurope and Central AsiaOn May 3, 2016, the trial of Ayşe Düzkan began because of her participation in a Kurdish solidarity campaign as well as her position at pro-Kurdish newspaper Özqür Gündem. On January 29, 2019, Düzkan was officially arrested and charged with “making propaganda for a terrorist organization.” She was sentenced to…
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DeceasedAyşe Nur Zarakolu
Literary writer, PublisherTürkiyeEurope and Central AsiaAuthor and activist Ayşe Nur Zarakolu was the founder of the Freedom to Publish Commission and was a pioneering female figure in Türkiye’s literary world. A political essayist herself, she was arrested over 30 times over the course of her lifetime for her writings on taboo subjects like the Armenian…
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.