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
-
Status
Bahar Kurt Grup Yorum
-
Status
Conditional ReleaseBakhtyar Kadirbergenov
Online CommentatorUzbekistanEurope and Central AsiaAn online commentator, Kadirbergenov was arrested in July 2022 and accused of participating in and organizing the Nukus riots. He was sentenced to seven years imprisonment in January 2023. He was released in June after he appealled his sentence, which was changed to 5 years of restriced freedom.
-
Status
Custodial/Wrongful DeathBaktash Abtin
Creative artist, Literary writer, PoetIranMiddle East and North AfricaPoet and filmmaker Abtin, with two other board members of the Iranian Writers Association, was convicted in 2019 for opposing state censorship policies. Abtin’s six-year prison sentence was upheld, and the trio started their sentences at Evin prison in September 2020. On January 8, 2022, Abtin died from COVID-19 contracted in…
-
Status
Recorded HarassmentBanamallika Choudhury
Activist, PoetIndiaAsia-PacificIn July 2019, a police report was filed against Choudhury and other “Miya” (Bengali-language Muslim) poets after the online publication of a poem by Hafiz Ahmed that authorities claimed promoted sectarian enmity in Assam. On July 17, 2019, all ten poets were granted anticipatory bail.
-
Status
ReleasedBaolong Hu
Activist, Online CommentatorChina/Inner Mongolia Autonomous RegionAsia-PacificA human rights lawyer and online activist, Baolong was detained in September 2020 for allegedly “leaking secrets” to foreign countries and for his online commentary. He was formally charged with “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” After 8 months of detention, Baolong was released in May 2021.
-
Status
ReleasedBariş Pehlivan
Journalist, Literary writer, Online CommentatorTürkiyeEurope and Central AsiaAuthor and journalist Pehlivan was arrested in February 2020 for “disclosing information” on intelligence agencies in his reporting. He was sentenced to 3 years and 9 months in prison in September but released. In May 2023, he was tried for “insult” and “calumny” for an interview on his book Metastiz.…
-
Status
Conditional ReleaseBarış Yüksel
Creative artist, Singer/SongwriterTürkiyeEurope and Central AsiaYüksel is a member of controversial activist collective and band Grup Yorum. In May 2019, Yüksel started a hunger strike and was released from prison in February 2020. In 2021, he was re-arrested twice and detained in December following a raid on the band’s cultural center. He was released in…
-
Status
Barış Yüksel Grup Yorum
-
Status
Conditional ReleaseBarshashree Buragohain
Online Commentator, Poet, ScholarIndiaAsia-PacificBuragohain, an undergraduate student, writes poetry and shares it on her Facebook account. She was arrested on May 18, 2022 for writing an allegedly “anti-national poem” titled Akou Korim Rashtra Droh which translates to Will Again Rebel Against the Nation. She was charged under Sections 10 and 13 for alleged…
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.