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 ReleaseBayan Azizi
Activist, Literary writer, PoetIranMiddle East and North AfricaA Kurdish poet, writer and women’s rights activist who has done extensive research on honor killings and domestic violence, Azizi was summoned to the Sanandaj Intelligence Department where she was transferred to a detention center on September 29, 2022. She was released on December 19, 2022 without information on charges.
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ReleasedBayram Kaya
Journalist, Literary writerTürkiyeEurope and Central AsiaKaya, who exposed the complicity of the Turkish intelligence service in the murder of journalist Hrant Dink, was detained in a sweep of journalists following the failed 2016 coup. His articles, books, and tweets were used to sentence him to 6 years and 3 months in prison on national security…
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ReleasedBefekadu Hailu
Online CommentatorEthiopiaSub-Saharan AfricaHailu is one of the Zone 9 Bloggers, a group formed in 2012 to publish political commentary online in the face of tightening restrictions on expression. Following his initial arrest in 2014, he was acquitted of terrorism charges, but still faces other criminal charges.
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Befekadu Hailu Zone 9 Bloggers
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Displaced/In ExileBehnaz Amani
Literary writer, Online Commentator, Poet, ScholarIranMiddle East and North AfricaScholar and poet Behnaz Amani was arrested in October 2022 and indicted with “conspiracy against national security” in November for supporting the protests. Her cervical cancer advanced during her time in jail as she was denied treatment. She was released in December on bail; her sentence was changed to a…
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Displaced/In ExileBehrouz Boochani
Activist, Journalist, Literary writer, Online CommentatorAustralia/Papua New GuineaAsia-PacificBoochani, an Iranian writer, was detained in a refugee transit center in Papua New Guinea and faced harassment for his reporting on the human rights issues at the Manus Island Regional Processing Center. In July 2020, he was granted asylum in New Zealand.
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ReleasedBehrouz Yasemi
Online Commentator, PoetIranMiddle East and North AfricaOn October 17, 2022, Yasemi, a Kurdish poet from Ivangharb, was arrested shortly after posting a video in which he recited a poem about Mahsa Amini, the young woman whose custodial death sparked the 2022 protests. On November 12, Yasemi was reported as released from jail, though the conditions upon…
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Displaced/In ExileBei Dao
Literary writer, PoetChinaAsia-PacificAmong the most acclaimed poets of his generation, Dao was accused of inciting the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 and exiled from China, causing him to move to seven different countries. Since 2007, he has been a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
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ReleasedBenny Tai Yiu-ting
Activist, Literary writer, ScholarChina/Hong KongAsia-PacificTai is a legal scholar and public intellectual who wrote foundational political pieces on democracy. He was convicted on politically-motivated public nuisance charges and served 4 months of his 16-month sentence in April 2019 related to the Occupy Central protests. Tai was re-detained in March 2021 after he was baselessly…
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.