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
ImprisonedAtikem Rozi
Online Commentator, ScholarChina/Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous RegionAsia-PacificRozi, a student of Ilham Tohti, was arrested for her involvement with Tohti’s website Uyghurbiz, which aimed to promote understanding between Uyghurs and Han Chinese. In a secret trial in 2014, she was sentenced to a lengthy prison term for her role in the website’s activities. Since 2018, she has…
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ReleasedAtnaf Berhane
Online CommentatorEthiopiaSub-Saharan AfricaBerhane 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. The Ethiopian Supreme Court levied criminal charges against Berhane in 2017 following his initial arrest in 2014. He was arrested and acquitted of terrorism…
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ReleasedAugustine Ford
Creative artist, Singer/SongwriterLiberiaSub-Saharan AfricaRapper Ford (AKA: A.Fo4doe) was harassed and detained by police in September 2018 after he was identified as the producer of a song that critiques government corruption. He was assaulted while in custody and was released one day later.
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ReleasedAung Myint
Activist, Journalist, PoetMyanmarAsia-PacificAung Myint, prolific writer and National League for Democracy (NLD) party member, was arrested for distributing information to the international press about the repression of the NLD. Originally sentenced to 21 years in prison in 2000, he was released in 2005.
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ImprisonedAung Naing Myint
Literary writerMyanmarAsia-PacificAung Naing Myint, a novelist from Panmaw village and the author of Maya Kin Mae Zone (written under the pen name Min Di Par), was previously arrested for his writing. He was detained again on October 15, 2021, under allegations of being connected to the People’s Defense Forces (PDF), a…
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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…
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.