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
Recorded HarassmentCarlos Valverde Bravo
Activist, JournalistBoliviaAmericasValverde has been the target of harassment and dismissal from posts at national news outlets for his coverage of government corruption. Despite reprisal for his reporting, Valverde continues to write publicly about politics and power via independent channels.
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Displaced/In ExileCarolina Barrero
Creative artist, Literary writer, Online CommentatorCubaAmericasBarrero is an exiled writer and art historian. She was arrested in April 2021 after being accused of “clandestine printing” after participating in anti-government protests. The charges were dropped due to lack of evidence, and she was placed under house arrest. In June 2022, she was rearrested and detained after…
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On TrialÇayan Demirel
Creative artist, JournalistTürkiyeEurope and Central AsiaAward-winning filmmaker Demirel was sentenced in 2019 to nearly 5 years in prison for “propagandizing for a terrorist organization” after screening Bakur, a film he co-directed with Ertuğrul Mavioğlu, in a mostly Kurdish-populated province during the Turkish-Kurdish peace process. He was sentenced to 2 years and 1 month in prison…
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On TrialCemal Azmi Kalyoncu
Journalist, Literary writer, Online CommentatorTürkiyeEurope and Central AsiaKalyoncu was detained in the crackdown following the failed 2016 coup. His writing and tweets were used as evidence of terrorism charges against him, resulting in a six and a half year prison sentence in 2018. In June 2020, a Supreme Court overturned his conviction. He is currently on trial…
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Continued HarassmentCengiz Çandar
Journalist, Literary writer, Online Commentator, ScholarTürkiyeEurope and Central AsiaThe author of seven books and a columnist, Çandar was tried from 2021 to 2023 for “praising crime and criminals” due to a 2017 tweet on a Kurdish revolutionary fighter. He was initially sentenced and then fined in May 2023. After residing in Sweden as a visiting scholar, he returned…
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Continued HarassmentCésar Montaña Lehmann
Creative artist, Singer/SongwriterSpainEurope and Central AsiaFor tweets allegedly “glorifying terrorism” and “humiliating its victims,” musician Lehmann was sentenced in 2017 to 1 year in prison and barred from public office for 6.5 years. In February 2020, the Constitutional Court overturned the verdict for violating free speech.
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ConvictedCesario Alejandro Félix Padilla Figueroa
Activist, ScholarHondurasAmericasPadilla Figueroa, a journalist and student leader, was reportedly sentenced in 2017 to three years in prison for his participation in protests at the Honduran National Autonomous University. Though not in jail, he cannot travel and is subject to surveillance.
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DetainedChai Xiaoming
Journalist, Online CommentatorChinaAsia-PacificChai was detained on March 21, 2019 for publishing a politically sensitive article on Red Reference, a magazine where he worked as an editor. He was held for six months under residential surveillance before being formally arrested in September 2019. PEN has received reports that a secret trial took place…
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.