Writers At Risk
PEN’s bedrock work is long-term advocacy on behalf of individual writers who are being persecuted because of their work. This page features our highest priority cases. With the help of our members and supporters, we are carrying out campaigns to win their release and ensure they are safe and can write and publish freely.
PEN America examines threats to free expression in our annual Freedom to Write Index, a year-end count of imprisoned writers worldwide. Explore our Writers at Risk Database for updated tracking of cases of writers, journalists, artists, academics, and public intellectuals around the world facing myriad threats for their writing and expression. Read the most recent PEN International case list here.
Take a moment to share information about these writers and take action on their behalf. This is only a small sampling of writers under threat around the world.
Rakhim Esenov | Status: Deceased | Turkmenistan
Rakhim Esenov was charged in February 2004 with “inciting social, national, and religious hatred using the mass media,” which he has indicated refers to statements made by characters in… More
Vladyslav Yesypenko | Status: Imprisoned | Ukraine
Vladyslav Yesypenko, a freelance journalist for the Krym.Realii project at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, was detained in March 2021 by the Russian Federal Security Services (FSB) while reporting in… More
Hrant Dink | Status: Murdered | Turkey
Hrant Dink is editor-in-chief of the Armenian-Turkish weekly newspaper Agos, a paper that seeks to provide a voice to the Armenian community and create a dialogue between Turks and… More
Raif Badawi | Status: Conditional Release | Saudi Arabia
Raif Badawi is a blogger from Saudi Arabia and the editor of the website Liberal Saudi Network. More
Ahmet and Mehmet Altan | Status: On Trial | Turkey
Ahmet and Mehmet Altan were arrested in September 2016, as part of a wave of arrests of thinkers, writers, and journalists following the 2016 failed coup. More
Stella Nyanzi | Status: Displaced/In Exile | Uganda
Jump to: Case Background Case Updates In Their Words Dr. Stella Nyanzi, a Ugandan medical anthropologist, activist, and writer, was convicted after writing and posting a poem online, in which she criticized Ugandan… More
Raúl Rivero | Status: Deceased | Cuba
Raúl Rivero is among the first generation of journalists trained at Havana University's School of Journalism after the 1959 revolution. He co-founded the satirical magazine Caimán Barbudo in 1966.… More
Jineth Bedoya Lima | Status: Under Threat | Colombia
Jineth Bedoya Lima is a Colombian journalist who reports on law enforcement, paramilitary groups, and abductions within Colombia. Bedoya Lima was abducted twice while reporting—once on May 25, 2000,… More
Natalia Estemirova | Status: Murdered | Russia
On July 15, 2009, Natalia Estemirova, a journalist and human rights defender, was abducted by four gunmen on her way to work in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya. Estemirova… More
Chen Yunfei | Status: Detained | China
Chen Yunfei is a performance artist who works at the intersection of human rights activism and art. His art is overtly political, promoting the Chinese pro-democracy movement. More
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