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
ImprisonedDanat Namazbaev
Online CommentatorKazakhstanEurope and Central AsiaNamazbaev is a blogger and online commentator who uses Facebook to express/post political opinion commentary that is critical of Russia. He was arrested with Marghulan Bornabai in 2020. He was charged with “inciting ethnic hatred,” and was convicted and sentenced to 5 years in prison on March 13, 2022.
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ImprisonedDang Dang Phuoc
Online Commentator, ScholarVietnamAsia-PacificDang Dang Phuoc is a blogger and music lecturer at Dak Lak College in the province of Dak Lak. He shares his knowledge about music, education, and his political views on his blog which attracts more than 3.5 million viewers. In September 2022, Dang was arrested for “spreading antistate propaganda”…
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DeceasedDang Phuc Tue
Activist, ScholarVietnamAsia-PacificTue was a patriarch of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam who became the public face of religious dissent in the country. He spent his last 30 years in and out of prison, having been effectively detained under house arrest since 2003. He died on February 22, 2020.
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Dang Phuc Tue Thich Quang Do
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Conditional ReleaseDaniel Ghezeljai
Online Commentator, Poet, ScholarIranMiddle East and North AfricaAn Iranian Turkman law student and poet, Ghezeljai was arrested for posting a poem in solidarity with Iranian women on November 16, 2022. He was facing charges of “belligerance,” which could result in a death penalty sentence. He was released temporarily on bail on December 29, 2022.
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Under ThreatDanson Kahyana
Literary writer, Online Commentator, Poet, Publisher, ScholarUgandaSub-Saharan AfricaA writer, poet, and academic, Dr Kanhaya’s online writing was sometimes critical of the authorities. In April 2022, he was violently attacked by unkown assailants on his way home and robbed; following the assault, his online accounts were hacked, raising questions as to the motive for the attack.
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MurderedDaphne Caruana Galizia
JournalistMaltaEurope and Central AsiaCaruana Galizia was murdered in 2017, months after writing about corrupt government practices. Despite state obstruction of the investigation, several politicians and business elites have been linked to the crime. Following a nearly two-year public inquiry, an independent board concluded that the state created an “atmosphere of impunity” and “should…
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ReleasedDareen Tatour
Online Commentator, PoetIsrael/Occupied Palestinian TerritoryMiddle East and North AfricaTatour, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, was detained in 2015 for her poetry and social media posts and kept under house arrest for more than two years. She was sentenced to five months in prison in July 2018 but due to time already served was released in September.
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Displaced/In ExileDariush Memar
Activist, Journalist, Online Commentator, PoetIranMiddle East and North AfricaA well-known poet and literary critic, Memar is facing charges of “propaganda against the regime” for his critical writing against the regime. He currently lives in exile in Germany and continues to post his own opinion pieces on events in Iran.
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.