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.
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A columnist and literary writer, Phillips was shot and killed on June 5, 2022 in the remote Javari Valley in the western part of the Amazonas in Brazil. He was doing research for an upcoming book that was to be titled How to Save the Amazon as part of his…
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After posting critical comments against Chinese authorities about alleged corruption, Dong was sentenced to six and a half years in prison in July 2014. Dong had predicted his arrest, noting that strangers raided his office in August 2013. He was released in March 2020.
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Shokjang was arrested in 2015 and sentenced to three years in prison for inciting separatism, evidenced by his blog posts about police violence and possession of pro-Tibet books, according to the state. He was released in March 2018 but remains subject to surveillance.
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Filmmaker and writer Du Bin was detained for over a month beginning on December 16, 2020 for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” ahead of the launch of his book on communism in the Soviet Union, set to publish on January 1, 2021. Authorities imposed one year of bail following Du’s…
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Independent journalist Duong Van Thai went missing on April 14, 2023 in Bangkok, where he lived as a refugee. Duong had been critical of Vietnamese government on his Facebook page prior to his disappearance. On April 16, Vietnamese state media reported that Duong had been arrested as he was trying…
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Writers at Risk Database Key:
STATUS box that is red: Active case
STATUS box that is black: Inactive case
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.
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.