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
-
Status
ImprisonedDo Van Nga
JournalistVietnamAsia-PacificDo Van Nga is a blogger and contributor to the Germany-based outlet Thoibao.de. In November 2025, he traveled from Thailand, where he had been living in exile, to Vietnam to renew his passport. Shortly after landing, he was arrested and charged with disseminating anti-state propaganda in violation of article 117.…
-
Status
Displaced/In ExileDoan Viet Hoat
JournalistVietnamAsia-PacificDoan founded the Freedom Forum, a free speech discussion group, after his release from a reeducation camp where he spent 12 years. This led to his renewed arrest in 1990 and a 15-year prison sentence. He served eight years before being released under an amnesty in 1998. Now living in…
-
Status
AcquittedDoddipalya Narasimha Murthy
Activist, Journalist, Literary writerIndiaAsia-PacificA journalist, activist, and writer. Contributed to the Gauri Lankesh Patrike and is the secretary of the Gauri Media Trust, which “called for the police to conduct a fair and thorough investigation and raised questions over whether his arrest was a case of mistaken identity.” Arrest was condemned by over…
-
Status
DeceasedDoğan Akhanli
ActivistTürkiyeEurope and Central AsiaDoğan Akhanli was a writer, essayist, playwright and novelist. His work prominently featurned the study of genocide as a theme. Akhanli was arrested and imprisoned several times for his work on the Armenian Genocide. His family were targeted by the Turkish government and he underwent torture. In 1991, he fled…
-
Status
Conditional ReleaseDoğan Pehlevan
Creative artist, Online CommentatorTürkiyeEurope and Central AsiaDoğan Pehlevan, a cartoonist at LeMan magazine, was targeted after drawing a satirical cartoon in June 2025. LeMan was heavily targeted by authorities after the publication of the cartoon. Pehlevan was detained in July facing charges of “insulting the president” and “incitement to hatred.” The “insult” charges stemmed from alleged…
-
Status
ReleasedDolma Kyab
Literary writer, ScholarChina/Tibet Autonomous RegionAsia-PacificIn 2005, Dolma Kyab was arrested while teaching in connection with his unpublished manuscript The Restless Himalayas. He was tried secretly and sentenced to ten years in prison for endangering state security. He was released in October 2015. His writings addressed topics such as democracy, sovereignty, colonialism, and Chinese military…
-
Status
MurderedDom Phillips
Journalist, Literary writerBrazilAmericasA columnist and literary writer, Phillips was shot and killed on June 5, 2022, in the remote Javari Valley in Brazil’s Amazonas region. At the time, he was conducting research for his upcoming book How to Save the Amazon, focusing on illegal activities and the protection of Indigenous groups in…
-
Status
Continued HarassmentDon Lemon
Journalist, Literary writerUnited StatesAmericasDon Lemon is an independent journalist and author best known as a former CNN host. On January 30, 2026, Lemon was arrested by federal agents at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles, shortly after his reporting on an anti-ICE protest at a church in Minnesota. The protest, which had…
-
Status
ReleasedDong Rubin
Online CommentatorChinaAsia-PacificAfter 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. According to ICPC, Dong is reportedly released from prison after his six…
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.