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
Gulgeç Akdeniz Gulgeş Deryaspî
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ImprisonedGulmira Imin
Journalist, PoetChina/Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous RegionAsia-PacificGulmira Imin, a poet and Uyghur-language website moderator from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2010 for “splittism, leaking state secrets, and organizing an illegal demonstration.” In June 2021, Imin’s life sentence was reduced to 19 years and 8 months for a statement of contrition…
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ImprisonedGulnisa Imin
Online Commentator, Poet, ScholarChina/Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous RegionAsia-PacificGulnisa Imin is a Uyghur literature teacher and poet known for her writings about Uyghur culture. In March 2018, on the 345th night of her poetry project, “One Thousand and One Nights,” she disappeared. Reports surfaced in December 2021 that she had been detained and sentenced to 17.5 years in…
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Gulnisa Imin Gulhan
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ImprisonedGültekin Avcı
JournalistTürkiyeEurope and Central AsiaAvcı, a former columnist at shuttered newspaper Bugün, was arrested following the failed July 2016 coup. His trial was merged with a separate trial where defendants were accused of different crimes, and he remains detained. He was briefly released mid-2019, only to have been rearrested and sentenced to life imprisonment…
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MurderedGüngör Arslan
JournalistTürkiyeEurope and Central AsiaArslan, a columnist, was editor of the Ses Kocaeli newspaper. One of the newspapers he owned was shut down after the July 2016 coup. Arslan was murdered outside his office in February 2022. The initial suspect stated that his motive was Arslan’s writing. Arslan had been attacked on several occasions…
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ImprisonedGuo Quan
Activist, Literary writer, ScholarChinaAsia-PacificGuo was released from prison in 2018 after serving a 10-year sentence for a series of articles titled “Herald of Democracy.” He was re-detained in February 2020 on charges of “incitement to subvert state power” after comments critical of the government’s pandemic policy. His writings were referenced during his September…
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Under ThreatGustavo Gorriti
Journalist, Literary writerPeruAmericasA veteran journalist and author of five Peruvian history books, Gorriti has faced multiple instances of harassment dating back to 1992. In February 2023, 30 protestors stood outside his house shouting insults at him, accusing him of speading fake news. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights determined that Gorriti is…
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Under ThreatGüvenç Dağüstün
Creative artist, Journalist, Online CommentatorTürkiyeEurope and Central AsiaDağüstün is a singer, online commentator, and columnist who is a sharp critic of the government. In July 2021, he was detained due to his tweet criticizing academic Selman Öğüt, who is known to have close ties to the government. A few months later, on August 30, 2021, he was…
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.