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
ImprisonedAbdullah Benaoum
Journalist, Online CommentatorAlgeriaMiddle East and North AfricaBenaoum has been repeatedly arrested since 2018 for criticizing the Algerian government online and through protests. Detained in December 2019, he faced multiple charges and was sentenced in 2021 to two years in prison. After a 154-day hunger strike, he was released without conditions on February 3, 2022. He was…
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ReleasedAbdullah Habib
Creative artist, Literary writerOmanMiddle East and North AfricaIn recent years, writer and filmmaker Abdullah Habib has been subjected to multiple detentions for his criticism of the Omani government and controversial online statements on religion. Most recently, Habib was detained for more than two months during 2018.
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ImprisonedAbdullah Jelan
Online CommentatorSaudi ArabiaMiddle East and North AfricaJelan, an online commentator who studied in the U.S., returned to Saudi Arabia only to find that his degree was not recognized, leaving him jobless. Frustrated, he became highly critical of the Saudi government on Twitter, raising issues about his education and employment situation. His outspoken criticism led to his…
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ReleasedAbdullah Kılıç
Journalist, Online CommentatorTürkiyeEurope and Central AsiaColumnist Abdullah Kılıç was first detained by the police in July 2016, in the direct aftermath of the failed coup against the government of President Erdogan. He was accused of being a follower of exiled preacher Fethullah Gülen. In 2018, Kılıç was convicted of “membership in a terrorist organization” and…
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ReleasedAbdulmajeed Al-Buluwi
Journalist, Online CommentatorSaudi ArabiaMiddle East and North AfricaA freelance political analyst, Al-Buluwi was arrested on November 16, 2019 as part of a wave of arrests of Saudi writers and bloggers. However, after media coverage and international pressure, he was released a few days later and continues to write. Al-Buluwi has written for outlets including Bloomberg and Al-Monitor,…
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DetainedAbdulqadir Jalaleddin
Poet, ScholarChina/Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous RegionAsia-PacificAbduqadir Jalaleddin is a renowned poet, translator, prominent scholar of contemporary Uyghur literature, and professor at Xinjiang Normal University. He was arrested from his home in early 2018. He was subsequently detained in a “political re-education camp” in the Xinjiang. As of May 2018, there were no official statements regarding…
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ImprisonedAbdulrahman Al-Sadhan
Online CommentatorSaudi ArabiaMiddle East and North AfricaAbdulrahman al-Sadhan, a humanitarian worker who was arrested for critical opinion writing expressed on Twitter, remains imprisoned following the upholding of his sentence by an appeals court in October 2021. Reports in 2023 described severe mistreatment in detention. Advocacy groups confirmed in September 2024 that he remained imprisoned for his…
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ImprisonedAbdulrahman Farhana
JournalistSaudi ArabiaMiddle East and North AfricaFarhana, a columnist who wrote on Palestinian and regional politics and Islamist political movements for Al Jazeera and other outlets, was detained in February 2019. Farhana is being held in Al-Mabahith prison, charged with membership in a terrorist organization. He was sentenced to 19 years in prison in 2021. In…
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Conditional ReleaseAbdulselam Kilgi
Creative artist, Online Commentator, PoetTürkiyeEurope and Central AsiaIn December 2021, the Istanbul 7th Criminal Judgeship of Peace issued an arrest warrant and confidentiality order against scriptwriter and poet Abdulselam Kilgi. He was detained at Izmir Airport on his way back to Türkiye from Germany on February 9, 2022. After three days of detention, Kilgi was released on…
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.