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
DisappearedGuy-André Kieffer
JournalistCôte d’IvoireSub-Saharan AfricaIn April 2004, Kieffer was kidnapped in Abidjan and has not been seen since. Prior to his kidnapping, Kieffer wrote for a French newspaper detailing political corruption in Côte d’Ivoire. Investigators presume he was murdered, though there is no conclusive evidence.
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Conditional ReleaseHabib Mousavi Bibilani
Online Commentator, PoetIranMiddle East and North AfricaBibilani is a poet who also wrote opinions online. He was summoned to the authorities in July 2023 and detained for 2 weeks on charges of “confusing the public consciousness” and “propaganda.” He was released on bail. In September 2023, he was sentenced to a year in prison for “publishing…
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MurderedHachalu Hundessa
Creative artist, Singer/SongwriterEthiopiaSub-Saharan AfricaMusician and activist Hundessa was shot and killed in Addis Ababa on June 29, 2020. His death sparked widespread unrest in the country, in which hundreds were killed. Alleged assassin Tilahun Yami pled guilty to Hundessa’s murder, but no mastermind has been named.
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Conditional ReleaseHadi Hakim Shahafi
Online Commentator, Scholar, TranslatorIranMiddle East and North AfricaOnline commentator and academic writer, Shahafi was first arrested in December 2019 and spent 10 days in detention. He was imprisoned on February 22, 2022, and released temporarily on April 28, 2022. Shahafi was rearrested on October 1, 2022 and sentenced to one year in prison for “propaganda against the…
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Recorded HarassmentHafiz Ahmed
Poet, ScholarIndiaAsia-PacificHafiz Ahmed is one of the “Miya” (Bengali-language Muslim) poets charged in July 2019 after the online publication of his poem, “I am Miya,” which authorities claimed promoted sectarian enmity in the state of Assam. On July 17, 2019, all ten poets were granted anticipatory bail.
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DetainedHai Zhang
Journalist, Online CommentatorChinaAsia-PacificHai is a journalist and online activist. He was arrested and forcibly disappeared in February 2023 after expressing support for the “white-hair-movement,” an elderly group protesting health care reforms. In April 2023, Hai was charged with “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.”
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ImprisonedHailaite Niyazi
Journalist, Online CommentatorChina/Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous RegionAsia-PacificA former reporter and columnist, Niyazi also managed the Uyghurbiz website and had publicly criticized government policies toward Uyghurs. After a one-day sham trial in 2010, he was convicted of endangering national security and sentenced to fifteen years in prison.
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Status
Hailaite Niyazi Hairat, or Gheyret Niyaz
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Custodial/Wrongful DeathHaji Mirzahid Kerimi
Editor, Literary writer, PoetChina/Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous RegionAsia-PacificKerimi, former Kashgar Publishing House staff, was arrested and detained for his role in publishing books deemed “problematic” for their “improper” political content, and was handed an 11-year sentence. He died on January 9, 2021 while serving his sentence.
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.