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
Conditional ReleaseHo Thi Bich Khuong
Activist, Literary writerVietnamAsia-PacificAn online activist who has published detailed accounts of her own repression, Khuong has served multiple prison sentences on charges related to anti-state propaganda and “abusing democratic freedom.s” Most recently, she was released in 2016 after serving a 5 year sentence. Since her 2016 release, she has reportedly lived as…
-
Status
Displaced/In ExileHo Van Hai
Journalist, Online Commentator, ScholarVietnamAsia-PacificBlogger Ho Van Hai became well-known for criticizing Vietnam’s one-party Communist rule. He spent over three years in prison for posting “anti-state propaganda” in support of protests following the 2016 Formosa disaster. He was sentenced after a secret trial in 2018 and endured harsh conditions while imprisoned. He was released…
-
Status
ImprisonedHojat Badaghi
Activist, Literary writer, Online Commentator, PoetIranMiddle East and North AfricaBadaghi is a poet and online writer. In 2019, a case was opened against him for “propaganda” based on Instagram posts. In October 2023, he was summoned to serve a new prison sentence for “propaganda” for his online commentary. He is currently in prison as of February 2024. Known for…
-
Status
ReleasedHojjatoleslam Hasan Yousefi Eshkevari
Journalist, Scholar, TranslatorIranMiddle East and North AfricaOutspoken critic of Iran’s theocracy Eshkevari was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2000 upon return from a conference at which Iranian social and political reform was debated. He was released in 2005 and continues to advocate for secular government.
-
Status
Continued HarassmentHopewell Chin’ono
Journalist, Online CommentatorZimbabweSub-Saharan AfricaChin’ono was detained in July 2020 for almost six weeks after he published his investigations into state corruption. He has since been repeatedly detained on additional spurious charges, including inciting public violence, communicating “falsehoods,” defamation, and contempt. As Chin’ono’s case went through the courts in 2021, several of these charges…
-
Status
Continued HarassmentHossein Dehbashi
Literary writer, Online Commentator, ScholarIranMiddle East and North AfricaDehbashi, a writer, online commentator, and historian, was convicted in July 2022 for claiming that Ahmad Khomeini, son of the late Iranian leader, died of drug overuse. He was sentenced to six months in prison but was never arrested. In February 2023, he was cleared of charges as part of…
-
Status
Displaced/In ExileHossein Rajabian
Creative artist, JournalistIranMiddle East and North AfricaHossein Rajabian was arrested in October 2013 with his brother Mehdi in connection with an underground music sharing website that they co-founded. He began serving his sentence in June 2016 at Evin Prison where he started a hunger strike in October 2016. Rajabian was temporarily released on bail in June…
-
Status
ConvictedHossein Ronaghi Maleki
Journalist, Online CommentatorIranMiddle East and North AfricaRonaghi, a blogger, was disappeared in February 2022 and charged with national security and propaganda offenses. He was released from Evin prison in March but rearrested after a TV interview in September. Subjected to severe abuse in detention, he was released on bail in November and hospitalized. Since then, he…
-
Status
ImprisonedHossein Shanbezadeh
Editor, Literary writerIranMiddle East and North AfricaOnline commentator, translator, literary editor, and activist Hossein Shanbezadeh was first detained in 2019 for comments about Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, and sentenced in July 2021 to three years and six months in prison. In August 2023, he was released, but arrested again on June 4 on charges of…
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.