Writers At Risk
PEN’s bedrock work is long-term advocacy on behalf of individual writers who are being persecuted because of their work. This page features our highest priority cases. With the help of our members and supporters, we are carrying out campaigns to win their release and ensure they are safe and can write and publish freely.
PEN America examines threats to free expression in our annual Freedom to Write Index, a year-end count of imprisoned writers worldwide. Explore our Writers at Risk Database for updated tracking of cases of writers, journalists, artists, academics, and public intellectuals around the world facing myriad threats for their writing and expression. Read the most recent PEN International case list here.
Take a moment to share information about these writers and take action on their behalf. This is only a small sampling of writers under threat around the world.
Nguyen Huu Vinh & Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy | Status: Released | Vietnam
On March 23, 2016, the People’s Court of Hanoi sentenced Nguyen Huu Vinh to five years in prison under Article 258 (2) of Vietnam’s Penal Code for “abusing democratic… More
Mohammed Benchicou | Status: Released | Algeria
Mohammed Benchicou is the former director of Le Matin, a private daily newspaper that maintained an independent, critical editorial line toward the Algerian government. On August 23, 2003, Benchicou was… More
Khadija Ismayilova | Status: Conditional Release | Azerbaijan
Khadija Ismayilova is an award-winning freelance reporter who has worked for various Azeri-, Russian-, and English-language news outlets. More
Mykola Semena | Status: Released | Ukraine
Mykola Semena was convicted under the “separatist” Article 280.1 of the Russian Criminal Code, for publicly denouncing the Kremlin’s annexation of Crimea. He was handed a 2-year suspended sentence.… More
Necmiye Alpay | Status: Released | Turkey
Necmiye Alpay is a Turkish translator, editor, journalist and staunch defender of free expression More
Shamsuzzoha Manik | Status: Under Threat | Bangladesh
Bangladeshi translator, writer, editor, and publisher More
Stanislav Aseyev | Status: Released | Ukraine
Ukrainian journalist Stanislav Aseyev, who writes under the pen name Vasin, was captured by Russian-supported rebels on June 2, 2017. Aseyev was based in the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk and… More
Oleh Halaziuk | Status: Released | Ukraine
Oleh Halaziuk, a columnist for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), has been detained since August 2017 by Russian-supported rebels in the Donetsk region of Eastern Ukraine. More
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