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
ReleasedIman Behpasand
Journalist, Online CommentatorIranMiddle East and North AfricaColumnist, essayist, and online political commentator Iman Behpasand was arrested on September 22, 2022 after a raid on his home in Tehran in the middle of the night. During the raid, Iranian security officers confiscated his mobile phone and laptop, and later transferred Behpasand to Evin Prison in Tehran. Although…
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Conditional ReleaseIminjan Seydin
Literary writer, Publisher, ScholarChina/Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous RegionAsia-PacificUyghur historian and publisher Seydin disappeared in 2017 and was sentenced to 15 years in prison for “inciting extremism” in late 2019, likely for his involvement in publishing an Arabic grammar book. In May 2020, via a video released by state-affiliated China Daily, Seydin stated he was not detained; however,…
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Recorded HarassmentImtiaz Ahmed
Literary writer, ScholarBangladeshAsia-PacificAhmed was a professor at the University of Dhaka and is the author of Historicising 1971 Genocide: State versus Person. After an article by former Bangladesh Supreme Court Justice Chowdhury was released accusing him of falsification of history and defamation of the country’s founder president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Ahmed was…
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Displaced/In Exileİnan Altın
Creative artist, Singer/SongwriterTürkiyeEurope and Central Asiaİnan Altın is a member of the activist collective and band, Grup Yorum. Since the band’s inception, its critical songs have angered the Turkish government and members have faced serious threats. In February 2018, the Ministry of Interior placed Altın, as well as Selma Altın, on their wanted terrorists list,…
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DeceasedIndamiro Restano Díaz
Activist, Journalist, Literary writerCubaAmericasFollowing Indamiro Restano Díaz’s first detention in 1985, state media outlets were banned from hiring him. After founding El Movimiento Armonía (MAR), Díaz was arrested twice In 1991, and sentenced to ten years in prison on charges of rebellion for organizing an opposition group. He was released in 1995 after…
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DisappearedInnocent Bahati
PoetRwandaSub-Saharan AfricaPoet and teacher Innocent Bahati disappeared in 2021 after meeting an unknown person at a hotel in Nyanza district. Shortly after the disappearance, the Rwandan Secretary of State asked the public in a speech to “forget the difficulties that the Rwandan poetry community has known in recent times.” Prior to…
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Displaced/In ExileIrakli Kordzaia
JournalistGeorgiaEurope and Central AsiaKordzaia has spoken out against extrajudicial murders and corruption for nearly a decade. In 2017, Kordzaia fled Tbilisi due to unrelenting and escalating persecution by domestic authorities; he had at least four open cases against him and had been illegally surveilled. He has remained in exile since then, continuing to…
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ReleasedIsa Choulandim
Activist, Creative artist, Literary writer, Online Commentator, Scholar, TranslatorIranMiddle East and North AfricaChoulandim, an artist, writer, and activist, is known for his outspoken opposition to child marriage, which he advocates against through his art. He was arrested in a home raid in January 2023. Officers seized personal items including electronics and his embroidery depicting fallen protesters. He was released on bail in…
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Displaced/In ExileIslom Kholboev
Literary writerUzbekistanEurope and Central AsiaIslom Kholboev is an Uzbek journalist who moved to Türkiye in 2014 with his family, where they continue to live in exile. He took an active part in the formation of the Birlik people’s movement and the Erk party in the late 1980s and has faced continued harassment, including an…
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.