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.
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Journalist and novelist Zulczyk was indicted in March 2021 for publicly insulting the Polish president on social media. He was refused a grant for a translation of his new novel due to his expressed beliefs. Zulczyk was acquitted in January 2022 as the judge identified possible free speech infringements in…
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Public figure and poet Jamal Al-Sayer took to Twitter in July 2021 posting his poems about corruption in Kuwait. On July 5, 2021, he was arrested and detained at the Central Prison on multiple charges including ”spreading fake news.” His detention was extended by 21 days and he faced up…
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After the exiled Saudi columnist’s brutal murder in Istanbul in October 2018, journalists and advocacy groups mobilized worldwide to ensure that he would not be forgotten. However, the Saudi Crown Prince, who reportedly ordered the killing, has not yet been held responsible.
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In March 2018, Church’s invitation to a literary festival in Macau was revoked after authorities said that his appearance there would be “untimely.” James Church is the pseudonym used by a former CIA agent who has written a series of detective novels.
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Tsegla is a writer of fairy tales and the founder of Masquerade, a magazine for young Belarusian artists. In April 2023, she was detained and held in pre-trial detention until late May, when she was sentenced to two years of house arrest. She was convicted under an article for organizing…
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Mora is a contemporary poet and founding member of Archipiélago, a civic group calling for democracy and civil rights in Cuba. He was arrested on the morning of July 16, 2021 following a social media post in which he decried the treatment of protesters during the 11J demonstrations. Though released…
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Javier Moreno Díaz has been harrassed and arrested by the Cuban government in an effort to stop protests against Decree 349, a restrictive 2018 referendum that mandates all public exhibitions, performances, and artistic events be authorized by Cuba’s Ministry of Culture.
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Rebolledo was charged with ‘serious insult’ in July 2018 after the publication of his work of non-fiction, titled in English Chameleon: The Double Life of a Communist Agent. He was acquitted in October 2018.
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In May 2017, Valdez Cárdenas was shot dead by unknown assailants in Culiacán, Sinaloa State. The authorities arrested two men suspected of being accomplices in the murder. In January 2019, a drug trafficker attributed his murder to power struggles within the cartel.
Writers at Risk Database Key:
STATUS box that is red: Active case
STATUS box that is black: Inactive case
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.
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.