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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Malayalam writer and theater activist Najmal was arrested for allegedly insulting the Indian national anthem in a Malayalam-language Facebook post in December 2016. He was released after three days, but has since been the target of police harassment and anonymous threats.
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Ahmady has written about female genital mutilation and child marriage in Iran and was arrested in 2019. He was arbitrarily detained for 100 days, then released conditionally. In December 2020, he was given a nine-year and three-month prison sentence on a spurious national security charge. Soon after his conviction, Ahmady…
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In April 2014, the poet “Kunthee” was shot by assailants who approached his car in Northern Bangkok, then escaped by motorcycle. He died in hospital. The motive for his murder is unknown, but may be linked to his activism about increased violence in Thailand at that time.
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Takuk, a Kurdish poet, was arrested on January 11, 2022, and then released on bail 6 days later. He was convicted on February 21, 2022 and sentenced to 28 months imprisonment for “propaganda against the regime” and “insulting the leadership.”
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In June 2013, author and land rights activist Saber was sentenced to 5 years in prison for “contempt of religion” in connection with his 2010 collection of short stories, “Where Is God?”, which tells the stories of poor farmers in Egypt. He was released in 2018.
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Soleimani is a playwright, literary writer, and theater director. He was arrested on September 21, 2022 and taken to an unknown location for his support of the protests. He was released on bail on December 4, 2022.
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Known for the secular views expressed on his blog, Amer was sentenced to four years in prison for disparaging Islam and defaming the president in 2007. Upon his scheduled release in 2010, he was reportedly beaten, sent to another prison, and held illegally for ten days. He is exiled in…
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.