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
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…
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Recorded HarassmentIsmael El-Bozom
Creative artist, Online CommentatorPalestinian TerritoriesMiddle East and North AfricaOfficers in the Hamas-controlled General Investigation Unit arrested El-Bozom on March 20, 2020 over cartoons he had posted on Facebook calling for the release of writer Abdullah Abu Sharkh. El-Bozom was released conditionally on March 22, 2020. The next day, he posted on Facebook that he would file a complaint…
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DetainedIsmail Alexandrani
Journalist, ScholarEgyptMiddle East and North AfricaAlexandrani is a researcher and journalist who studies extremism and counterterrorism in the North Sinai. He was first arrested in November 2015 and charged with baseless crimes, including “publishing government secrets” and joining the Muslim Brotherhood. After 2 years in pretrial detention, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison…
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DetainedIsmail Ari
Journalist, Literary writerTürkiyeEurope and Central AsiaIn September 2023, writer and journalist Ismail Ari reported that he had received death threats due to his reporting on the Menzil community. The Turkish authorities, however, failed to act on his criminal complaints. In June and September 2024, two investigations were launched against Ari for his book, Menzil Kasasi,…
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Continued HarassmentIsmail Saymaz
Journalist, Literary writerTürkiyeEurope and Central Asiaİsmail Saymaz is a journalist, commentator, and writer. In March 2025, his home was raided and he was accused of “assisting to overthrow the government” in connection with the Gezi Park protests of 2013. He was placed under house arrest. His house arrest was lifted in May 2025, but he…
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.