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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Khet Thi, a retired junior engineer, was an active participant in protests against the military junta in Myanmar. His dissident poems were widely renowned and on May 8, 2021 he was taken from his home, arrested, and brought to an undisclosed location. Khet Thi died on May 9, 2021 in…
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Poet and multimedia artist Khin Thet Htar Latt, also known as Nora, was arrested and detained on March 27, 2021 while taking part in a protest led by poets on Pansodan Road in downtown Yangon. During these protests, poets took part in readings and sold poems and art to oppose…
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Borojeni is a freelance columnist and writer who has focused on political and economic analysis, including COVID-19 mismanagement and critiques of neoliberalism. He was arrested in May 2019 and detained for six days. After an appeal, he began his seven-year sentence in September at Evin prison, where authorities denied him…
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In March 2022, Jumayev—a Pamiri blogger—was detained and interrogated for unkown reasons. Two months later, he was arrested, detained, and eventually charged with “participation in banned political groups.” In December 2022, he was sentenced to 8 years’ imprisonment.
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Playwright and theater director Serebrennikov was placed on house arrest in 2017 for embezzlement and convicted in June 2020. The court handed him a three-year suspended sentence and fine in the trial brought against him in retaliation for his political criticism. As part of the terms of his conviction, he…
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A musician, Mihigo was arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison for allegedly plotting to kill President Paul Kagame and for inciting hate against the government. He was pardoned in 2018, but was arrested by security forces again on February 13, 2020 and was found dead in his cell…
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Bwititi was arrested alongside co-filmwriter Tendai Maduwa after a screening of their film The Lord of Kush. The film tells the story of a clash of cultures between Islamic and Christian communities in Zimbabwe and the violence that follows.
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.