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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DetainedAbolfazl Ranjbari
Activist, Literary writer, ScholarIranMiddle East and North AfricaAbolfazl Ranjbari, an Iranian activist, scholar, and writer of Azeri ethnicity, was arrested on May 3, 2025, at his home with initial charges unknown, later reported to include espionage and propaganda. By September 2025, he had been detained for over 100 days without clear charges. In October 2025, concerns were…
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ConvictedAbolhassan Kamali
Online Commentator, PoetIranMiddle East and North AfricaPoet Abolhassan Kamali was given a four-month suspended sentence of two years seven months imprisonment at home with an electronic handcuff on charges of blasphemy and spreading lies. The court additionally required him to attend congregational prayers in the mosque as part of his sentence. His conviction cited posts on…
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Displaced/In ExileAbraham Jiménez Enoa
Journalist, Online CommentatorCubaAmericasJiménez Enoa is a columnist at the Washington Post’s Post Opinión and a co-founder of online literary magazine El Estornudo. On October 1, 2020, he was threatened and briefly detained for writing for the Post. He has been regularly put on house arrest by state authorities: twice in 2019 and…
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DeceasedAbraham Serfaty
Activist, EditorMoroccoMiddle East and North AfricaAbraham Serfaty, a political dissident and editor of the literary magazine Souffles, endured 17 years of imprisonment and 13 years of exile for his political views. Serfaty, who was sentenced solely on account of his political and literary activities, served a life sentence from 1974 until his release from prison…
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Recorded HarassmentAbu Duyanah Tamayo
Activist, Journalist, Literary writer, PoetCubaAmericasA Muslim literary writer and poet, Tamayo has faced multiple instances of harassment in Cuba. In a June 2022 interview, he claimed his internet access was deliberately cut off as part of an ongoing campaign to silence his activism. In October 2022, it was reported that Tamayo was prevented from…
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ReleasedAdel Banaima
Journalist, Online CommentatorSaudi ArabiaMiddle East and North AfricaBanaima, a lecturer at the University of Umm Al-Qura in Mecca and editor-in-chief of Jusoor Magazine, was arrested and detained without charge in September 2017. Information about his status and condition has been extremely limited, but in January 2023 it was reported that he had been sentenced to a 4-year…
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ImprisonedAdil Semeykhanuly
Journalist, ScholarChina/Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous RegionAsia-PacificAdil Semeykhanuly is a Kazakh scholar, essayist, and editor for the Kazakh-language newspaper Xinjiang (“Шынжаң”). He was reportedly first detained in January 2024, released after 7-8 months, and then transferred to house arrest for insufficient evidence. In August 2025, he was sentenced to six and a half years for charges…
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Conditional ReleaseAdnan Al-Rousan
Journalist, Online CommentatorJordanMiddle East and North AfricaColumnist Al-Rousan was arrested on August 14, 2022 for criticizing the King of Jordan via Facebook. He was charged with inciting conflict and sowing division among the elements of the nation, broadcasting false news that undermines the prestige of the state, defaming an official body, and humiliating a public official.…
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Custodial/Wrongful DeathAdnan Zarra’ai
DramatistSyriaMiddle East and North AfricaPlaywright and scriptwriter Zarra’ai was arrested in February 2012 by the Air Force Intelligence Branch in Aleppo and was detained incommunicado in the State Security Detention Centre in Damascus. His rib was reportedly broken by torture. He remained detained as of December 2018 with little information circulating about his condition,…
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.