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
ReleasedKhalid Qadiry
Activist, Journalist, Online Commentator, PoetAfghanistanAsia-PacificAn activist, journalist, and poet from Herat, Qadiry was arrested by the Taliban on March 17, 2022. A couple of months later, he was sentenced to one year in prison. He was finally released on January 3, 2023 after spending 10 months in prison. His arrest was widely believed to…
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ReleasedKhalida Jarrar
Activist, ScholarIsrael/Occupied Palestinian TerritoryMiddle East and North AfricaResearcher and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) member Jarrar has been arrested three times from 2015-2021 for PFLP links. In December 2023, Jarrar was arrested from her home in the West Bank after the Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR) published Jarrar’s report, “Violations against Female and…
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Custodial/Wrongful DeathKhet Thi
PoetMyanmarAsia-PacificKhet Thi, a retired junior engineer and active participant in anti-junta protests in Myanmar, was known for his dissident poems. On May 8, 2021, he was arrested at his home and taken to an undisclosed location. Khet Thi died in custody on May 9, 2021, after police interrogations. His body…
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Conditional ReleaseKhin Thet Htar Latt
Creative artist, PoetMyanmarAsia-PacificPoet and multimedia artist Khin Thet Htar Latt, also known as Nora, was arrested and detained on March 27, 2021, while taking part in a peaceful protest led by poets on Pansodan Road in downtown Yangon. During these protests, poets held public readings and sold poems and artwork to creatively…
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ReleasedKhosro Sadeghi Borojeni
Journalist, Literary writer, Online CommentatorIranMiddle East and North AfricaBorojeni 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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ImprisonedKhushruz Jumayev
Activist, Journalist, Online CommentatorTajikistanEurope and Central AsiaIn 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.” His arrest occurred during a broader crackdown on activists from the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) following protests in the area. In December…
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Displaced/In ExileKirill Serebrennikov
Creative artist, DramatistRussiaEurope and Central AsiaPlaywright and theater director Kirill 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,…
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Custodial/Wrongful DeathKitzito Mihigo
Singer/SongwriterRwandaSub-Saharan AfricaA musician, Mihigo was found dead in his prison cell on February 17, 2020. The official statement from the government stated that his death was a suicide was met with skepticism by human rights groups and supporters. Mihigo had been serving a 10-year sentence for allegedly plotting to kill President…
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ReleasedKudakwashe Bwititi
Creative artistZimbabweSub-Saharan AfricaBwititi 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. He and Maduwa were granted $200 bail in July 2019. In…
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.