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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Cacho faces harassment and attacks for her investigative journalism. In July 2019, two individuals broke into her home, stole equipment and research materials, and killed her dogs. Despite IACHR recommendations, the Mexican government has withdrawn protection on her home. In 2021, the government of Spain granted Cacho Spanish nationality due…
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Chinese-born British author Ma Jian and his books have faced government censorship since his first publication Stick Out Your Tongue in 1988. After publishing The Dark Road in 2013, a novel about the one-child policy, Ma was banned from China. In November 2018, two Hong Kong-based speaking events were canceled…
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Human rights activist, surgeon, and writer Ma Thida was sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges of endangering public peace, distributing unlawful literature, and having contact with illegal organizations. She was released in 1999 after facing 6 years of harsh conditions. She continues to speak out about the current…
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An advocate for an independent press, historian Monjib was detained on December 29, 2020 following a retaliatory investigation against him into alleged money laundering. A month later, he was sentenced to one year in prison for endangering national security and fraud. He was released on bail in March 2021 but…
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Hussein, who has authored pieces that comparatively examine Islam and Western values, was given a reduced five-year sentence in 2016 for his “contempt of Islam,” alleged distortion of the Quran, and attacks on national unity through his writing. On April 19, 2021, he was released after serving his full sentence.
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In September 2019, Saudi authorities raided Al-Qahtani’s home and have held her in arbitrary pretrial detention since. As of January 2020 she was reportedly held in solitary confinement and subjected to ill-treatment at Sha’ar Prison. In late 2021, she was reportedly sentenced to six years in prison and a six-year…
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Fantahun is one of the Zone 9 Bloggers, a group formed in 2012 to publish political commentary online in the face of tightening restrictions on expression. He was acquitted of all criminal charges following his arrest in 2014.
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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.