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
ImprisonedAhmed Ali Abdelkader
Journalist, Online CommentatorSaudi ArabiaMiddle East and North AfricaAbdelkader is a Sudanese media personality and journalist. In April 2021, he was arrested upon arriving at the airport in Saudi Arabia and detained for 20 days. He was sentenced to 4 years in prison in June for charges including “speaking negatively about the Kingdom’s policy” and “accusing the Kingdom…
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ReleasedAhmed Douma
Activist, Online Commentator, PoetEgyptMiddle East and North AfricaA poet, activist, and blogger, Douma was first arrested in 2013 due to his prominent role in the 2011 Egyptian revolution. He wrote his poetry collection Your Voice is Heard which was published in 2012. He continued to write in prison despite restrictions. He was sentenced to a 15-year prison…
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ConvictedAhmed Hassan Al-Zoubi
Creative artist, JournalistJordanMiddle East and North AfricaA columnist, playwright, and political satirist, Al-Zoubi is facing continued harassment for his work. In March 2022, his vehicle was intercepted on his way to the airport, and he was detained and his personal items confiscated. He was later released. On March 12, 2023, he was summoned to court months…
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Ahmed Hassan Al-Zoubi Al-Zubi
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Conditional ReleaseAhmed Kabir Kishore
Creative artist, Journalist, Online CommentatorBangladeshAsia-PacificCartoonist Kishore was arrested with 10 other defendants in May 2020 for criticizing the government’s response to COVID-19 in an online cartoon series “Life in the Time of Corona.” In March 2021, he was released on bail after the death of writer Mushtaq Ahmed, but Kishore sustained physical trauma from…
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ImprisonedAhmed Mansoor
Online Commentator, PoetUnited Arab EmiratesMiddle East and North AfricaMansoor was sentenced to ten years in prison and heavily fined in 2018 after being found guilty of defamation and “spreading false information online.” He has gone on at least two hunger strikes to protest the solitary confinement and torture he is facing in prison. In early 2022, reports surfaced…
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Displaced/In ExileAhmed Naji
Journalist, Literary writerEgyptMiddle East and North AfricaCharged with ‘violating public modesty’ for sexual content in his novel The Use of Life, Naji served 10 months in prison in 2016. After a prolonged legal battle during which he faced a travel ban, his sentence was overturned in May 2018. Naji now lives and writes in exile.
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ConvictedAhmet Altan
Journalist, Literary writerTürkiyeEurope and Central AsiaAltan was detained after the 2016 coup attempt on spurious charges. After his life sentence was reduced to 10.5 years, he was released in 2019, but was promptly rearrested. A 2021 European Court ruling that his rights had been violated led to his release. In March 2022, he was sentenced…
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On TrialAhmet Nesin
Activist, JournalistTürkiyeEurope and Central AsiaNesin, a writer involved in free expression issues in Türkiye, was arrested after standing in solidarity with and serving as a ‘guest editor’ for Özgür Gündem, a pro-Kurdish newspaper that the Turkish government shut down. His acquittal was overturned in November 2020 and he is being retried.
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.