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
ReleasedLê Chi Quang
Literary writer, ScholarVietnamAsia-PacificQuang is a lawyer and computer teacher who has published several essays critical of the government. He was arrested in February 2002 after authorities monitored his computer use at an internet café and was sentenced to 4 years in prison. He was released in June 2004.
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ImprisonedLe Huu Minh Tuan
Journalist, Online CommentatorVietnamAsia-PacificTuan has written critically of government policies and in support of democracy. He was arrested in June 2020 under Article 117, related to propaganda against the state, for his writings. He was convicted and sentenced to 11 years in prison in January 2021. He is a member of the Independent…
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ImprisonedLe Manh Ha
Online CommentatorVietnamAsia-PacificAn online commentator, Le Manh Ha was arrested in January 2022 when police raided his house and seized 20 books, two laptop computers, and a cellphone. On October 25, 2022 he was sentenced to 8 years in prison to be followed by 5 years of house arrest for violating Article…
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Displaced/In ExileLê Trung Khoa
JournalistVietnamAsia-PacificLê Trung Khoa is an editor and founder of Thoibao.de, a Germany-based outlet. As part of the same case targeting blogger Do Van Nga, Vietnamese authorities sentenced Khoa to 17 years in absentia on December 31, 2025 as the “mastermind and ringleader,” accusing him of “making, storing, spreading information, materials,…
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Continued HarassmentLeena Manimekalai
Creative artist, PoetIndiaAsia-PacificA filmmaker and poet, Manimekalai received multiple death and rape threats after sharing a poster of her documentary film Kaali on July 2, 2022. It showed the Hindu goddess Kali smoking and holding a pride flag. In February 2023, India’s Supreme Court granted her protection against multiple legal complaints filed…
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Continued HarassmentLenora Dyulber
Activist, Journalist, Literary writer, ScholarUkraineEurope and Central AsiaLenora Dyulber, a journalist, scholar, literary writer, and activist of Crimean Tatar background, was detained on December 4, 2025, following a home search and released shortly after. She was fined 33,000 rubles for “discrediting the army” and “creating extremist material,” with charges linked to comments made on a YouTube panel…
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Recorded HarassmentLeong Sze Hian
Activist, Creative artist, Journalist, Online CommentatorSingaporeAsia-PacificLeong Sze Hian, a columnist and activist, was ordered by the court to pay S$133,000 (US$98,000) in damages for sharing a Facebook post linking Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to a corruption investigation. The post, which cited an article alleging the Prime Minister’s financial corruption, led to a defamation lawsuit…
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ReleasedLéster Luis González Pentón
Activist, JournalistCubaAmericasGonzález, co-founder of the Movement for Democracy, was arrested in a 2003 roundup of dissidents known as the Black Spring and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was released in 2010 after multilateral talks in which Cuba agreed to release those jailed in the Black Spring.
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DetainedLhamjab A. Borjigin
Literary writer, ScholarChina/Inner Mongolia Autonomous RegionAsia-PacificLhamjab writes about Mongolian culture, specializing in survivor testimonies of the political violence of the Cultural Revolution. In 2019, he was convicted on separatism charges. In September 2020, he was put under house arrest following protests for Mongolian language rights. He was kidnapped and arrested at his exile residence 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.