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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Palestinian journalist and author Al-Nawaty was detained for unspecified “security reasons” in 2011 while translating his book in Damascus. In 2013, the Norwegian government reported he was in Syrian government custody. He remains detained incommunicado.
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Borzouei was arrested and taken into state custody on September 28, 2022, a week after posting a video of herself reciting a poem in support of the Mahsa Amini protests on social media. She was released on October 7, 2022, and continues to support the protests online.
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A novelist noted for his support of women’s rights, Al-Saqqar was arrested in the April 2019 crackdown on writers and journalists in Saudi Arabia. He was detained without access to legal counsel at Al-Ha’ir Prison in Riyadh until he was conditionally released in March 2021.
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Behboudi is a Franco-Afghan journalist and documentary filmmaker who co-founded and contributed to the independent news site Guiti News. He was detained by the Taliban on January 7, two days after he arrived from France where he lives with his family. After 10 months of detention on charges of “espionage…
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Abu Toha is a poet and essayist. In 2017 he opened Gaza’s first English-language library, and in 2022, he published a collection of poems titled Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear. In November 2023, he was detained by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), interrogated, and beaten as his…
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Nsubuga, a musician and activist, was arrested and charged for allegedly using derogatory terms in a song to refer to President Yoweri Museveni on October 4, 2018. He was released on police bond the following day. If convicted, he faces a fine and up to one year in jail.
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On July 8, 2022, Aleahmad was arrested alongside filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof for “inciting unrest” and “disrupting the psychological safety of society.” He was released on bail after testing positive for COVID-19 on August 10, to be tried at a later date. On October 3, 2022, Aleahmad was sentenced to six…
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Kurdish writer and documentary filmmaker Kavousi was arrested at her home on September 22, 2022, and spent at least 35 days in solitary confinement. She was tried for “corruption on earth” and incitement among other charges, and was acquitted of corruption but sentenced to 5 years imprisonment on collusion and…
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.