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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Alfaya, a women’s rights activist, has faced harassment, including multiple arbitrary short detentions and an unofficial travel ban. In February 2020, she was classified as a high-interest person required to report monthly to police. In January 2021, she left Cuba in exile.
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Poet Nanda Tin Htut, also known as Han Lin, was arrested and detained on March 27, 2021 while taking part in a protest led by poets on Pansodan Road in downtown Yangon. During these protests, poets took part in readings and sold poems and art to oppose the February 1…
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In 2016, Sundar, a writer, academic, and activist, was accused with nine others of murdering Shamnath Baghel, who had formerly filed complaints against Sundar for supporting Maoists and inciting tribal groups against the Indian state. All charges were dropped in early 2019.
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Dabholkar, a rationalist writer and activist, was shot and killed while on a walk in August 2013. Sharad Kalaskar was arrested for the murder, and confessed to the crime in 2019. The murder was linked to that of three others, Gauri Lankesh, M.M. Kalburgi, and Govind Pansare.
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Mohammadi, jailed relentlessly by authorities for her writing and advocacy, was freed in 2020, but in May 2021 was again sentenced to 2.5 years in prison and 80 lashes. In January 2022 she was given an additional 8 years in jail, in August an additional 1-year sentence, and faces further…
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A human rights lawyer and prominent voice of conscience, Sotoudeh was briefly rearrested and beaten in October 2023 while attending a funeral of a slain teenage girl. She had been previously released from prison in 2021 on a medical furlough from serving a combined 38-year sentence handed down in 2019.…
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Lashani, a Kurdish freelance journalist and political commentator, was released early from prison in 2019 but was re-arrested in June 2020 while trying to cross into Türkiye from Iraq and was brought back to Iran to face charges related to his writing. After being subject to interrogations and solitary confinement,…
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After tweeting criticism of the governments of Egypt and the UAE, Dr. bin Ghaith was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment in 2017. During his closed-door trial, the judge allegedly turned off his microphone to mute his claims of torture. His health has deteriorated in prison.
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.