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
Displaced/In ExileMartha Kumsa
Journalist, ScholarEthiopiaSub-Saharan AfricaKumsa was arrested in 1980 after writing an article calling for ethnic Oromo women to defy power structures and reclaim their cultural heritage. She was released in 1989 and escaped to Kenya, and later Canada, to avoid continued persecution even after her release. Now a professor in Canada, she continues…
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DetainedMarwa Arafa
Activist, Online Commentator, TranslatorEgyptMiddle East and North AfricaMarwa Arafa is an Egyptian translator, activist, and online commentator who has been in prolonged pretrial detention since her arrest in April 2020. She was forcibly taken by security forces from her home in Nasr City and initially held incommunicado before later being brought before the Supreme State Security Prosecution…
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ReleasedMarwan Almuraisy
Journalist, Online CommentatorSaudi ArabiaMiddle East and North AfricaYemeni writer living in Saudi Arabia Marwan Almuraisy was arrested and forcibly disappeared on June 1, 2018 following a raid on his home. A year later, in May 2019, his wife posted on Twitter that she had received the first ever phone call from him since his disappearance. He has…
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Recorded HarassmentMaryam Lee
Activist, Literary writerMalaysiaAsia-PacificOn April 17, 2019, Malaysian author and activist Maryam Lee, who has argued that Malay women should have the right to choose to wear a headscarf, was summoned for questioning by the State of Selangor’s religious authority on the grounds of insulting Islam, meaning she faced a fine of $1,200…
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On TrialMarzouka Oummou Hani
Literary writerCameroonSub-Saharan AfricaHani, a talented young author, wrote Mon Pere ou Mon Destin (My Father or My Destiny). She was sued for blasphemy by the leader of Idool Village for alleged derogatory comments included in the book. After facing a book ban and the equivalent of US$250K in monetary damages, Hani announced…
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Displaced/In ExileMasha Gessen
Journalist, Literary writerRussiaEurope and Central AsiaRussian-American writer, journalist, and translator Masha Gessen left Russia in September 2012 due to anti-LGBTQ+ laws. In August 2023, Russia issued an arrest warrant against Gessen after Gessen wrote about war crimes in Bucha. On July 15, 2024, Gessen was sentenced in absentia, to eight years in prison and a…
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Conditional ReleaseMasoud Yousef Hasirchin
Online Commentator, TranslatorIranMiddle East and North AfricaMasoud Yousef Hasirchin, a translator and online commentator, was detained on January 18, 2026, after being summoned, following a home raid on January 16 in which his books and electronic devices were confiscated. Concerns about his health and well-being were later reported on February 11, 2026. He has translated more…
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Conditional ReleaseMatiur Rahman
JournalistBangladeshAsia-PacificRahman faces continued harassment for his journalistic work and ownership of Prothom Alo. He has faced at least 55 defamation charges since 2016, notably one related to his caricature of a local legislator. In March 2023, he was sued under the Digital Security Act over a misattributed quote in an…
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DeceasedMatsemela Manaka
Creative artist, Dramatist, PoetSouth AfricaSub-Saharan AfricaManaka was an artist, poet, and playwright who was honored with the first PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award in 1987, and funded a playwright workshop for young authors in Soweto, Johannesburg. He died in a car accident in 1998.
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.