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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Distinguished lawyer and writer Zarafshan was arrested in 2000 after giving a speech alleging that the intelligence services had murdered five intellectuals in 1998. Though a civilian, he was tried before a military court and sentenced to five years in prison in 2002.
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Al-Sadah is a columnist whose writing questioned the male guardianship system and advocated for greater rights for women, including the right to drive. In late August 2018, Al-Sadah was arrested as part of a larger crackdown on women’s rights defenders in the Kingdom. Authorities released Al-Sadah in late June 2021…
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Nasta Karnackaja is a literary critic and columnist who runs the Telegram channel “Bellit” where she publishes book reviews and commentary. In May 2022, she assisted with the opening of a new Minsk bookstore, Knihauka, which was searched for “extremist” materials on its opening day. She was detained for “hooliganism”…
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In July 2009, journalist and human rights defender Estemirova was abducted by four gunmen on her way to work in Grozny, Chechnya. She was found dead in woodlands near the city later that day, with bullet wounds to her chest and head. No one has been arrested for her murder.
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Mallo faces police harassment, death and rape threats, and attempted physical attacks in Brazil for directing O Segundo Jesus, Rainha do Céu, a play that explores the multiplicity of trans communities.
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Sharina, head of the Ukrainian Literature Library in Moscow, was detained and put under house arrest in 2015 after authorities raided the library and found several Ukrainian nationalist works banned in Russia. She was sentenced to four years’ probation in 2017.
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Pro-democracy activist Law was imprisoned in 2017 for his leading role in the Occupy Central protests. Released on bail, he fled Hong Kong to the United Kingdom in July 2020, a month before he was charged with participating in a rally. Law was granted political asylum by the U.K. in…
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Feleke is one of the Zone 9 Bloggers, a group formed in 2012 to publish political commentary online in the face of tightening restrictions on expression. The Ethopian Supreme Court levied criminal charges against Feleke in 2017 following his initial arrest in 2014.
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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.