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.
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Recorded HarassmentNandini Sundar
Activist, Literary writer, ScholarIndiaAsia-PacificIn 2016, Nandini Sundar, a writer, academic, and activist, was accused, along with nine others, of murdering Shamnath Baghel, a tribal man who had previously filed complaints against her for allegedly supporting Maoists and inciting tribal groups against the Indian state. All charges were dropped in early 2019. Despite this,…
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MurderedNarendra Dabholkar
Literary writerIndiaAsia-PacificDabholkar, 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. The court acquitted…
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Conditional ReleaseNarges Mohammadi
Activist, Journalist, Literary writer, Online CommentatorIranMiddle East and North AfricaNarges Mohammadi, a human rights defender, author, journalist, and deputy director and spokesperson of the Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC) in Iran, has been repeatedly targeted and arrested since 2009 by the Iranian authorities. She has spent more than 10 years of her life in prison, most recently from…
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ImprisonedNasim Soltanbeygi
Activist, Journalist, Online CommentatorIranMiddle East and North AfricaSoltanbeygi is a reporter and labor activist. In January 2023, she was arrested at the airport and taken to an unknown location. In August, she was sentenced to three years and six months in prison for “propaganda” and “collusion” related to her reporting. She was transferred to prison in November…
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Conditional ReleaseNasrin Sotoudeh
Activist, Literary writer, Online CommentatorIranMiddle East and North AfricaA human rights lawyer and prominent voice of conscience, Sotoudeh had been previously released from prison in 2021 on a medical furlough from serving a combined 38-year sentence handed down in 2019. In October 2023, she was beaten and temporarily rearrested while attending a funeral of a slain teenage girl.…
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ReleasedNasrullah Lashani
Activist, Journalist, Online CommentatorIranMiddle East and North AfricaLashani, 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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ImprisonedNasser bin Ghaith
Online Commentator, ScholarUnited Arab EmiratesMiddle East and North AfricaAfter 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. In December 2023, he was…
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ReleasedNasser Zarafshan
Journalist, Literary writer, TranslatorIranMiddle East and North AfricaDistinguished 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. In 2023, Zarafshan signed a public statement…
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Conditional ReleaseNassima Al-Sadah
Activist, Journalist, Online CommentatorSaudi ArabiaMiddle East and North AfricaNassima Al-Sadah is a columnist whose writing questioned largely the male guardianship system and advocated for greater rights for women across Saudi Arabia, 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. On March…
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.