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
ReleasedNasta Karnackaja
Editor, Journalist, Online CommentatorBelarusEurope and Central AsiaNasta 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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MurderedNatalia Estemirova
Activist, JournalistRussiaEurope and Central AsiaIn July 2009, renowned journalist and human rights defender Natalia Estemirova was abducted by four armed men as she was on her way to work in Grozny, Chechnya. Her body was discovered later that day in a wooded area near the city, with multiple bullet wounds to her chest and…
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Recorded HarassmentNatalia Mallo
Creative artist, TranslatorBrazilAmericasMallo, the director of the play O Evangelho Segundo Jesus, Rainha do Céu (The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven)—which encountered multiple bans and attempts to supress its message—has faced severe backlash in Brazil. Sje has endured police harassment, death and rape threats, and multiple physical attack attempts due…
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ConvictedNatalya Sharina
ScholarRussiaEurope and Central AsiaSharina, the head of the Ukrainian Literature Library in Moscow, was detained and placed under house arrest in 2015 after Russian authorities raided the library and reportedly found several banned Ukrainian nationalist works. In 2017, she was sentenced to four years’ probation for charges related to “inciting separatism.” In 2022,…
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Displaced/In ExileNathan Law
Activist, Online CommentatorChina/Hong KongAsia-PacificPro-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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ReleasedNatnail Feleke
Online CommentatorEthiopiaSub-Saharan AfricaFeleke 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 Ethiopian Supreme Court levied criminal charges against Feleke in 2017 following his initial arrest in 2014. He was previously acquitted of terrorism charges…
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Conditional ReleaseNatoli Derakhshan
Literary writer, PoetIranMiddle East and North AfricaNatoli Derakhshan is a Baha’i adherent and poet who has long publicly criticized the Iranian government’s treatment of the Baha’i people. In 2010, he was arrested for a letter he wrote to the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini. He was released on bail after spending 36 days in solitary confinement. Derakhshan…
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Continued HarassmentNattapol Chaiching
Literary writer, ScholarThailandAsia-PacificNattapol, a historian, is facing a civil defamation suit for his writings on the Thai monarchy. The plaintiff, a royal descendant, is seeking 50 million baht in damages based on an resolved error in Nattapol’s doctoral thesis and books that she alleges was intentional. On January 20 2022, 30 police…
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ReleasedNavid Mihandoost
Creative artistIranMiddle East and North AfricaMihandoost is a filmmaker and screenwriter. In December 2019, he was summoned to the authorities for a 2009 documentary on an Iranian dissident. He was detained until February 2020, and in December, he received a prison sentence of 3 years and 6 months for “conspiracy” and “propaganda.” The sentence was…
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.