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
DetainedNawef Al-Amer
Journalist, Literary writer, Online CommentatorIsrael/Occupied Palestinian TerritoryMiddle East and North AfricaColumnist and online commentator Al-Amer authored Days of Ashes (2013), recounting his experience as a detainee for 13 months in an Israeli prison in 2011. In October 2023, Israeli soldiers raided his West Bank home, confiscated his phone, and arrested him without charge. He was placed under administrative detention for…
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ReleasedNay Myo Lin
JournalistMyanmarAsia-PacificAfter Voice of Myanmar ran an interview with the rebel Arakan Army spokesperson, authorities charged the publication’s editor-in-chief Nay Myo Lin with a life sentence on March 27, 2020 under a counter-terrorism law. Following this, they also conducted investigations, seized equipment, and subsequently shut down the news site. The court…
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ReleasedNay Phone Latt
Online Commentator, PoetMyanmarAsia-PacificNay Phone Latt, whose blog had been praised by the BBC for publishing trustworthy news, was arrested in February 2008 and sentenced to a total of 20 years in prison in a closed-door trial without a lawyer for ‘disrupting morality.’ He was released under an amnesty in 2012 and later…
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Recorded HarassmentNayantara Sahgal
Literary writerIndiaAsia-PacificSahgal, a prominent novelist, was disinvited from delivering a speech at the 92nd annual meeting of a Marathi literary conference after organizers became concerned about a possible political backlash if she were to speak critically of the Modi government. In 2015, she returned her Sahitya Akademi Award to protest growing…
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ConvictedNazli Ilıcak
Activist, Journalist, Literary writerTürkiyeEurope and Central AsiaIn 2018, columnist Ilıcak was given a life sentence for “attempting to overthrow the constitutional order” and terrorism. Her verdict was later overturned and she was released. In December 2023, she was reimprisoned for “slandering officials” in a 2016 piece. She was conditionally released in January 2024 but sentenced to…
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Conditional ReleaseNdeye Maty Niang
Journalist, Online CommentatorSenegalSub-Saharan AfricaReporter Ndeye Maty Niang was arrested in May 2023 in connection with her online commentary that was critical of Senegalese authorities. She was charged with “acts likely to undermine public security, direct provocation of an unarmed gathering, and usurping the function of a journalist.” She embarked on two hunger strikes…
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ReleasedNecmiye Alpay
Journalist, Literary writer, TranslatorTürkiyeEurope and Central AsiaOn August 31, 2016, Necmiye Alpay was detained on terrorism-related charges for her connection to pro-Kurdish daily newspaper Özgür Gündem following the 2016 attempted coup. On January 13, 2020, during the fifteenth hearing of the main trial, prosecutors requested that Alpay be acquitted of all the charges against her. She…
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ReleasedNedim Türfent
Journalist, PoetTürkiyeEurope and Central AsiaKurdish reporter and poet Türfent was arrested in May 2016 and sentenced to 8 years in prison on terrorism charges. During pretrial interrogations, he was tortured and forced to sign a confession, while 19 of the 20 witnesses who testified against him have recanted. On November 29, 2022, he was…
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MurderedNedim Yasar
Journalist, Literary writerDenmarkEurope and Central AsiaOn November 20, 2018, Yasar died after he was shot leaving the launch of his memoir Roots on his life as the founder of a gang who left in 2012 to then become a radio host and mentor. In 2020, two men—the shooter and the getaway car driver—were sentenced to…
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.