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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A Catholic priest and essayist, Ly has spent over 15 years in prison for the causes of human rights and religious freedom. Most recently, he was released in 2016 after serving an eight-year sentence for his role in the Bloc 8406 Manifesto on Freedom and Democracy for Vietnam. Ly is…
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A former state media journalist, Binh left his post in 2001 to form his own pro-democracy political party. He was imprisoned from 2002 to 2007 at a labor camp for writing critical of the government. Even since his release, Binh has been subject to police beatings and intimidation. In March…
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A poet, novelist, and founder of the banned democracy movement known as Bloc 8406, Nguyen was arrested in 2008 following the publication of Manifesto on Freedom and Democracy in Vietnam. He was sentenced to six years in prison at a forced labor camp and released in 2014.
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On September 25, 2022, Dayneko was arrested along with Egor Shtovba at the Mayakovsky Readings in Moscow. The next day, Artem Kamardin was arrested in relation to the case. Since then, the three poets of the Mayakovsky group have been detained and charged with “public calls for activities directed against…
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Ghasemi, a philosophy scholar who holds a PhD from Shahid Beheshti University, was arrested in February 2021 and taken to Evin Prison where he was kept in solitary confinement until March 14, 2021. He was charged with “conspiracy and propaganda against the system,” related to articles on sensitive political and…
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Saffar is a poet and writer who has a long history of arrests due to activism dating back to 2012. In February 2020, he was released early from an 8-month prison sentence due to COVID-19. In October 2021, he was interrogated by authorities due to messages on Instagram. In June…
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Poet and the first PEN Freedom to Write honoree, Akhmetov was arrested in 1966 on fabricated charges of theft for association with a movement advocating for the return of Tatar people to Crimea. While imprisoned for 18 years, he continued to write against the Soviet state.
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Al-Banat was a literary writer and a prominent human rights activist who was critical of the Palestinian Authority (PA) on social media. His home was attacked by PA forces on June 24, 2021 at 3am, when he was beaten and then arrested. His death was announced at 6am that same…
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Poet, journalist, and activist Nayouf was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1992 for his membership in the banned CDF and for his role as editor-in-chief of the human rights organization’s newsletter. He was released in 2001, and lives and writes in exile.
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.