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
Status
Sechenbaatar, who comments online about Mongolian culture, was detained after attending a local protest, which his relatives believe was cover for suppressing his writing. In September 2020, he was put under house arrest following protests in support of Mongolian language rights.
Status
Poet Ifowodo was arrested in November 1997 returning from the Commonwealth Summit in Scotland, where he appealed for stronger sanctions against then-President Sani Abacha. He was held in solitary confinement until his release in 1998. No charges were brought against him.
Status
Pro-Kurdish journalist Candemir has been prosecuted over 20 times. In September 2020, he was detained for a tweet and charged with insulting a long-deceased sultan. In May 2022, he was summoned to authorities for “insulting a public official.” He was tried and fined 7,080 lira in March 2023. In February…
Status
After being arrested in Crimea, Ukrainian filmmaker was Sentsov given a 20-year sentence on terrorism charges in August 2015. Following five years in a Russian jail—including a hunger strike lasting more than 100 days—he was released in 2019 as part of a prisoner exchange.
Status
Radio Free Europe columnist Halaziuk was detained by Russian-backed separatists from August 2017 through December 2019. Since the outbreak of conflict in Ukraine, he had covered everyday living conditions in the Donetsk region, reporting persistently on life in a war zone. In 2023, he was reportedly living in a forest…
Status
On October 4, 2020, philospher and writer Shparaga was detained for one day during a protest; but five days later, she was detained at Savecki district police department when she was summoned to testify. On October 12, she received and served a sentence of 15 days in administrative detention. After…
Status
Radi is an award-winning investigative journalist and activist. He was arrested in December 2019 for a tweet criticizing a verdict against protesters. In March 2020, he was given a four-month suspended sentence and fined. In July 2021, he was convicted of espionage and rape and sentenced to six years in…
Status
A rapper and songwriter, Shaiboba was arrested in March 2022 for his songs that he had described as revolutionary and which were critical of the Kingdom and ruling authorities, following an online harassment campaign against him by pro-government trolls. He remains in detention, with no charges known to have been…
Status
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.