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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Status
ImprisonedNoura Al-Qahtani
Online Commentator, ScholarSaudi ArabiaMiddle East and North AfricaSaudi scholar and writer Noura al-Qahtani was arrested on July 4, 2021 by officers of the Presidency of State Security for posts on an anonymous Twitter account in which she condemned Saudi human rights violations and called for the release of political figures. On February 16, 2022, she was sentenced…
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Conditional ReleaseNurcan Kaya
Activist, Journalist, Online CommentatorTürkiyeEurope and Central AsiaColumnist and lawyer Kaya’s work focuses on women’s rights, education, and peaceful protests. In September 2021, she was convicted on propaganda charges based on social media posts from 2014, and sentenced to a year and three months in prison with a suspended sentence on the condition that she remain on…
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Displaced/In ExileNurlan Gahramanli
Activist, Journalist, Online CommentatorAzerbaijanEurope and Central AsiaNurlan Gahramanli, also known as Nurlan Libre, is an anti-war blogger and journalist who shared anti-war views on his Facebook page. In September 2023, he was sentenced to 30 day of administrative arrest for “spreading prohibited information,” for several anti-war Facebook posts. While in detention, he was insulted and beaten.…
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ImprisonedNurmuhemmet Yasin
Literary writer, PoetChina/Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous RegionAsia-PacificAward-winning Uyghur author and poet Yasin was imprisoned in February 2005 on charges of “inciting separatism” due to his poem “Wild Pigeon,” an allegory about the son of a pigeon king who is trapped and caged by humans while on a mission to find a new home for his flock.…
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DetainedNy Nak
Online CommentatorCambodiaAsia-PacificNy Nak is an online commentator who owns a Facebook page with over 425k followers. In December 2020, he made a series of satirical comments on his page mocking government policies, following which he was put under house arrest. He was later charged and sentenced to 18 months in prison.…
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Conditional ReleaseO. Sechenbaatar
Activist, Literary writer, Poet, ScholarChina/Inner Mongolia Autonomous RegionAsia-PacificSechenbaatar, who comments online about Mongolian culture, was detained after attending a local protest, which his relatives believe was cover for suppressing his writing. In an audio message posted online, he condemned Chinese authorities for decades of political oppression and the suppression of Mongolian language. In August 2020, he was…
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ReleasedOgaga Ifowodo
Activist, PoetNigeriaSub-Saharan AfricaPoet 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.
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On TrialOktay Candemir
JournalistTürkiyeEurope and Central AsiaPro-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…
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ConvictedOleg Kuvaev
Creative artistRussiaEurope and Central AsiaOleg Kuvaev, a Russian animator and creator of the satirical show “Maysana,” has been targeted by the Russian government for his outspoken political views. After releasing an anti-war episode in March 2022, the show’s website was blocked in Russia, and Kuvaev went into hiding. In October 2023, a criminal case…
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.