Writers At Risk
PEN’s bedrock work is long-term advocacy on behalf of individual writers who are being persecuted because of their work. This page features our highest priority cases. With the help of our members and supporters, we are carrying out campaigns to win their release and ensure they are safe and can write and publish freely.
PEN America examines threats to free expression in our annual Freedom to Write Index, a year-end count of imprisoned writers worldwide. Explore our Writers at Risk Database for updated tracking of cases of writers, journalists, artists, academics, and public intellectuals around the world facing myriad threats for their writing and expression. Read the most recent PEN International case list here.
Take a moment to share information about these writers and take action on their behalf. This is only a small sampling of writers under threat around the world.
Stanislav Aseyev | Status: Released | Ukraine
Ukrainian journalist Stanislav Aseyev, who writes under the pen name Vasin, was captured by Russian-supported rebels on June 2, 2017. Aseyev was based in the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk and… More
Oleh Halaziuk | Status: Released | Ukraine
Oleh Halaziuk, a columnist for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), has been detained since August 2017 by Russian-supported rebels in the Donetsk region of Eastern Ukraine. More
Chen Yunfei | Status: Conditional Release | China
Chen Yunfei is a performance artist who works at the intersection of human rights activism and art. His art is overtly political, promoting the Chinese pro-democracy movement. More
Alaa Abd El Fattah | Status: Detained | Egypt
Alaa Abd El Fattah is an Egyptian activist, software developer, and blogger. After being sentenced to a month of jail in absentia, he received a five years sentence in… More
Şebnem Korur Fincancı, Ahmet Nesin, and Erol Önderoğlu | Status: On Trial | Turkey
Şebnem Korur Fincancı, Ahmet Nesin, and Erol Önderoğlu are human rights defenders and journalists. On June 20, 2016, they were arrested and questioned about their involvement in a freedom… More
Roman Sushchenko | Status: Released | Russia
Roman Sushchenko, a Ukrainian journalist, was detained in Moscow on September 30, 2016, on charges of espionage, and has since been detained in Lefortovo Prison. Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB)… More
Nazlı Ilıcak | Status: Conditional Release | Turkey
Nazli Ilicak, a 72-year-old veteran journalist, former member of parliament, and avid supporter of democracy, was arrested as part of a crackdown following an attempted coup in July 2016.… More
Liu Jingsheng | Status: Released | China
Liu Jingsheng is a peaceful opposition activist and a former co-editor of Tansuo (Explorations), a journal he founded in the late 1970s along with Wei Jingsheng. More
Shiva Nazar Ahari | Status: Released | Iran
Shiva Nazar Ahari is an Iranian journalist, blogger, and human rights activist and former political prisoner. More
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