PEN America Warns of Growing Threats to Free Speech as Global Writer Imprisonments Rise

Global writer imprisonments hit 375 in 2024 as PEN warns of rising U.S. censorship threats under Trump, with China, Iran, and Israel top jailers.

Writers in the United States face escalating risks amid a global crackdown on free speech, PEN America warned in its annual Freedom to Write Index, revealing that 375 writers were jailed worldwide in 2024—a sixth consecutive yearly increase, The Guardian reported. The report highlights a troubling shift as repression spreads to countries historically known for open expression, including the U.S., where the Trump administration’s policies are stoking fears of McCarthy-era-style censorship.

China remains the worst offender, imprisoning 118 writers (up from 107 in 2023), followed by Iran (43, down from 49) and Israel (21, including 8 held without trial)—a stark contrast to its democratic claims. Russia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Turkey also feature prominently.

PEN America’s director, Karin Deutsch Karlekar, cited the case of Rümeysa Öztürk, a Turkish Fulbright scholar detained for criticizing Israel’s Gaza offensive, as emblematic of a broader “chilling effect” in the U.S. She warned that domestic writers could soon appear in the index, citing rising self-censorship on issues like Palestine and climate change rights under government pressure.

The report underscores how attacks on writers precede broader democratic erosion, urging democracies to defend free expression globally. With the U.S. retreating from its role as a human rights advocate, PEN warns the trend could worsen imprisonments abroad.

PEN’s index generally includes fiction authors, poets, singer-songwriters, online writers and opinion writers, while excluding journalists who write news reports.