{"id":123064,"date":"2025-04-25T12:36:56","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T09:36:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shiawaves.com\/english\/?p=123064"},"modified":"2025-04-25T12:37:00","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T09:37:00","slug":"pen-america-warns-of-growing-threats-to-free-speech-as-global-writer-imprisonments-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shiawaves.com\/english\/human-rights\/123064-pen-america-warns-of-growing-threats-to-free-speech-as-global-writer-imprisonments-rise\/","title":{"rendered":"PEN America Warns of Growing Threats to Free Speech as Global Writer Imprisonments Rise"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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\u2014a 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\u2019s policies are stoking fears of McCarthy-era-style censorship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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)\u2014a stark contrast to its democratic claims. Russia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Turkey also feature prominently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PEN America\u2019s director, Karin Deutsch Karlekar, cited the case of R\u00fcmeysa \u00d6zt\u00fcrk, a Turkish Fulbright scholar detained for criticizing Israel\u2019s Gaza offensive, as emblematic of a broader &#8220;chilling effect&#8221; 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"775\" height=\"504\" src=\"https:\/\/shiawaves.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/04\/Screenshot-2025-04-25-123336.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-123066\" style=\"width:840px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shiawaves.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/04\/Screenshot-2025-04-25-123336.png 775w, https:\/\/shiawaves.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/04\/Screenshot-2025-04-25-123336-300x195.png 300w, https:\/\/shiawaves.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/04\/Screenshot-2025-04-25-123336-768x499.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 775px) 100vw, 775px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PEN\u2019s index generally includes fiction authors, poets, singer-songwriters, online writers and opinion writers, while excluding journalists who write news reports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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 &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":123065,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"yes","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_108372464460192_245495985553329":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[13837],"tags":[13839,13838],"class_list":["post-123064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-human-rights","tag-global-writer-imprisonments","tag-growing-threats-to-free-speech"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>PEN America Warns of Growing Threats to Free Speech as Global Writer Imprisonments Rise - Shia Waves<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/shiawaves.com\/english\/human-rights\/123064-pen-america-warns-of-growing-threats-to-free-speech-as-global-writer-imprisonments-rise\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"PEN America Warns of Growing Threats to Free Speech as Global Writer Imprisonments Rise - Shia Waves\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"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. 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