Iran, the great prison of writers
A new report by Pen of America paints a shocking picture of the escalating crackdown on free speech in the Islamic Republic, where writers, poets, translators, and scholars face imprisonment, interrogation, and security profiling simply for writing, criticizing, or defending human rights. Iran is now the second-largest prison for writers in the world, after China, a position that more than anything else reflects the government’s fear of words and thought.
In its latest report, PEN America, the International Writers' Association (PEN America), has announced that the Islamic Republic of Iran remains one of the world's leading violators of freedom of expression and has the highest number of imprisoned writers after China. The international organization has announced that the number of imprisoned writers in Iran was 43 in 2024; a figure that has been estimated as high as 53 in some supplementary reports and human rights monitoring.
According to the report, the new wave of repression in Iran, especially after the “Women, Life, Freedom” protests, has never stopped and has only taken on a more security-oriented form. In recent years, the Islamic Republic’s security and judicial institutions have arrested and imprisoned not only journalists, but also poets, songwriters, translators, academic researchers, independent writers, and even cyberspace activists on charges such as “propaganda against the system” or “acting against national security.”
The Pen of America report highlights that the Iranian government has specifically targeted female writers and cultural activists. According to the report, Iran had the highest number of imprisoned female writers in the world in 2024, demonstrating that gender repression and the suppression of free speech in the Islamic Republic are systematically intertwined.
Part of the report also mentions the heightened security environment following the 12-day war between Iran and Israel. Pen of America warns that the Islamic Republic has used the atmosphere of war and regional tension as an excuse to silence critical voices and has begun a new wave of arrests of writers and civil society activists.
Karin Deutsch Karlkar, director of the Writers at Risk program at PEN America, said of the situation in Iran: “The authorities in the Islamic Republic of Iran are drawing the most attention for their ruthless campaign against independent voices. Poets, translators, scholars, songwriters, opinion writers, human rights defenders, and columnists are all languishing in Iranian prisons, while the government seeks to silence debate, criticism, and dissent.”
This is not the first time that Iran has been at the top of the list of violators of freedom of writing. In previous years, cases such as the imprisonment of Bektash Abtin, Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraei, Reza Khandan, and dozens of other writers and poets had attracted widespread attention from international institutions and prominent writers around the world. Even figures such as Margaret Atwood and J.M. Coetzee had called for the release of imprisoned writers in Iran in international campaigns.
What the new report by Pen of America reveals is not just a statistic; it is a clear picture of a government that fears the free flow of thought and views the pen as a security threat. In the Islamic Republic, being a writer can be a crime; a crime whose punishment ranges from summons and interrogation to imprisonment, torture, and social exclusion.
