전쟁 중 작가 탄압 심화…러시아 등 10개국에서 18명 구속
As Governments Silence Critics During War, Writers Are Among the First to Pay the Price - Just Security
전체적인 정치 리스크에 대한 보고서로, 시장이나 특정 종목에 즉각적인 영향력이 없습니다. 따라서 중립적인 입장을 유지합니다.
핵심 요약
PEN America의 2025년 보고서에 따르면, 러시아 등 10개국에서 작가를 구속 중이며, 미국은 첫 번째로 1명의 평론가를 구금했습니다.
핵심요약
- PEN America의 2025년 보고서에 따르면, 세계 10개국이 작가를 가장 많이 구속하는 국가로 등재되었습니다.
- 러시아, 이란, 이스라엘 등은 인권 침해와 연관되어 있으며, 미국은 첫 번째로 영국 평론가 사미 함디를 구금한 것으로 등재되었습니다.
- 전쟁 중 자유 표현 탄압이 심화되고 있으며, 러시아에서는 2022년 18명의 작가가 구금되었습니다.
- 우크라이나와 가자地에서는 문화 시설이 파괴되며 자유 표현의 근간이 흔들리고 있습니다.
도입
이번 보고서는 전쟁 중 자유 표현 탄압이 어떻게 심화되는지 보여주며, 투자자에게는 지정학적 리스크가 높아질 수 있음을 시사합니다. 특히 문화 산업과 관련 기업에 대한 영향이 주목됩니다.
본문 1: 전쟁 중 자유 표현 탄압의 심화
PEN America의 보고서에 따르면, 세계 10개국이 작가를 가장 많이 구속하는 국가로 등재되었습니다. 러시아, 이란, 이스라엘 등은 인권 침해와 연관되어 있으며, 미국은 첫 번째로 영국 평론가 사미 함디를 구금한 것으로 등재되었습니다. 이는 전쟁 중 정부가 자유 표현을 억압하는 경향이 있음을 보여줍니다. 이러한 탄압은 문화 산업과 관련 기업에 부정적인 영향을 미칠 수 있습니다.
본문 2: 문화 산업의 파괴와 장기적 영향
우크라이나와 가자地에서는 전쟁으로 인해 문화 시설이 파괴되며 자유 표현의 근간이 흔들리고 있습니다. 이는 장기적으로 문화 산업의 성장 가능성을 제한할 수 있습니다. 특히, 문화 산업에 투자한 기업들은 이러한 리스크를 고려해야 합니다. 또한, 자유 표현의 억압은 사회적 불안정을 초래할 수 있으며, 이는 경제 전반에 부정적인 영향을 미칠 수 있습니다.
본문 3: 국제사회의 대응과 미래 전망
국제사회는 자유 표현의 중요성을 강조하며, 전쟁 중 탄압에 대한 대응을 강화해야 합니다. 이는 문화 산업과 관련 기업에 긍정적인 영향을 미칠 수 있습니다. 그러나, 이러한 대응이 효과적으로 이루어지려면 국제사회의 협력이 필수적입니다. 미래에는 자유 표현의 중요성이 더욱 부각될 가능성이 있으며, 이는 문화 산업의 성장 가능성을 높일 수 있습니다.
결론
이번 보고서는 전쟁 중 자유 표현 탄압이 어떻게 심화되는지 보여주며, 투자자에게는 지정학적 리스크가 높아질 수 있음을 시사합니다. 문화 산업과 관련 기업에 대한 영향이 주목되며, 국제사회의 협력이 중요합니다. 미래에는 자유 표현의 중요성이 더욱 부각될 가능성이 있으며, 이는 문화 산업의 성장 가능성을 높일 수 있습니다.
Original Article
As Governments Silence Critics During War, Writers Are Among the First to Pay the Price - Just Security
War often gives governments license to curtail freedom of expression, and writers are often among the first to pay the price, because they question official narratives, test the boundaries of permissible speech, and invite others to do the same. Recently, U.S. President Donald Trump, within inches of a journalist’s face on Air Force One, accused him of treason, after the reporter asked a simple news-gathering question about the possibility the United States might renew attacks on Iran: “What would be the use in repeating the bombing?”
Time and again, those who write about war — be they novelists, commentators, poets, or even economists — suffer the consequences. It is no coincidence that three of the world’s 10 most prolific jailers of writers — Russia, Iran, and Israel — have also been implicated in grave human rights abuses. Russia is waging a brutal war in Ukraine, Iran has a long record of violent repression and mass atrocities against civilians and dissidents, and Israel has been accused by United Nations bodies and independent experts of committing genocidal acts in Gaza. The United States made its first appearance as a jailer of writers in PEN America’s Freedom to Write Index for 2025 by holding a known critic of the Israeli government – British commentator Sami Hamdi – in ICE detention.
Crackdowns on writers, culture, and free expression during wartime emerged as a key trend in the data gathered by PEN America for this year’s Freedom to Write Index , which tracks cases of writers jailed 48 hours or more.
The scars on free expression caused by war run deep and last years. As well as silencing critical voices, war destroys the very institutions of culture that writers seek to preserve and be part of. We see this in Gaza, where libraries, universities, and bookshops lie in ruins, and in Ukraine , which has been bearing witness to cultural destruction by Russia for more than a decade. In Russia itself, authorities held 18 writers in prison or detention in 2025, most for their anti-war expression or their suspected involvement in such expression, continuing a trend that began in 2022 following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Most of Russia’s cases are long-standing, reflecting its sustained crackdown on any anti-war speech, but as if underlining its commitment to suppressing anti-war speech, a Russian military court in March sentenced historian and columnist Alexander Skobov to 16 years in prison for his anti-war stance on social media.
The pattern of imprisoning writers during times of war is also clear in Iran, where writers face mounting danger from both deepening internal repression in 2025 and this year and the ongoing life-threatening consequences of Israeli and U.S. airstrikes. Iran’s sweeping roundup of critical voices — both established and emerging — meant that it had the biggest jump in cases of imprisoned writers, with a 23 percent spike in cases (from 43 in 2024 to 53 in 2025). Among those was one of Iran’s most prominent public intellectuals and economists, Parviz Sedaghat , whose writing included criticism of the Iranian regime’s policies as well as opposition to western sanctions and foreign intervention by the likes of Israel and the United States.
Long before the outbreak of the 12-day Israeli and U.S. bombing, including of Iran’s nuclear facilities, in June 2025, Iran had one of the world’s worst records on free expression. The June war and its aftermath further narrowed the space for dissent, with reports of arrests of dissident scholars, poets, and activists. As the conflict unfolded, some anti-government protesters hoped that U.S. pressure or even military action, encouraged by rhetoric from Trump suggesting the possibility of regime change, might weaken or dislodge the Islamic Republic. Instead, the Iranian authorities used the crisis to justify renewed repression. At the same time, military strikes by Israel and the United States heightened the risks facing those writers already wrongfully detained, including writers held in notorious prisons such as Evin in Tehran.
Israeli authorities have also cracked down on Israeli writers who spoke out against the June 2025 Iran war or who criticized Israel’s actions in Gaza. Israeli writer and journalist Israel Frey, for example, was detained and charged with terrorism after commenting on the deaths of five Israeli soldiers in Gaza. Five Palestinian writers – journalists Mohamed Al-Atrash, Nawaf El-Amer, Radwan Qatanani, and Rula Hassanein, as well as scholar Anwar Rostom — were detained either on charges of incitement or with no charges at all, clearly targeted for their commentary on the war in Gaza.
The inclusion of the United States in the Index for the first time reflects a troubling willingness by the U.S. government to use immigration detention and other coercive state powers against individuals whose speech challenges government policy, including foreign policy. Sami Hamdi was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in October 2025 during a speaking tour in the United States, despite not being accused of any crime. Hamdi agreed to leave the United States after he was released and the authorities allowed him to depart for the United Kingdom without a removal order.
Hamdi’s case did not occur in isolation. The Trump administration has targeted pro-Palestinian voices through visa revocations, detention, and deportation proceedings. Among the most widely reported cases was that of Turkish doctoral student and writer Rumeysa Öztürk, who was detained after co-authoring a student newspaper opinion piece calling on her university to respond more forcefully to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The use of detention or immigration enforcement in response to peaceful expression sends a chilling message: that criticism of government policy, particularly in times of war, may carry personal consequences beyond public debate.
The appearance of the United States in the Index matters, not only for the individual writers who lose their freedom and their voices, but also because when a country that has long claimed to champion free expression begins detaining writers for their speech, it weakens the global norm that writers must be free to challenge power, especially in times of conflict.
Beyond the Index’s “top 10 jailers,” wars and conflicts are a threat to free speech in other places, too. In India, scholar and online commentator Ali Khan Mahmudabad was detained because of his criticism of his government’s “Operation Sindoor,” a May 2025 missile assault on Pakistani military bases in retaliation for attacks the previous month in India-controlled Kashmir.
So even when writers around the world are separated by country and/or language and by medium, they are connected by a willingness to question authority and the courage to disrupt the steady drumbeat of war and atrocities. An attack on even one writer should be read as a warning to everyone else that the right to dissent is in danger. Their imprisonment demands solidarity from all who value free expression: fellow writers who raise their voices, publishers and media outlets that keep their stories alive, advocates who campaign for their release, and governments that use diplomatic channels to challenge repression. The most effective response to the silencing of writers is to ensure that their words — and the principles they represent — continue to be heard.
Liesl Gerntholtz ( LinkedIn ) is the managing director of the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Center at PEN America.