The US has for the first time been named alongside China, Iran and Russia on a global watchlist of countries that are cracking down on freedom of expression following repeated threats made by Donald Trump against journalists.
PEN America’s Freedom to Write Index, released on Tuesday, found that a total of 401 writers were jailed across 44 countries, an increase from 375 writers in 40 countries the year before.
The US was one of four new countries to be included in the index following the two-week-long detention of British opinion writer Sami Hamdi, an outspoken critic of Israel, by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in October 2025.
“The fact that the United States is in our Freedom to Write Index for the first time should be a sharp wake-up call for everyone in the country who claims to value free expression,” said Liesl Gerntholtz, managing director of the Freedom To Write Center.
“No government can misuse its own detention and immigration systems to silence or intimidate independent voices and call itself a democracy.”
Leading the 2025 index is China, which has consistently remained at the top of the list since its inception seven years ago. There are 119 writers behind bars across mainland China, the autonomous regions, and Hong Kong, with another 166 at risk, PEN says.
The report comes amid the backdrop of a critical state visit by Trump to China, where he is due to meet President Xi Jinping on Thursday for talks aimed at de-escalating growing economic tensions between the two and addressing the crisis in Iran.
Iran and Russia, the other two of Washington’s largest adversaries on the world stage, are respectively placed second and seventh on the Freedom to Write Index.
America’s close allies are also dotted throughout the top 10. Saudi Arabia, which had 27 writers jailed last year, was placed third, while Israel, which has continued its suppression of both Palestinian and non-Palestinian dissenting voices and jailed 21, is placed sixth.
Other countries ranked in the top 10 worst for freedom of expression included Vietnam, Turkey, Belarus, Egypt and Myanmar.
Mr Hamdi was arrested by US immigration agents at San Francisco International Airport on 26 October last year, after speaking at a gala for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), in California.
His wife Soumaya Hamdi said that, during his time in detention, the father-of-three had suffered a medical emergency while in custody and experienced delays in treatment.
His detention was one of the latest high-profile attempts by Trump’s administration to identify and potentially expel thousands of foreigners who it says have either fomented or participated in unrest, or publicly supported protests against Israel’s military operations in Gaza.
But Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin was unapologetic in a statement following the journalist’s arrest.
“Under President Trump, those who support terrorism and undermine American national security will not be allowed to work or visit this country,” she said.
