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. Sami Hamdi was arrested by ICE in October 2025 (Instagram/FreeSamiHamdi) “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.…