The literature and human rights organisation awarded Baktash Abtin, Keyvan Bajan and Reza Khandan Mahabadi the 2021 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award.

The trio are serving a combined 15.5 years in prison for their involvement with the Iranian Writers Association (IWA), an anti-censorship group.

PEN paid tribute to them at a star-studded gala at New York’s American Museum of Natural History after last year’s event was held virtually because of the pandemic.

“They are writers who are called not only to offer prose and ideas on a page, but to live fearlessly and sacrifice immensely in service of the liberties that underpin free thought, art, culture and creativity,” PEN CEO Suzanne Nossel said ahead of the event.

Poet and screenwriter, Abtin novelist and journalist Bajan, and Mahabadi, an author and literary critic, have been imprisoned in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison since September last year.

Abtin and Mahabadi contracted Covid there and have not received proper hospital treatment for other ailments, according to PEN.

Some 800 guests attended the gala, which is typically the highlight of New York’s literary calendar.

Star of “The Farewell” Awkwafina hosted the event, while Foster and Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka helped present the awards.

The gala is the latest New York cultural highlight to return following the pandemic after last month’s Met Gala.