Saudi Arabia’s murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Belarus’ hijacking of a plane to arrest opposition journalist Roman Protasevich, and Rwanda’s forceful rendition of Hotel Rwanda hero Paul Rusesabagina are the most well-known examples of transnational repression by authoritarian regimes. They are part of a larger trend documented in a recent Freedom House report with more than 600 examples of regimes (most notoriously China, Iran, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey) aggressively reaching across the globe to silence or intimidate dissidents in exile. This panel will examine the practice of transnational repression, particularly as it targets independent journalists.
