OUT OF SIGHT,
NOT OUT OF REACH
The Global Scale and Scope
of Transnational Repression
232
Ayman M. Mohyeldin, “No One Is Safe: How Saudi Arabia Makes Dissidents
Disappear,” Vanity Fair, July 29, 2019, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/07/
how-saudi-arabia-makes-dissidents-disappear; Human Rights Watch, “Saudi
Arabia: Reveal Young Poet’s Whereabouts,” June 13, 2018, https://www.
hrw.org/news/2018/06/13/saudi-arabia-reveal-young-poets-whereabouts;
Amnesty International, “Urgent Action: Qatari National Arbitrarily Held
Incommunicado,” June 18, 2018, https://www.amnesty.org/download/
Documents/MDE2385812018ENGLISH.pdf.
245
Freedom House, “Saudi Arabia,” Freedom in the World, 2020, https://
freedomhouse.org/country/saudi-arabia/freedom-world/2020.
246
233
Human Rights Watch, “Saudi Arabia: Travel Restrictions on Saudi Women
Lifted,” August 22, 2019, https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/08/22/saudi-arabiatravel-restrictions-saudi-women-lifted. Human Rights Watch, “Saudi Arabia’s
Absher App: Controlling Women’s Travel While Offering Government
Services,” May 6, 2019, https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/05/06/saudiarabias-absher-app-controlling-womens-travel-while-offering-government;
Hillary Leung, “What to Know About Absher, Saudi Arabia’s Controversial
‘Woman-Tracking’ App,” Time, February 19, 2019, https://time.com/5532221/
absher-saudi-arabia-what-to-know/.
234
David Ignatius, “Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Uses Travel
Restrictions to Consolidate Power,” Washington Post, June 18,
2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/06/18/
saudi-arabias-crown-prince-uses-travel-restrictions-consolidate-power/.
235
Human Rights Watch, “Fleeing Woman Returned to Saudi Arabia Against
Her Will,” April 14, 2017, https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/04/14/fleeing-womanreturned-saudi-arabia-against-her-will; “Flying Without a Man: The Mysterious
Case of Dina Ali,” British Broadcasting Corporation, June 1, 2017, https://www.
bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-40105983.
236
Donna Abu-Nasr and Vivian Nereim, “What Damage Control Looks Like in
Saudi Arabia,” Bloomberg, October 18, 2018, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/
articles/2018-10-18/the-khashoggi-case-and-the-climate-of-fear-in-saudi-arabia.
Borzou Daragahi, “This TV Executive Had a Lot of Enemies and Now He Is
Dead,” BuzzFeed News, May 2, 2017, https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/
borzoudaragahi/this-tv-executive-had-a-lot-of-enemies-and-now-he-is-dead.
Robert-Jan Bartunek and John Irish, “Iran Diplomat Among Six
Arrested over Suspected Plot against Opposition Meeting,” Reuters, July
2, 2018, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-attacks-belgium-iran/
iran-diplomat-among-six-arrested-over-suspected-plot-against-oppositionmeeting-idUSKBN1JS1C3.
247
Steven Erlanger, “Iranian Diplomat Accused of Plotting to Bomb
Dissidents Goes on Trial in Belgium,” New York Times, November 27, 2020,
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/27/world/europe/iran-dissidents-bombassadi-belgium.html.
248
Martin Selsoe Sorensen, “Iran Accused of Plot to Assassinate Dissident
in Denmark,” New York Times, November 1, 2018, https://www.nytimes.
com/2018/11/01/world/europe/denmark-assassination-iran.html; “Denmark
Calls in Saudi Envoy over Arab Separatist Plot,” The Local, June 11, 2020,
https://www.thelocal.dk/20200611/denmark-calls-in-saudi-envoy-over-arabseperatist-plot. In a twist two years later, Danish authorities arrested the
target of the assassination plot and two others on accusations of spying for
Saudi Arabia.
249
Benet Koleka, “Albania Says it Foiled Iranian Plot
to Attack Exiled Dissidents,” Reuters, October 23,
2019, https://in.reuters.com/article/uk-albania-iran/
albania-says-it-foiled-iranian-plot-to-attack-exiled-dissidents-idINKBN1X22CN.
237
250
Sarah Aziza, “The Saudi Government’s Global Campaign to Silence Its
Critics,” New Yorker, January 15, 2019, https://www.newyorker.com/news/
dispatch/the-saudi-governments-global-campaign-to-silence-its-critics.
251
238
Freedom House documented physical cases of transnational repression in
six countries; “everyday” forms of transnational repression were documented
in an additional three countries.
239
240
Freedom House interview with Iranian exile, November 2019.
Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, “No Safe Haven: Iran’s
Global Assassination Campaign,” February 3, 2011, https://iranhrdc.org/
no-safe-haven-irans-global-assassination-campaign.
241
Michael Lipin, “Assassination of Top Nuclear Scientist Highlights
Iran’s Security Weakness,” Voice of America, November 28,
2020, https://www.voanews.com/middle-east/voa-news-iran/
assassination-top-nuclear-scientist-highlights-irans-security-weakness.
242
“Arrest of Terror Group’s Head Showed Power of
Iranian Intelligence Forces: MP,” Tehran Times, August
4, 2020, https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/450870/
Arrest-of-terror-group-s-head-showed-power-of-Iranian-intelligence.
243
“De moorden die Iran in Nederland zou hebben gepleegd” [The murders
that Iran is alleged to have committed in the Netherlands], NU.nl, January 8,
2019, https://www.nu.nl/dvn/5671358/de-moorden-die-iran-in-nederland-zouhebben-gepleegd.html.
244
70
“Exclusive: Iranian Diplomats Instigated Killing of Dissident in Istanbul,
Turkish Officials Say,” Reuters, March 27, 2020, https://www.reuters.com/
article/us-turkey-iran-killing-exclusive/exclusive-iranian-diplomats-instigatedkilling-of-dissident-in-istanbul-turkish-officials-say-idUSKBN21E3FU; Humeyra
Pamuk, “US Believes Iran Was ‘Directly Involved’ in Killing of Iranian
Dissident in Turkey,” Reuters, April 1, 2020, https://www.reuters.com/article/
us-turkey-iran-killing-usa/u-s-believes-iran-was-directly-involved-in-killing-ofiranian-dissident-in-turkey-idUSKBN21K027.
@FreedomHouse
Yaghoub Fazeli, “Iraqi Govt. Source Challenges IRGC’s Story
of Arrest of Iranian Dissident,” Al Arabiya, October 18, 2019,
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2019/10/18/
Iraqi-govt-source-challenges-IRGC-s-story-of-arrest-of-Iranian-dissident.
“Ruhollah Zam: Iran ‘Arrests Exiled Journalist’ for Fanning
Unrest,” British Broadcasting Corporation, October 14, 2019, https://
www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-50045089; Reporters
Without Borders, “Tehran Court Sentences AmadNews Editor
Rouhollah Zam to Death,” June 30, 2020, https://rsf.org/en/news/
tehran-court-sentences-amadnews-editor-rouhollah-zam-death.
252
“Iran Arrests Fugitive Businessman Accused Of Corruption,” Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty, November 13, 2019, https://www.rferl.org/a/iranarrests-fugitive-businessman-accused-of-corruption/30269958.html.
253
“Family Tells AP: Iran Abducted California Man While in Dubai,” Voice
of America, August 4, 2020, https://www.voanews.com/middle-east/
voa-news-iran/family-tells-ap-iran-abducted-california-man-while-dubai.
254
Kaamil Ahmed, “Iran Arrests Leading Arab Separatist Figure Abroad,”
Middle East Eye, November 1, 2020, https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/
iran-arrests-sunni-separatist-leader-abroad.
255
David Keyton and Jan M. Olsen, “Sweden Charges Iraqi Man with Spying for
Iran,” November 6, 2019, Associated Press, November 6, 2019, https://apnews.
com/article/08bc907cd58b47758d0e66c2af14f9c1.
256
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