For those who flee authoritarian regimes in search of freedom, the right to speak, think and assemble without fear of reprisal should be guaranteed. But new data from Freedom House reveals that even in Western democracies, exiles are increasingly denied these fundamental rights. In 2024 alone, 23 governments engaged in ‘transnational repression’, which involves the systematic use of coercion, surveillance and violence to silence political activists, journalists, religious minorities and dissidents living abroad.
According to the human rights group, there were 160 incidents of physical transnational repression across 34 countries last year, including assassinations, abductions, unlawful deportation and detentions. Over the past decade, 1,219 documented incidents demonstrate a disturbing global trend: authoritarian governments are no longer content to crush dissent within their own countries. They are also reaching into foreign jurisdictions to do the same thing.
“Regimes around the world are working to silence their critics even after they have sought refuge abroad,” said Annie Boyajian, interim co-president of Freedom House. “This is a growing problem that is critical to address.” The assumption that exile guarantees safety and free expression – long considered a pillar of democratic asylum – is under serious threat.
Freedom House’s findings highlight the range of methods authoritarian states now use to suppress free speech beyond their borders.
In Kenya, 36 Ugandan activists were abducted and forcibly returned to Uganda, where they were charged with “receiving terrorist training” for attending a civil society workshop. In Thailand, Cambodian activists were detained and deported for posting critical comments about their government on Facebook. Others were arrested ahead of planned protests against Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet.
Even in Europe, where many dissidents seek refuge, transnational repression is becoming more common. In March, China’s Ministry of State Security operatives attempted to kidnap a dissident at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris and force him onto a flight back to China.
Reports surfaced in July 2024 that Saudi activists living in the UK had been subjected to death threats and intimidation for speaking out against their home country’s record on women’s rights. Freedom House has documented multiple instances of Saudi Arabia targeting exiles for their advocacy on human rights issues.
Saudi journalist and filmmaker Safa al-Ahmad described the risks facing dissidents abroad, highlighting the impunity with which the Saudi regime operates. “If they decide to go after you, there’s no place that’s really safe,” she told The Guardian. “When they decide to kidnap someone, they can do it in any country. They murdered [the journalist] Jamal [Khashoggi] and now it’s business as usual. They were never held accountable [for the killing].”
Earlier this year it emerged that Hong Kong police had offered financial rewards for information leading to the arrests of six pro-democracy activists in the UK and Canada, with a bounty of HK$1m (£103,000) on each of them, sparking renewed concerns about transnational repression under Beijing’s draconian National Security Law.
The law, imposed in 2000 ostensibly to restore order after widespread anti-government unrest, effectively dismantled Hong Kong’s autonomy. Troublingly, it criminalises acts deemed as subversion, terrorism or collusion with foreign forces, while granting Chinese and Hong Kong authorities extra-territorial jurisdiction to pursue people globally for actions committed outside Hong Kong.
Iran has also demonstrated a readiness to threaten the lives of exiles. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps has orchestrated a Europe-wide campaign of harassment, surveillance and intimidation, targeting activists who have spoken out against the regime. According to The Guardian, at least 15 dissidents across the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and Sweden have been warned by Western security agencies that Iran is behind credible threats to their life.
In March 2024, a counter-terrorism investigation was launched after Pouria Zeraati, a British-Iranian journalist with Iran International – a Persian-language media outlet critical of the Iranian government – was stabbed near his home in Wimbledon. The attack left him with leg injuries and raised serious concerns about the safety of exiled journalists in the UK.
The incident is part of a pattern of increasing threats and violence against Iranian dissidents in Britain, and Iran International has long been a target. In 2023, it was forced to relocate its UK headquarters to the US after police warned that it was in imminent danger from Iranian operatives.
Security analysts have pointed to evidence that Mr Zeraati’s attackers were acting at the behest of Tehran. Karim Sadjadpour, a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, described the attack as a “wake-up call” for the West, warning: “Iran is actively trying to kill reporters and activists in the West and nearly succeeded in the middle of London. Next time we may not be so lucky.”
The stabbing of Mr Zeraati followed a plot to assassinate two Iran International news anchors – Sima Sabet and Fardad Farahzad – uncovered late last year. The UK government has disrupted multiple Iranian-backed assassination and abduction attempts on exiled activists and journalists.
The data from Freedom House confirms how widespread transnational repression has become, with authoritarian governments seeking to ensure that even those who flee their regimes remain subject to their control – including those in Western democracies.
As Yana Gorokhovskaia, Research Director at Freedom House, points out: “With a quarter of the world’s governments attempting to silence dissent across borders, democratic governments and civil society must take more concrete actions to defend and protect those facing this growing threat.”
