--- title: How Authoritarian Regimes Go After Exiled Journalists description: New research by Freedom House shows how dozens of journalists are being targeted in Europe and North America. canonical: https://time.com/6342534/transnational-repression-freedom-house/ author: Michael J. Michael J. Abramowitz article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-12-06T16:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:49:56.082Z article:section: Ideas og:title: How Authoritarian Regimes Go After Exiled Journalists og:description: They are increasingly assaulting, harassing, and silence journalists. og:url: https://time.com/6342534/transnational-repression-freedom-house/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf9153269fe7b2fbc/698a42fd0116820469983b43/exiled-journalists-authoritarian-regimes-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: exiled-journalists-authoritarian-regimes-01 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Authoritarian Regimes Go After Exiled Journalists twitter:description: They are increasingly assaulting, harassing, and silence journalists. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf9153269fe7b2fbc/698a42fd0116820469983b43/exiled-journalists-authoritarian-regimes-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Authoritarian Regimes Go After Journalists Beyond Their Borders > Sponsored content. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=cc393ef4-ed12-42b2-99f7-fc74a02273f0&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) by [Michael J. Michael J. Abramowitz](https://time.com/author/michael-j-abramowitz/) and [Jessica White](https://time.com/author/jessica-white/) Dec 6, 2023 4:00 PM UTC  Human rights activists hold a banner calling for justice for the late Jamal Khashoggi during an event to rename the street outside the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Jamal Khashoggi Way in Washington, D.C., on June 15, 2022. Human rights activists hold a banner calling for justice for the late Jamal Khashoggi during an event to rename the street outside the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Jamal Khashoggi Way in Washington, D.C., on June 15, 2022. Nathan Howard—Getty Images by [Michael J. Michael J. Abramowitz](https://time.com/author/michael-j-abramowitz/) and [Jessica White](https://time.com/author/jessica-white/) Dec 6, 2023 4:00 PM UTC Authoritarian campaigns to clamp down on dissent and control the media have driven scores of journalists from countries like Afghanistan, Belarus, Hong Kong, Myanmar, Nicaragua, and Russia into exile. But what is increasingly different today is that the repression of a free press does not stop at the border. Authoritarian governments are in unprecedented ways harassing, intimidating, and silencing independent voices far beyond their jurisdictions—a phenomenon known as “[transnational repression](https://time.com/6319450/transnational-repression-nijjar-khashoggi/).” Freedom House has [identified](https://freedomhouse.org/report/transnational-repression) 112 incidents against journalists from 2014 to 2023, spanning assault, detention, unlawful deportation, rendition, and even assassination. The shocking news of Saudi Arabia’s assassination and dismemberment of _Washington Post_ columnist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 may come most to mind—but at least 25 other governments have targeted journalists abroad. **Read More:** [_The Long Arm of Transnational Repression_](https://time.com/6319450/transnational-repression-nijjar-khashoggi/) This repression is linked to a [global decline in democracy](https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2023/marking-50-years) itself, as attacks on independent media continue to increase around the world. From their new homes in Europe and North America, over a dozen journalists interviewed by Freedom House revealed how transnational repression imperils their physical and psychological safety and makes their work that much more difficult. Russian journalist Galina Timchenko, who cofounded the Latvia-based online media outlet Meduza, takes onerous security precautions when traveling, knowing that other Russian journalists in Europe have been [poisoned](https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/exiled-russian-journalist-describes-poisoning-ordeal-german-train-2023-08-26/). Kiyya Baloch, a freelance journalist from the Balochistan region of Pakistan, was advised to get a safety alarm from law enforcement in Norway, where he sought refuge, after Pakistani authorities threatened him and placed him on an antiterrorism watchlist. The threat of being physically harmed, arrested, or kidnapped is only the tip of the iceberg. Journalists are frequently targeted online with death threats, smear campaigns, surveillance, and cyberattacks. Female journalists from [Iran](https://www.article19.org/resources/online-harassment-against-women-journalists-in-the-iranian-diaspora/) to [China](https://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/harassment-03202023133743.html) face vicious abuse, including rape threats and the dissemination of personal information. This digital peril has not only become a grueling fact of life for many journalists but has also become a professional obstacle: exiled journalists are undermined by these tactics as they seek to build credibility with audiences and communicate safely with their sources, limiting their ability to pursue sensitive stories and expand their reach. Many exiled journalists also worry about reprisals and harassment against relatives back home. In Xinjiang, the Muslim-majority northwest Chinese region, authorities have bullied critics into silence by threatening their families. Now working as a journalist for Radio Free Asia in the U.S., Gulchehra Hoja is [one of several](https://www.rfa.org/english/news/special/uyghurfamilies/) exiled Uyghurs whose families have been targeted in apparent retaliation for their reporting on Beijing’s human rights abuses. Over 20 of her relatives back home were harassed and arbitrarily detained by Chinese authorities, and some are believed to be held in internment camps.  Radio Free Asia reporter Gulchehra Hoja testifies before the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations Subcommittee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill on May 16, 2019. Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images **Read More:** [_‘Fear Follows Every Uyghur.’ A Groundbreaking Book Details China’s Repression in Xinjiang_](https://time.com/6300065/china-uyghur-tahir-hamut-izgil-book/) Western democracies, where most of these exiled journalists end up, owe a duty of care to them. Governments should consistently record incidents and perpetrators to raise awareness about the threat. For instance, the U.S. State Department should continue to strengthen its section on transnational repression in its annual [country reports](https://www.state.gov/reports-bureau-of-democracy-human-rights-and-labor/country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/) on human rights practices. Governments should also apply more international pressure, foremost among them the U.S., through sanctions and the use of diplomatic channels, to send a strong signal to repressive regimes that their cross-border attacks will not be tolerated in free societies. Some affected journalists—including Uyghur reporters in the U.S. whose relatives have been targeted in China—have appealed to diplomats to advocate for them in bilateral meetings. But they would benefit from more practical follow-up and public interventions on their behalf. Support for victims must also be bolstered. For the Farsi-language news channel Iran International, headquartered in London, intervention from British police was crucial in ensuring a [safe return](https://www.iranintl.com/en/202309250985) of the U.K. in September, months after they were forced to relocate staff to the U.S. in response to a spate of death threats from Tehran against their staff. Host countries’ resettlement programs should be robust and efficient, so that journalists forced into exile need not fear obstacles that threaten their legal status, including illegitimate criminal charges launched by the regimes they left behind. Finally, exiled journalists and the outlets they often continue to run, need enough resources to track and respond to physical and digital attacks and provide psychosocial support for affected colleagues. Donor networks are a lifeline for recently exiled journalists, and programs like the [JX Fund](https://jx-fund.org/)—a transnational alliance of media, civil society, and funders—are instrumental in providing vital resources for journalists to carry on with their work. If autocrats are allowed to silence journalists with impunity, the link that connects the world to vital insights into some of the most authoritarian countries may be permanently severed. Governments, social media platforms, and civil society all have a stake in defending those that speak truth to power, because threats that follow journalists into exile are a threat to democracies worldwide. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6342534/transnational-repression-freedom-house/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6342534/transnational-repression-freedom-house/"},"headline":"How Authoritarian Regimes Go After Journalists Beyond Their Borders","datePublished":"2023-12-06T16:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:49:56.082Z","description":"They are increasingly assaulting, harassing, and silence journalists. 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