This event is part of the series “Fundamental Rights in Practice” hosted by the Hertie School's Centre for Fundamental Rights.
Transnational repression refers to the practice where governments extend their reach beyond national borders to commit human rights abuses against their nationals or former nationals, aiming to silence or deter dissent. Methods of transnational repression include killings, unlawful removals (such as expulsions, extraditions, and deportations), abductions and enforced disappearances, targeting of relatives, abuse of consular services, and digital transnational repression, which involves using technology to surveil or harass individuals.
This event invites the audience to delve into the complex issue of transnational repression through a screening of the award-winning documentary How Iran Targets Activists Everywhere (2024). The film uncovers the tools of digital authoritarianism employed by Iran, particularly in the context of the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ movement, to intimidate and suppress activists in Germany using both conventional and unconventional tactics to stifle dissent.
The screening will be followed by a discussion with the filmmakers Stan Aron and Ida Reihani as well as Tobias B. Bacherle, Member of the German Bundestag and Chairman of the Committee for Digital Affairs and Dr. Marcus Michaelsen, Senior Researcher at The Citizen Lab. the Discussion will be chaired by Grażyna Baranowska, Professor of Migration Law and Human Rights at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and a former Senior Researcher at the Centre for Fundamental Rights.
Prior registration is required for this event. Please register here.
Speakers
Stan Aron is an independent video journalist and the founder of Barely Informed, a fast-growing award-winning YouTube channel focusing on the emerging stories of today that will define the world of tomorrow. It mostly covers topics related to European politics, including the short documentary 'How Iran Targets Activists Everywhere' on the threats faced by Iranian activists in Germany. Stan will discuss the process behind making the film and the many digital threats and hacks he has faced in the aftermath of the film’s publication.
Tobias B. Bacherle is a member of the 20th German Bundestag (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen; the constituency of Böblingen). He serves as the coordinator for the Committee on Digital Affairs, where his work centres on international digital policy, data governance, safeguarding human rights in the digital space and promoting the ethical use of artificial intelligence. He is also an active member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs where he oversees matters related to North Africa, East Asia, European-Transatlantic cooperation, and digital foreign policy. In addition to his primary committee roles, he is a deputy member of the Committee on European Union Affairs. Tobias holds a degree in political science from the University of Tübingen. Before joining the Bundestag, he worked as a political advisor to a Member of the European Parliament and as a freelance media professional and campaign strategist.
Marcus Michaelsen, PhD, is a researcher on digital technologies, human rights activism and authoritarian politics. He is a senior researcher at the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto, where he focuses on digital transnational repression. Previously, he was a Marie-Skłodowska-Curie Fellow in the Law, Science, Technology and Society (LSTS) research group at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and a Senior Information Controls Fellow at the Open Technology Fund, a non-profit organisation supporting global internet freedom. From 2014 to 2018, Dr Michaelsen was a postdoctoral researcher in the 'Authoritarianism in a Global Age' project at the Department of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam. His work on transnational repression has been published in Globalisations, Democratisation, the European Journal of International Security, and Surveillance & Society, among others.
Ida Reihani is the Communications Associate for the AFAR project at the Centre for Fundamental Rights. Prior to working at the Hertie School, she wrote for the Business Insider and Newsweek and produced documentaries centring on European politics and digital authoritarianism. Her production How Iran Target Activists Everywhere won Best Short Film in the first edition of the Press Play Prague Journalism Film Festival. For her work for the Business Insider, she won the Axel Springer Award for Change and was commended in the Press Gazette's British Journalism Awards in the Social Affairs, Diversity & Inclusion category.
Chair
Grażyna Baranowska is a Professor of Migration Law and Human Rights at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. Before that, she was a senior researcher at Hertie School's Centre for Fundamental Rights, leading a project on missing migrants funded by the EU’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions. Next to her academic work, she worked as policy advisor at the German Institute for Human Rights, and was involved in the process of drafting the General Comment on enforced disappearances and migration for the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances. In 2022, she was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council as an independent expert of the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances.