The event invited 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).
Students, researchers and members of the civil society, gathered at the Hertie School Henrick Enderlein Forum on Wednesday, 5 March 2025 for the event featuring filmmakers Stan Aron and Ida Reihani, Bundestag member Tobias Bacherle and digital technologies expert Dr Marcus Michaelsen.
Following the screening of How Iran Targets Activists Everywhere, filmmakers Ida Reihani and Stan Aron reflected on their motivations and the process of making the documentary. The idea for the film first emerged in the summer of 2023 when Ida came across a cybersecurity brief from the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. The report warned Iranian dissidents in Germany that the Islamic Republic was employing unconventional methods to target exiled opposition. As an Iranian herself, deeply moved by the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ movement, Ida felt compelled to explore the issue further. She reached out to Stan Aron, an independent journalist based in Berlin, and together they set out to investigate the threat through a documentary.
Dr Marcus Michaelsen, a senior researcher at the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto, explained that Iran is one of the key perpetrators of translational repression, employing a wide range of methods - from digital surveillance to threats against activists’ friends and family members in Iran. Reflecting on possible ways to address this issue in Germany, he emphasised the need to document incidents and establish a central contact point within the federal government. Since transnational repression requires coordination across multiple domains - internal security, digital policy, and foreign policy - a more structured response is essential.
Tobias Bacherle, a member of the 20th German Bundestag (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen; constituency of Böblingen) and coordinator for the Committee on Digital Affairs, discussed the challenges of addressing transnational repression within the committee. He noted that the issue does not easily fit into the existing structure of discussions on digital affairs. When considering the implementation of digital policies, it is crucial to examine their impact on human rights activists, added Bacherle. This raises the question: To what extent are we willing to use technologies developed by authoritarian regimes? Understanding the origins of these technologies is key to assessing their potential consequences for human rights defenders.
The discussion, moderated 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, concluded with a Q& A session with the audience.