Transnational Repression 2019-2024: Countries targeting women journalists abroad

In a report on transnational repression targeting women journalists outside their home countries, the Coalition for Women in Journalism (CFWIJ) has recorded a dramatic increase in states’ attempts to silence those abroad – from 19 cases in 2023 to 49 in 2024. The perpetrators are Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Türkiye, Ethiopia, Malaysia, and Venezuela. These states have resorted to intimidation, threats, and legal harassment, while Iran, Azerbaijan, and Russia have also employed such tactics as physical attacks, abductions, and assassination attempts against journalists in exile. One of the major cases the report highlights is that of journalist Sima Sabet: “[Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’] attempt to assassinate me through hired criminals on UK soil is an unequivocal act of terrorism,” Sabet told CFWIJ.