Growing number of governments using counterterrorism to justify targeting dissidents abroad
A growing number of countries repressing dissidents beyond their own borders includes a NATO ally of the US: Turkey. A Washington Post report finds that the tactics and language justifying these actions are pulled from the post-9/11 counterterrorism playbook. Host Marco Werman speaks with Fionnuala Ni Aolain, a former UN special rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism.
Across the globe, countries are known to target some of their own citizens living abroad.
The World did a nine-part series called “Lethal Dissent” that investigated the attempted kidnappings and suspicious deaths of Iranian dissidents abroad. But Iran is not alone in doing this. Other governments, including the United States, have extended their reach to target individuals.
In many instances, countries justify this extraterritorial repression as “counterterrorism operations” — and they’re using a playbook developed by the US, as recent reporting by The Washington Post reveals.
