In a new four-part podcast series of Boundaries of Expression, journalist Jo Glanville talks to human rights advocates about the state of online freedom in the Islamic Republic of Iran and the future for freedom of expression. More than two years since the Woman, Life, Freedom protests, the series investigates the impact of the violent state crackdown, the restrictions on digital freedom of expression, and the fight for justice and accountability.
Episode 2: The search for justice
Jo Glanville meets Gissou Nia, founder and director of the Strategic Litigation Project at the Atlantic Council, and Bahar Saba, a senior researcher at ARTICLE 19. They discuss the aftermath of the brutal crackdown on the Woman, Life, Freedom protests in 2022 and the fight for accountability for the victims. As a landmark UN Fact-Finding Mission continues its investigation into human rights violations and crimes under international law related to the protests in Iran, the podcast’s guests consider the Iranian authorities’ ongoing repressive response to the protesters, the challenges for collecting evidence, historical and systemic impunity, and the pursuit for justice.
This podcast is part of Boundaries of Expression, a series of interventions from ARTICLE 19. Developed by guest editors, Boundaries of Expression is designed as a space for those working on freedom of expression to take a look at some of the most controversial and divisive issues of our time.
Jo Glanville is a journalist and audio producer. She regularly produces and presents documentaries for the BBC. Her journalism has appeared in the Guardian, New York Times, Financial Times and London Review of Books, among other publications. She was an award-winning editor of Index on Censorship and a former director of English PEN. She is editor of Looking for an Enemy: eight essays on antisemitism (Short Books/WW Norton) and Qissat: short stories by Palestinian women (Telegram/Saqi).
Listen to the first episode in the series, Digital repression and queer resistance in Iran and the wider region