Exile no longer guarantees safety. From assassination plots and digital surveillance to threats against family members, authoritarian governments are increasingly extending repression far beyond their borders.
At a panel during the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy, investigative reporters and human rights experts warned that dissidents and journalists living abroad are facing a new era of transnational repression: one in which intimidation follows them across continents.
The discussion brought together journalists whose investigations have exposed how countries including China, India, Iran, Russia, and Nicaragua use international institutions, criminal networks, digital surveillance, and threats against family members to target critics abroad.
“These regimes often employ sophisticated methods to intimidate, control, and silence political dissidents and journalists they view as opponents,” said Gerard Ryle, Executive Director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), who moderated the panel.
Exporting Repression Beyond Borders
Among the speakers was Scilla Alecci, whose China Targets investigation documented how Chinese authorities allegedly extended repression far beyond the country’s borders. Built through collaboration with 40 media outlets and interviews with more than 100 victims worldwide, the project examined how Uyghurs, activists, and dissidents continued facing intimidation even after relocating to democratic countries.
“We realized that the repressive tactics this minority was experiencing in China were being exported overseas,” Alecci said.
The investigation found that many victims were reluctant to report threats to authorities, forcing journalists to rely heavily on direct testimony and long-term trust-building. Alecci said the reporting team adopted interviewing techniques commonly used by United Nations investigators in order to systematically document patterns of abuse.
But the project also focused on institutions that, according to the investigation, were vulnerable to manipulation.
Alecci described how Chinese authorities allegedly exploited systems such as Interpol Red Notices to target dissidents and politically inconvenient figures abroad. She also pointed to what reporters found inside the United Nations system, where Chinese-backed organizations allegedly crowded out activists critical of Beijing.
“Every system has loopholes,” Alecci said. “And if you are an authoritarian regime, you become very good at finding them.”
Assassination Plots and Criminal Proxies
Greg Miller, Chief Correspondent of International Investigations at The Washington Post, discussed his reporting on alleged Indian government assassination plots in North America. His investigation examined the killing of a Sikh nationalist in Canada and a separate plot targeting another activist in New York.
The story, he said, surprised many observers because India continues to present itself as a democratic ally of Western governments.
“India is not so worried anymore about the blowback of an operation like this in the United States,” Miller said. “It knows it can survive that because it knows it’s too important.”
Miller also described what he called an increasingly common tactic among authoritarian governments: outsourcing operations to proxies, criminal networks, and intermediaries. His reporting revealed alleged Iranian links to criminal groups, including members of the Hells Angels, in plots targeting dissidents abroad.
“These are native Canadians or Americans or Europeans doing the bidding of foreign governments,” he said. “It creates an enormous challenge for security services.”
“Being Outside Russia Does Not Mean You Are Safe”
For Roman Anin, the issue is deeply personal.
The founder of iStories and former reporter at Novaya Gazeta described fleeing Russia after security services raided his apartment and newsroom in 2021. Since then, he and his colleagues have continued reporting from exile while facing threats, criminal prosecutions, and surveillance.
One threat sent to his team included their home addresses, details about their dogs’ routines, and information about future travel plans, including exact airline seat numbers.
“Being outside Russia does not mean you are safe,” Anin said.
He explained that Russian investigative journalists now operate under conditions that often resemble covert intelligence work more than traditional reporting. Before sending reporters into Russian regions, his newsroom conducts intensive risk training and operational planning.
“Sometimes I feel like we operate not as journalists but as spies,” he said.
Nicaragua’s Expanding Surveillance Network
The panel also featured Reed Brody, a member of a United Nations expert group investigating human rights abuses in Nicaragua. Brody described how the government of President Daniel Ortega has expanded repression beyond national borders following years of crackdowns on domestic dissent.
Since protests erupted in 2018, Brody said, Nicaragua’s government has systematically dismantled independent civic space, forcing thousands of critics, journalists, and activists into exile. According to the UN expert group, roughly 12% of Nicaragua’s population has fled the country.
But exile, he warned, has not ended the repression.
According to Brody, Nicaragua’s embassies, intelligence networks, and online surveillance operations now monitor dissidents abroad, while family members inside the country face retaliation for activism conducted overseas. He also described how authorities have used passport cancellations and citizenship revocations to leave critics effectively stateless.
“We’ve been able to document how this repression takes place,” Brody said.
He explained that investigators mapped chains of command inside the Nicaraguan state, identifying officials responsible for surveillance and intimidation campaigns targeting exiles. The investigation also examined the killing of a prominent Nicaraguan dissident in Costa Rica last year, which Brody said raised concerns about the growing reach of the government’s operations abroad.
Journalism’s Role in Exposing Transnational Repression
The panel repeatedly returned to one central theme: the growing sophistication of transnational repression and the difficulty democratic governments face in responding to it.
At the same time, speakers argued that investigative journalism has had a tangible impact.
Miller noted that increased scrutiny has pushed Interpol to reform aspects of its Red Notice system and led the U.S. Department of Justice to establish a dedicated unit focused on transnational repression during the Biden administration.
Alecci said awareness among law enforcement agencies and policymakers has improved, although she argued many governments still underestimate the scale of the problem, particularly when it comes to understanding how China operates.
“Transnational repression used to be seen as a niche issue affecting only certain communities,” she said. “Now there is more recognition that this is a global problem.”
As the session concluded, the speakers stressed that exposing these networks of intimidation remains essential not only for protecting dissidents in exile, but also for defending the ability of journalists to continue reporting across borders without fear.
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This article was developed with the assistance of AI using a transcription of the panel “Transnational repression: how authoritarian regimes reach across borders to kill dissent“, at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia. It was edited and reviewed for accuracy by a NEMO journalist.