Silenced: Recent Episodes
ARTICLE 19
Stories from journalists and activists around the world, whose governments attempt to rein them in and cover up the truth.
'Silenced' is a podcast from human rights organisation ARTICLE 19, hosted by Nicola Kelly and produced by Chris Hooton.
Alex Chow, a prominent leader of Hong Kong's Umbrella Movement, describes the fight for democracy, his incarceration and life in exile.
The Umbrella Movement of 2014 saw scores of people occupying main squares around the city, putting up umbrellas to protect themselves against the pepper spray police used to disperse the crowds. Then, in 2019, pro-democracy protests against a controversial extradition bill were, once again, met with police brutality, arrests and prison sentences, and many were forced to flee and live in exile.
Alex tells Nicola about his seven-month prison sentence, his ongoing fight for democracy and the impact his work has had on his family.
Host: Nicola Kelly
Producer: Christopher Hooton
Music: Julian Wharton
Sound design: Rick Morris
Zahra Joya, an Afghan journalist and the founder of Rukhshana Media, Afghanistan's first female-led media organisation, speaks to Nicola about the day the Taliban retook Kabul; being airlifted to safety; and what it's like running a media organisation while living in exile.
Host: Nicola Kelly
Producer: Christopher Hooton
Music: Julian Wharton
Sound design: Rick Morris
To find out more about ARTICLE 19's work, visit article19.org
Renowned Mexican journalist and academic Sergio Aguayo tells Nicola about the impact a civil defamation lawsuit has had on his personal and professional life.
It all started in 2016 when Aguayo wrote an opinion piece, accusing former Coahuila state governor Humberto Moreira of corruption and links to organised crime groups. In a case that rumbled on for more than six years, Sergio was ordered to pay 10 million pesos - that’s more than half a million dollars - to Moreira, who said the piece had damaged his 'honour'. During that time, Sergio experienced multiple threats and intimidation and has had to live under full police protection since.
Host: Nicola Kelly
Producer: Christopher Hooton, Ziggurat Studio
Music: Julian Wharton
Sound design: Rick Morris
On the second of October 2018, Jamal Khashoggi, arguably Saudi Arabia’s most prominent journalist and an outspoken critic of the country’s government, walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to collect documents he needed to get married. But he never reappeared.
Investigators later concluded that Jamal Khashoggi had been ambushed, forcibly restrained, drugged and asphyxiated. His body was then dismembered, stuffed into bags and discarded by fifteen Saudi assassins connected to the crown prince, Mohammed bin-Salman, or MBS.
Six months after the murder, Iyad el-Baghdadi, a prominent writer and a friend to Jamal Khashoggi, was visited by the Norwegian Security services at his home in Oslo, where they informed him that there was a credible threat to his life. Here he describes what happened and how his life has changed since then.
Matthew Caruana Galizia, journalist and son of the late investigative journalist Daphne Caruana-Galizia, speaks to Nicola about the day of his mother's murder and his determination to continue her legacy, exposing corruption among Malta's elite.
Host: Nicola Kelly
Producer: Chris Hooton
Music: Julian Wharton
Sound design: Rick Morris
To find out more about ARTICLE 19's work, visit www.article19.org
Former Editor-in-Chief of 'Russia Today' (now 'RT') tells Nicola about her years in activism, her decision to join the state-run TV network and why she quit after Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February.
Maria describes the threats, intimidation and violent attacks against her and her hopes for a free and independent Russian media.
To learn more about ARTICLE 19's work, visit our website.
Ukrainian journalist Olga Tokariuk speaks to Nicola from a bomb shelter in the west of the country.
She describes the tentacles of the Russian propaganda machine and the sophisticated disinformation war that has been waged in Ukraine since 2014; journalist safety, including the deliberate targeting of journalists and those killed, kidnapped and disappeared; and how best to get impartial information out to the world.
Olga says: "War is not only waged on the battlefield with tanks and military vehicles and missiles and air defence systems; it's also waged in the media space. Russia has been waging this war against Ukraine since at least 2014, when it understood that Ukraine is slipping away from them and they are not able to control it the way they used to."
To learn more about ARTICLE 19's work, visit our website.
Nicola speaks to Richard Ratcliffe, campaigner and husband of British-Iranian charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, in one of the last interviews before his wife's release. He recounts the day she was arrested, the confused first months, the conditions in which Nazanin was held and the politics that surrounded her six-year imprisonment in Iran.
'Silenced' is hosted by human rights journalist Nicola Kelly and produced by Christopher Hooton at Ziggurat Studio.
Music is by Julian Wharton and sound design by Rick Morris.
To find out more about ARTICLE 19's work, please visit www.article19.org.