JX Fund – European Fund for Journalism in Exile

This episode of the mediares podcast takes a closer look at the case in which the Vietnamese government is suing Berlin-based exile journalists. Sebastian Engelbrecht discusses the political background, the implications for press freedom, and what this cross-border legal action means for journalists living in exile.

Law and Democracy Support Foundation (LDSF) strongly condemns the sexual and physical assaults, threats, and surveillance targeting the exiled journalist Sophia Tekwani and her family in Sweden, as part of a dangerous pattern of transnational repression by Zimbabwean authorities.

Interpol has rejected a request from Kyrgyz authorities to issue an international warrant for the co-founder of one of the country’s leading independent media outlets, calling the request politically motivated. OCCRP learned Thursday that Kyrgyzstan had asked Interpol to issue a so-called Red Notice for Rinat Tuhvatshin, the co-founder of Kloop, an award-winning outlet.

Meydan TV is one of the few independent media organisations broadcasting in Azerbaijan. With the newsroom in exile in Berlin, the team focuses on bringing the country’s corruption and sensitive human rights issues to light. Meydan’s editor-in-chief takes you through the newsroom’s darkest days, and how the EU failed to protect its interests.

In Kyrgyzstan, authorities are no longer just reacting to stories — they are trying to stop them before they are told, dismantling entire newsrooms and effectively criminalizing journalism. This week, four former employees of Kyrgyzstan’s leading investigative newsroom, Kloop, went on trial in Bishkek, accused of conspiring to “incite mass unrest.”

Six new Berliners from Belarus, Afghanistan, Iran, Ukraine, Sudan, and Syria open up about their journeys of escape, loss, and starting over. In the photo series Berlin Still Lifes, photographer Dzmitry Brushko captures the objects and dishes that connect them to their past and present. No faces are shown — instead, everyday items tell deeply personal stories of memory, identity, and belonging.

In an interview with Roman Gressier, editor of El Faro’s English edition, Lucy Nash explores how the Salvadoran newsroom’s investigations – including explosive gang-leader testimony – shook President Bukele’s narrative, triggered political backlash, and forced dozens of journalists into exile.

In a personal spotlight for El Faro, journalists Óscar and Carlos Martínez recount their sudden “preventive departures” following explosive reporting on Bukele’s gang ties. Planned as brief, cautious trips, these exits soon turned into forced exile. Read their emotional first-hand account of a reorganized life, halfway across the world.

Is reporting possible while living under persecution? When you don’t know from where you’ll be attacked, or if you will be discredited, threatened, intimidated, or forced into exile? Where the choices are sometimes as stark as choosing jail, silence, or exile?

Iranian authorities have carried out a wave of arrests and multiple executions of people suspected of links to Israeli intelligence agencies, in the wake of the recent war between the two countries. Analysts view these tactics as part of a broader strategy to silence dissent and intimidate exiled media workers.

For many Nicaraguans fleeing the Ortega-Murillo regime, objects carried into exile hold deep emotional value—links to the past and symbols of hope for return. This is the story of an exiled journalist and his collection of keys. He calls himself *Castro, in homage to an influential high school teacher in Managua who suggested he study journalism.

Dissidents who have fled Alexander Lukashenko’s rule in Belarus have spoken of threats being made against them and their relatives at home. Hundreds of thousands of Belarusians are estimated to have left their country since the brutal crackdown on widespread opposition protests in 2020, after Lukashenko, 70, claimed victory in presidential elections that were widely condemned as rigged.

After fleeing persecution by Daniel Ortega’s regime, seven Nicaraguan journalists exiled in Costa Rica have been unable to renew their identification documents: Nicaragua refuses them, and Costa Rica has yet to fully recognize them. They are not locked in a terminal, but they have no homeland.

Clavel Rangel is a journalist forcibly displaced due to her reporting in Venezuela. She didn’t go into exile with a safety net, a secured job, or a detailed plan. She left with her name, her credibility, and her conviction. As she tells it, her survival has been multifaceted, fragmented, and deeply creative.

More than 60 exiled Belarusian journalists face criminal charges under opaque “special proceedings” that allow convictions in absentia. Authorities seize property, harass relatives, and label journalists as extremists in a sweeping campaign of transnational repression. Many now self-censor or work anonymously to protect themselves and their families.

Despite being forced into exile in 2018, dissident blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh continues to write about social justice and human rights issues concerning Vietnam. More popularly known as Me Nam or “Mother Mushroom,” she gained recognition for her posts on environmental pollution and police abuse.

Like much of Belarus’s independent media sector, Hrodna.life is struggling for sustainability in exile. Forced to relocate to the EU, the team lost not only the advertising market but also direct contact with the audience it serves. They saved themselves from prison but lost the opportunity to breathe the same air as their readers – and this is crucial for local media like theirs.

On World Press Freedom Day, Global Voices turns their attention to the independent outlets operating in exile due to censorship, harassment, or direct threats. One such voice is Muwatin, a London-based independent media outlet reporting on issues from the Arabian Gulf, founded by the editor and researcher Mohammed Al-Fazari.