The New Torture Industry of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, China and India: Abductions, Beatings and Death
by Raymond Ibrahim • September 26, 2024 at 5:00 am
In short, "transnational repression" exists when a government, such as the Chinese Communist Party tracks, intimidates or persecutes you from one country to another.
"You should mind your own business... You should not be indulging in Pakistan's affairs.... we have your brother and you will be responsible." — "Hamza" on a telephone call to Salman Shabbir, an Australian citizen of Pakistani descent who promotes democratic reform in Pakistan.
Shabbir later learned that his brother had been taken to a nearby jail, held in a traditional cell, all of which confirmed that his brother's abductors and torturers were state agents, most likely of the notorious Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
"They told me to be quiet so that there could be 'stability' in Pakistan, but it is their own actions that are causing instability. I told them that what they were doing was illegal, counterproductive, but they mocked me when I mentioned the law and forced me to listen to them torturing my brother on the phone." – Salman Shabbir to Drop Site News, August 23, 2024.
"My family and I feel like hunted animals... We're taking on the ISI because we're dead anyway." — Salman Ahmad, Pakistan-American physician, musician with the Pakistani rock band Junoon, Drop Site News, August 23, 2024.
"Transnational repression" is a little-known practice that refers to pressure exerted by a government, through illegal or violent means, to silence expat citizens of other nations, increasingly, those living in the West.
A recent report, based on the audio recording of a Pakistani state agent trying transnationally to repress a Pakistani expat living in Australia – and written for Drop Site News by Ryan Grim and Murtaza Hussain – exposes the practice:
"A government—or individuals working at the behest of a government to target its rivals —cracking down on the political activity of people who live outside its borders. The act goes beyond a typical human rights abuse because it not only violates the rights of its immediate target, but also challenges the sovereignty of the nation the victim calls home."
