On Spec Podcast, in collaboration with The World and PRX, returns for its fifth season with an 18-month long investigation that takes you inside the secret war waged on dissidents by Iran.

As Iran claims to fight for Palestinian sovereignty, it’s hunting down its own citizens who dare to advocate for freedom and human rights back home. Iran claims the dissidents are threats to its national security. Meanwhile, NATO countries claim to support Iranians fighting for democracy but have neglected to give them the support and safety they need. In Turkey, a trial exposes how police and prosecutors worked alongside Iranian agents to kidnap dissidents and return them to Iran.  The effort to kidnap dissidents extends to cities in Europe and the US, and those brought back to Iran languish in prison or are executed.

The Iranian regime fears these dissidents enough to spend millions of dollars on trying to silence them abroad. Its campaign has only grown after events like the 2020 killing of General Qasem Soleimani by a US drone, and an uprising in 2022 sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian woman accused of breaking the dress code. Iran has even plotted to kill former American officials inside the U.S.

“Lethal Dissent” is produced in partnership with The World, with funding from the Pulitzer Center and Radio Zamaneh.