Spring 2025 Webinar #2 – Transnational Repression & Non-State Actors

The TRP hosted the second of its spring 2025 webinar series on May 27th, "Transnational Repression & Non-State Actors" with Rasha Abdul-Rahim, John Heathershaw, and Edward Lemon as featured panelists.

This session included expert discussion on:​

• Spyware/surveillance companies
• How "lawfare" intimidates and silences opposition abroad
• The use and abuse of Interpol 

John Heathershaw is Professor of International Relations at the University of Exeter. His research addresses conflict, security, and development in authoritarian political environments, especially in Central Asia. He is co-author of Dictators Without Borders (Yale, 2017), The UK’s Kleptocracy Problem (Chatham House, 2021), Indulging Kleptocracy (Oxford, 2025) and principal investigator on several research projects on the transnational networks of postcommunist elites. In 2021/22, John was a senior fellow of the British Academy studying relations between these elites and British professional service providers. From 2015-2020, he led the Central Asian Political Exiles project which produced an original database of transnational repression by governments against their citizens overseas.

Edward Lemon is Research Assistant Professor at the Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University in Washington DC. His research focuses on the global dynamics of authoritarianism, in particular transnational repression. He is co-author of the forthcoming book Backlash: China's Struggle for Influence in Central Asia (Hurst, 2025). His research on transnational repression has been published by Globalizations, Journal of Democracy, European Journal of International Security, Political Research Exchange and Diaspora.

Rasha Abdul Rahim is a strategist, and independent expert on technology, human rights and social justice issues. She is also currently the Interim Executive Director of People vs Big Tech, a movement of over 140 organisations in Europe fighting to overturn the predatory business model of Big Tech corporations and change the internet for good. Before that, Rasha spent 15 years at Amnesty International in various roles, and was the Director of Amnesty Tech from 2020-2024, where she oversaw global research, campaigning, advocacy and policy development on various tech issues, including Big Tech accountability, unlawful targeted surveillance, establishing new programmes on AI and human rights and children’s digital rights. She also co-led the award-winning Pegasus Project in collaboration with Forbidden Stories, a groundbreaking global investigation which exposed the scale of abuse of Pegasus spyware. Before specialising in technology and human rights, she worked on arms control and played a central role in Amnesty International's campaign to secure the landmark Arms Trade Treaty. Rasha holds a Masters in Modern and Medieval Languages from Cambridge University, a Masters in International Studies and Diplomacy from SOAS and a law degree from BPP Law School.