Episodes

American citizen, Kai Li from New York has been wrongfully imprisoned in China since September 2016. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has called for his immediate release. On the 4th of November last year, a bipartisan group of 15 members of Congress wrote a letter to President of the United States Joe Biden urging him to bring Kai Li back home to the US. We had the honour of interviewing Kai Li’s son, Harrison Li in October last year. In recent weeks, the Chinese governme...

Thursday 7th April 2022 marked the 1 year anniversary of Australian citizen Robert Pether’s wrongful imprisonment in Iraq. Robert Pether and his colleague, Khalid Radwan were both detained in Baghdad on 7 April 2021 after they went to Iraq to resolve a business dispute between the Iraqi government and their Dubai-based employer, CME Consulting. CME Consulting is an engineering firm that was hired by the Iraqi government to work on the new headquarters of the Central Bank of Iraq. The project was...

Michael White is an American citizen from Southern California. Michael served in the US Navy for 15 years and is one of 5 siblings, all of whom have served in the US Armed Forces. In 2012, Michael met his fiancé-to-be, Samaneh Abbasi on a Yahoo chatroom. He then travelled to Iran a total of three times to visit her. During Michael’s third trip to Iran in 2018, he was arrested by the Iranian authorities on false charges and wrongfully imprisoned for 683 days. In June 2020, Michael was released in...

American citizen Jorge Toledo from Houston, Texas has been wrongfully imprisoned in Venezuela since November 2017. He works for US oil company, CITGO and was arrested in Caracas with 5 of his colleagues while they were there for a business meeting. Collectively, they are known as the CITGO 6. The US government has called for their immediate release. On 8 March 2022, one of the CITGO 6, Gustavo Cardenas – was released. This is a positive step for the families of the 5 remaining members of the CIT...

During the early hours of Thursday morning 17th March 2022, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe arrived back home in the UK. She was freed after being held hostage in Iran for almost 6 years. She’s a British citizen and a charity worker from West Hampstead, London. She was arrested by the Iranian IRGC on 3 April 2016 when she was on holiday in Tehran visiting her elderly parents with her one year old daughter, Gabriella. Almost six years later, three members of Nazanin’s family were there to greet her at ...

Diane Foley is the mother of five children, including American freelance conflict journalist, James W Foley. Jim was kidnapped in Syria on 22 November 2012 and he was murdered on 19 August 2014. Diane founded the James W Foley Legacy Foundation (JWFLF) in September 2014 less than a month after his public execution to ensure Americans held hostage and wrongfully detained overseas as well as their families are made a priority by the US government and given all the support they need. Diane is curre...

On 16 October 2020, 66 year old German citizen Nahid Taghavi decided to go for a walk near her apartment in Tehran. It was a week after she had surgery and Nahid had high blood pressure. Within moments, she was surrounded by 12 armed men from the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also known as the IRGC. She was arrested and taken to the notorious Evin prison where she remains to this day. The European Parliament has passed a resolution calling on Iran to drop all charges against Nahid Ta...

In 2012, German-American journalist Michael Scott Moore was investigating pirate kidnappings in Somalia when he himself was taken hostage by Somali pirates. Michael was taken at gunpoint, held in terrible conditions and in many different locations including at one point – on a ship. A few days into his captivity, SEAL Team 6 successfully rescued 2 aid workers, American Jessica Buchanan and Dane Poul Hagen Thisted also held by Somali pirates but in a different location. During that rescue, 9 pira...

Jonathan Franks is a crisis management consultant for families of Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained overseas. Jonathan has worked with the family of Marine veteran Andrew Tahmooressi held in Mexico as well as Marine veteran Amir Hekmati and Navy veteran Michael White both held in Iran. All these men have now been freed. Jonathan is now working with the family of American and former US Marine, Trevor Reed currently held in Russia since August 2019. On this episode, we have the honour ...

American citizen and former US Marine, Trevor Reed has been wrongfully imprisoned in Russia since 16 August 2019. President of the United States Joe Biden, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Ambassador to Russia, John Sullivan have all called on Russia to release Trevor immediately and allow him to return home to his family in Texas. Both the US Senate and House of Representatives have passed bipartisan resolutions calling for Trevor’s immediate release. Trevor’s parents believe that he...

American citizen, Tomeu Vadell from Louisiana has been wrongfully imprisoned in Venezuela since November 2017. He was arrested while on a business trip in Caracas with five of his American colleagues. All six men worked for US oil company, Citgo. Collectively, they’re known as the Citgo 6. The US government has publicly stated that the Citgo 6 are unlawfully detained. Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and current US Secretary of State Antony Blinken have both called for their unconditiona...

French academic Fariba Adelkhah has been wrongfully imprisoned in Iran since 5 June 2019. French President Emmanuel Macron has called for Fariba’s immediate release and denounced her incarceration as “totally arbitrary”. President Macron also stated that “Fariba Adelkhah is a scientific prisoner”. Scholars At Risk have called for Fariba’s immediate release and for the protection of academic freedom in Iran and beyond. On this episode, we have the honour of speaking to Fariba’s colleague and memb...

American citizen and former US Marine, Paul Whelan has been wrongfully imprisoned in Russia since 28 December 2018. President of the United States Joe Biden, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Ambassador to Russia, John Sullivan have all called on Russia to release Paul Whelan and let him come home to his family in Michigan. We had the honour of interviewing Paul’s sister, Elizabeth Whelan in September 2021 to find out what happened to Paul and what we can do to help. Four months later,...

Jamshid Sharmahd is a German citizen and US resident. He and his family have lived in California for the last 17 years. In July 2020, Jamshid was kidnapped in Dubai by agents of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and taken to Iran where he is still being held today. The EU Parliament adopted a resolution in July 2021 urging Iran to immediately drop all charges against all arbitrarily detained EU nationals including Jamshid. Amnesty International has stated that he is being arbitrarily detained and ...

American citizens and brothers from Texas, Alirio Jose Zambrano and Jose Luis Zambrano have been wrongfully imprisoned in Venezuela for over 4 years now. They both work for US oil company, Citgo and were arrested in Caracas in November 2017 together with four of their American colleagues. Collectively, they are known as the Citgo 6. The US government has publicly stated that the Citgo 6 are unlawfully detained. Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and current US Secretary of State Antony Bli...

Kamran Ghaderi is a husband and father from Vienna, Austria. He went to Iran on 2 January 2016 to visit family and was arrested at the airport in Tehran by agents of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence. He has been held in Iran to this day and in a couple weeks, it’ll be 6 years since he was taken. The European Parliament has passed a resolution calling for Kamran’s release. Amnesty International has stated that Kamran is being arbitrarily detained and has also called for his immediate release. On t...

British citizen, Nick Dunn is a former British Army Parachute Regiment soldier who served in Afghanistan and Iraq. After leaving Her Majesty’s Forces, he continued to work in security. In October 2013, Nick was working as an armed security guard onboard the MV Seaman Guard Ohio alongside another 5 Brits who were also former British Army. Their mission was to protect the vessel from Somali pirates. A week later, Nick, the other guards and the crew were all arrested by the Indian coast guard and t...

Nick Dunn is a British citizen and a former British Army Parachute Regiment soldier. He served in Afghanistan and Iraq. After leaving Her Majesty’s Forces, he continued to work in security. Nick was working as an armed security guard onboard the MV Seaman Guard Ohio in October 2013 alongside another 5 British former Army soldiers when he and the other members of the crew and guards were arrested by the Indian coast guard. They were wrongfully imprisoned in India for 4 years. Nick and these other...

Nick Dunn is a British citizen and a former British Army Parachute Regiment soldier. He served in Afghanistan and Iraq. After leaving Her Majesty’s Forces, he continued to work in security. In October 2013, Nick worked as an armed security guard aboard his company vessel, the MV Seaman Guard Ohio. He was one of six British former Army soldiers on the vessel. Their mission was to protect the vessel from Somali pirates. A week later, the MV Seaman Guard Ohio was brought into port in Tamil Nadu by ...

This past Saturday, Richard Ratcliffe ended his hunger strike outside the UK Foreign Office after 21 days. His wife, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been held hostage in Iran since 3 April 2016 and the British government has not done enough to free Nazanin and bring her back home to London. Richard had 4 demands for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. This week, we speak to Richard Ratcliffe himself to find out how he’s recovering, his thoughts on the recent debates in the Houses of Parliament r...

Richard Ratcliffe, husband of British hostage in Iran, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is on week 3 of his hunger strike outside the UK Foreign Office which is right next to the Prime Minister’s office. Richard’s amazing campaigning has inspired millions of good caring people from all walks of life to come together to free Nazanin. On this week’s episode, we show you the power of love, the power of hope, the power of solidarity and the power of lifting others while you climb. You’ll hear from voluntee...

Family is everything and not many people know this better than Richard Ratcliffe, husband of British hostage in Iran – Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. Today marks 11 days since Richard Ratcliffe has been on hunger strike outside the UK Foreign Office which is right next to the Prime Minister’s Office. He has 4 demands for Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his ultimate objective is to get the British government to free his wife so she can come back home to London after being held hostage in Iran for th...

In February 2017, American psychotherapist and humanitarian Majd Kamalmaz visited Syria to offer condolences to an elderly family member in mourning. Less than 24 hours after his arrival in Damascus, his family in the US received word that he was missing. Majd was apparently detained at a Syrian government checkpoint. More than 4 years later, Majd’s family have not spoken to him, heard from him or seen him since he was detained. After the civil war in 2012, the United States suspended diplomatic...

British citizen, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been held hostage in Iran by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps since 3 April 2016. Two former UK Foreign Secretaries and the current Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee have all called Nazanin a hostage. She is being held by the Iranian regime to extract concessions from the British government. This is hostage diplomacy. It’s been over five and a half years since Nazanin was taken hostage and the British government have yet to free he...