Meet the investigators whose job it is to hold human rights abusers to account. Amnesty International’s reports make headlines all over the world. And behind every one? Months, sometimes years, of painstaking sleuthing by our researchers. It’s difficult - often dangerous - detective work in some of the most challenging and volatile places on earth. ‘Witness from Amnesty International’ takes you behind the scenes. Each episode follows the twists and turns of a different high-stakes human-rights investigation. Discover what it takes to uncover the truth – when there are people who would prefer the truth to stay buried. For more information, visit amnesty.org/witness. This show includes references to death and violence which some listeners may find distressing.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/witness/
episode 1: The Party
2015. There are whispers about what life is like inside ‘Saydnaya’ - the most feared of Syrian military prisons – but very few witnesses. Amnesty researcher, Nicolette Waldman, starts to wonder: what’s going on inside this blackest of black sites?
"We would just drive, from city to city... we would basically follow any lead we could get - it was that difficult. It felt absolutely like detective work".