Free Speech Challenges in Illiberal & Authoritarian States

Panelists:

• Faisal Saeed Al Mutar, Founder, Ideas Beyond Borders

• Chidi Odinkalu, Professor of Practice in International Human Rights Law, Tufts University Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy

• Rodrigo Diamanti, President & Founder, Un Mundo Sin Mordaza

Moderator:

• Samar Ali, Co-Chair, Vanderbilt Project on Unity & American Democracy

Born in Babylon, Raised in Baghdad, Faisal Saeed Al Mutar experienced the villainy of extremism and authoritarian regimes firsthand. He survived the Iraq Civil War, the murder of family members, and several kidnapping attempts before becoming a refugee in the United States in 2013. In 2017, he founded the organization Ideas Beyond Borders, a nonprofit organization dedicated to transforming the Middle East by empowering people across the globe with access to new ideas, fresh perspectives, and the resources necessary to start groundbreaking businesses and take ownership of their own lives.

Chidi Anselm Odinkalu is a Nigerian lawyer, advocate, and Professor of Practice in International Human Rights Law at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at the Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts. He also Chairs the Governing Council of the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu University in Anambra State, south-east Nigeria and the Truth, Justice, Peace Commission (a transitional justice mechanism) by the Nigerian Government on the violence in south-east Nigeria. Among his affiliations, Odinkalu leads the Board of Trustees of the International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) and of Global Rights, and is the Co-Chair of the Sudan Consortium, an advocacy coalition of over 120 NGOs from different countries of the world.

Rodrigo Diamanti is a Venezuelan human rights activist, director and president of the NGO Un Mundo Sin Mordaza, and Secretary of the Independent Expert Panel of the Organization of American States. His goal is to promote, defend, and educate on human rights at the international level. Un Mundo Sin Mordaza is an organization that defends human rights through art, with a special emphasis on freedom of expression. The organization’s message is disseminated through activists present in over 100 cities worldwide. Due to political persecution in Venezuela, Rodrigo was forced to leave the country and continues to fight for Venezuela's freedom by leading significant campaigns from abroad, such as SOS Venezuela and No Más Dictaduras.

Samar Ali is Research Professor of Political Science and Law at Vanderbilt University and Co-Chair of the Vanderbilt Project on Unity & American Democracy. Her research initiatives focus on positive compromise through promoting conflict-resolution best practices among people, communities and nations experiencing polarization due to the connection between violence and labeling. Ali joined Vanderbilt’s political sciences and law faculties as a research professor with 14 years of experience in international relations and legal practice. She began her legal career as a law clerk to Judge Gilbert S. Merritt Jr. ’60 of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals and then clerked for Justice Edwin Cameron during his tenure on the Constitutional Court of South Africa.