Life after torture

Human stories from a world in conflict. No Images? [Click here]( — Aug. 17, 2018 — This week, we visit a Doctors Without Borders clinic in Athens, Greece, that specializes in rehabilitating torture survivors. There we meet Behzad, a man rebuilding his life after fleeing his home country of Iran, where he says he was imprisoned and tortured for four years. Plus, families in the Yemeni American community are in limbo as the Trump administration travel ban limits who gets to enter the US. And a string of shooting deaths have sparked a passionate debate about gun control across Canada. People are worried the country’s changing into one more like the US. 'There is real suffering' Zaid Nagi, vice president of the Yemeni Americans Merchants Association in New York City, is mad. “There is real pain here,” he said, “there is real suffering. I’m in direct contact with people whose lives have been destroyed.” Nagi was speaking about the Yemeni community in the US. He recounted story after story of how President Donald Trump’s travel ban has separated Yemeni American families. [Learn more >]( More people are dying from gun violence in Canada. Is America to blame? In Canada, many handguns used in crimes originated in the United States. Gun deaths have nearly doubled in Toronto in the last four years. Some worry the country is becoming more like America when it comes to gun culture and violence. [Learn more >]( At a clinic for torture survivors, an Iranian refugee works to build a new life Behzad, a karate teacher in Tehran, Iran, wrote poetry in his spare time. His poems, though never published, would have been illegal according to Iran’s Islamic government. “My poems were mainly anti-Islamic Republic and also anti-Islam,” he explained. Knowing how dangerous his poems were, Behzad shared them with only one person: his childhood best friend. Days later, a group of men threw a bag over Behzad's head, shoved him in a car and drove him to an unknown location. When they removed the bag, he was in a jail cell. [Read Behzad's story >]( In refugee camps on Lesbos, single men can feel stuck One year ago, Fahed left his home in Damascus, Syria, and, like many who fled the war before him, traveled to Turkey, where he boarded an inflatable dinghy bound for the Greek island of Lesbos. Shortly after he arrived, the Greek Asylum Service interviewed him to determine whether he was eligible for asylum in Greece or should be deported to Turkey — a procedure that was put in place after the EU-Turkey deal was signed in 2016 to control the entry of migrants into Europe. Fahed still does not have an answer. It’s a position in which many other young, single refugee men on the island also find themselves. [Learn more >]( The New York Times [The Iraqi spy who infiltrated ISIS]( The story of the mole who posed as a jihadist in the Islamic State, and the most important counterterrorism agency that most people have never heard of. Atlas Obscura [In the 1960s, the US government set off a pair of nukes under Mississippi]( It’s a nearly forgotten chapter of Cold War history that seems hard to fathom today — even for those who were there. FiveThirtyEight [Hacking the electric grid is damned hard]( Cyberattacks on the grid are a real risk. But the worst-case scenarios we’re imagining aren’t that likely. Bringing down the grid is a lot harder than just flicking a switch, but the danger is real — and it may never go away. The Guardian [BDS: how a controversial non-violent movement has transformed the Israeli-Palestinian debate]( Israel sees the international boycott campaign as an existential threat to the Jewish state. Palestinians regard it as their last resort. GQ [Inside the poisoning of a Russian double agent]( How a hit on a retired spy named Sergei Skripal became the latest — and most terrifying — front in Vladimir Putin’s war with the West. BBC News [Fighting the vanilla thieves of Madagascar]( How vanilla became one of the world's most expensive — and dangerous — ingredients. Public Radio International (PRI) is a global nonprofit media company focused on the intersection of journalism and engagement to effect positive change in people’s lives. We create a more informed, empathetic and connected world by sharing powerful stories, encouraging exploration, connecting people and cultures, and creating opportunities to help people take informed action on stories that inspire them. Its mission is to serve audiences as a distinctive content source for information, insights and cultural experiences essential to living in our diverse, interconnected world. [Support PRI]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Website]( PRI Public Radio International Hear a Different Voice [Forward]( [Preferences]( | [Unsubscribe](