When people flee persecution, threats, or political repression, many assume that crossing a border marks the end of danger and the beginning of safety. The reality is often far more complicated.

In the digital age, exile no longer guarantees distance from those who seek to intimidate, monitor, or silence dissenting voices. Physical borders can be crossed, but digital borders are much harder to escape.

I know this reality personally.

As an Iranian writer and journalist living in exile, I once believed that leaving my country would provide a degree of safety. Instead, I learned that distance does not always end fear. The threats may change form, but they do not always disappear. Suspicious messages, anonymous contacts, online harassment, and constant concern for loved ones left behind can become part of everyday life.

Like many others living in exile, I continue to write because silence is not an option. Yet this experience has taught me that repression is no longer limited by geography. Technology has allowed pressure, intimidation, and fear to travel across borders.

For journalists, writers, human rights defenders, and political activists, leaving a country may........

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