Our Podcast

This is the 6th episode of the 3^rd Season of PR Unmasked. In this episode hosted by Concordia Forum, Muddassar Ahmed sits down in conversation with Founder of FootsApp, Komail Hashmani, the Executive Director of the Muslim Community Network, Aniqa Nawabi, and the Executive Chair of the Religion Media Centre, Michael Wakelin.

In this episode, we will be discussing the coverage of the 2022 World Cup held in Qatar, as well as the difference in perspective between legacy media and social media, from fans discussing their perspectives of visiting a Muslim country and seeing how Muslims extended their arms to them, to racist and Islamophobic comments on some TV channels. The main focus of the episode the historical significance of the 2022 Qatar World Cup and why it represents a pivotal moment for many Muslims, both in football and beyond.

Aniqa Nawabi is a public service professional for more than a decade working in the non-profit and international aid sector. Since 2018, she has been the Executive Director of the Muslim Community Network, a Civil and Social Organization dedicated to using civic education and leadership development to expand and shape what it means to be Muslim in the United States of America.

Michael Wakelin is a seasoned media professional with over 23 years of experience with the BBC, where he served as Head of Religion between 2006 and 2010. Currently, Michael is the Executive Chair of the Religion Media Centre, the Head of Programmes for Coexist House and Executive Producer at TBI Media.

Komail Hashmani is an entrepreneur and founder of Footsapp. Footsapp is a provider of football tournament management solutions. It allows users to create groups, invite players, manage stats, set up tactics, and many other functions that help the Sunday-league footballer feel like they are playing in the Premier League.

This is the 5th episode of the 3^rd Season of PR Unmasked. In this episode recorded in partnership with Global Ties US, Muddassar Ahmed sits down in conversation with Cultural Affairs Officer Sydney Smith of the US Embassy and Chairman of Farnborough International, Paul Everrit.

This episode will be focussing on be the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom, the importance this relationship has in combating hostile state influences, and the role of public diplomacy and exchange, as promoted by the recently completed Protecting Sensitive Industries Exchange. This programme has been designed for representatives from relevant UK government ministries, private industry, and academia to learn more about US government and industry strategies for protecting sensitive technologies particularly in the military, scientific, and energy sectors.

Sydney Smith is seasoned diplomat and communications expert with extensive experience in the public and private sectors, with a special focus and interest on misinformation, media literacy, and extremism. She has been serving as Cultural Affairs Officer with the US Embassy in London since 2020.

Paul Everrit is the former chief executive of major UK trade associations ADS & SMMT. and He has been a member of the Automotive Council and the Aerospace Growth Partnership. Paul is currently the Chairman of Farnborough International Ltd and Non-executive Director of the Aerospace Technology Institute.

This is the 4th episode of the 3^rd Season of PR Unmasked. In this episode, hosted by the Concordia Forum, Muddassar Ahmed sits down in conversation with Ambassador Deborah E. Lipstadt, the current US’ Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism.

Ambassador Lipstadt has a storied career as a historian, academic, and award-winning author, and in today’s episode, she is discussing the growth of antisemitic rhetoric in the US & Europe, its history and what transatlantic communities can do to combat it now, and in the future. Ambassador Lipstadt is also answering questions from Mike Katz, the National Chair of the Jewish Labour Movement; Attorney & Award-Winning Author, Rabia Chaudry; Labour MP for Manchester, Gorton Afzal Khan, and Imam Abdullah Antepli, Associate Professor of the Practice of Interfaith Relations at Duke University.

Before being confirmed as Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism in March 2022, Ambassador Lipstadt served as the Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies at Emory University’s Tam Institute for Jewish Studies, which she helped to found. She has also taught at the University of Washington, UCLA and Occidental College. Special Envoy Lipstadt also served as the director of the Brandeis-Bardin Institute and was a research fellow at the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Her numerous, award-winning books include: The Eichmann Trial; Denial: Holocaust History on Trial; Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory; and Beyond Belief: The American Press and the Coming of the Holocaust, 1933-1945. She received the National Jewish Book Award three times, most recently in 2019 for Antisemitism: Here and Now. Her biographical study of Golda Meir will be published by Yale University Press in 2023.

This episode was recorded during the Concordia Forum Webinar of the same name, which took place on Friday, the 7th of October, 2022.

This is the third episode of the 3^rd Season of PR Unmasked. In this episode, hosted by Unitas Communications, Muddassar Ahmed sits down in conversation with the current U.S. Department of State Special Advisor on International Disability Rights, Sarah Minkara.

In this episode, Sarah lets us in on her life story as a Muslim woman with a disability, her journey into politics, diplomacy and foreign policy, her proudest achievements and what she wants her legacy to be.

Other topics Sarah talks about are the relation between her faith and her disability, how she became interested and involved in activism and diplomacy, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and her developing of the In The Dark Methodology.

Sara Minkara is a Lebanese-American inclusion and disability expert and a disability rights advocate who serves as the United States Special Advisor on International Disability Rights in the U.S. Department of State. She is the founder of non-profit organization Empowerment Through Integration (ETI) and Sara Minkara LLC. ETI works with blind children, including refugees in Lebanon to help them build independence and learn life skills.

This is the first episode of the 3^rd Season of PR Unmasked. In this episode, hosted by the Concordia Forum at the Toynbee Hall in London, Muddassar Ahmed sits down with Ilhan Omar, the first Muslim woman elected for the United States Congress. 

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar discusses the challenges she faced as a woman of colour in American politics, her objection on the recent overruling of Roe v. Wade, the need for political representation of minority groups, and the increasing burden of student loans on American youth. 

She also touches on the record levels of hate crimes and gun violence in the U.S., the rise in Islamophobia since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, the importance of voting for minorities, her views on Kamala Harris’ performance as the Vice-President and her endorsement of Joe Biden’s presidency.  

Ilhan was elected to the House of Representatives for Minnesota’s 5^th Congressional District in 2018, replacing her predecessor, Keith Ellison. She is a renown and vocal representative of the Democrats with women’s rights and social justice at the heart of her politics.

Next week federal elections will take place in Germany, ending the era of Chancellor Angela Merkel. The elections come at a crucial time as this summer severe floods have devastated the country, making climate politics a central question in the upcoming elections.

In this PR Unmasked exclusive, Muddassar Ahmed sits down with Omid Nouripour, Member of German Federal Parliament and the Greens’ spokesperson on Foreign Policy, to discuss the climate crisis and the future of German political landscape after Merkel.

The conversation is also joined by several key individuals from Unitas’ network including researchers and academics.

On April 20th, 2021 the Minnesota Fourth Judicial District Court found Derek Chauvin, the police officer who killed George Floyd on May 25th, 2020, guilty on three charges. Leading the team that prosecuted Chauvin was the Attorney General of Minnesota and former Congressman Keith Ellison.

Keith was the first Muslim to be elected to Congress and to serve as an Attorney General as well as the first African-American representative from Minnesota. In this PR Unmasked exclusive Muddassar Ahmed sits down with Keith to discuss his battle against racial injustice in the US, the successful prosecution of the Derek Chauvin case, and the importance of building durable transatlantic partnerships on the issue of racial justice.

In this episode, Keith offers us insights from the prosecution and the public outcry to end police brutality sparked by the murder of George Floyd. The opening remarks are delivered by Lisa Nandy, the UK’s Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. The conversation is also joined by several key individuals from Unitas’ network including politicians, campaigners, policy makers and many more.

In December 2016, Soleiman Faqiri suffered fatal injuries in Ontario jail whilst waiting for a mental health assessment. No guards were charged for his death.

Soleiman’s case serves as an example of a man who lost his life in an institution that was supposed to take care of him. Now years later his family is still searching for justice.

This episode of PR Unmasked brings together activists, journalists, and human rights advocates from Canada and United States to discuss accountability in the criminal justice system and the treatment of people suffering with mental illness. Our panellists include:

• Yusuf Faqiri (Soleiman’s brother & founder of the Justice for Soli movement)
• Michelle Shephard (investigative journalist & story editor of the ‘Unascertained: The case of Soleiman Faqiri podcast’)
• Rabia Chaudry (author of a New York Times bestseller ‘Adnan’s Story’ & host of the ‘Undisclosed’ podcast)
• Yusuf Zine (film director, actor & host of the ‘Unascertained: The case of Soleiman Faqiri’ podcast)
• Evan Solomon (political journalist & the host of Canada’s most-watched political show ‘Question Period’)

In this episode Muddassar Ahmed sits down with Mahathir Mohamad – The man who dominated Malaysia’s political scene for over two decades.

Mahathir served as Malaysia’s Prime Minister from 1981 to 2003 and returned to power in 2018 until his shock resignation in February 2020, making him the most notable political figure Malaysia has seen since its independence from Britain in 1957.

In this PR Unmasked exclusive, Mahathir discusses his life at the centre of Malaysian politics and how his legacy as the longest-serving head of state shaped modern Malaysia among many other topics.

Earlier this year, Human Rights Watch released a report, “A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution”, examining the treatment of Palestinians under Israeli rule.

The report is based on in-depth research and analysis that has spanned over two years and includes case studies from across the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel.

This episode of PR Unmasked brings together both Israeli and Palestinian politicians, activists and human rights advocates to discuss the report findings. Our panellists include:

• Kenneth Roth (Executive Director of Human Rights Watch)
• Rashida Tlaib (US Congresswoman for Michigan)
• Hagai El-Ad (Executive Director of Israeli human rights NGO B’Tselem)
• Farah Nabulsi (Director of the BAFTA-winning short film The Present)
• Alon Liel (Former Director-General of the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry)

The Present, a directorial debut by Farah Nabulsi, is a cinematic take on the harsh reality of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. The short film follows a Palestinian man named Yusef, who, along with his daughter Yasmine, travels through the West Bank to buy a wedding anniversary gift for his wife.

The film explores the politics of movement and the injustice faced by Palestinians in their day-to-day lives. It captures the struggle of completing a simple task like buying a present, whilst encountering checkpoints and soldiers as a part of life under occupation.

In this episode, Muddassar Ahmed sits down with the cast and crew of The Present along with two special guests:

• Farah Nabulsi (Director and co-writer)
• Mohannad Malas (Executive Producer)
• Saleh Bakri (who portrays Yusef in the film)
• Yusef Salaam (The Innocence Project and Exonerated Five)
• Maryum Ali (public speaker and activist).

The Present was nominated for an Academy Award and won the BAFTA for ‘Best Short Film’ at this year’s awards.

We are back with another exclusive episode with the cast and crew of The Mauritanian, a Hollywood adaptation of the New York Times best-selling memoir “Guantánamo Diary”.

Based on the true story of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, the film captures an innocent man’s fight for freedom and justice after being detained and imprisoned without trial in Guantánamo Bay for 14 years.

At the Golden Globes this year, Tahar Rahim (who plays Mohamedou) was nominated for Best Actor and Jodie Foster (who plays his defence attorney) won Best Supporting Actress. The film was also nominated for five BAFTAs.

In this episode of PR Unmasked, Muddassar Ahmed sits down with the people who brought the story to the big screen:

• Mohamedou Ould Slahi (the film’s real-life protagonist)
• Benedict Cumberbatch (who plays the prosecutor Stuart Couch)
• Kevin Macdonald (Academy Award-winning director)
• Nancy Hollander (Mohamedou’s defence attorney)

The conversation is joined by several key individuals from Unitas’ network including MPs, scholars, activists and many more.

Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020, food poverty has drastically increased across the UK, with the number of people relying on food banks skyrocketing.

Despite the end of lockdown approaching, the question of how to end food insecurity continues to linger.

In this episode of PR Unmasked, Muddassar Ahmed discusses these issues and highlights the devastating effects of Covid-19 on food security with local activists and politicians in East London including:

• Rushanara Ali (Member of Parliament for Bethnal Green and Bow)
• Mariam Dawood (Councillor in the London Borough of Newham)
• Hibo Wardere (anti-FGM Campaigner and Activist)
• Jon May (Professor at Queen Mary University and Founding Trustee of Bow Food Bank).

This discussion was organised in coordination with the Bow Food Bank, one of London’s largest independent food banks. The food bank has stayed open even during national lockdowns feeding vulnerable members of the local community.

Ever wondering how spies think? In this episode, Muddassar Ahmed sits down with Sir David Omand, former Director of GCHQ, Sir David Omand, who is now sharing lessons that he learned during his extraordinary career.

Omand discusses his new book, “How Spies Think: Ten Lessons in Intelligence”,and expands on its goal to empower people to make better decisions by learning how intelligence analysts think.

Listen this podcast to learn about the future of the British Intelligence, understand how to discern the truth in an age of disinformation, and see where our priorities should lie in helping the next generation think critically!

As governments across the globe come to terms with the economic crisis induced by COVID-19, countries are drawing up new roadmaps for foreign policy using lessons from the pandemic.

In this episode of PR Unmasked, Muddassar Ahmed looks at Malaysia and explores the country’s response to the global crisis as well as its strategic position in-between the US-China rivalry.

The conversation also looks at Malaysia’s future, including the relationship with ASEAN, China’s posturing in the South China Sea and the Uyghur humanitarian crisis among other topics with a panel of experts including:

• Tricia Yeoh (CEO of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs)
• Dato’ Seri Syed Hamid Albar (Former Cabinet Minister of Malaysia for Home Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Defence and Justice)
• Dato’ Mohamad Abu Bakar (Professor at the Department of International and Strategic Studies at the University of Malaya).

This discussion was co-organised by the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilisation (ISTAC-IIUM).

Imprisoned in Guantánamo Bay camp without charge for 14 years based on a confession obtained through torture, a new movie, The Mauritanian, tells Mouhamedou Ould Salahi’s story.

With hundreds of voices from Guantánamo still silenced, Salahi groundbreaking story gives insight into the injustices and psychological toll that prisoners have endured.

In a PR Unmasked exclusive, co-hosted by Rabia Chaudry (New York Times bestseller Adnan’s Story & Undisclosed podcast), Muddassar Ahmed speaks with the cast of The Mauritanian, including:

• Golden Globe winner Jodie Foster,
• Academy Award-winning director Kevin Macdonald,
• Golden Globe nominee Tahar Rahim,
• The real Mohamedou Ould Salahi
• Mohamedou’s Defence Attorney, Nancy Hollander

Check out what the cast and the crew of The Mauritanian had to say about their experiences of making the film and what the future holds for the ongoing fight for justice!

The brutal killing of George Floyd in the summer of 2020, transcended national borders and sparked protests across the world.

Given the shared history of slavery, racism, institutional prejudice and systemic inequity across the Atlantic, seizing this moment to forge transatlantic agreements to address the legacy of racism and social injustice, is a must.

In this episode, Muddassar Ahmed explores these themes and more with leading American policy experts including:

• Alex Johnson (Chief of Staff, U.S. Helsinki Commission),
• Youshea Berry (Deputy Assistant General Counsel for Legislation & Policy, USAID)
• Mischa Thompson (Director of Global Partnerships, Policy & Innovation, U.S. Helsinki Commission)

France has lauded itself for guarding the Republic’s principle of Laïcité (secularism) fiercely. However, this has come to the detriment of French Muslims who argue that their identity is becoming hyper-politicised.

Further, the question of Islam’s compatibility with “French” values has re-entered the public discourse. Yet, Muslims themselves are often left out of these critical conversations.

In this episode of PR Unmasked, moderated by Salam Al-Marayati (President of the Muslim Public Affairs Council), Muddassar Ahmed discusses the French Muslim community’s future, the correct response in a climate of increased stigmatisation, and France’s hyper-politicised battle against radical Islam with expert panellists including:

• Myriam Francois (Journalist & Research Associate at the Centre of Islamic Studies, SOAS University of London)
• Melyssa Haffaf (Program Director of the Gender + Justice Initiative at Georgetown University)
• Yasser Louati (human rights and civil liberties activist with a focus on Islamophobia).

From the enactment of the Muslim Ban in 2017, to the continues attacks and vilification of American Muslims in the Media, there is no doubt that the previous US Administration’s actions mobilised Muslims to act!

In the debut episode of PR Unmasked, Muddassar Ahmed discusses the impact of the record-breaking Muslim voter turnout in the US 2020 Election with five Muslim change-makers including”

• Farooq Mitha (Biden Election Campaign)
• Sumaiya Ahmed Sheikh (Campus Vote Project)
• Wa’el Alzayat (Emgage Foundation)
• Salam Al-Marayati (Muslim Public Affairs Council)
• Salima Susswell (Biden For President campaign)

Listen to the podcast now to learn more about the vital role that American Muslims played in helped defeat populism!