Join Aref Ghorbani and Zozan Yasar as they reflect on experiences of state censorship and the everyday restrictions placed on cultural leaders and communities.

Aref Ghorbani is an Iranian classically trained musician who came to Scotland as a refugee in 2018. He is a key member of the Musicians in Exile community project which brings together asylum-seeking and refugee musicians in Glasgow and was awarded Scotland’s National Diversity Award in 2019.

Zozan Yasar is a Kurdish journalist, photographer, storyteller, and Human Rights Activist concentrating on women, minority rights, humanitarian, and Middle Eastern politics. She has a BA in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Istanbul in Turkey. She is the co-founder of the Kurdish Women Podcast, which aims to promote transnational feminism between women all over the world. Her social and political interests have led her to work with various organizations and initiatives such as Voice of America in the Middle East, Witness Change Project, and other media outlets in the UK.

The Refuge series is supported by British Council, Edinburgh Futures Institute at the University of Edinburgh and Claire and Mark Urquhart
Made possible through the PLACE programme