What if an online game could push teenagers to their darkest edge? The Blue Whale Challenge is rumored to have taken lives around the globe, igniting fear, panic, and speculation between parents. From Russia’s nationwide hysteria to stories of tragic teenage deaths worldwide, the phenomenon shocked millions. But does this deadly game even exist?

In this episode: 

• Evgenii Berg (@genuine_berg), journalist
• Elizabeth Tucker (@libby.tucker.39), folklorist

Episode credits: 

This episode was written and produced by Anna Staufenberg and hosted by Halla Mohieddeen. 

Executive Producers: Ney Alvarez and Sandra Ferrari.

Production Managers: Archan Mohile and Bronte Baskin.

Senior Producer: Marthe van der Wolf.

Post-Production Supervisor: Andrés Rivera

Assistant Producers: Leo Danczak, Sophie McNulty, and Catherine Nouhan.

Fact-checking by Ruby Zaman.

Audio editing by Alan Leer.

Music composition by Tom Biddle.

Lead of Engagement: Aya Elmileik.

Engagement Producers: Adam Abou-Gad, Munera AlDosari, and Vienna Maglio.

Al Jazeera’s Head of Audio: Ney Alvarez.

Connect with us:

@AJEPodcasts on Instagram, X, Facebook and YouTube

Was al-Assad's Syria a narco-state?

Captagon—a deadly, addictive amphetamine—has turned Syria into the heart of a $2 billion drug empire few know about, with the Assad regime at the center of it all. From secret labs to smuggling routes, we uncover how this shadowy network operates and its devastating impact across the Middle East.

With the regime’s fall, what happens to this illicit empire?

In this episode: 

• Caroline Rose (@CarolineRose8), director at New Lines Institute
• Dania Albaba (@daniaonfire), expert in addiction psychiatry 

Episode credits: 

This episode was written and produced by Anna Staufenberg and hosted by Halla Mohieddeen. 

Executive Producers: Ney Alvarez and Sandra Ferrari.

Production Managers: Archan Mohile and Bronte Baskin.

Senior Producer: Marthe van der Wolf.

Post-Production Supervisor: Andrés Rivera

Assistant Producers: Leo Danczak, Sophie McNulty, and Catherine Nouhan.

Fact-checking by Ruby Zaman.

Audio editing by Alan Leer.

Music composition by Tom Biddle.

Lead of Engagement: Aya Elmileik.

Engagement Producers: Adam Abou-Gad, Munera AlDosari, and Vienna Maglio.

Al Jazeera’s Head of Audio: Ney Alvarez.

Connect with us:

@AJEPodcasts on Instagram, X, Facebook and YouTube

How far will Western powers go for conservation?

In 2015, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, guards shot and killed an Indigenous boy searching for herbs with his father.

This tragedy spotlights the violence faced by Indigenous communities from international conservation efforts.

Is human life the cost of wildlife protection?

In this episode: 

• Fiore Longo (@LongoFiore), campaigner at Survival International (@Survival)
• Members of the Batwa Community

Video episode link: 

• https://youtu.be/Ug3zh54s3Tw 

Correction at 07:21: The figure here states “There are now only around 250 eastern lowland gorillas in the park." Recent surveys have revised the 2015 population of Eastern lowland gorillas to be c.1,500.

Episode credits:

This episode was written and produced by Anna Staufenberg and hosted by Halla Mohieddeen. 

Executive Producers: Ney Alvarez and Sandra Ferrari.

Production Manager: Archan Mohile.

Senior Producer: Marthe van der Wolf.

Assistant Producers: Leo Danczak, Sophie McNulty, and Catherine Nouhan.

Fact-checking by Ruby Zaman.

Audio editing by Alan Leer.

Music composition by Tom Biddle.

Lead of Engagement: Aya Elmileik.

Engagement Producers: Adam Abou-Gad, Munera AlDosari, and Vienna Maglio.

Al Jazeera’s Head of Audio: Ney Alvarez.

Connect with us:

@AJEPodcasts on Instagram, X, Facebook and YouTube

We all know a scamming story: Someone rings or texts you, trying to get your personal information or asking you to log in to your account. But what you might not know is that the person behind that phone could be someone who’s been trafficked and enslaved.

Hundreds of thousands of people are trapped in scamming farms across Southeast Asia. It’s a multi-billion dollar industry, and it’s a chronically underreported story on modern-day slavery.

In this episode: 

• Mary Ann Jolley, (@jolleyma), Journalist

Episode credits:

This episode was written and produced by Anna Staufenberg and hosted by Halla Mohieddeen. 

Executive Producers: Ney Alvarez and Sandra Ferrari.

Production Manager: Archan Mohile.

Senior Producer: Marthe van der Wolf.

Assistant Producers: Leo Danczak, Sophie McNulty, and Catherine Nouhan.

Fact-checking by Ruby Zaman.

Translation by Fei Liu.

Audio editing by Alan Leer.

Music composition by Tom Biddle.

Lead of Engagement: Aya Elmileik.

Engagement Producers: Adam Abou-Gad, Munera AlDosari, and Vienna Maglio.

Al Jazeera’s Head of Audio: Ney Alvarez.

Connect with us:

@AJEPodcasts on Instagram, X, Facebook and YouTube

Two Americans and one Brit were invited to Communist Cambodia in 1978 to meet the brutal dictator Pol Pot. The Brit is called Malcolm Caldwell, a professor from Scotland, and a big Pol Pot fan.  

Just hours after he meets his hero, Malcolm is shot dead. So, who killed Malcolm Caldwell?

In this episode: 

• Elizabeth Becker,(@ehb47), journalist and author
• Sophal Ear, (@sophal_ear), political scientist 

Episode credits: 

This episode was written and produced by Anna Staufenberg, and hosted by Halla Mohieddeen. 

Executive Producers: Ney Alvarez and Sandra Ferrari.

Production Manager: Archan Mohile.

Senior Producer: Marthe van der Wolf.

Assistant Producers: Leo Danczak, Sophie McNulty and Catherine Nouhan.

Fact-checking by Ruby Zaman.

Audio editing by Alan Leer.

Music composition by Tom Biddle.

Lead of Engagement: Aya Elmileik.

Engagement Producers: Adam Abou-Gad, Munera AlDosari and Vienna Maglio.

Al Jazeera’s Head of Audio: Ney Alvarez. 

Connect with us:

@AJEPodcasts on Instagram, X, Facebook, Threads and YouTube

Ruth Thalía’s truth would cost her everything. On national television in Peru, the nineteen-year-old revealed her darkest secrets for a prize, only to be found dead just two months later. 

A game show called ‘The Value of the Truth’ launched in South America in 2012. In it, contestants must reveal the most shocking and intimate details about their own lives in front of their loved ones in exchange for a prize jackpot.

So, who murdered Ruth Thalía? And how much is the truth worth?

In this episode: 

• Neil Giardino, (@NeilGiardino), Journalist

Episode credits: 

This episode was written and produced by Anna Staufenberg, and hosted by Halla Mohieddeen. 

Executive Producers: Ney Alvarez and Sandra Ferrari.

Production Manager: Archan Mohile.

Senior Producer: Marthe van der Wolf.

Assistant Producers: Leo Danczak, Sophie McNulty and Catherine Nouhan.

Fact-checking by Ruby Zaman.

Audio editing by Alan Leer.

Music composition by Tom Biddle.

Lead of Engagement: Aya Elmileik.

Engagement Producers: Adam Abou-Gad, Munera AlDosari and Vienna Maglio.

Al Jazeera’s Head of Audio: Ney Alvarez. 

Connect with us:

@AJEPodcasts on Instagram, X, Facebook and YouTube

A murder that rocked the Sikh community in British Columbia, Canada. Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a prominent Sikh leader, was fatally shot in his car just after leaving his local temple in 2023.

This wasn't just another crime - it was an event that would spark international tension and raise alarming questions: 

Who assassinated Hardeep?

Did the orders come from the Indian government itself?

In this episode: 

• Giorgio Shani (@GiorgioShani), Professor, Politics and International Studies ICU Japan. 

• Gurpatwant Singh Pannun (@SFJGenCounsel), General Counsel, Sikhs for Justice (@SFJ_US_Official)

Episode credits:

This episode was written and produced by Anna Staufenberg, and hosted by Halla Mohieddeen.

Executive Producers: Ney Alvarez and Sandra Ferrari.

Production Manager: Archan Mohile.

Senior Producer: Marthe van der Wolf.

Assistant Producers: Leo Danczak, Sophie McNulty and Catherine Nouhan.

Fact-checking by Ruby Zaman.

Audio editing by Alan Leer.

Music composition by Tom Biddle.

Lead of Engagement: Aya Elmileik.

Engagement Producers: Adam Abou-Gad, Munera AlDosari and Vienna Maglio.

Al Jazeera’s Head of Audio: Ney Alvarez.

Connect with us:

@AJEPodcasts on Instagram, X, Facebook and YouTube

Thabo Bester is South Africa’s most notorious con man. In 2012, he was locked away for life for murder and rape.

But when in 2022, a fire suddenly breaks out in Bester’s cell, and nothing but a charred body remains, the country’s in shock. Is that the end of Thabo Bester?

This is a story about how a serial rapist worked his way into South Africa’s most exclusive circles and about how he almost escaped justice.

Listen to the premiere episode of True Crime Reports from Al Jazeera.

In this episode: 

• Glenda Paul, (@GlenniePaul), Forensic Investigator at IRS Forensic Investigations
• Marecia Damons, (@mareciadamons), Journalist, GroundUp News

Episode credits:

This episode was written and produced by Anna Staufenberg, and hosted by Halla Mohieddeen. 

Executive Producers: Ney Alvarez and Sandra Ferrari.

Production Manager: Archan Mohile.

Senior Producer: Marthe van der Wolf.

Assistant Producers: Leo Danczak, Sophie McNulty and Catherine Nouhan.

Fact-checking by Ruby Zaman.

Audio editing by Alan Leer.

Music composition by Tom Biddle.

Lead of Engagement: Aya Elmileik.

Engagement Producers: Adam Abou-Gad, Munera AlDosari, and Vienna Maglio.

Al Jazeera’s Head of Audio: Ney Alvarez.

Connect with us:

@AJEPodcasts on Instagram, X, Facebook and YouTube

This is immersive true crime, done differently. True Crime Reports brings you crime stories from the global south and beyond; tales of corruption, power, and injustice that often haven’t reached headlines in the West.

Hosted by journalist Halla Mohieddeen, each week you’ll be taken to countries like Peru, South Africa, Syria, and Cambodia, hearing from eyewitnesses, journalists, and family members right at the heart of these stories.

Connect with us:

@AJEPodcasts on Instagram, X, Facebook and YouTube