As pressure on the Rwandan government mounts, Paul signs a pardon request, expressing some contrition and agreeing to refrain from political activities if he's released. But, back at home, he finds it difficult to honor the pledge.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Rwandan court convicts Paul Rusesabagina on terrorism charges and sentences him to 25 years in prison. As he comes to terms with the prospect of spending the rest of his life behind bars, a team of lawyers, negotiators, and advocates works up a strategy to win his release.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tensions between ethnic Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda began long before the 1994 genocide—a vestige of Belgian colonial rule in the country. On this episode, we trace the events leading up to the mass killing—and how they affected Paul and his wife.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An old friend persuades human rights activist Paul Rusesabagina to travel from his home in San Antonio, Texas, to Burundi for a speaking engagement. But the friend turns out to be collaborating with the Rwandan government and the journey is a trap.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello I Spy listeners. We're back in your feed to introduce you to a remarkable new podcast made by the producers of I Spy called: After Hotel Rwanda. The show tells the story of Paul Rusesabagina, who in 2020 was lured from his home in San Antonio, Texas, to his former country of Rwanda, were he was tried on terrorism charges and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Rusesabagina had been a national hero in Rwanda for saving the lives of more than twelve hundred people during the 1994 genocide there. His story was told in the Hollywood movie Hotel Rwanda. Our four-part series describes how Rusesabagina went from hero to dissident in Rwanda—and how a team of supporters in Washington and elsewhere managed eventually to bring him home. You can hear an extended trailer in this feed right now—and all four episodes, also in this feed, starting May 7.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Long before Joe Weisberg created the award-winning television show The Americans, he served in the CIA. His brief period in the agency informed story lines in the show and helped shape Weisberg's views on espionage. Eventually, he came to believe that spying does more harm than good in the world.

Brought to you by: betterhelp.com/ispy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michele Rigby Assad joined the CIA just weeks after the attacks of September 11, 2001, and spent much of the next decade working undercover in the Middle East.

In 2007, she helped investigate an ambush in Iraq that killed an American woman. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is part two of Eric O'Neill's story. O'Neill was an FBI agent who went undercover to catch a suspected spy in the bureau: Robert Hanssen.

If you haven't signed up for our newsletter yet, go to https://foreignpolicy.com/ispynewsletter/. Each week we'll send you bonus content you won't find anywhere else, including photos, illustrations, and expanded show notes—for free.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode, FBI agent Eric O'Neill goes undercover to catch a suspected spy in the bureau: Robert Hanssen. O'Neill is just 26 at the time. Hanssen turns out to be one of the most damaging spies in U.S. history.

This is part one of a two-part story.

If you haven't signed up for our newsletter yet, go to https://foreignpolicy.com/ispynewsletter/.

Each week we'll send you bonus content you won't find anywhere else, including photos, illustrations, and expanded show notes—for free.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Well, listeners, it's taken us a while but here it is: the first episode of our fourth season.

We begin with Ric Prado, a former CIA officer who trained the Contras in Central America in the 1980s.

For those of you who don't remember, the Contras were trying to overthrow the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua. America's support for the group eventually led to the Iran-Contra affair, a government scandal that nearly brought down the Reagan administration.

For more on the Contras, go back and listen to season one's The Jumper. Eugene Hasenfus, who helped deliver arms to the Contras, describes parachuting from a burning plane and getting captured by Nicaraguan forces. We spent several years tracking down Hasenfus and getting him to tell his story.

Also, our show now has a newsletter! Sign up for free to get bonus material after each episode, including photos, illustrations, and other content you won't find anywhere else. https://foreignpolicy.com/ispynewsletter/

I Spy is produced by the podcast team at Foreign Policy, the premiere website for intelligent news and analysis from around the world. The best way to support the show—and keep those episodes coming—is by subscribing to Foreign Policy.

Save 15% by going to https://foreignpolicy.com/subscribe/ and entering ISPY at checkout.

Okay, enough verbiage. Enjoy the show.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices