I’m Not a Monster Presents… Where is Austin Tice?

The team get answers. Then Josh tells Debra what they’ve found.

Josh and Sara track down a witness who says he knows what happened to Austin Tice. He says people are trying to stop the truth from coming out, but that he has been trying to find Austin for years and knows what really happened. Josh and Sara test his story. As the pieces begin to fit, Josh talks Austin’s mother Debra through their findings.

Archive: United Nations; NPR; The White House; BBC; Voices Unbound.

Writer and showrunner: Josh Baker
Investigative producer: Sara Obeidat
Series producer: Simon Maybin
Field producing: Ouday Al Hussein
Additional producing: Lucy Burns
Open source intelligence: Thomas Bordeaux & Gabor Friesen
Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Series editor: Clare Fordham
Head of BBC News Long Form Audio: Emma Rippon
BBC Radio 4 commissioning editor: Dan Clarke
NPR producer: Monika Evstatieva
NPR editors: Robert Little & Katie Simon
NPR executive producer for Embedded: Irene Noguchi
BBC World Service commissioning editor: Jon Manel
Composer: Firas Abou Fakher
Additional music: Karim Chehoury
Theme music: Sam Slater
Mix and sound design: Tom Brignell

Josh and Sara hunt the men who know what really happened to Austin. When the Assad regime fell, they went into hiding.

As the team close in, competing accounts begin to emerge: stories of detention, secret deals, survival and betrayal. Some may be telling the truth, others may be trying to bury it.

Archive: CNN; BBC; NBC; PBS; Al Jazeera.

Writer and showrunner: Josh Baker
Investigative producer: Sara Obeidat
Series producer: Simon Maybin
Field producing: Ouday Al Hussein
Additional producing: Lucy Burns
Open source intelligence: Thomas Bordeaux & Gabor Friesen
Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Series editor: Clare Fordham
Head of BBC News Long Form Audio: Emma Rippon
BBC Radio 4 commissioning editor: Dan Clarke
NPR producer: Monika Evstatieva
NPR editors: Robert Little & Katie Simon
NPR executive producer for Embedded: Irene Noguchi
BBC World Service commissioning editor: Jon Manel
Composer: Firas Abou Fakher
Additional music: Karim Chehoury
Theme music: Sam Slater
Mix and sound design: Tom Brignell

When was the last time Austin was seen alive? Josh and Sara find the people who claim to know.

Josh meets a man who says he interrogated Austin. Then two more witnesses are found. Each of them helps fill gaps in Austin’s story, and the hidden months of his captivity are revealed. But one question becomes more urgent than any other: when was Austin last seen alive?

Writer and showrunner: Josh Baker
Investigative producer: Sara Obeidat
Series producer: Simon Maybin
Field producing: Ouday Al Hussein
Additional producing: Lucy Burns
Open source intelligence: Thomas Bordeaux & Gabor Friesen
Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Series editor: Clare Fordham
Head of BBC News Long Form Audio: Emma Rippon
BBC Radio 4 commissioning editor: Dan Clarke
NPR producer: Monika Evstatieva
NPR editors: Robert Little & Katie Simon
NPR executive producer for Embedded: Irene Noguchi
BBC World Service commissioning editor: Jon Manel
Composer: Firas Abou Fakher
Additional music: Karim Chehoury
Theme music: Sam Slater
Mix and sound design: Tom Brignell

Josh uncovers a hidden world of secret negotiations, backchannels, and high-level talks. And, after years of failed promises, Austin’s mother Debra decides to go to Syria herself - alone.

She believes the US government could have done more to get her son home. Josh finds the men who took part in covert talks between Washington and Damascus. Could Austin’s release have been possible? And what was Syria offered in return?

Archive: NBC; NPR; CBS; CNN; BBC; Fox; The White House.

Writer and showrunner: Josh Baker
Investigative producer: Sara Obeidat
Series producer: Simon Maybin
Field producing: Ouday Al Hussein
Additional producing: Lucy Burns
Open source intelligence: Thomas Bordeaux & Gabor Friesen
Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Series editor: Clare Fordham
Head of BBC News Long Form Audio: Emma Rippon
BBC Radio 4 commissioning editor: Dan Clarke
NPR producer: Monika Evstatieva
NPR editors: Robert Little & Katie Simon
NPR executive producer for Embedded: Irene Noguchi
BBC World Service commissioning editor: Jon Manel
Composer: Firas Abou Fakher
Additional music: Karim Chehoury
Theme music: Sam Slater
Mix and sound design: Tom Brignell

A video appears online titled: “Austin Tice Still Alive”. It shows Austin bound, blindfolded and terrified, surrounded by armed men. But as Josh and Sara dig deeper, the story begins to change. They uncover a trail that leads to the door of the most powerful man in Syria. Austin’s case is like no other.

Archive: CBS; NPR; CNN; khalidfree75; Al Jazeera; BBC; ABC; Middle East Eye.

Writer and showrunner: Josh Baker
Investigative producer: Sara Obeidat
Series producer: Simon Maybin
Field producing: Ouday Al Hussein
Additional producing: Lucy Burns
Open source intelligence: Thomas Bordeaux & Gabor Friesen
Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Series editor: Clare Fordham
Head of BBC News Long Form Audio: Emma Rippon
BBC Radio 4 commissioning editor: Dan Clarke
NPR producer: Monika Evstatieva
NPR editors: Robert Little & Katie Simon
NPR executive producer for Embedded: Irene Noguchi
BBC World Service commissioning editor: Jon Manel
Composer: Firas Abou Fakher
Additional music: Karim Chehoury
Theme music: Sam Slater
Mix and sound design: Tom Brignell

Josh and Sara piece together Austin’s final route into Damascus. They find the farm where he celebrated his 31st birthday - the last place his mother spoke to him.

Then comes an unprecedented discovery. For years, the story was that Austin was taken at a checkpoint. But what Josh and Sara uncover suggests something far more deliberate. And at the centre of Austin’s disappearance is one man.

Archive: BBC; CNN; Fox.

Writer and showrunner: Josh Baker
Investigative producer: Sara Obeidat
Series producer: Simon Maybin
Field producing: Ouday Al Hussein
Additional producing: Lucy Burns
Open source intelligence: Thomas Bordeaux & Gabor Friesen
Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Series editor: Clare Fordham
Head of BBC News Long Form Audio: Emma Rippon
BBC Radio 4 commissioning editor: Dan Clarke
NPR producer: Monika Evstatieva
NPR editors: Robert Little & Katie Simon
NPR executive producer for Embedded: Irene Noguchi
BBC World Service commissioning editor: Jon Manel
Composer: Firas Abou Fakher
Additional music: Karim Chehoury
Theme music: Sam Slater
Mix and sound design: Tom Brignell

The Austin Tice files begin to give up their secrets. Josh and Sara uncover names, locations and new leads about what happened to Austin Tice. But to understand them, they have to go back to the start - to Austin’s own journey through Syria, the rebels he befriended, and the road he took before he vanished. That road leads to a town outside Damascus - and a shocking discovery.

Archive: CNN; Sky News; ABC; Fox; Houston Public Media; WNYC; BBC; CBS.

Writer and showrunner: Josh Baker
Investigative producer: Sara Obeidat
Series producer: Simon Maybin
Field producing: Ouday Al Hussein
Additional producing: Lucy Burns
Open source intelligence: Thomas Bordeaux & Gabor Friesen
Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Series editor: Clare Fordham
Head of BBC News Long Form Audio: Emma Rippon
BBC Radio 4 commissioning editor: Dan Clarke
NPR producer: Monika Evstatieva
NPR editors: Robert Little & Katie Simon
NPR executive producer for Embedded: Irene Noguchi
BBC World Service commissioning editor: Jon Manel
Composer: Firas Abou Fakher
Additional music: Karim Chehoury
Theme music: Sam Slater
Mix and sound design: Tom Brignell

In the chaos after the Syrian regime’s downfall, the hunt for Austin Tice is on. Josh Baker and his fellow investigative journalist Sara Obeidat are in Damascus as bombs fall and gunfights break out. Armed with a list of locations where Austin may have been held, they race across the Syrian capital searching for any sign of him. They find horrifying evidence of detention and torture on an industrial scale. Then, after climbing across a five-storey drop to reach a hidden room, they get a breakthrough — a trove of material about Austin that was never meant to be found.

Archive: Syria News; Al Jazeera; BBC; CBS; Fox; ABC; PBS; Al Arabiya; NBC.

Writer and showrunner: Josh Baker
Investigative producer: Sara Obeidat
Series producer: Simon Maybin
Field producing: Ouday Al Hussein
Additional producing: Lucy Burns
Open source intelligence: Thomas Bordeaux & Gabor Friesen
Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Series editor: Clare Fordham
Head of BBC News Long Form Audio: Emma Rippon
BBC Radio 4 commissioning editor: Dan Clarke
NPR producer: Monika Evstatieva
NPR editors: Robert Little & Katie Simon
NPR executive producer for Embedded: Irene Noguchi
BBC World Service commissioning editor: Jon Manel
Composer: Firas Abou Fakher
Additional music: Karim Chehoury
Theme music: Sam Slater
Mix and sound design: Tom Brignell

Josh Baker investigates one of the biggest missing-person cases of our time. American journalist Austin Tice vanished in Syria, but the US president says he’s alive. For more than a decade Austin's mother Debra has been leading the search for her son. As Josh Baker and Sara Obeidat travel to Syria to help Austin’s mother’s search, a source gives Josh information that might unlock where he is - and a simple instruction: “Find Austin.”

Archive: Houston Public Media; NBC; PBS; CNN; C-SPAN; MSNBC; The White House; BBC.

Writer and showrunner: Josh Baker
Investigative producer: Sara Obeidat
Series producer: Simon Maybin
Field producing: Ouday Al Hussein
Additional producing: Lucy Burns
Open source intelligence: Thomas Bordeaux & Gabor Friesen
Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Series editor: Clare Fordham
Head of BBC News Long Form Audio: Emma Rippon
BBC Radio 4 commissioning editor: Dan Clarke
NPR producer: Monika Evstatieva
NPR editors: Robert Little & Katie Simon
NPR executive producer for Embedded: Irene Noguchi
BBC World Service commissioning editor: Jon Manel
Composer: Firas Abou Fakher
Additional music: Karim Chehoury
Theme music: Sam Slater
Mix and sound design: Tom Brignell

Josh Baker enters a dangerous world of fear, greed and betrayal as he sets out to uncover the truth behind one of the biggest missing-person cases of our time - the abduction of American journalist Austin Tice.

Archive: NBC; PBS; CNN.

Writer and showrunner: Josh Baker
Investigative producer: Sara Obeidat
Series producer: Simon Maybin
Field producing: Ouday Al Hussein
Additional producing: Lucy Burns
Open source intelligence: Thomas Bordeaux & Gabor Friesen
Production coordinator: Gemma Ashman
Series editor: Clare Fordham
Head of BBC News Long Form Audio: Emma Rippon
BBC Radio 4 commissioning editor: Dan Clarke
NPR producer: Monika Evstatieva
NPR editors: Robert Little & Katie Simon
NPR executive producer for Embedded: Irene Noguchi
BBC World Service commissioning editor: Jon Manel
Composer: Firas Abou Fakher
Additional music: Karim Chehoury
Theme music: Sam Slater
Mix and sound design: Tom Brignell

Nine years to the day since Shamima Begum entered ISIS controlled Syria, she’ll find out whether she’s any closer to coming back to Britain. Josh is at the Royal Courts of Justice in central London to hear whether Begum’s lawyers have succeeded in arguing that the British government’s decision to take away her citizenship was unlawful.

After she emerged from the remnants of the Islamic State group in 2019, the British Home Secretary took away her citizenship saying she was a threat to national security. Her lawyers claim that he failed to consider whether she was victim of trafficking.

Will her appeal succeed?

Josh answers your questions about Shamima Begum and the making of the multi-award winning series.

Recorded in front of an audience at the BBC’s Radio Theatre in London, Naga Munchetty puts your questions to Josh including: what is it about this story that captures the imagination and curiosity of so many people? How did Josh keep safe while making the podcast? And, Should Shamima Begum be seen as a villain?

I’m Not A Monster is the BBC’s most-awarded podcast series. It’s the only audio series to have won two Rose D’Or Awards and it won an inaugural Podcast Academy Award for Documentary, an Edward R Murrow Award, The Grand Jury Prize at the New York Radio Awards and three awards in the documentary, current affairs and true crime categories at the British Podcast Awards 2023. Series two was recently named podcast of the year by the Foreign Press Association and best investigative audio series by the Association of International Broadcasters.

Presenters: Josh Baker and Naga Munchetty
Radio Theatre crew: Alan Zani, Marc Wilcox, Brendan Gormley, Clive Painter
Production support: Janet Staples and Katie Morrison
Mixed by: Tom Brignell
Producer: Joe Kent with Sara Obeidat and Hayley Clarke
Editor: Jonathan Aspinwall
Commissioner: Dylan Haskins

What do you want to know about The Shamima Begum Story and the making of the podcast? Join us on Tuesday the 12th of September in London, as Josh answers your questions about the series, share more about how it was made and some extra things we’ve learnt about the story.

Apply for FREE TICKETS: https://www.bbc.co.uk/showsandtours/shows/shamima-begum

Email your questions: josh@bbc.co.uk

What happened to the girl Shamima Begum says convinced her to join the Islamic State group?

Less than 24 hours before this episode was published ,we got the answer.

Reporter: Josh Baker
Written and produced by: Josh Baker, Sara Obeidat and Joe Kent
Composer: Firas Abou Fakher
Theme music: Sam Slater
Mix and sound design: Tom Brignell
Production coordinators: Janet Staples and Helena Warwick-Cross
Series Editor: Jonathan Aspinwall
Head of Long Form Audio: Emma Rippon
Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins

This episode contains some strong language

No longer a vulnerable schoolgirl, but a seemingly unrepentant adult. Shamima Begum enrages the British public and ends up stuck in Syria.

A series of media interviews come to shape how she’s perceived - with long lasting consequences.

Reporter: Josh Baker
Written and produced by: Josh Baker, Sara Obeidat and Joe Kent
Composer: Firas Abou Fakher
Theme music: Sam Slater
Mix and sound design: Tom Brignell
Production coordinators: Janet Staples and Helena Warwick-Cross
Series Editor: Jonathan Aspinwall
Head of Long Form Audio: Emma Rippon
Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins

ARCHIVE
John Sparks interviews Shammia Begum: Sky News (2019)
Rohit Kachroo interviews Shammia Begum: ITV News (2019)

This episode contains upsetting moments involving children

Raqqa falls, the so-called caliphate crumbles and a pregnant Shamima Begum is desperate to come home.

After she and her husband Yago walk out of the ashes of the Islamic State group, she’s discovered in a detention camp where she gives an interview that will change her life.

Reporter: Josh Baker
Written by: Josh Baker and Joe Kent
Producers: Josh Baker, Sara Obeidat and Joe Kent
Composer: Firas Abou Fakher
Theme music: Sam Slater
Mix and sound design: Tom Brignell
Production coordinators: Janet Staples and Helena Warwick-Cross
Series Editor: Jonathan Aspinwall
Head of Long Form Audio: Emma Rippon Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins

ARCHIVE:
Islamic State's final fighters hold on in Baghouz as caliphate crumbles: ITV News (2019)
Alex Rossi goes inside the Islamic State's last stand in Baghouz: Sky News (2019)
Anthony Lloyd interviews Shamima Begum: The Times of London (2019)

This episode contains graphic descriptions of violence and some upsetting moments involving children.

Someone close to Shamima Begum is looking for a way out of the so-called caliphate.

Reporter: Josh Baker
Written by: Josh Baker and Joe Kent
Producers: Josh Baker, Sara Obeidat and Joe Kent
Composer: Firas Abou Fakher
Theme music: Sam Slater
Mix and sound design: Tom Brignell
Production coordinator: Janet Staples
Series Editor: Jonathan Aspinwall
Head of Long Form Audio: Emma Rippon Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins

With her new husband in prison, Shamima Begum is left in the care of a stranger, but who is he? Josh travels to the heart of the former caliphate as he searches for clues and investigates what her life with the Islamic State group was like.

Reporter: Josh Baker
Written by: Josh Baker and Joe Kent
Producers: Josh Baker, Sara Obeidat and Joe Kent
Composer: Firas Abou Fakher
Theme music: Sam Slater
Mix and sound design: Tom Brignell
Production coordinator: Janet Staples
Series Editor: Jonathan Aspinwall
Head of Long Form Audio: Emma Rippon
Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins

This episode contains descriptions of violence, sexual violence, and has upsetting content

Shamima Begum’s new life under ISIS isn’t what she expected. She says what she thought would be paradise is more like a prison. At just 15 years-old she finds herself trapped in an ISIS guesthouse, where the only way out is to get married. In his first interview since 2019, Islamic State group fighter Yago Reidjik reveals how he became her husband and what their life together was like.

This episode contains very strong language and references to sexual abuse.

Reporter: Josh Baker
Written by: Josh Baker and Joe Kent
Producers: Josh Baker, Sara Obeidat and Joe Kent
Composer: Firas Abou Fakher
Theme music: Sam Slater
Mix and sound design: Tom Brignell
Production coordinator: Janet Staples
Series Editor: Jonathan Aspinwall
Head of Long Form Audio: Emma Rippon
Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins

Friendship, propaganda and the promise of paradise - why Shamima Begum left London at 15 for the Islamic State group in war torn Syria. But how did she ignore the group’s brutal violence? And who convinced her to go?

The feature length documentary, "The Shamima Begum Story", will be on BBC2 at 9pm on February 7th.

Reporter: Josh Baker
Written by: Josh Baker and Joe Kent
Producers: Josh Baker, Sara Obeidat and Joe Kent
Composer: Firas Abou Fakher
Theme music: Sam Slater and Gunni Tynes
Mix and sound design: Tom Brignell
Production coordinator: Janet Staples
Series Editor: Jonathan Aspinwall
Head of Long Form Audio: Emma Rippon
Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins

Guidance: This episode contains descriptions of extreme violence

The man who smuggled Shamima Begum to Syria claims he was spying for Canada. What's the truth? And could she and her school friends have been stopped from reaching the Islamic State group?

Reporter: Josh Baker
Written by: Josh Baker and Joe Kent
Producers: Josh Baker, Sara Obeidat and Joe Kent
Field producers: Hussam Hammoud
Composer: Firas Abou Fakher
Theme music: Sam Slater and Gunni Tynes
Mix and sound design: Tom Brignell
Production coordinator: Janet Staples
Series Editor: Jonathan Aspinwall
Head of Long Form Audio: Emma Rippon
Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins

ARCHIVE:
SKY News: New Footage 'Of British IS Schoolgirls' (March 2015)

Following Shamima Begum’s route reveals a dangerous Islamic State group smuggling network, but that’s not all. A local taxi firm isn’t what it seems and a gangster threatens to make Josh “disappear.” It all ends in an underground carpark with a stack of secret documents and a warning.

Reporter: Josh Baker
Written by: Josh Baker and Joe Kent
Producers: Josh Baker, Sara Obeidat and Joe Kent
Field producers: Hussam Hammoud and Zeynep Bilginsoy
Composer: Firas Abou Fakher
Theme music: Sam Slater and Gunni Tynes
Mix and sound design: Tom Brignell
Production coordinator: Janet Staples
Series Editor: Jonathan Aspinwall
Head of Long Form Audio: Emma Rippon
Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins

This episode contains strong language.

Three London schoolgirls disappear, heading for a war zone. Four years later only one emerges from the ashes of ISIS. Nobody knows what really happened to her. Josh Baker meets Shamima Begum in Syria to begin unpicking her story.

Almost eight years earlier, he was filming in Shamima’s local mosque when news broke that she and her friends had gone missing, it made global headlines. He was there when their families came asking for help, but it was all too late; they'd already made it into the hands of the Islamic State group.

But how did it all begin?

Reporter: Josh Baker
Written by: Josh Baker and Joe Kent
Producers: Josh Baker, Sara Obeidat and Joe Kent
Composer: Firas Abou Fakher
Theme music: Sam Slater
Mix and sound design: Tom Brignell
Production coordinator: Janet Staples
Series Editor: Jonathan Aspinwall
Head of Long Form Audio: Emma Rippon
Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins

ARCHIVE
Good Morning Britain (ITV, September 2021)
Sky News: John Sparks interviews Shamima Begum (February 2019)

Investigating the story of Shamima Begum. At 15, she ran away from her London home with two school friends to join the terror group ISIS in war torn Syria. Now she wants to come back. It’s a tale that has gripped the world, but there are different ways to tell it.

Josh Baker has been following the story since 2015 when Shamima Begum left for the Islamic State group. For Series 2 of I’m Not a Monster he investigates what really happened.

ARCHIVE:

CNN: Three British Girls Run Away to Syria (2015)
Sky News: Newspaper Review (13/02/2019)
ITV: Good Morning Britain (24/11/2020)
Fox News; The Ingraham Angle (20/02/2019)
ITV: Good Morning Britain (15/09/2021)

Since the series ended, so many of you have got in touch wanting to know more. With the help of criminal psychologist Dr Julia Shaw, Josh answers your questions.

Presenters: Josh Baker and Dr Julia Shaw (host of the Bad People podcast on BBC Sounds)
Mixed by: Tom Brignell
Producer: Joe Kent
Production Co-ordinator: Janet Staples
Editor Emma Rippon

“I’m Not a Monster” is a collaboration between BBC Panorama and FRONTLINE (PBS) and is a BBC Long Form Audio production for BBC Sounds.

In Northern Iraq, Josh finds out how two people you’ve been asking about are doing now.

In 2014, the Islamic State group killed thousands of members of the Yazidi religious community and kidnapped and enslaved many, many more. Ayham and Saud were both taken from their families and ended up in Syria where they were eventually bought by Sam and her husband Moussa.

Josh first met them just after they’d escaped ISIS with Sam and then made it back to Iraq. Now he returns to hear how they are doing today and what they want for their futures.

This episode includes strong language and references to violence.

Reporter: Josh Baker
Producers: Joe Kent and Max Green
Editor: Emma Rippon
Sound engineer: Tom Brignell

“I’m Not a Monster” is a collaboration between BBC Panorama and FRONTLINE (PBS) and is a BBC Long Form Audio production for BBC Sounds.

What happened to the family Josh was staying with when the Islamic State group struck in 2016?

I’m Not a Monster began after Josh was injured by an ISIS truck bomb in Mosul, Iraq. If it wasn’t for an old contact reaching out to see how he was doing, he may never have heard about Sam and Matthew.

Now he returns to the Iraqi city and finds that while the fighting may be largely over, the people of Iraq are facing a different battle as a mental health crisis has taken hold.

This episode includes descriptions of violence and some upsetting moments involving children.

Reporter: Josh Baker
Producers: Joe Kent and Max Green

“I’m Not a Monster” is a collaboration between BBC Panorama and FRONTLINE (PBS) and is a BBC Long Form Audio production for BBC Sounds.

Sam’s son Matthew was just seven when he was taken to Syria and the Islamic State group. He thought he’d never see America again. Now he’s back with his dad and talks of the “sweet relief” of being home.

Josh finds out how he and Sam’s other children are doing now.

This episode includes references to violence and some upsetting moments involving children.

Reporter: Josh Baker
Written by: Josh Baker and Joe Kent
Producers: Joe Kent and Max Green
Production assistant: Lucie Sullivan
Composer: Sam Slater
Mixed by: Tom Brignell
Series Editor: Emma Rippon

Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins
Commissioning Editor: Jason Phipps

“I’m Not a Monster” is a collaboration between BBC Panorama and FRONTLINE (PBS) and is a BBC Radio Current Affairs production for BBC Sounds

After years of insisting she’s innocent, Sam pleads guilty and Moussa’s exes reveal more about the man that led her to Syria. Sam’s team claims she was “a wife under the thumb of her violently abusive and radical husband” but the prosecution says she has “credibility issues” and tells stories that serve her personally. So how long will she spend in prison?

This episodes contains some upsetting moments involving children.

If you know something that you think might help the investigation please email notamonster@bbc.com

Reporter: Josh Baker
Written by: Josh Baker and Joe Kent
Producers: Joe Kent and Max Green
Production assistant: Lucie Sullivan
Composer: Sam Slater
Mixed by: Tom Brignell
Series Editor: Emma Rippon

Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins
Commissioning Editor: Jason Phipps

ARCHIVE:

ABC News: President Donald Trump declares national emergency to address coronavirus outbreak

“I’m Not a Monster” is a collaboration between BBC Panorama and FRONTLINE (PBS) and is a BBC Radio Current Affairs production for BBC Sounds.

Josh retraces Sam’s steps in Syria and asks could she have been an ISIS supporter all along? He meets her old neighbours in Raqqa, visits the infamous torture prison where she says she was held and meets an Islamic State group member who knew her personally.

This episode includes references to violence.

Reporter: Josh Baker
Written by: Josh Baker and Joe Kent
Producers: Joe Kent and Max Green
Production assistant: Lucie Sullivan
Composer: Sam Slater
Mixed by: Tom Brignell
Series Editor: Emma Rippon

Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins
Commissioning Editor: Jason Phipps

“I’m Not a Monster” is a collaboration between BBC Panorama and FRONTLINE (PBS) and is a BBC Radio Current Affairs production for BBC Sounds.

As Josh starts to uncover more about the family’s past, Sam tries to explain away some of the many discrepancies in her story. Then, a connection to the FBI raises new questions about her.

If you know something that you think might help the investigation please email notamonster@bbc.com

Reporter: Josh Baker
Written by: Josh Baker and Joe Kent
Producers: Joe Kent and Max Green
Production assistant: Lucie Sullivan
Composer: Sam Slater
Mixed by: Tom Brignell
Series Editor: Emma Rippon

Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins
Commissioning Editor: Jason Phipps

ARCHIVE:

ITV News: Filthy and overcrowded': Islamic State families stuck in 'no man's land'
CBS News: CBS News goes inside Syrian refugee camp filled with ISIS supporters

“I’m Not a Monster” is a collaboration between BBC Panorama and FRONTLINE (PBS) and is a BBC Radio Current Affairs production for BBC Sounds.

A torture prison, buying slaves and a dramatic escape: Sam continues her account of her years in Raqqa.

This episode includes references to sexual abuse, extreme violence and some upsetting moments involving children.

Reporter: Josh Baker
Written by: Josh Baker and Joe Kent
Producers: Joe Kent and Max Green
Production assistant: Lucie Sullivan
Composer: Sam Slater
Mixed by: Rod Farquhar
Series Editor: Emma Rippon

Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins
Commissioning Editor: Jason Phipps

If you've been affected by any of the issues in this series, please contact support organisations in your own country.

For a list of organisations in the UK that can provide support for survivors of sexual abuse, go to bbc.co.uk/actionline

“I’m Not a Monster” is a collaboration between BBC Panorama and FRONTLINE (PBS) and is a BBC Radio Current Affairs production for BBC Sounds.

Josh is face-to-face with Sam after a year trying to track her down. On a military base in Syria, she begins to tell her side of the story. She says it all started as a family holiday.

Reporter: Josh Baker
Written by: Josh Baker and Joe Kent
Producers: Joe Kent and Max Green
Production assistant: Lucie Sullivan
Composer: Sam Slater
Mixed By: Tom Brignell
Series Editor: Emma Rippon

Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins
Commissioning Editor: Jason Phipps

“I’m Not a Monster” is a collaboration between BBC Panorama and FRONTLINE (PBS) and is a BBC Radio Current Affairs production for BBC Sounds.

A young boy in the mountains of Northern Iraq makes Josh question what he knows about Sam. Then ten days searching war-torn Syria lead to an offer of help, but can it be trusted?

This episode includes descriptions of violence and some upsetting moments involving children.

Reporter: Josh Baker
Written by: Josh Baker and Joe Kent
Producers: Joe Kent and Max Green
Production assistant: Lucie Sullivan
Composer: Sam Slater
Mixed by: Tom Brignell
Series Editor: Emma Rippon

Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins
Commissioning Editor: Jason Phipps

ARCHIVE:

CBS News: Are Yazidis facing genocide at the hands of ISIS? (August 2014)

“I’m Not a Monster” is a collaboration between BBC Panorama and FRONTLINE (PBS) and is a BBC Radio Current Affairs production for BBC Sounds.

The Islamic State group forces Sam’s son Matthew to spread its propaganda. Josh searches the woods of Idaho looking for a man on an elk hunt. Then an obscure tweet leads him to Syria to try to find the family.

If you know something that you think might help the investigation please email notamonster@bbc.com

Reporter: Josh Baker
Written by: Josh Baker and Joe Kent
Producers: Joe Kent and Max Green
Production assistant: Lucie Sullivan
Composer: Sam Slater
Mixed by: Tom Brignell
Series Editor: Emma Rippon

Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins
Commissioning Editor: Jason Phipps

This episode includes strong language, descriptions of violence and some upsetting moments involving children.

ARCHIVE:

NBC News: Boy In ISIS Propaganda Video Claims To Be 10-year-old American | TODAY (August 2017)
Sky News: Battle for Raqqa: The uneasy alliance fighting IS. Foreign Affairs Editor Sam Kiley reports (2017)
France 24: Syria: Islamic state group counter-attacks in Raqqa as fierce fighting rages (2017)
Channel 4 News: Battle for Raqqa: is Isis about to be driven out? Lindsey Hilsum reports. (2017)

“I’m Not a Monster” is a collaboration between BBC Panorama and FRONTLINE (PBS) and is a BBC Radio Current Affairs production for BBC Sounds.

A man who says he’s a people smuggler offers to help the family, while a drive around a suburb in Indiana reveals their past. Sam’s father adds a new twist on who his daughter really is.

This episode includes descriptions of violence and some upsetting moments involving children.

Reporter: Josh Baker
Written by: Josh Baker and Joe Kent
Producers: Joe Kent and Max Green
Production assistant: Lucie Sullivan
Composer: Sam Slater
Mixed by: Tom Brignell
Series Editor: Emma Rippon

Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins
Commissioning Editor: Jason Phipps

ARCHIVE:

Fox News: ISIS uses purported American boy in latest propaganda video (August 2017)
NBC News: Boy In ISIS Propaganda Video Claims To Be 10-year-old American | TODAY (August 2017)
CBS News: ISIS claims boy in propaganda video is American (August 2017)

“I’m Not a Monster” is a collaboration between BBC Panorama and FRONTLINE (PBS) and is a BBC Radio Current Affairs production for BBC Sounds.

A suicide bombing in Iraq and a home video from inside the ISIS caliphate begin the search for a family trapped in Syria. A desperate plea arrives from an American woman who says she wants to escape the Islamic State group with her young children.

This episode includes descriptions of violence and some upsetting scenes involving children.

Reporter: Josh Baker
Written by: Josh Baker and Joe Kent
Producers: Joe Kent and Max Green
Production assistant: Lucie Sullivan
Composer: Sam Slater
Sound Design and Mix: Tom Brignell
Series Editor: Emma Rippon

Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins
Commissioning Editor: Jason Phipps

“I’m Not a Monster” is a collaboration between BBC Panorama and FRONTLINE (PBS) and is a BBC Radio Current Affairs production for BBC Sounds.

An American mother living in the heart of the ISIS caliphate. Her husband an ISIS sniper. Her 10-year-old son forced to threaten the U.S. president in a propaganda video shown around the world. She claims she was tricked into taking her young children to war-torn Syria, but where does her account end and the truth begin?

Over four years journalist Josh Baker unravels a dangerous story where nothing is as it seems. From the depths of Raqqa’s infamous torture prison to an elk hunt in Idaho, he uncovers secrets, lies and the lasting consequences.

“I’m Not A Monster” is the story of one family’s journey from Indiana to the Islamic State group and back.

Reporter: Josh Baker
Written by: Josh Baker and Joe Kent
Producers: Joe Kent and Max Green
Production assistant: Lucie Sullivan
Composer: Sam Slater
Series Editor: Emma Rippon
Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins
Commissioning Editor: Jason Phipps

“I’m Not a Monster” is a collaboration between BBC Panorama and FRONTLINE (PBS) for BBC Sounds.