Regular listeners have heard Jason talk about his imprisonment in Iran. He chronicled his entire ordeal in the podcast “544 Days.” Today, we’re presenting the first episode of that series.

For 544 days, Jason Rezaian was held hostage in Iran’s notorious Evin prison. Interrogated. Sealed off from the outside world. He was accused of being an American spy, though his formal title was Washington Post Tehran correspondent. This is a story about government and family and journalism, and what it took to free an innocent man … all while navigating the high-stakes world of nuclear diplomacy.

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Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa has spent decades defending press freedom, work that made her a target of then-Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and left her facing years of legal jeopardy. She is out with a new book, “The Fight Back: A Citizen’s Guide to Standing Up to Dictators.”

Maria joins Jason to discuss the biggest threats facing democracy around the world: the ascendance of authoritarian governments, the impunity of technology companies and the ways artificial intelligence could erode our collective humanity.

Today’s show was produced by Josh Carroll and Layli Nazarova. Video by Daniel Mich. Editing by Ted Muldoon.

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Brett McGurk has held senior national security roles under four presidents and helped shape some of the most consequential American foreign policy in the Middle East, including the Biden administration’s response to the war in Gaza. He also negotiated Jason’s release from an Iranian prison.

McGurk is out with a new book, “Brink: Inside the Race to Free the October 7th Hostages.” In this episode, he takes Jason behind the scenes of the high-stakes negotiations to secure the release of the hostages taken by Hamas on October 7, 2023. McGurk reflects on the moral tradeoffs involved in hostage negotiations, the Biden administration’s clashes with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the missed off-ramps for ending the war in Gaza as the death toll mounted.

Today’s show was produced by Josh Carroll and Layli Nazarova. It was edited by Ted Muldoon.

Subscribe to The Washington Post here. And watch us on YouTube here.