Witness with Marium Uddin
Witness is a long-form interview podcast hosted by Marium Uddin, a former prosecutor, public defender, DHS trial attorney, immigration judge, and civil liberties advocate. Each episode features conversations with lawyers, journalists, scholars, doctors, public servants, and activists whose lives have been shaped by political, moral, and institutional conflict in America. Rather than debate or commentary, the show gathers first-person testimonies about what people witnessed inside institutions and what telling the truth required of them. It explores what happens when conscience collides with power, and how history is preserved by those who lived it.
Episodes
Episode 9 - Dr. Nour Sharaf & Suhail Nassar | A Love Story from Gaza - A Love Story for the Ages
Love Across a WarAn emergency physician in Dallas. A photojournalist in Gaza. Dr. Nour Sharaf and Suhail Nassar reflect on sustaining an engagement across nearly three years of war, the images through which the world sees Gaza, and what it means to build a future together when every day is marked by uncertainty.
Episode 8 - Mahsa Khanbabai & Hassan Ahmad | Immigration Law Under 47
Immigration, Constitutional Rights & Executive PowerConversation When immigration law becomes a tool for exercising political power, the consequences reach far beyond the individuals caught within the system. Mahsa Khanbabai and Hassan Ahmad examine the constitutional limits of executive authority, the role of the courts, and what it means to defend due process and fundamental rights during pe
Episode 7 - Tal Steiner | Human Rights, Detention & the Rule of Law in Israel
Human Rights, Detention & the Rule of LawConversation What does it mean to defend human rights from within a society engaged in prolonged conflict? Tal Steiner reflects on years of representing Palestinians challenging military detention, movement restrictions, and barriers to family unity, while examining the enduring tension between security, accountability, and the rule of law.Guest Tal Ste
Episode 6 - Miko Peled & John Cline | The Holy Land Foundation Case
The Holy Land Foundation Case: Advocacy, Prosecution & the Limits of DissentConversation In 2008, five leaders of what was then America's largest Muslim charity were convicted in one of the most consequential terrorism-financing prosecutions in U.S. history. Miko Peled and John Cline — an author who spent years investigating the case and the defense attorney who tried it — revisit what un
Episode 5 - Drs. Nour Sharaf & Farhan Abdul Azeez | From the Front Lines and the Fault Lines in Gaza
Medicine Under SiegeConversation For physicians who have volunteered in Gaza, medicine becomes an act of witness as much as a profession. Dr. Nour Sharaf and Dr. Farhan Abdul Azeez, both Dallas-based emergency physicians who have each completed multiple medical missions there, reflect on practicing under conditions of extreme scarcity, the ethical weight of choosing who to treat first, and what it
Episode 4 - Nora Benavidez & Seth Stern | How Free is Free Speech, Really?
Free Speech, Journalism & Government AccountabilityConversation When governments, institutions, and powerful actors seek to shape public discourse, journalists and civil liberties advocates are often among the first to confront the consequences. Nora Benavidez and Seth Stern examine the evolving challenges facing free expression, press freedom, and democratic accountability — and what it means
Episode 0 - Marium Uddin | Why Witness
Why Witness?Conversation After telling the stories of others, Marium Uddin steps in front of the microphone to explain why this show exists. Drawing on her career as a prosecutor, public defender, DHS trial attorney, Immigration Judge, and civil liberties advocate, she reflects on why the people at the center of consequential events — not the legal arguments or headlines about them — have always m
Episode 3 - Sami Hamdi & Muhammad Jalal | The Cost of Speaking
Journalists do more than report history — they often become part of it. Sami Hamdi and Muhammad Jalal discuss political commentary, independent media, immigration enforcement, and the growing consequences of public dissent during periods of geopolitical conflict.
Episode 2 - Noura Erakat & Lara Friedman | The Architecture of Impunity
Law is often described as neutral. Politics rarely is. Human rights attorney Noura Erakat and policy expert Lara Friedman examine how international law, diplomacy, advocacy, and public narrative intersect in one of the most contested conflicts of our time. Together, they explore not only what the law says, but why the struggle over the story itself has become so consequential.
Episode 1 - Imam Omar Suleiman | Faith, Civil Liberties & Muslim America Under Trump
In times of crisis, communities often look first to their faith leaders — not only for answers, but for moral clarity. Sheikh Omar Suleiman reflects on leading a community through the war in Gaza and the surge in Islamophobia that followed, the burdens of public leadership, and what it means to bear witness while helping others carry grief, conviction, and hope.
