Fatima Tlis or Tlisova (; born 1966) is a Russian-American investigative journalist, researcher and expert on Russia. Life in Russia Fatima Tlis graduated from , Russia, with a Master of Arts degree in Russian language and literature. Refugee status Tlisova claimed refugee status after facing severe intimidation after reporting on attempts to counter increasing Islamic and Chechen insurgency in the violent North Caucasus region following the outbreak of the Second Chechen War. She reported being assaulted repeatedly since 2002, allegedly for filing reports not favorable to the Governments and Secret Services of the Republics of the North Caucasus, as well as the federal government of Vladimir Putin. She claimed to have beaten and repeatedly had her ribs broken, had poisons administered, faced kidnapping and had cigarettes extinguished on her skin, and had her teenage son face harassment by the police. After more than a month of speculation in the media, on 2007-06-28 the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists announced that Tlisova, along with Radio Liberty reporter Yuri Bagrov, had been granted political asylum in the United States, but after reports by her denying this, the announcement was changed to say that they had received "refugee status". Persecution Subsequently, she became the editor-in-chief of the Caucasus desk for the Regnum News Agency. Since 2005, she was also working with the Associated Press. She had travelled widely in the region, filing reports from Adygea to Dagestan. Her conflict with the authorities started in 2002, shortly after she published an article about abusive practices of militias in Chechnya in the Obschaya Gazeta". One night, after a birthday party celebrating her 36th birthday, she had gone to the door of her apartment building to see off her guests. After they left, she was dragged around a corner and beaten by two men. She was treated in hospital for broken ribs, concussion and other injuries. In January 2005, she faced considerable harassment for a series of articles about the murder of seven shareholders in the firm Kavkaztsement. A few months earlier, they had challenged the firm's majority shareholder Ali Kaitov, nephew of the Republic president Mustafa Batdyev. Shortly after they went to see Kaitov at his dacha, gunshots were heard from the vicinity, and the seven disappeared. They included Rasul Bogatyrev, a deputy in the state legislature; the family of the murdered raised vigorous protests, and the case drew considerable attention in the international