hello it's monday, it's10am, i'm victoria derbyshire, and we're live from new broadcasting house. there are huge crowds in iran for the funeral of the of the military leader qassem soleimani, who was killed in iraq in a us drone strike. there's no doubt that a bad guy has gone, but what we are bracing ourselves now for is the counter—reaction from the iranians and that's why it's such a dangerous situation. we'll talk to iranians both in the uk and iran about what might happen next. in an hour's time, a rally will be held outside the cypriot embassy in london in support of a 19—year—old british woman, due to be sentenced tomorrow after being convicted of making up a rape allegation in cyprus.

we'll talk to her lawyer, and two people who gave evidence in her trial. we'll talk to the psychiatric nurse who used to work at the country's only nhs gender clinic who questions whether children under the age of 16 can really give informed consent to medical treatment for gender reassignment. you can't safely say that this is a fully reversible drug, and the other point is that you're setting children on the pathway for something that, i think, as children, they don't understand. this will have a huge impact on their adult life. and we'll meet two—year—old isla kilpatrick—screaton and her sister and parents — who is believed to be the only person in the world to suffer from a rare genetic condition.

hi, welcome to the programme. we're live until ”am this morning. we'll get all the latest from the golden globes last night. british stars did really well in the ceremony that kicks off the awards season. use the #victorialive. email victoria@bbc.co.uk — text 61124 — it'll cost the standard network rate. first, joanna has the news. president trump has threatened to impose harsh sanctions on iraq if the country's government asks american troops to leave. the iraqi parliament has voted to clear the country of foreign forces, following the us air strike which killed the senior iranian general qasem soleimani near baghdad airport. in iran's capital, tehran, mourners have packed the streets with the country's supreme leader ayatollah khamenei leading prayers. sulemani was considered the second most powerfulfigure in iran and his assasination has signfically raised tensions across the middle east.

labour's ruling committee will meet today to finalise the rules and timetable of the party's leadership contest. five mps — clive lewis, lisa nandy, jess phillips, sir keir starmer and emily thornberry — have so far entered the running. shadow business secretary rebecca long—bailey is also expected to announce her bid. the trial of the disgraced hollywood mogul harvey weinstein begins in new york today, more than two years after allegations of sexual assualt emerged against him. the proceedings relate to just two of his accusers — although in all, more than 80 women have made allegations of sexual misconduct against him. he has pleaded not guilty. emergency crews in south—east australia have been able to re—open some roads, as cooler temperatures and rain have eased the crisis caused by bushfires. but authorities say the fires have only been suppressed and will become dangerous again as soon as there is another hot day and warn that the bushfires could actually continue for months. british talent has enjoyed a night of celebration

at holywood's golden globes. the first world war epic, 1917, was the surprise winner picking up the awards for best drama and best director for the british film—maker, sam mendes. other british winners included taron egerton for his role as sir eltonjohn in rocketman. in the television categories, fleabag won best comedy series — and its star, phoebe waller—bridge was named best comedy actress. olivia colman won best drama actress for playing queen elizabeth in the crown. isa summary is a summary of the news. back to victoria. thank you very much. the courts in cyprus will tomorrow sentence a 19—year—old british woman, who was convicted last week of lying about a rape allegation she had made against 12 israeli men. in an hour's time in london a rally will be held outside the cypriot embassy. we've followed the case from the beginning and last month spoke to the teenager's mum, in her first interview. we blurred her face to protect her daughter's identity. i asked her how she felt

when her daughter went from being the victim, she said, to being charged with a crime. i'd gone out and found my daughter to be in this terrible state after being raped. she was terrified that she'd got hiv and she'd been to the clinic several times and then she'd been arrested. it was absolutely... i can't even explain how unbelievable it came across. i just literally couldn't believe it. it took lots of hours for that to properly sink in. let's talk to those who are supporting the british teenager. susana pavlou is director of the mediterranean institute of gender studies in cyprus. dr chrissie tizzard is a psychologist who assessed the teenager and says she is suffering from extreme ptsd and desperately needs treatment. and dr andrea nini, a lecturer in linguistics and english language at the university of manchester, who analysed the woman's statement where she withdrew her origianl rape

allegation and gave evidence during the woman's trial for what's called in cyprus "public mischief". hopefully we will talk to the young woman's lawyer in a moment. thank you forjoining us. susana pavlou, why are you supporting this woman? obviously there has been a clear travesty of justice in obviously there has been a clear travesty ofjustice in this case. we have been following the case from day one. our concern from the day of her initial report was the extent to which her rights as a victim according to international and cypriot law and we are in a position to know that that was not the case. and what i mean by her rights is at the first moment of contact with the police, where she provided with specialised services, support services as foreseen by the istanbul convention, which is the council of

europe convention for the prevention and combating of all forms of violence against in which we have ratified in cyprus, and in the case that it has been ratified supersedes national law. and the victims rights directive which foresees protective measures for all victims from the first point of contact with the police. we believe that these rights we re police. we believe that these rights were not provided for, that the victim was not provided with those services that she was entitled to and in that case we cannot accept any retraction of the rape claim under those conditions. so the fact that this woman has been convicted under a court of law in your country for lying about being gang raped, you don't trust your own judicial system ? you don't trust your own judicial system? it's notjust the judicial system. it begins in all the criminal justice system. it begins in all the criminaljustice proceedings and it begins with the police and then the

entire system of protection and support for women that report any form of violence against in, but particularly rape and sexual violence, which we know internationally across europe and in cyprus are the crimes that are the least reported and those crimes are less likely to reach the court and less likely to reach the court and less likely to reach the court and less likely to reach conviction so indeed, we believe there has been a mishandling of this case from day one and the mishandling has now reached the court, the justice system, and we feel that, indeed as isaid system, and we feel that, indeed as i said previously, justice has not been served in this case. i'd like to point out that... sorry, i was going to bring in doctor chrissie tizzard if i may. you have been offering critical support to the woman for the last few months and you said you were shocked by her

mental state when you first assessed her. why? i believed i was going to be providing some containment therapy to her, but it vastly became apparent from the first interview that this was a teenager who was suffering very, very greatly. her mental health was extremely poor. and it quickly became apparent that there were and it quickly became apparent that there we re severe and it quickly became apparent that there were severe symptoms of ptsd present in her presentation. and she needs treatment for that and times of the essence, as i understand it, when it to treating ptsd. it is vital that she received treatment in a timely way and treatment that is robust and efficacious for the disorder. the longer it goes on longer she is unable to get

treatment and the longer she is to the ordeal that she finds herself m, the ordeal that she finds herself in, the worse her symptoms and ultimately the worse her overall prognosis. let me bring in doctor andrea nini, yourarea of prognosis. let me bring in doctor andrea nini, your area of expertise as forensic linguistics. when you first saw the woman's statement, the one where she apparently withdrew the rape allegations, a particular phrase stood out to you as unusual foran phrase stood out to you as unusual for an english speaker. what was that and why? i immediately noticed the phrase doing sexual intercourse, which was particularly odd. of course, it is quite difficult to say that for certain until these phrases are checked computationally using large databases are checked computationally using large data bases of are checked computationally using large databases of texts. so after doing proper linguist analysis i was able to tell the extent to which these phrasing constructions were

odd for a native speaker of british english. because we would normally say having sexual intercourse rather than doing sexual intercourse. you are asked in court if there was a chance this woman could have purposely made the statement looked like it had been dictated to her. do you believe that's possible? i think that would be extremely unlikely because of course for somebody to fa ke because of course for somebody to fake those kinds of features they would need very deep expertise in linguistics, and of course, they would need access to certain kinds of databases in order to check that they are faking correctly, which is of course impossible. let me bring in michael polak, who is the woman's lawyer, who we have spoken to a number of times on the programme. the sentencing is tomorrow and there isa the sentencing is tomorrow and there is a rally in process outside the cypriot embassy in london due to start in about 15 minutes or so. what are you expecting when it comes to sentencing? well, victoria, we

are very concerned about an immediate custodial sentence because, as you have said dummett heard from doctor chrissie tizzard, the teenager is in a very fragile state and are being sent back to prison, she has spent four and a half weeks in nicosia prison before, would be very damaging for health, so that is what we are really worried about. we hope that will not happen but it is a worry. what is the austere, though? —— your steer. is it more likely she could be given a suspended sentence? not necessarily. we hope that will happen. we have put forward mitigation in regards to her ptsd, her age, but we can't say, really. it could go either way. what are the chances of, for example, the president pardoning her there and how would that happen? if she is given an immediate custodial sentence the president has the power to pardon her, which would mean she would be released from prison and

returned to the united kingdom were she needs to be for treatment. that would take place after the sentence. but would accepting a pardon mean accepting that she had indeed made up accepting that she had indeed made up the rape allegation? i've checked this with our cypriot lawyers because that is absolutely something she is not prepared to do. we will appeal this matter in the cypriot supreme court, to the european courts, until she gets justice. supreme court, to the european courts, until she getsjustice. that is something she absolutely will not do. so ifa is something she absolutely will not do. so if a pardon were offered would you, would she accept it? do. so if a pardon were offered would you, would she accept it7m do. so if a pardon were offered would you, would she accept it? if a pardon was offered and she was in prison in nicosia she would be automatically released and sent back to the united kingdom. and then the appeal which you are carrying out would proceed but which could take up would proceed but which could take up to three years, apparently. is

that right? it could, we will ask foran that right? it could, we will ask for an expedited appeal, this matter needs to be dealt with quickly for the teenager's sake and their society's say, they need to deal with things quickly. we will make the application to the cypriot supreme court and if we don't get justice there we will take the matter to both european courts. can i ask finally about the foreign office, the british foreign office? dominic raab spoke about the case yesterday and spoke to the woman's mum on friday. has the foreign office done enough to help you? we are pleased the foreign office has become involved in this matter very recently. we hope that that support will help us in moving the case on. it is very pleasing that dominic raab has come out with a very strong public statement in support of us. so we are thankful of that. thank you all and i am gratefulfor your time. michael polak who is the young woman's lawyer, doctor andrea nini,

a lecturer in linguistics and in which language at university, doctor chrissie tizzard, a psychologist to assess the teenager, and susana pavlou, the director of the mediterranean institute for gender studies. we are grateful for your time. coming up later. the parents of two—year—old isla kilpatrick—screaton known to be the only person in the world suffering from this genetic condition so they are considering suing the hospital that treated her. we will talk to the family live in the first broadcast interview. and phoebe waller—bridge's grabs two golden globes for fleabag — on a good night for british stars — we'll discuss all the winners. can children under the age of 16 give informed consent to medical treatment for gender reassignment? a legal case will be lodged this week which will test that. it centres on puberty blockers —

medicines that pause puberty. they are given to young people who are struggling with their gender identity — and they block the hormones — testosterone and oestrogen — that lead to puberty—related changes in the body. they stop things like periods and breast growth, or voice—deepening and facial hair growth. susan evans was a psychiatric nurse at the tavistock and portman nhs foundation trust, which runs the uk's only nhs gender identity development service — she is bringing the case alongside "mrs a" — the mum of an autistic 15—year—old girl who is on the waiting list for the tavistock clinic. ms evans explained why she was bringing the case. 100% ioo% virtually of the children they treat on puberty blockers don't have this pause for thought and a period of time to think about things. what they actually do is they always

progress, very often with very few other appointments for any psychological support or work, and they then move on to cross sex hormones. cross they then move on to cross sex hormones. ci’oss sex they then move on to cross sex hormones. cross sex hormones, to explain to our audience, means what for a young person? so, for a female that would involve them having large doses of testosterone. for a male, they would be given doses of oestrogen, and there are probably correct terms for those. but essentially that's what the two drugs are. forfemales, they essentially that's what the two drugs are. for females, they would cause them to really develop more male characteristics such as body her, their voice would deepen, they would stop menstruating very often. and for males, they would have softened features, sometimes they develop breasts. so there male characteristics start to diminish.

and it is that reversible? no, that's not. i understand the link you are making in your case, which is that all the young people and children who consent to taking puberty blockers, which is pause on puberty blockers, which is pause on puberty with the idea that gives a young person time to consider and think about whether they really want to continue on that particular path, you say all of them progress to cross sex hormones and that is not reversible. however, your issue is with the puberty blockers and that is reversible. the tavistock will say it is reversible, but the experts i've spoken to say we do not know for certain that that is the case. there is a delay in bone growth. there is potentially some changes that will go on in the brain development. and because there are no outcome studies of any length, tavistock are not very good at doing

follow—up studies, you can't safely say that this is a fully reversible drug. and the other point is that you're setting children on the pathway for something that i think as children they don't understand will stop this will have a huge impact on their adult life. what do you want, sue evans? i would like to see children given a really good psychological support service. i would like them to be treated locally in their areas. because what happens at the moment is everyone is so fearful about this area of gender identity, gps and local services pass on the patience to tavistock andi pass on the patience to tavistock and i don't think that's necessary. i think the children could be helped and treated in their local areas and be given the psychological support, as can the families, because eve ryo ne as can the families, because everyone is very distressed when this starts to occur. are you hoping

to stop under 16 is, perhaps under 18 is from making decisions about whether they want to pause puberty? i would like to see that happen. because as i said, i think children don't understand fully the consequences of what they are doing. that is a huge generalisation. you will have come across some very mature 12—year—olds, 13—year—olds, 14—year—olds, 15—year—olds, who can make those decisions. 14—year—olds, 15—year—olds, who can make those decisionslj 14—year—olds, 15—year—olds, who can make those decisions. i don't think, andi make those decisions. i don't think, and i think anyone who has got teenage children, or children of nine and ten, i don't think that these children are very sensible children. don't misquote me, please, because they may be very clever children and very mature for their age, but they are in a distressed state. and what we know is that for example when a 12—year—old develops an eating disorder they may be cognisant, an eating disorder they may be cognisa nt, they may an eating disorder they may be cognisant, they may be able to talk very rationally, apparently, to you about the world and what goes on in

their life, but there is an area of their life, but there is an area of their thinking which is affected by this distress, and so what i'm saying is that this gender identity confusion is very often a symptom which is produced from all sorts of confusions. very normal confusions in some cases. it also 30% of these children have autism, that we know about. a large proportion of them may have suffered some form of trauma. they may have experienced sexual abuse. they may be homosexual and be struggling with that, or theirfamilies and be struggling with that, or their families might be struggling with that, and it seems unacceptable, and therefore transitioning may seem like a solution. they may seem to be able to talk rationally about it but you have got to go to see that both they are not in the state of mind very often in to fully understand. and how i know this is i talk to deep

transition is, and they would say i absolutely said i wanted it, i was clear about it and i was firm in my wish to trans, but i wish that mental health services and psychologists had withstood that pressure from me. i understand that. how much distress could a young person experience? you know what the rates of self—harm and suicide are for young trans people. how much distress what a young person experience of the option of pausing puberty was removed from them? the other thing to say is there has been a very clever campaign, i have to say, and again i have to say the research on this is presented in a certain way by the trans lobbies, really. the fact is that research in other areas, and some of these my experts who give witness statements have looked at larger research studies which say these children are

distressed and often suicidal but transing doesn't distressed and often suicidal but tra nsing doesn't have distressed and often suicidal but transing doesn't have any effect on the state of minds of people who trans the state of minds of people who tra ns ofte n the state of minds of people who trans often remain distressed and suicidal. it is often peddled as a known fact but actually i'm going to hopefully in court to prove that thatis hopefully in court to prove that that is not the case. for what it's worth, i have met multiple young trans people, some who have fully transitioned who are so much happier. anecdotal evidence, of course, i accept. that's the other thing to say. i know that there will be some children for whom this is the case. i've met some people who have transed the case. i've met some people who have tra nsed and the case. i've met some people who have transed and spoken to some and they are glad about the decision this is not about saying nobody should trans but what i'm saying is

that for young children it is clear many of them will have very strong feelings that something is wrong with them and their bodies, but it's more important that we give them the time and space and psychological expertise and support locally in their areas to help them withstand that distress. please hear that i'm not saying never to anybody. but i'm saying let's non—medical eyes a whole generation of children who may well live to really regret the decisions that they've been allowed to ta ke decisions that they've been allowed to take because medically we were not responsible enough in their young years. susan evans. tavistock says the assessment period before puberty blockers usually takes six months or more over a minimum of 4—6 sessions and at the end of the assessment it may be possible to confirm or exclude a diagnosis of gender dysphoria. the clinic adds their service has a high level of reported satisfaction and was rated

good by the care quality commission and that they abide by international best practice guidelines. the parents of a toddler who is believed to be the only person in the world known to suffer from her genetic condition say they're considering suing the hopsital which has treated her. two—year—old isla kilpatrick—screaton has a unique disorder which causes accelerated ageing of her cells. so little is known about her condition that even specialists don't know what her future holds and what support she might need. let's talk to the family in their first tv interview. isla, her seven—year—old sister paige and her parents stacey kilpatrick and kyle screaton. hgppy happy new year to you. and sian williams, who is isla's carer. thank you forjoining us. stacey, tell our audience about your daughter's condition. we were told that it will affect,

they assume, premature ageing of her major organs, which alongside that, can make her prone to heart attacks ata can make her prone to heart attacks at a young age, heart disease and alongside with diabetes. but they can't tell us when, if, and there is just no kind of guideline or booklet or support network for us. because she is the only person in the world, you think, the medical experts think, that she has this particular genetic mutation. yes, that's right. that's what we we re yes, that's right. that's what we were told. when we tried to ask them for some more information, it was that point where they were told to just start googling... that point where they were told to just start googling. .. you were told to google? we were told to google. how did you feel about that? gobsmacked, overwhelmed. it is probably one of the worst things.

the amount of information thrown at you, long words, medical papers... hey, isla, did santa come? what did he get you? he got you a pig? isla uses sign language, is that right? that's right. did santa come for you? what did he get you? my watch. i don't think that watch is big enough or pink enough! laughter do you two play nicely together, or do you wind each other up? sometimes. a bit of both.|j do you wind each other up? sometimes. a bit of both. i can imagine. kyle, what kind of impact does a diagnosis like this have on your daughter, your older daughter, and you and stacey? it kind of gives and you and stacey? it kind of gives a lot of strain. isla has needs on a daily basis. since isla has been

born, her sister has gone from a daughter who had a mum and dad to herself were if we are playing with herself were if we are playing with herand herself were if we are playing with her and isla needs medical attention we have to drop everything we are doing with paige and proceed to isla which may have seen paige feel pushed out and feel invisible. we have friends that only ask about isla and it is a case of, isla's problems are physical, so we can know what is going on to a certain extent. but with paige we don't know the mental impact it is having on her because she kind ofjust climbs up. it has caused a lot of strain on us as up. it has caused a lot of strain on usasa up. it has caused a lot of strain on us as a couple. so we now live separately due to the stress of everything. it made me kind of start showing signs of ocd, which made me

pretty much unbearable to live with, to be honest. because if it wasn't on my way or it wasn't cleaned the way i thought it should have been, it caused issues. it's quite striking that you are open about the fa ct striking that you are open about the fact that you have separated since isla was born, and i know that is something that you want to mention. yeah, because when that happened it wasn't something... we didn't realise it was getting to that stage. we were so kind of taken aback with everything else that was going on, we didn't realise it was going on, we didn't realise it was going as far as it did until at one point we kind of made the decision that thisjust isn't point we kind of made the decision that this just isn't working. we can't live in the same house together because isla is getting frustrated if stacey didn't do something in the right way that i believe it should have been and when i was at my worst, it came across i was trying to protect my children from their own mum. i think that is

just an illustration of the stress and strain you have been under. and because it is thought that isla was the only person in the world to have this particular condition, the support is lacking? very little support. the only support really thatis support. the only support really that is out there that we have been able to really get involved with is rainbows. which is a hospice near where you live. they are the only ones who kind of took note of her situation now, whereas many charities kind of want information of what her life is expected to bring. and unfortunately we don't have those answers. of course not. you look after islay, you help care for her, you can see the impact on the family, we see this family, very open, with their struggles, but clearly there is a lot of love here.

we are one big family, aren't we, now? it's just we are one big family, aren't we, now? it'sjust adapt. what is the daily routine like when it comes to looking after islay. you've given up your job, looking after islay. you've given up yourjob, stacey, haven't you?” looking after islay. you've given up yourjob, stacey, haven't you? i had to, i don't think there was anyjob that would take me on. sick days, if isla is aligned need to be there for her, if shan is ill, i need to look after her, it's not practical. for myself or a company to take me on. because isla is 21w. just explain that routine, because isla cannot cry, is that correct? that's right, if she gets distressed said she doesn't concentrate on making those vocal sounds. so she has to be attached to a heart monitor throughout the night. and you just have to visually, she has to be in at all times because she

are there to change that within, you know, a rapid time before her saturation starts dropping and u nfortu nately, saturation starts dropping and unfortunately, you cannot breathe when you've got it's about changing that. and making sure we are all aware what all our parts are. kyle, when isla was born, you had a gut feeling that something was wrong, didn't you? yeah, basically, stacey had been on gas and air and things aren't she was not really in any kind of fit state herself because it had been a long, traumatic week anyway. and then, they put isla on the stats machine andl they put isla on the stats machine and i rememberasking ifi they put isla on the stats machine and i rememberasking if i could hold her hand and they said yes and iremember holding hold her hand and they said yes and i remember holding her hand, as i let go, it kind of went limp so i blame myself because i didn't alert anybody and it actually transpires

that was actually isla losing life without us realising at the time, she was slowly fading away. which had quite a big impact on me because i blame myself for well over a year, that i didn't alert anybody or do anything. but you were surrounded by medics, i mean, for goodness' sake, you...asa medics, i mean, for goodness' sake, you as a dad, you always try and ta ke you as a dad, you always try and take ona you as a dad, you always try and take on a protective role and you feel like you have let your family down and you've not protected your children in the way that you should have done. but due to what stacey said about rainbows supporting me and giving me counselling, i've got through that and i realise it wasn't my fault. there's come all the people to blame and it's definitely not us, it's one of them things.|j will read you this message, there are more, but this is representative, natasha says i cannot even imagine what it's like

to ca re cannot even imagine what it's like to care for a child with such a rare condition and then to be told to start googling how to care for her. but such a strong family. which is really lovely to hear i think. you are considering suing the hospital. you haven't reached that final decision yet, have you? no, not yet. as much as we received a lot of good ca re as much as we received a lot of good care and a lot of things that the hospital had done was unbelievable, there was also a couple of medical issues that we was very unsatisfied with. which unfortunately did lead us with. which unfortunately did lead us down the route of we've had to make a formal complaint just to kind of let them know where things did go wrong. but also, on the other hand, they did give us a lot of good care as well. it was a difficult decision to make a formal complaintjust

because you don't want to feel like you are complaining against somebody that's also helped you so much as well. of course. the statement, we've got a statement from the university hospital of leicester and they say we are very sorry the pa rents of they say we are very sorry the parents of concern about the care in the hospital, we met them in 2018 have been fully investigated a complaint in that time and we urge them to contact us directly if they have concerns. we are in a legal process and unable to comment further at this time. you of course don't know what the future holds. that's right. for isla. because medics don't know. how do you cope with that? this was part of the reason why me and kyle differ so much, for me, i wanted to know everything, so it kind of, the google aspect is where i probably lost myself trying to take on all this information. a lot of information that might be relevant, might not, but i am trying to take

it all on. whereas kyle was kind of, you just wanted to deal with it as it happened, didn't you? and it just, i suppose, it happened, didn't you? and it just, isuppose, you've it happened, didn't you? and it just, i suppose, you've got to people who are dealing with the same situation in different ways. i want to know everything, kyle but they can give you answers. so that makes you feel futile in a way. they can give you answers. so that makes you feel futile in a waym does. concerned, but again, you get no support because you read all the things about the premature ageing. the heart disease. but now one can ease our concerns give us answers because there is none. sure. you too have been such good girls, i think you are a bit tired, i can see you yawning your head off every time your dad opens his mouth! that's just because i bore her. thank you so much for coming on the programme, you've been so well behaved. will you've been so well behaved. will you say thank you to victoria,

please. you did it outside. thank you. thank you. really lovely to meet you. thank you all so much and we wish you all the best. thank you. in iran, huge crowds are attending the funeral of the military leader qasem soleimani, who was killed in iraq in a us drone strike. iran has vowed "severe revenge" for the death and yesterday said it would no longer comply with an international deal it signed in 2015, which aimed to prevent the country from developing a nuclear weapon. meanwhile, president trump has threatened major retaliation if tehran attacks american interests in the region. in a tweet he said: "these media posts will serve as notification to the united states congress that should iran strike any us person or target, the united states will quickly and fully strike back, and perhaps in a disproportionate manner." borisjohnson has said, "we will not lament" the death of iranian general qasem soleimani, describing him as "a threat to all our interests". let's talk to an iranian living

here — leila left iran in 2013 and says she celebrated when she heard about the death of solemani, she's asked us not use her surname or show herface because she's worried about her relatives in iran; and ghanbar naderi is political editor of government supporting kayhan newspaper in the iranian capital tehran. we're alsojoined by the richard ratcliffe whose wife nazanin has been detained in iran since april 2016. welcome all of you, can you tell us why you left iran. i worked in iran for some years and i realised there is no way for going ahead to be progressed in my dreams, my wishes. soi progressed in my dreams, my wishes. so i left iran and i came here. why

did you celebrate when you heard news of the death of qasem soleimani. because he has been one of the main part of the regime of iran which are against our people. they have made destruction, division, they have recruited terrorists all around the region. other nations around us now hate us because what he and other allies of him have done in the country. so it is not what we want, we are not happy that they have spent our wealth in this country to just make terrorists and intent on destruction and killing half a million syrians in syria. that's why we are against it, we want to change it, we have been through a lot, ten years ago

there was a green movement, peaceful movement, to try and peaceful ways to change it. but itjust looks like there is no way to change it this way now. you supported president trump for taking out this man in this drone strike in this manner?” am against some of his policies, like the band for iranians. but this particular action, you supported? of course. we would like to talk to the government, the editor of the newspaper but richard, we will bring you in because we are having difficulty with the previous interview. richard, your wife has beenin interview. richard, your wife has been injail in iran since 2016, what did the last few days mean for the prospects of your wife being released? i suppose no one knows, is the truthful answer. it's clearly a setback, big moment in terms of iran

and western relations, iran us relations principally but western prisoners held are feeling very vulnerable. i spoke to nazanin on saturday and she was bewildered and wanted and then she was really distraught about what it meant and my sense of our family is overwhelming worry as to what will happen. both for those inside prison and what that could mean in terms of escalation but also in terms of my in—laws sitting there, in their front room in tehran, as to where this is going and for me, one of the things we pushed iran an awful lot to do is uphold international law and respect it and respect the decision by the un to release nazanin and all her human rights. and of course if you play fast and loose with international law, from our site, then it's a lot harder to make the argument to iran they should respect on their side. make the argument to iran they should respect on their sidelj make the argument to iran they should respect on their side. i can see behind you, you can see ganbhar,

joining us from tehran and i hope you can hear us. iran, as you know, has promised that there will be severe revenge, so far they've announced they won't stick to the international nuclear agreement. what else might they do? that's the question but as i talk to you, i am telling you again, this is uncharted territory. it's the beginning of a long march and confrontation, not just in the region but across the globe. we know it will speed up rolling back commitments and that's why the government is doing now but that's not the end of it. it's also a question of who gets to stay in iraq, pressure will be put on the iraqi government to make sure american forces are not welcome in the war—torn country. i think so far it has paid off, iraqi lawmakers have come up with a new resolution,

a new act that is calling on the us forces to leave the country. so it's a win, win situation for iran right now but it's not the end of it. we have proxy forces, notjust in iraq and afghanistan or syria but also in yemen and lebanon. it is going to mobilise these proxy forces against us government and military forces and us interests in the region. so the stakes are high for both sides. we don't know what might happen next. you'd know something, retaliation is the buzzword right now, you can see behind me millions of people taking to the streets and we expect the government to take some form of retaliation. bright, but what might that constitute? some form of retaliation. bright, but what might that constitute ?m will worsen an already dangerous situation, not just will worsen an already dangerous situation, notjust in iraq and syria but across the entire region. i think this is going to escalate

the situation and definitely many other stakeholders are going to lose big time unless the international society comes to its senses and puts a lot of pressure on the us government to hold the government to account for the assassination of the great general. you can see behind me, millions of followers and supporters and at the same time the us has to pay the price, diplomatically, financially and politically in the region and beyond. this is the long game. this has just beyond. this is the long game. this hasjust begun. beyond. this is the long game. this has just begun. it's going to be retaliation on the part of the iranian government. they have promised it. they will lose the parliament, the upcoming presidential elections.” parliament, the upcoming presidential elections. i am going to bring my other guests back in, but thank you for the moment. richard, what do you want the prime minister to do now? we've heard him say he won't lament the death of this man, his call for de—escalation of the situation, but in terms of your own family situation and your wife? i think there's clearly a lot

of anger, adrenaline, the risk of human rights of ordinary people being squeezed and i hope it's clear, i hope it's important that borisjohnson protects clear, i hope it's important that boris johnson protects the clear, i hope it's important that borisjohnson protects the rights, make sure no one else is taken and makes it clear to authorities but also for president trump, making it clear that president trump, remember, the american hostages held and he must be responsible for the decisions he makes. there's about 400 british troops in iraq at the moment, 4—5000 american troops. how long can moment, 4—5000 american troops. how long...can| moment, 4—5000 american troops. how long can i say something about this population? they don't tell you they have closed universities, schools, they have demanded compulsory attendance to this funeral, it's a must for some of the government organisations, even private organisations. they command, they need to take part in this funeral. so in a city of 20 million

of tehran, if they have 10—20 persons, on their side, of tehran, if they have 10—20 persons, on theirside, it'sjust like half a million, 1 million, which is nothing in regard to their opposition. so about the conflict, i believe it's the beginning of the end. of what? the regime in iran. how? because they are not able to fight with the united states, we all know it, they are not capable of that. and it's just, know it, they are not capable of that. and it'sjust, after one week or ten days, they probably, all of this hate will go down, people will go back to their normal lives. the beginning of the end of the regime? because people will rise again. two months ago 1500 people died in the street of iran. there was no coverage of that, to be honest. there were many protests, there have been protests against the

leadership. but reports suggest some of the country is united behind the leadership as the result of this assassination? it's the bill of people of iran, to be honest. i know need some help. uncensored internet from iran. we are afraid because they shut down the internet and killed 1500 people we are afraid of that. but the conclusion of people is they want to change this regime. it's inevitable, we need to change it. thank you all very much for coming on the programme. we appreciate your time. british talent enjoyed a successful night at the golden globes. phoebe waller—bridge added to her tally of awards for the comedy flea bag. taron egerton won one of the top acting awards for his portrayal of sir eltonjohn in rocketman and director sam mendes won

for his first world war drama 1917. ricky gervais hosted the event — for the fifth time. he keeps being invited back despite his acid comments about celebrity culture — including last night's fairly brutal attack on stars who make political points from the podium. if you do win an award tonight, don't use it as a platform to make a political speech, right? you are in no position to lecture the public about anything. you know nothing about anything. you know nothing about the real world. most of you spent less time in school than greta thunberg. let's hear from larushka ivan—zadeh?, who is chief film critic at the metro newspaper. good morning and welcome to the programme. talk us through the winners. i think it's a big night for the brits. phoebe waller bridge winning again forflea bag, both film and television awards ceremony, storming home the emmys. she said she was thrilled to be in president

obama is top three television picks of the year in addition to all the accolades. but i think the big surprise of the night was the win for 1917, sam mendes is film about world war i. not that it came out of nowhere, amazing, but hardly anyone has seen it yet and before we went into the night, everyone thought it would be about the irishman, the martin scorsese epic, over three hours long. everyone thought the ceremony would be about that but it's been about 1917 and i think that's quite a win for cinema in itself, big film. the other story going was they thought netflix would sweep the board, 17 nominations in the film category alone, and the only one or one of them. what does that tell us? how many nominations? about 34? you think the content from streaming services is here to stay but you go back to the awards

the thing about 1917, it's but you go back to the awards the thing about 1917, its huge, the usp is it's meant to be shot in one take, huge film, set across the trenches in world war i, meant to be one take going through and it was shotin one take going through and it was shot ina one take going through and it was shot in a series of ten minute text, extremely amazing feat of film—making and for that to win and people to think cinema belongs on the big screen as much as it does, to people who love that experience, it's really big. taryn egerton. from wales. winning big last night. he has been pounding the circuit. during his time, promoting this film, i don't know if you've seen it, him as eltonjohn, amazing. is it, him as eltonjohn, amazing. is it going to be a repeat of rami malek winning four of amy and rhapsody? directed by dexter fletcher. maybe he can repeat that success but he is extraordinary. he sings in the film. i think fully deserving of that. and yes. olivia

colman winning another award. we love seeing her accept awards because she's brilliant at accepting them but she won for playing queen elizabeth in the crown and claire foy before her one as well. whoever gets to play queen elizabeth next, great pressure. but they thought may be the crown would win more, spread of awards, not an outright sweep the board minute that emerged from last night. but olivia colman deserving of every accolade. ricky gervais saying don't make your political points on the podium and russell crowe who wasn't there but made a point via jennifer aniston about the australian bushfires. that was a recurrent motif, they have to have one political think they get behind at the golden globes and that's beyond politics. people were making climate change comments off the back of that, stars talking about climate change, lots of people jetting in on their private jets, is that the best way but he was uploading the food at

the awards which was vegan. they we re the awards which was vegan. they were trying to do their bit. but a lot of comments about the bushfires. you want to talk about the outfits? there weren't too many outrageous outfits, may be people trying to tone it down. a couple of years ago we had the time of movement, they turned it billy porter. regal red going on but not too much. gwyneth paltrow that's true, looks like there's something missing from that outfit. the half, perhaps. it was such a story of n, taylor swift, mr and mrs beyonce, leonardo dicaprio. definitely the story thank you. labour's ruling body meets in the next half hour to agree the timetable and rules for the party's leadership race. five mps — clive lewis, lisa nandy, jess phillips, sir keir starmer and emily thornberry — have so far entered the running to succeed jeremy corbyn.

our political guru is norman smith. hello, norman. how are you. i'm extremely well, all set for blast off. ok, why is this meeting so important in terms of the rules?m matters because it will decide basically how much time people in the labour party and those who want to ta ke the labour party and those who want to take part in the contest so called registered supporters have got to sign up and the reason that matters is because for a number of the non—corbyn supporting candidates, they are hoping to pick up candidates, they are hoping to pick up support from people who have left the party in despair at thejeremy corbyn years but have decided to come back or registers their support to ta ke come back or registers their support to take part in the contest so they wa nt to take part in the contest so they want quite a long time for these people to make up their mind and decide tojoin in people to make up their mind and decide to join in the contest. the problem they have is the national executive committee is still dominated by team jeremy corbyn, they will be sitting there thinking what can we do to make sure that our

preferred candidate, probably rebecca long bailey, has the best chance and some of the challengers, those more sceptical about the jeremy corbyn style of politics has the least chance in the way they might do it as have a very tight timeframe for so—called registered supporters tojoin. timeframe for so—called registered supporters to join. in 2016 they gave them 48 hours so they could do the same again, thinking that will give many of the non—corbyn people a chance of getting a lot of support coming in. we could see on day one an almighty row over the rules for this contest. thank you. we will talk much more about the labour party leadership over the next weeks and months. authorities in australia are warning that the huge bushfires that have been raging across victoria and new south wales could meet to create a larger "mega blaze". emergency crews in south—east australia have been able to re—open some roads, as cooler temperatures and rain have eased the crisis. but authorities say the fires have only been suppressed and will become

dangerous again as soon as there is another hot day which is expected later this week. this amazing picture from nasa shows fires burning over the last month, all across australia. let's talk to justine donald who's been evacuated from her home in batemans bay. herfriend's house has burnt down. sophie thompson has returned home this morning in dalmeny in new south wales. but she's been told she may have to evacuate again on friday. thank you very much for talking to us. justine, tell us, what happened to yourfriend. us. justine, tell us, what happened to your friend. she was evacuated from her house, i think it must have been new year's eve. at the same time as me. she lives about eight kilometres from me in a small village town. she had her car packed

from the night before, she is elderly, she struggled to take her belongings. but she got what she needed, i guess. belongings. but she got what she needed, iguess. her cat belongings. but she got what she needed, i guess. her cat and her dog and her rabbit. and she was evacuated to the centre down on the beach at hanging rock. and u nfortu nately beach at hanging rock. and unfortunately that day her house was burned to the ground. and nothing has been salvaged. goodness me. it's unimaginable for people here. i want to bring in sophie, if i may. you've given us photos of your partner hosing down the roof of your home. how close did the fires come? the nearest fire to us was only about five minutes drive away. when it was dark even in the middle of the afternoon the smoke made everything so afternoon the smoke made everything so black, we were just completely surrounded on all sides by an orange glow. so it felt like the fires

would be with us at any moment. we had hot ash and burnt leaves falling in ouryard so had hot ash and burnt leaves falling in our yard so we knew that the next stage was the ember front. luckily for us the embers never came, we had eyed direction of wind forecast that the firefighters told us we would pretty much be guaranteed to lose our home. but at the last stage the wind changed direction for us and our home was saved but you've probably seen from the photos of our home, the yard is literally backing straight into the bush. we are quite literally the front line of what the fire is going to hit. and thank god for the moment but you might have to evacuate again on friday, is that right? yeah, right now the forecast for friday right through the weekend, really, is not so good here. today, we made the journey back from where we evacuated to and just the journey wasjust devastating to see the damage. but

turning up into our town, it'sjust such a small pocket of area that not been destroyed. and many of the services are saying to us it's kind of, not if, it's when so we are looking at may be evacuating again thursday afternoon. but when we left, we packed in such a rush, it's notjust us here, we had chickens, rabbits, dogs to evacuate. ok, i'm going to stop you there. i don't mean to cut you off at all, we will talk again i hope, and gratefulfor yourtime, talk again i hope, and gratefulfor your time, both of you. thank you for coming in the programme and talking to our audience. that's it from us. back tomorrow at 10am. have a good day. hello, good morning, for many of us there is dry weather and rain moving eastwards at the moment across the uk. just about clearing northern ireland but we've got the rain across scotland into north—west

england, wales, the southwest. brea ks england, wales, the southwest. breaks in the cloud ahead of that across eastern of england. sun will come out for a time this afternoon across the west although some very strong winds today, particularly in north—western areas, gusts of 50—60 miles an hourand north—western areas, gusts of 50—60 miles an hour and temperatures this afternoon and about 9—11 possibly 12 degrees. this area of rain will eventually move into eastern parts of england before clearing and we are of england before clearing and we a re left of england before clearing and we are left with clear skies overnight. then we will see further outbreaks of rain moving into northern ireland and across scotland into the early hours of tuesday. overnight temperatures reaching 2—4d but along with this wet weather during tuesday we will have some very strong winds. it could be disruptive, even damaging winds, especially in the north and west and towards the east of the pennines, north—east england. be aware of that, windy day for all of us but mild. goodbye for now.

you re watching bbc newsroom live — it's11am and these are the main stories this morning: huge crowds have gathered in tehran for the funeral procession for the slain iranian general qasem soleimani. the country's supreme leader, ayatollah khamenei, led the prayers, at one point breaking down in tears. this is the scene live in tehran — soleimani was hailed as a national hero in iran and was widely considered the second most powerful man in the country. president trump threatens sanctions against iraq, if it tries to expel us forces over the killing of a senior iranian general near baghdad airport. in australia — officials warn that fires there will "take off" again, despite rain and a drop in temperatures — the australian prime minister says

the repsonse to the disaster