this is bbc world news. the headlines... at least 62 people have been killed in winter storms across the united states and canada. president biden has approved emergency federal help for new york state, as the arctic freeze continues. china's authorities will allow mainland residents to travel abroad from january 8th. the move will end one of china's last remaining covid restrictions serbia has put troops on high alert over rising tensions with kosovo. president vucic said he would take all measures to protect his nation. ethnic serbs in northern kosovo have been demanding the release of a former serbian police officer. taiwan's president, tsai ing—wen, has announced that all men will be required to serve one year's military service. she said the move is in response

to growing pressure from beijing. you are watching bbc news. now ourworld — iran: catching a killer. for the past year, i have been reporting on the most important story of my life. my name is omid montazaeri, and i'm a reporterfor bbc persia. this story is about a massacre that took place in my home country, iran. in 1988, the iranian government, led by ayatollah khomeini, ordered thousands of political prisoners to be killed.

my father was amongst those killed. i was just two years old. now, for the first time in over 30 years, one of the perpetrators of the killings is on trial, a government official called hamid nouri. this is hamid nouri. he is the first member of the islamic republic ever to stand trial outside iran for atrocities committed in iran. protestors chant. less than 15 hours til verdict and everyone is so anxious.

iraj mesdaghi was a political prisoner at the time of the 1988 prison massacre. an estimated 5000 prisoners were killed. iraj survived. ever since, he's vowed to bring those responsible to justice. and he just found out one

of the prison officials, hamid nouri, was planning to come to sweden. iraj contacted lawyers who interviewed witnesses, assembled a case and tipped off the swedish authorities. he sings. back in iran, hamid nouri was celebrating his upcoming trip. radio plays upbeat music.

i travelled to stockholm to cover the trial for bbc persia. hamid nouri was accused of war crimes and murder. bbc news theme music.

in the 1988 massacres, two different groups of political prisoners were killed — members of an armed group known as the mujahideen, and communists. the mujahideen had recently attacked iran from neighbouring iraq. ayatollah khomeini issued a secret decree, a fatwa, saying mujahideen prisoners who refused to repent are waging war against god and are condemned to execution. he ordered, "annihilate the enemies of islam immediately." thousands of mujahideen prisoners were killed. several hundred leftist political

prisoners were also executed. among them was my father, ahmad montazeri, who was killed for being a member of a communist group. the defendant was part of the management of the prison. he was calling out their names, he was bringing them into the so—called death community who eventually made the decision whether the prisoners should be executed or not. —— into the so—called death committee. he was a god, and he was also bringing the prisoners to the actual place of where they were executed. the prison massacres tore families apart. vida and her husband, majid, met through the communist party in iran.

both vida's husband and her brother were killed in the prison massacre. vida testified against hamid nouri. voice off-screen speaks farsi.

in total, 7a people gave evidence. iraj also testified.

the trial is being closely followed by many people whose relatives were executed by the regime. masida lives in england. a0 years ago, her two brothers and sister—in—law were killed for their communist beliefs.

masida is travelling to hear hamid nouri testify. in recent years, relatives and survivors have come together to fight forjustice. tomorrow, masida and vida will go to court together. hamid nouri is about to testify.

the atmosphere inside the court is tense. lots of the families of victim are crying and angry.

hamid nouri testified for six days. protesters chant. his defence echoed, his story of denials from the iranian government, which has never acknowledged a massacre. —— echoed the long history of denials. the current president of iran, ebrahim raisi, was one of the death committee judges, and hamid nouri's boss. if hamid nouri is found guilty, this could have consequences for raisi.

iran still in kills and imprisons political prisoners. -- iran —— iran still imprisons and kills political prisoners. i have come to cover the verdict. it is about one year tomorrow that i have been reporting at the court on hamid nouri's case. vida has attended almost all of the 92 days of the trial.

the bodies of the victims have never been returned to their relatives. the mass grave where many of the bodies were buried has been repeatedly bulldozed by the iranians authorities. less than 15 hours until the verdict and everyone is so anxious. the lawyer said to her that maybe they do not accept your testimony, and it is a lot for her. but she hopes that maybe they sentence him to life in prison.

it is the day of the verdict. different groups, all opposed to the irani and regime, are gathering outside the court —— the iranians regime. among them, countless survivors and relatives of victims of the 1988 massacre and other acts of the 1988 massacre and other acts of regime brutality.

the verdict is due to be announced. tensions are high. cheering.

i'm not sure it is a celebration, first of all. it i'm not sure it is a celebration, first of all-— first of all. it is some kind of expression _ first of all. it is some kind of expression of _ first of all. it is some kind of expression of what - first of all. it is some kind of expression of what they - first of all. it is some kind of| expression of what they have first of all. it is some kind of - expression of what they have kept for a long time. singing. ikone to my mum and my sister. —— i

will call my mum and my sister. my mother was put in prison at the same time as my father. she was only released because she was pregnant with me. she too has been fighting forjustice ever since. we are trying —— they are crying with one eye, they are happy with the other eye. i want to be beside the other eye. i want to be beside the families. the verdict was what we hoped for, exactly what the prosecutor asked for, crying against international law, war crime, murder, a life

sentence. it is saying from sweden, don't think you can hide yourself here if you have done crimes against humanity, war crimes etc, and if we sweeten can do this, this is good for the whole world. the sweeten can do this, this is good for the whole world.— for the whole world. the iranian government _ for the whole world. the iranian government has _ for the whole world. the iranian government has denounced - for the whole world. the iranian government has denounced the| for the whole world. the iranian - government has denounced the verdict as politically motivated and said that the charges against hamid nouri were fabricated and baseless. his lawyers say they will appeal the survivors and relatives have not finished either.— survivors and relatives have not finished either. tomorrow we will start again _ finished either. tomorrow we will start again the — finished either. tomorrow we will start again the new— finished either. tomorrow we will start again the new case, - finished either. tomorrow we will start again the new case, we - finished either. tomorrow we will start again the new case, we are | start again the new case, we are going to go further, we will not stop. now we are going to go to the president of the iranian regime. he was a very active member of the death committee, he should pay the price and should be responsible for what he did in 1988.—

price and should be responsible for what he did in 1988. something feels different nova _ what he did in 1988. something feels different now. hamid _ what he did in 1988. something feels different now. hamid nouri _ what he did in 1988. something feels different now. hamid nouri is- what he did in 1988. something feels different now. hamid nouri is a - different now. hamid nouri is a convicted war criminal. this catastrophe which has blighted all of our lives has been officially recognised as a crime.

hello. it's time to find out what the weather has got in store as we head into 2023. from the picture behind me, you can tell it's going to be pretty unsettled and turbulent with strong winds, heavy rain as well but overall, it is going to be mild, which is surprising when we get weather systems spiralling in off the atlantic. —— which is unsurprising. and it is a very powerfuljet stream that is across the atlantic right now and it will be pushing in multiple weather systems, so basically a rain and wind superhighway pointing right at us and the first spell of wind and rain has already arrived and we will see a succession of lows as we head towards the new year. this big dip in thejet stream is actually going to spawn quite nasty low pressure come friday, severe gales even possible around western areas. let's have a look at the morning forecast for wednesday. rain spreading into south—western parts of england, central and southern england, wales too.

mild here with south—westerly winds, about 10 degrees on the south coast. but the other side of the weather front in scotland, a touch of frost is on the cards. so the low pressure on wednesday, a lot of isobars here, big pressure gradient. that means strong winds. here it is as it approaches the south—west. notice that most of the rain arrives across half of the uk early in the day, never quite reaches scotland. some hazy sunshine here, but gusty. 50, maybe even 60 miles an hour around exposed coasts, really blustery inland as well, good a0 mile an hour winds. it is going to be relatively mild in that south—westerly wind. double figures across the bulk of england and wales. but scotland is on the other side of the weather front and a bit colder. but the weather front will reach northern scotland too, maybe a bit of wintriness across the hills. south of that, though, we have a rash of wind and showers. that was wednesday.

this is thursday. by then, a cold front will have swept through and we're in its wake, so blustery winds off the atlantic with showers, some wintry across the scottish hills. but elsewhere, it's a mixture of sunny spells and passing showers on that breeze and still mild. here is friday, that nasty area of low pressure. lots of white lines or isobars across the uk. it does mean very strong winds, particularly around the south—western approaches through the irish sea and along the south coast, in excess of 60 miles an hour certainly possible. 50 miles an hour inland, so a good gale blowing across the country. it's not going to feel like 13 degrees celsius. as we go through saturday and into the weekend, you can see again where the system is now starting to line up a bit further south of us. that is an indication — and this is of course new year's eve on saturday — with the weather systems further south, that is an indication that it is the southern counties that get the worst of the weather, so rain and wind, whereas further north, it could end up being pretty clear come hogmanay, for example, in scotland.

so at the moment at this stage, new year's eve into new year, wet across southern parts of the uk. how far north that rain will get is still uncertain. but the further north you are, so in scotland, the chances are increasing of a dry new year's eve into new year's day. and you can see as we look into 2023, it remains mild in the south, but the weather will be unsettled. bye— bye.

this is bbc news. i'm lewis vaughan jones. the headlines. at least 62 people have been killed in winter storms across the united states and canada. president biden has approved emergency federal help for new york state, as the arctic freeze continues. in china people will be able to travel abroad from the eighth ofjanuary — ending one of china's last covid restrictions. serbia has put troops on high alert over rising tensions with kosovo. president vuchich said he would "take all measures" to protect his nation. ethnic serbs in northern kosovo have been demanding the release of a former serbian police officer. in taiwan, all men will be required to serve one year's military service, in response to the threat from china. here in the uk, a murder investigation has been launched in birmingham after a 23 year—old man was stabbed to death in a nightclub. police have named the

victim as cody fisher.