[000:00:00;00] ah, and the almost 3 months since the death of gina masa armine over 400 protesters have been killed, with an 18000, have been arrested, and 11, have been sentenced to death and show trials without any due process or access to proper legal representation. now the iranian regime and its disregard for its citizens, basic human rights of hits, a tragic no low. and the early hours of thursday, this man 23 year old mawson shikari, was hanged. and while this is the 1st known execution in relation to the mass demonstrations rights groups, fear that if there is no robust international response,

now many more will follow article freely him berlin. and this is the day ah, this is not something new in this land republic. over on the west thinks we've just had the country over to the protest this on a lot of the on the line of position and anger against islamic republic. i'm designed for a quadratic of the political system remains lively on active. we need the international communities attention on this, and we needed to go far beyond just the same old tables of were outraged. and also on the day after 10 months behind bars in russia, basketball star, brittany griner is freed and a prisoner swamp. moscow released her in exchange for a notorious arms dealer known as the merchant of death. she's safe. she's on

a plane. she's on her way home. after wants to be known, just detained in russia. hel loaner on tolerable circumstances. brittany will soon be back in the army of her loved ones and, and she should have been there all along. welcome to the day, martin shikari was 23 years old. he worked and cafe he loved music and wanted to live in a free country. to day he became the 1st known person to be executed by the iranian regime for his participation and anti government demonstrations. shikari was hanged in the morning, only 3 weeks after a sham trial without proper legal representation and waiting for a chance to appeal his sentence. fears are his execution might only be the beginning of a new escalation of the regime crackdown behind these walls and t. ron's even prison. a young man was reportedly executed. iran's judiciary claims he injured

a police officer during the protests. but observers say this was a show trial. it was broadcast in installments on state television, the 23 year old, and neither an independent legal defense nor the opportunity to challenge the verdict. regardless protests against the iranian regime are still going on for 3 days across multiple cities. many businesses have been on strike. people on the streets report, a massive deployment of police and malicious store owners preferring to remain anonymous. say there have been targeted intimidation attempts with we were severely threatened if we left the store closed, they would shut down our cafe completely and rules. iran's president r e z continues to blame other countries influences for the ongoing protest. he reiterated that point when he addressed pro regime students at a t. ron university has award caravan. your west thinks will just hand the country

over to the protest as you donna. but no on the reigning students would never let that happen. so i recorded a pause from his supporters, but the majority of students are his fears. his critics cellphone footage shows them protesting against raise the and the regime outside the university. you have no honor, they shout repeatedly, not only in the capital, but at universities all across the country. and the demonstration show no sign of dying down a hold of mary margaret on is director of the angio around human rights and joins me from oslo. welcome to the day loss, and shikari was only 23 years old and protesting for a better future. why did he have to die? yes, that's actually a question. many people can ask her rightfully because there, if b. r to believe what the running authorities claim. he and he endured

her one of the really shows who was facing people and he locked in a row. but you know, even that we cannot believe because he didn't have a fair trial. he was subjected to torture in some of the video footage, a broadcast set by the iranian media. you know, there was no sign of injury on one side of his face. so even these confessions that extracted from him, they were under torture. so basically he was out like many iranians, demanding his fundamental human rights and the right to live a normal life. and he was executed for that. his family says this execution came unexpected to them. and then he was actually hoping to be able to appeal his sentence, what do we know about the circumstances of his hanging and the timing of it? you know,

run in judiciary or on purpose. they give hope to the families to make. and b is the silent and not to talk about the children so that they can execute them with the least possible political cost. and i'm afraid what happened to more centric ari and the time of execution, that normally executions are taking place around 5 am. and what you know is that he, together with 2 others, were transferred to solitary confinement. couple of nights ago. we don't know who the 2 others are and what happened to them. but and you know, we have been expecting executions. we know this regime that they use that kind of to, to spread fear. and we have been waiting for this, but it was shocking. it's always shocking when the wake happened here. terrible

news like this. this is, of course intimidation tactics by the regime, but it's also a dangerous gamble for them, isn't it? this is going to anger many people and presumably drive even more people to the st . absolutely, i think as you say, it is again that because previously iranian authorities in our life, mr. rice, if you have to participate, think in math, execution of political prisoners in the past. they have managed to make to spread fear and transfer this feeling of hopelessness. but this time is different to what we have heard from iran and also iranians across the globe. people are much more angry and much more determined so, so as you say, i don't think they are going to get the effect that they are expecting from people . and i hope that the international reactions will also be in line with their

reactions from what can the international community do to help the iranian people to contribute in one way or another to stop this? you see, now iranian regime has crossed a line. do you have escalated to violence that i've been using against people in the last 2, almost 3 months by shooting at protests? there's now the are, they have started hanging detained protesters. and i think this means that also international communities should elevate the level of their reaction. one step . i think every country knows what they can do to send a clear signal to the run, you know, so it is that it is an acceptable. so what we used to do until yesterday, it is not good enough because iranian regime had crossed a line. if we don't react appropriately,

we might say mass executions of protest says there are thousands of them into prison. now. what kind of sanctions or movement on behalf of the international community would you would you think would be efficient to create some leverage over the regime? and if you develop a condemnation that have come to day with strong boards from some authorities like german authorities, i think they are very good. and but you know, all countries in, at least in western europe and many parts of the world, they have a normal diplomatic relations. we still have other kind of relations with iran in authorities trade relations. and i think again, every government knows how to i take it to one level or it can be imposing more sanctions. it can be

a downgrading good diplomatic relations. it can be freezing some other relations. but what is important is that dease specific execution gifts of berries, specific response. what i'm hearing muggy down from iran, human rights. joining us from oslo, thanks for your time. with you. ah, she is safe. she is on a plane. she's on her way home. that is how you as president joe biden announced what his administration had been working on for 10 months. the release of basketball star, brittany greiner from custody and russia, she was freed as part of a prisoner swap with the u. s. a. to time olympic gold medalist greiner was arrested in moscow back in february and sentenced to 9 years in prison on drug charges. she recently had an appeal rejected and was transferred to a remote penal colony in russia. she was released and exchange for victor bouts and

notorious russian arms dealer, detained in the us for over a decade. and the high price paid for griner as release as cast renewed light on the fate of another american held in russia. paul whelan, a former us marine who was arrested in 2018 and is accused of spying grinders. wife charel was at the white house for the announcement. she expressed her deep emotions and her gratitude for the help from the bite administration stay. my family is whole, but as you all are aware, there's so many other families who are not whole and still b, g is not here to say this, but i will gladly speak on her behalf and say that b g and i will remain committed to the work of getting every american home, including call, whose family is in our hearts today as we celebrate v g b a home. we do understand that there are still people out here who are in doing what i endured the last 9 months of missing tremendously their loved ones. so thank you everybody for your support and see there's

a happy day for me and my family. so i'm going to now right now. thank you. and she surely wasn't the only one smiling there for more we can bring an aaron solomon whose chief legal analyst at esquire digital. welcome to the w. how much pressure was on the us to free greiner? after 10 months in russian detention, there was an enormous amount of pressure, and this pressure was mounting month by month. there's actually very interesting parallel between what happened a year ago with a lot of brittany spears. his own band starting the free brittany movement and brittany writers and starting another free brittany movement, her fans over social media as well as traditional media kept a lot of pressure on the u. s. government not to put this on the back burner. efforts to bring her home as you, as you just pointed out, have been going on ever since she was 1st attained to mid february. why do you think this will happen now? well,

as president biden talked about this morning during that press conference with sharon greiner, the united states, i believe, really has been working on this as a priority item. for a long time, prisoner swaps are very, very delicate things. and i don't believe that they're ever done in isolation between 2 nations. i'm quite confident that the united states had the guidance of some of their allies, including germany in trying to bring this to a conclusion, which very mercifully very luckily for everybody involved. it did so brittany was able to step on us soil this evening and be home for the holidays. let's circle back here for a 2nd and look at how exactly brittany greiner did become a pond in russia's political game. she was the perfect pawn and just as russia was getting ready to innovate the ukraine, brittany had played 7 years for you. m m c. you catch framework and talk to your team in the russian league owned by

a russian all the work. so she was very well known as the kind of superstar player she was in the russian league that she was in the w n. da. it's also very important for people to understand that the reason top american players play international basketball in europe is because they can earn between 4 and 7 times their salary playing in places like russia. so russian knew exactly where she was. they knew that she was there for 7th season, and she was absolutely the highest profile, american athlete, male or female, to be in russia. at that time, she was a perfect palm. now the man, the us freed and exchange for greiner was once considered by the d. a one of the most dangerous people on earth. how big of a win is his release in exchange for greiner, for russia, the release of victor booth is a massive public relations when for if you just take a quick look to see thing on russian state media, it is absolutely being held as

a huge victory of russia and all of the ideals of the former soviet union in the united states, both sides are placing this as a huge win, which of course is nothing new and a prisoner small. but there's no doubt that releasing victor about is being seen by putting as allies when it's trying to put some oxygen back into the war effort from the public relations and the spin perspective. and he may get a few weeks of very good internal press out of this, do we know anything about how brittany griner was treated while she was imprisoned in russia, or will we have to wait and, and hearing from herself. the 1st thing that's going to happen with her landing in the united states is debriefing with us authorities and part of the questions are going to be how she has a lot of people in the united states. i've done a lot of media today including american sports, radio, or hypothesizing. how quickly brittany griner is going to get back on the court and

be a superstar, after what she endured over the past 10 months, emotionally, spiritually and physically. it could be a very, very long roads recovery, even though she's back home in the united states. now her being slot for victor, vote for the us was a big compromise because they actually wanted to get 2 people back home didn't they? the white house says that russia is treating griner is case differently from that of pol whelan, a marine veteran who has been imprisoned in russia on espionage charges since 2018 . what do you think it'll take to bring him home? it's going to take a lot more my understanding from a couple of inside sources today is that russia made it very clear to united states that it was either going to be a one on one swap. and that only one was going to be pretty greiner. the problem with the poll wheeling case and i believe everybody needs to maintain pressure over media and social media to keep this in the bible and ministrations front window

rather than the rear window is that paul whelan was involved in the espionage business. that's not to say that he was a spy, but he was involved in the intelligence business. and of course he has the background of marie russia. seeing this is a very, very different case than brittany greiner, who is simply a superstar aaron solomon chief legal analyst at as quite digital. thank you so much for those insights today. thank you for having me. ah britton's royal family is free thing itself for revelations. from a netflix documentary series on prince harry and his wife megan, a couple known as the duke and duchess of sussex are no longer serving members of the royal family. at the 1st episodes debuted to day, amid expectations of damaging claims about british royal life. it's really hard to look back on it now and go. walmart. the netflix docu series harry and meghan

promises an unprecedented look at the life of the duke and duchess of sussex, a suitably dramatic trailer in which prince harry draws comparisons between megan and his late mother. princess diana sparked mixed reactions ahead of its world wide release. many royal fans were eager to hear their story. others annoyed at more complaints from such a privileged pair. i was some called out discrepancies in the trailer footage. the royal family was reportedly bracing itself for further revelations. megan marshall's marriage to prince harry in 2018 was dubbed a modern fairy tale and hailed as the chance to modernize the monarchy by welcoming a multi racial woman. but already during their courtship, the couple complained the american former actress was frequently the target of criticism in the british press. in early 2020, they step down from their role as senior royal's and moved to north america. an

explosive interview with talk show host oprah winfrey in march 2021 stirred controversy even further. a. couple's claims of mistreatment and racism sent shock waves through the british royal's leaving harry further estranged from his family. the last time they were united was for the funeral of their grandmother, queen elizabeth the 2nd last september. shortly thereafter, harry and megan announced the release of the netflix documentary part of a deal with the streaming platform worth over $100000000.00 us dollars. no one knows the full truth. we know the features ah, among ordinary britons there's mixed reaction to harry and meghan's netflix theories. people in london and windsor have been sharing their views. so i think they're really brave for they've done like speaking out against families. we discuss so say play them to do enough. yeah, i think i think is

a good face. important to tell your side of the story i was i was where as 2 sites . so yeah, give it to the job fair play. i think people when chickens to, once they started to leave, but in the beginning, no, i didn't. i didn't see any. so to crisis them. but then, you know, you, we don't sate behind closed doors. i think she needs to have a bit more. um we spent the roll family i think are good for for, for i think it's a shame that history to dish spray of pop culture common. hey iran, say a song vedo who's watched the highly anticipated 1st part of the series for us, ron, say, 3 hours of netflix and spill. do we know the truth now? any bombshell revelations? we, a lot of it was shared in the documentary of stuff we've heard before, especially in the over interview. but there were some big revelations, for instance, a fact of the fact that thomas marco wasn't going to attend via p. m z. and so that was a big one when we were also like smaller, you know,

cute i'll say of revelations like the fact that they met via instagram. apparently harry has a finster and a leading to be sure this new nuggets what the really should that we had no before this documentary. okay, so we're learning more about them than about a royal drama. what, what impression did you, did you have of them because this is a very close look at their life, right? yes, i'm of course they're the ones behind the dock mesa duffy portrays, i'm in a positive light. i thought it was as good as it shows them as reliable, and it shows them as willing to share more about themselves and ever before we get to see their kids on waiting. we have before we get to your la archie voice. i also here uh from adore ragland americans, mom and she speaks about, you know, just her, you know, witnessing the relationship was and so then there, when you think that we went about the couple and we were more about the,

the family and, and in their relationship with the press and how are harry describe this as quote bribery. so lots of interesting on prospected right at the palace was understandably nervous before this came out. but really you mentioned the oprah interview. there isn't really anything left to throw at the palace at this point. i don't think there's much more much, much else to throw up at the palace. i do think boot documentary was quite handed in his assessment of the palace and its role in slavery. and so i think that's actually the most damaging part about this, and he gets people to come take a step back and look at this family in its history and how destructive it's been. there also seems to have been some behind the scenes drama, harry and meghan changed their director half way through the production process. do you know what that was all about? yes, so the initial directory, garrett. bradley wanted to film them in their home and apparently be objected to

that. so that's how they ended up with linda garbus, who is the, the current director. all right. is it, is it watchable? it sounds like it was, you know, the set was seen and the thing was that by them they called the shots and portrays them in a very favourable light. is this 3 hours well spent? would you watch the next 3 hours or is, is basically a publicity stunt? 3 hours very well spent. it was a really, really good watch and i think people going to love it. so after breaking out of the royal family, they did build their brand somehow around telling their truth, right? and this has been done a fair amount of times. now the oprah interview the show harry has a book coming out. what do you think is next for them? and i think it's just more tell you, i mean, harry is a will who's actually never worked like

a regular job like you and i. so this is kind of has to be on the way and, and i think the book is gonna be successful. i'm sure that you know, finding ways to know to share their live. i think that the public interest in them i is kind of insatiable. i think that's just how it is i with the rural family. so we're just going to see more, you know, tv shows and things of that nature. megan has a park house where she has to talk to the rose levies. i think this is the new bernoulli mean, ron day is on vedo entertainment journalist base in the u. s thank you so much for that. ah, now i want to take a look at one teenager in the southern u. s. who is making headlines with his new job jail. and smith has been elected mayor of his home town of earl arkansas. after winning a run off boat, the 18 year old who's just started university becomes one of the countries youngest

. ever mares is pledged to bring in new businesses to the town, including a grocery store. ah, that is all from us or to day. but if you are not busy running for teenage mayor of a town in arkansas, why don't you follow our team on twitter you'll find is at the w news. if i myself, nicole underscore froelich. and if you're looking for news and updates around the clock, he's been always find that on our website. that is, of course d, w dot com for now though from all of us on the day. thank you so much for spending part of your day

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