world is this, do i detect emotions? everything is kind of a mystery. believe me? stuart's december 25th on d w. ah ah . ah . this is dw news alive from berlin, free after months in a russian prison. brittany griner is finally on her way home for us basketball star is handed over in a prisoner swapped in exchange for notorious russian arms dealer. victor boots also coming up on the show. iran execute

a 23 year old man for participating and recent anti government demonstrations. box n shikari is the 1st protest are known to be put to death. other detainees now faced the same fate. ah, hello, i'm claire richardson, thanks much for joining us. us basketball star, brittany griner has been released from custody and russia. the 2 time olympic gold medalist was arrested in moscow in february and sentence to 9 years in prison on drug charges. she recently had an appeal rejected and was transferred to a remote penal colony. her release is part of a high stakes prisoner exchange, that sees the united states hand over a notorious russian arms dealer. scenes of joy in the oval office of brittany greiner. she has a phone call with her wife sharelle, and preston, joe biden,

following confirmation of her release from a russian jail. she said, he's on a plane, she's on her way home after him once been unjustly detained in russia, held on her and tolerable circumstances. brittany will soon be back in the arms of her loved ones and, and she should have been there all along. so over the last 9 months, he'll have been so privy to one of the darkest moments of my life. and so today i'm just standing here. overwhelmed with the emotions, but the most important emotion that i have right now is just sincere gratitude for president biden and his entire administration. back in october, such scenes seemed unimaginable. as greiner appeared via video link from her prison cell, to make an appeal more and hope, the expectation. i've been here on a month, and people live more for very brian,

less then what i'm going to do is i brought it in. and i hope that that is too well that i that i did, the craner mistake was being caught with cannabis oil in her baggage at a moscow airport. in february, in august, she was sentenced to 9 years in jail for drug smuggling and possession. the backdrop to this, of course, is russia's warren ukraine. trainer, a u. s. citizen is one of the world's best basketball players, or supporters considered her upon in russia's political game. this man was seen as grinders, best hope of being released. and so it proved victor boot a russian arms dealer serving a 25 year sentence in the u. s. had been considered as part of a prisoner swap, but russia was apparently unwilling to negotiate. while greiner,

trial was on going, after her appeal was rejected, craner was sent to one of russia's notoriously harsh penal colonies to serve the rest of her sentence. no, she is on her way back to her loved ones in the u. s. were according to her wife. she intends to do all she can to free fellow american citizens, imprisoned by russia. andy to these kelly no more has more on how much pressure the biden administration was under to secure this deal. here, there has been a lot of public pressure in the united states to get a grinder back home. despite the recent release, we know that the negotiations have not been an easy, an easy way and an easy victory for the bible ministration. they had to pay a heavy price on it. they released victor boot and major arms dealer. and it's also important to point out that in addition to this, the us government also tried, but it was an able to secure the release of pull wheel. and he is a u. s. citizen who has been held in russian prison since 2018 on charges of

espionage. but according to a secretary of state, antonia lincoln, they had no other option that than to do a one on one exchange, meaning griner for a he said the alternative would have been to not have a release at all. a whelan will remain in prison and president biden promised that they will keep on fighting for his release as well. and even to do that extreme for brittany greiner, you, as president biden said, it took painstaking negotiations. how do you think the american public feels about the fact that the u. s. government is striking, deals with russia while it is waging a brutal war on ukraine care. the priority for the american people is not. it's not really that brutal a war in ukraine. many people of course shows already with ukraine, but the war is far away. people don't really feel the impact of the war on the sanctions as much as they do in germany or in europe. so the priority for the

administration here has also been to a free and american citizen who in their wars has been wrongfully detained in russia. and there has been a lot of public pressure on this release here in the u. s. and this is clearly a huge victory for the bible ministration that would probably have an impact on the public opinion about him and about his administration. the question is, if this means that a dialogue with russia on the war in ukraine could also be possible. a senior official from the say department pointed out this morning that this is not the case . he said this has been a negotiation that was very focused on a concrete topic on wrongfully detained us american prisoners. and he, as threats that getting this done, does not mean that the us government minimizes rushes behavior in the war in ukraine. and what can you tell us about victor booth, the notorious russian arms dealer who was part of this exchange. victor vote at

55 years old is a huge figure for the u. s. and a for rush elsewhere. we're talking about an arm steeler who worked for acadia for the taliban. and for rebels in rwanda, he was a sentence in 2011 on 4 counts. that included a conspiring to kill american citizens. and he had agreed to sell weapons to secret service agents who were back been opposing us army buyers for the farm, for the revolutionary armed forces of columbia. and a boot was sentenced back then to prison for 25 years. he would have been released in 2036 currently. and we're just seeing pictures now of a boot arriving in a rush. i thank you so much for your reporting from washington dc. we really appreciate it well, iran has carried out its 1st known execution of a protest. her sins anti government demonstrations began in september oxen. shikari was hanged on thursday morning after being accused of wounding

a security officer during protests activists worn. others could also soon be put to death and that at least a dozen other iranians have been handed sentences for their involvement and demonstrations. behind the walls of the notorious evian prison most in shaker re was hanged on thursday. the death sentence against the 23 rolled, was only handed down in november and has now been very quickly carried out. war to live up as iran, judiciary accused shakera of injuring a militia member during the protests. human rights groups condemned the proceedings as a fast track show trial. lacking an independent defense intended to scare off other processes, bahamas on thursday morning broadcast, as close to the iranian regime shed this video on social media. it was supposed to prove she carries guilt, accompanied by dramatic music, this and the use of computer generated scenes of violence. the regime staged

a dubious admission of guilt. observe as believed that the confession was extracted under torture and duress. iranian took his political scientists, the reef gaskin says that systematic in iran, you minucci, excell since the foundation of the islamic republic in 1979. the regime is repeatedly imprisoned. opponents tortured them and put them in front of cameras. and now they're doing that with the demonstrators. if we, they want to show them as fearful and weak people are normal. as people who break when they're put under enough pressure on little core cock. only a few days ago, a regime propaganda channeled published a video with the famous rappa too much so lay. he was who also faces the death penalty. in the video, extracts from one of his music videos were cut together with an interrogation. in its delay, he apologizes for inciting people to protest. when on you,

irish gaskin believes the regime propaganda strategy is having the opposite of his intended effect to lay he and others. now heroes to many goosgo still people see these stage confessions law really as a sign of the weakness of this regime was trying to prevent its downfall a regime that is increasingly under pressure because the resistance in a rollin shows no signs of going away. well, we can bring you up to speed now on some other stories that are making world news headlines at this hour. 100 and cache. the u. s. congress has approved a landmark bell protecting same sex marriages are the president joe biden is expected to sign the measure into law quickly. a draft legislation passed the senate last week. after months of negotiation, a comes amongst concerned that the supreme court could reverse it's 2015 decision to legalize same sex marriages. and the u. s. house of representatives has voted

to provide record defense spending next year, totaling $858000000000.00 as a row. the figure is 45000000000 more than asked for by president joe biden. the bill also includes a provision to scrap cove at 9 teen vaccine mandates for military personnel and supporters of peruse, ousted president pedro castillo, have clashed with police. backers of the populace leader are demanding his release and the suspension of parliament. a peruvian court ordered his detention on thursday after congress voted to impeach him. well, it has been one year since olaf schultz was sworn in as german chancellor. his 3 way coalition government came to power on a platform of change. a rush as full scale invasion of ukraine in february has meant they've had to abandon some of their core principles, not least of all regarding power generation here g, w takes a look back at the chancellors challenging 1st 12 months. for 16 years,

she was the face of germany, anglo makeover felt solid, dependable, safe, until 2021. when this guy took over, all of so it's brought in, nicole listen, government of left wing as liberals and greens. they promised big changes. but with the government, just 77 days old, russia launched its full scale invasion of ukraine. they've changed everything. yeah, we're experiencing at turning point. the newton's law laid out a series of major promises to deal with a new political and economic global reality. for decades, the mighty german economy had relied on cheap oil and gas from russia that had to change and fast. so it gave renewables a big boost, hunted down oil and gas deals abroad. and built l. n. g terminals at home. he

even extended nuclear and coal power generation, although the government's green element prevented them from going as far as the opposition wanted. our business when it comes to nuclear and renewable energy, he stayed way behind germany's capabilities. the government also spent $200000000000.00 euros to protect german customers and companies from price rises. the ukraine war also meant germany had to decide what to do to help that we will deliver 5000 how mr. ukraine. and even though he later dramatically expanded this, many remained critical of sorts. his efforts just kind, there is no german lead european coordinated support for ukraine, for example, with battle tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. on a major problem, the german armed forces didn't have much to give away. in that same speech, swords authorized a $100000000000.00 euro special budget for the armed forces. none of those things

were on the agenda when chance was elected. he and his partners came to office with a raft of progressive policies. they abolished an article in the criminal code banning doctors from advertising abortion services. they introduced the 1st ever l g, b t q plus rights commissioner. and they said to make immigration to germany easier and even legalized recreational cannabis use. it was a baptism of fire, so it will have so it's, and his new government, all that came from the war in ukraine. the ongoing pandemic and the economics fall out from both. but some of the lessons learned already being applied to the next major challenges, such as how to deal with japanese dependency on china. they're still a lot to do. and just before we go, let's get a reminder of the top story. we're falling for you. at this hour, the united states has secured the release of basketball star, brittany greiner from russian custody. as part of

a prisoner swap. the u. s. handed over russian arms dealer, victor boot in exchange. so that's when his update, his, our stay tuned for the business headlines with my colleague rob watts. that is coming up next after a short break through what secrets lie behind these discover new adventures in $360.00 degrees and explore fascinating world heritage sites.