[000:00:00;00] ah, they demand change and gets violence since the protest in iran kicked off in september, thousands of demonstrators have been arrested. human rights groups say over a 100 of them now face capital punishment. leaders from all around the world are calling for an immediate halt to state sanctions killings, but their demands fall on deaf ears for people have already been hanged in connection to the protests and of the 17 currently believe to be on death. row 2 are set to face imminent execution on nichol further kimberline, and this is the day ah,

criminal proceedings and the death penalty are being weaponized by the iranian government. ever. but to know that they deliberately put this in my son's prosecution file with the aim of hiding my son. that's not right. committed an injustice. you could see that the regime said we need to execute him and we need to expedite this whole process so that he can, can be executed the running of the reduced need to execute. need to implement these penalties, to spread fear into society. these executions are just purely it to accommodate people to stop the process. and also coming up how saving lives could land you in court will hear from one of 24 migrant rescue workers now on trial and grease for espionage. and if they had a shred of evidence that we ever did anything wrong, we would already be in prison. the fact that we have to wait year on here is proof

to me that they are not confident or guilty. ah, welcome to the show. we begin the day with another chorus of condemnation for iran over what the when is describing as the weaponized ation the death penalty. unfortunately executions are nothing new to or on hundreds of people are executed there every year. leaving iran 2nd only to china and the world wide use of capital punishment. these law me republic has been rocked by months of protests since the death in custody of kurdish rainy and gina masa, meaning following her arrest for allegedly violating iran strict dress code for women. now iran is increasingly turning to its courts to silence descent. the regime is already carried out for executions in connection with the demonstrations . 2 more are believed to be imminent, with at least 17 other individuals reportedly sentenced to death. the un today called for an immediate halt to the executions and for iran to respect the lives

and voices of its people. for individuals engaged in the recent demonstration to have been executed over the past month following expedited trials that have not met minimum guarantees of fair trial and due process required by international human rights law. high commissioner volcker turk has said that the weapon is ation of criminal procedures to punish people for exercising their basic rights, such as those participating in organizing demonstrations amounts to state sanctioned kidding. k sonia is a human rights lawyer and the director of the strategic litigation project. at the atlantic council ms. nea, welcome back to the day. do you agree with the when that iran is weaponized the death penalty in order to crush descent? absolutely, and the sad news is that this has been happening for years. this actually is not anything new. there are a cohort of judges,

any iran that are heavily influenced by the intelligence apparatus in the country. and the purpose really of their issue ends of execution sentences, is to repress the population and repressed any form of descent, actual, or perceived. so this has been a long standing pattern, and unfortunately, right now we're seeing it being exercised much more frequently because of the real challenge that has posed to the ruling establishment and the moment leaders from around the world. and we just heard the when there have been demanding an end to the execution of protesters. what leverage does the west have over iran to actually make them stop? yes, so we see that some countries in the wake of the execution have summoned the islamic republics ambassador to their country to them for a consultation. i think it needs to go

a step further. i believe that these country is countries, but do have diplomatic relations with the bombing republic need to recall their own ambassadors for consultation, and they need to downgrade diplomatic relations in a coordinated manner that will send a strong political signal. this has been done in the past, we saw that denmark and the netherlands had recalled their ambassadors from tat ron, when there were attempt at assassination of dissidence on their own soil. and so this is one lever that has not been told yet, and i think it must and there needs to be stronger action. it can't just be condemnation. and what's been done before, that's not putting a stop to this. the, the violence unfortunately seems to work the number of people taking to the streets has decreased in recent days and weeks. is the movement still alive? well,

we know that in terms of numbers that can add been flow. there are certain days that are where there are, you know, protests that are organized that will be larger number or strikes or so on. so i don't think we can just look to a few days to make an assessment. but what is clear is that the sun is buried alive and well, people in the countries say there's not even any available surface on walls. that's clear, empty of graffiti, all that graffiti being filled with protest, logan and call to overthrow the regime. so protest can be alive in different ways, even if there are immediate risks to physical security. you work on accountability efforts for human rights violations to think they'll ever be justice for the protesters, their regime is executing over these protests. absolutely, justice often takes

a really long arc and it's not always something that's immediate, but we see even now that there have been universal jurisdiction proceedings, one notably in sweden, again a representative of the atlantic republic who committed crimes and the 1980s. so sometimes justice is low, but everybody, all the officials, any wrong right now who have been committing violation should be well aware that one day they may be called to answer for their crimes. and i hope that gives them and you're working for that to happen. thank you so much. is always great to speak to you soon. right laura? you soon? yeah, thank you. ron's justice system is casting a wide net and not just over the recent demonstrations today. bill j 8 worker. it will leave you on the cost. taylor was sentenced to 40 years in prison and $74.00 lashes on charges that include spying, cooperating with the u. s. and money laundering belgium has summoned ron's

ambassador and protest. meanwhile, journalists jump, she'd sharman to german citizens since 1995 is staring at a possible death sentence around detained him for allegedly planning a terror attack. shar wants family says he was a legally abducted in the gulf in 2020 and the charges against him are made up. joining me now from los angeles is gazelle sharma, shot and the daughter of the detained german national. thank you so much for speaking with us and such difficult circumstances. your father was due to appear in court today. you have any information about his situation and thank you and it's very hard to get any information out from the regime that is reliable. in the last 7 show trials that he had in the last year, we would wait about 4 or 5 hours after the trial. the regime would give the information that they want to their censored media,

and they would publish it last night for us or this morning. for you guys, this did not happen. i did not see anything in the media when we contacted the regime lawyer that is on his case, he finally answered, does it back and said the 8th and final session took place. but this time it was behind closed doors. no information was released and we're still waiting for the verdict to be to be announced. can you tell us more about how and why your father was arrested? yes, absolutely. the regime for 43 years has targeted dissidents abroad, especially people who give the people up iran a voice. my dad is a software engineer and he built a website for the people in iran to be able to publish what they want videos, articles, anything uncensored. and this website was pretty good website because the regime tried with type of tech to take it down and couldn't do that. and when they

couldn't do that, they targeted the person behind the website, which is my dad. they 1st started with threats against his life, then propaganda started in 2007 when they on channel 3, they published a nice about him, but he's a terrorist leader that he's a spy, that he's one of the things that we, that we pretty much see with all the dissidents that they put on to destroy their name, to make them look like criminals, instead of human rights defenders and freedom fighters in 2009, they tried to assassinate him. here in the u. s, which was called unfortunately, and in 2020, when my dad was traveling from frankfurt to mon by he had a overlay and due by his flight, got cancelled. and that's the last we heard of him. that's when they kidnapped him and took him to iran. the next day we saw him on iranian national tv. blindfold was with his face swollen and forced to confession to cramps that he did not commit

since then. it's 893 day to day that he's been kept at an unknown location in solitary confinement. completely unknown cannot contact us does not have a lawyer, does not have access to light or air or anything like that. incomplete torture throughout all of this time. and the only times you can, you can be outside is for these show show trials, but they put on your father is a german national. how much support have you been getting from germany? unfortunately, i have not gotten the needed support from the country of our citizenship. but which is, which is germany. he has been there, as i said, for 2 and a half years. and i'm happy to say that yesterday we finally got a political sponsor for him in germany. but all of these things should have happened when a german citizen was kidnapped and taken to run. this was an international crime. when all of his rights were taken away, why didn't they speak up then? i mean,

it's great that we had some media attention now that we have people looking at around right now because of the revolution that is fantastic. but honestly, not just for the last 2 years, but for 43 years. these crimes have been going on and everybody was looking away. and in the case of my dad, everybody was looking away for 2 and a half years. and i'm happy that we're finally putting a spotlight on your. i'm putting a spotlight on the political prison respect my dad, but much, much more has to happen in order to, to make a change to make something really, to save lives than to make a real change. you have any hope that the protest movement will lead to change in the country and, and lead to us seeing people like your father walk free. absolutely does this, this movement is unstoppable, that we have not seen anything like that in the last 43 years. this is absolutely different from anything that we've seen ago before. it has built on all of the movements before my dad has been an activist for 16 years. all of these actors that

have worked in the background. they have built up to this moment that we have right now, and it is unstoppable because you can see the one of the slogan. if you kill one of us, a 1000 more will stand up. this is the mindset of the people right now on the street, and unless the will expense in their way and continue to have relations with the stomach, was you with the terrorists that are killing them there? this movement will be to freedom. if all of the prisoners including my dad will be safe, i don't know that we can't guarantee that. but we can make sure with all of that exposure that it is at least harder for the regime to kill the people when the spot that is on them. and we can, of course, support the people of iran were putting their life at risk. we're standing there either being executed or being in the, in the street. we can support them from here with everything that we're doing it. sure mine, thank you so much for a time and all the best to you and your family. of course. thank you so much.

oh. when you encounter a car crash, what do you check 1st, the victims pulse or the victim passport. that's one of the questions being asked by 24 humanitarian workers who have gone on trial in greece to day facing charges related to human trafficking. they say they were only trying to save the lives of migrants in distress and greek waters. the european parliament has slammed their trial as the largest case of criminalization of solidarity in europe. speak to one of the defendants and just a moment, the 1st and background. a trial generating interest far beyond this court house on the island of la's bos, 20 for human rights activists, were arrested on charges that included espionage. the defendants say, all they were doing was trying to help rescue refugees. one of them volunteer diver sean binder from ireland was detained in 2018. he's been eager to set the record

straight. we're desperate to go to trial because what we did was legal. another of the defendants of sarah martini a syrian who fled to europe with her sister in 2015. their story was made into a netflix film. mardina is now an aide worker helping other refugees. the human rights organization, amnesty international says the trial is a farce. it's calling on greek authorities to drop the charges. such criminalization should not be allowed. it's a, it's about them across europe. we've seen in other countries as well that people who are there just to help her face, the charges, criminal, or others, an effortless face to death. such a humanitarian assistance. greece, which saw more than a 1000000 people arrive on its shores at the height of the migration crisis in 2015, says and jose helping migrants or encouraging more to come the less most trial

again raises the question of how european nation should respond. when people risked their lives for a chance and asylum and joining us now as john binder who he saw briefly in that report, he's one of the rescue voluntary is currently on trial unless bus. he's also the co founder of the free humanitarians campaign. welcome to the day mr. binder you and your fellow defendants faith years in prison. what was your crime? yes, that's right. we faced 20 years in prison for trying to help people in distress. we are being charged with crimes such as spying and forgery. facilitating a legal entry and even money laundering and being part of a criminal organization. and literally all i did was try to assist people in distress. when you think of prosecution has over time turned into a form of persecution. why? this is quite clear. if we are the criminals,

that the prosecution trying to frame us as being suggest we are then they should have wanted us in prison years ago. and if that a shred of evidence that we have done anything wrong, then we would be in prison. but instead we have a delay. we've had a delay now for 4 years, and we could have a delayed another 15 years. and so to my mind, the sword of damocles that hangs over our head is effectively not only we can have it on the defendant live on my life, but it is also disincentive eyes all search and rescue on the island of lesbians, there is no more search and rescue happening here, and yet people continue to down. how confident are you that the judge will find that you and the fellow defendants are innocent? i am heartened and fortified by the fact that we have followed every rule and every law. there is a right to seek asylum in european law. there is

a need to protect the right to life in that law. we have a right to a fair trial. there is a duty under international maritime conventions to provide help to people in distress. we have done all of those things. all we ask that the european union that greece follow those very same rules. there are people who argue that rescue missions like the one you were on only encourage more people to make the treacherous journey across the mediterranean. what would you say to them? i would say that show me any evidence of that. i, while i was imprisoned at a loss of time to pour over the research and frantic and other institutions make the same argument, it's called the pull factor. and while i've been to it is, isn't one single evidence that this actually occurs a far more likely pull factor might be the fact that we do not provide any safe means of seeking asylum. and that is causing an entire industry of smuggling to

appear. you've received support from some 90 members of the european parliament. are they doing enough at home to push for state or a new action that would make the work of volunteers like you unnecessary look in in the ideal world there would be no need for humanitarian action. at our borders because no one would be drowning in a better world, the authorities would be doing this role. but in the world, unfortunately, that we live and i have a 24 year old, had to deliver supplies to frantic lessons that exhausted their supplies. we can do a lot more. we should be doing a lot more. we should simply actually be following the law, sean binder, rescue volunteer, and co founder of free humanitarians. thanks so much for your time and best of luck . thank you. thank you. oh, assemble for the absolute insanity of russia as war of aggression is what the

german foreign minister says to have encountered on her surprise trip to the ukrainian city of car keith. it was the 1st visit of a german cabinet member to the northeastern city. that's not far from the front lines. babylon held talks with her ukrainian counterpart and toward several critical infrastructure sites, including a power station and a children's hospital. ukraine's infrastructure has been under increasing attack from russia. babylon paid tribute to what she called the incredible stamina and courage of the ukrainian people. d, w. max, son know as with the german foreign minister and has on the reasons behind her visit. right, so the german foreign minister actually followed the invitation by her ukranian counterpart, calais, about to show a different part of the country apart from key if that has been visited by foreign a heads the state and top level politicians are quite frequently in the past. she's actually the 1st foreign guest who have come to hockey. if i'm

a region that's being shelter almost on a daily basis, a town that has ross city, i rather the has been largely destroyed that has been besieged for quite some time . is dealing with serious issues a with it's critical infrastructure and the social one of the points, one of the, the, the points of her visits a to raise the attention for the consequences for the critical infrastructure here for the situation with, with power, with keeping with water i'm gonna book came with a promise of a package she pledged, which includes transformers and generators to help out with blackouts that plague this town as well as 20000000 euros in the demining funding. cuz the point here was that reconstruction cannot wait until the end of the war, but it has to be started. now the 1st prisoner has changed to take place this year

between ukraine and rush us off. 50 soldiers from each side returned to their respective countries, but for those waiting back home, it's not only a time of uncertainty, some are having to rely on material and financial support of others, while they face bureaucratic obstacles to prove their partner's p, o w status. this is sasha. he can walk, he has 8 teeth. and like his mother irena, he likes telephone's. when he sees the picture of his father, he says something that sounds like papa. oh, yeah. but ukraine is at war, and that means his father is the ukrainian soldier and a russian prisoner of war. he hasn't seen sasha for 10 months last summer in july we met irina and sasha in cheve, a thumb with fear. on march 9th, my husband had to go to the front to get military equipment. that morning was the last time we spoke. he said, i'm going now. yeah, he,

i've you because of your per year of arena later, heard her husband had had a bad head injury and was being operated on in a hospital and done yet. so there was no further news about the outcome of the operation. 5 months became 10 months of uncertainty. irina has been living on food donations and help from her parents and neighbors. she hasn't been receiving her husband's wages because she was unable to provide all the documentation to prove he was in captivity. yeah, was, well, isn't it? i felt very bad. i didn't understand our country all our soldiers who served and fought. and in fact, the families didn't get anything like me. i felt so bad. i didn't know what to do to survive. what to do with a 3 month old baby. oh, you don't like this, this is in the ukrainians and russians frequently exchange prisoners of war, 50 prisoners. just this sunday the united nations says the russians often torture

and mistreat po w's and that ukraine has done so too. but this is about how ukraine treats the families of its own soldiers. so it does have one double sky issue yet the give up. yes, i can see that there can be cases of this nature is because these processes need to be improved process, but we're posting and the department of defense and the country are working on it and why it was, i was a long, it seems a my, it but with the country at war, resources are stretched. some families get some money and food from the red cross, which takes care of prisoners of war and establish contact with families. since march, we have been able to visit hundreds of prisoners of war on both sides. but we know from talking to families, for example here, the pray that there are thousands of them that we must have access to. this is arena's church. sometimes small miracles happen while the camera is rolling. after months of waiting, she's received her husband's pay. now, unexpectedly,

the ukrainian secret service is on the line. i don't think so. the good news is he's free. thank god, daddy's coming home. oh no. oh god i am oh, her husband roman was among the 50 prisoners who were exchanged on sunday. that's him. he's actually alive now. she's just waiting to really hear his voice. oh, an hour later. oh hello. roman hello sunshine. i'm so glad to hear your voice. you sound good to hear. this is the voice she's been speaking to in her mind for months now in real life. no, not only of both the and that's our time. we'll be back tomorrow with more for now,

for me and the entire team in the newsroom. thank you so much for spending part of your day with with john set polanko mas dream,

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