which has seen their families‘ assets, of up to 150 persian service staff, effectively frozen, which has been very, very worrisome for them. what are the bbcbout the situation? we've been running a series of public campaigns to draw attention to the plight of the persian service staff in this regard, and we've engaged significantly, as you mention, with the united nations, at the un human rights council in geneva, and we'll be continuing that kind of engagement with the un and other bodies during the course of the year. but of course it's important that everyone remembers that these journalists have done nothing wrong, they are engaged under the same editorial terms as all other bbc staff who produce our trusted international news, and the harassment and collective punishment, if you like, of theirfamilies inside iran is a really big and significant and worrying step, and it's one that we are urging publicly the iranian authorities to reverse as soon as possible. now, we are in a situation with rapidly escalating things going on in the middle east over the nuclear deal and with israel. how is the bbc going to be able to report this all saf

now i want to focus on iran, that's where our own colleagues at bbc persian service have endured threatslaint with the un human rights commission, to stop a systematic campaign to silence journalists. earlier, journalist majid afshar told me about some of the persecution staff from the bbc persian service have been subjected to. it all started with the beginning of the tv, when we launched the tv. we've probably got millions of viewers in iran, they are worried about this and the threats began at that time. to say a little bit about it, i will say one of our colleagues, her sister was arrested and kept in solitary confinement for 17 days. she was asked to either stop working for bbc persian or spy on her colleagues. in another case, an elderly mother of one of our colleagues was taken in and she was told that her son might be killed in an in an accident in london. they have all our addresses, they've got our e—mails, we keep receiving threatening e—mails, about a few months ago i guess one of our presenters receive an e—mail about, they said we know where your son is going to school and

as iran hits the headlines, we find out why bbc persian journalists have been targeted by the authorities and complicated picture of electoral support but the verdict from bbc news seemed pretty clear. a disappointing night for labour in the local elections in england as the party makes limited gains and doesn't win some of its key councils. jeremy corbyn‘s party took plymouth from the conservatives but failed to win any of its target councils in london and lost nuneaton and bedworth. the conservatives celebrated london as the party held —— the conservatives celebrate in london as the party held onto their flagship boroughs but lose trafford, their only council in greater manchester. theresa may said overall, it was a good night. it's hard to detect trends in local elections because not all seats are up for grabs and gains and losses have to be weighed against the last time they were contested and the state of the parties then. success or failure also relate, of course, to expectations, but did bbc news raise or at least amplify expectations for the labour party, and then judge their perf

as iran hits the headlines, we find out why bbc persian journalists have been targeted by the authoritiesincident between russia and... and how hoaxes are hijacking bbc branding, to circulate fake news online. first, the local elections in england last week provided an incomplete and complicated picture of electoral support, but the verdict from bbc news seemed pretty clear. a disappointing night for labour in the local elections in england, as the party makes limited gains and doesn't win some of its key councils. jeremy corbyn‘s party took plymouth from the conservatives, but failed to win any of its target councils in london, and lost nuneaton and bedworth. the conservatives celebrated london as the party held onto their flagship boroughs, but lose trafford, their only council in greater manchester. theresa may said overall it was a good night. it's hard to detect trends in local elections, because not all seats are up for grabs, and gains and losses have to be weighed against the last time they were contested, and the state of the parties then. success or failure also relate of course

as iran hits the headlines, we find out why bbc persian journalists have been targeted by the authorities the verdict from bbc news seemed pretty clear. a disappointing night for labour in the local elections in england, as the party makes limited gains and doesn‘t win some of its key councils. jeremy corbyn‘s party took plymouth from the conservatives, but failed to win any of its target councils in london, and lost nuneaton and bedworth. the conservatives celebrated london as the party held onto their flagship boroughs, but lose trafford, their only council in greater manchester. theresa may said overall it was a good night. it‘s hard to detect trends in local elections, because not all seats are up for grabs, and gains and losses have to be