Google Cloud Speech-to-Text API (Chirp) + Gemini 2.5 Flash Non-Thinking. Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.
00:00:32My aunt and my family were almost daily, from this
00:00:35court to that court, from this hospital to that hospital, from forensic
00:00:39medicine, for several days behind the door of Dolatabad Prison,
00:00:43they were there. BBC Persian's exclusive report
00:00:46on the ambiguous case of Isfahan's Martyrs' Square,
00:00:50on the International Day Against the Death Penalty, the noose
00:00:53is still around the necks of the January protesters.
00:00:56We will speak with a human rights activist and ask why
00:01:00the process of dealing with the judicial cases of those arrested during the protests
00:01:10concessions to the Kremlin. Zelensky says that lifting
00:01:14sanctions on the sale of Russian diesel will prolong the war.
00:01:17Trump says Ukraine needs new leadership for peace.
00:01:21دارد.
00:01:23An Ukrainian MP is our guest to discuss the implications of
00:01:27the US President's decision for Kyiv.
00:01:31Iranians' reaction to the speech of the US Secretary of State
00:01:35in Greece: Can the resistance of the Athenians against
00:01:39Xerxes' army be a modern parable?
00:01:42Iranians looted temples,
00:01:45burned shrines, and razed the Acropolis
00:01:49to the ground.
00:01:49کردند.
00:01:55And despite the escalation of Saudi airstrikes and the expansion of conflict
00:01:58around the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, Yemen's Houthis once
00:02:02again targeted Riyadh's international airport.
00:02:24crises. From the uncertainty of an unfinished
00:02:27war with the US to being caught
00:02:30in the vise of economic pressures. Amidst this, every week
00:02:34news of death sentences or executions
00:02:37is published, mostly related to the January 2024 protests.
00:02:40Protests that were severely
00:02:44suppressed and left thousands dead. In one of these
00:02:47cases, known as the Isfahan Martyrs' Square, 16 people were accused.
00:02:5110 of them were sentenced to death in the primary
00:02:55court. This case is related to the killing of a
00:02:58member of the Revolutionary Guards and a
00:03:02In the past year, Iran has witnessed executions that are unprecedented in nearly
00:03:05half a century. Why is the government
00:03:09acting this way in a wartime situation and under crushing
00:03:22the Death Penalty. Tell us more about your research.
00:03:25You see, Jamal, this case is a very
00:03:29complex case full of many ambiguities and question marks.
00:03:33Both for public
00:03:36opinion and for the families whose loved
00:03:40ones are in prison. As you said, 16
00:03:43people are accused in this case, and 10
00:03:47people have been sentenced to death,
00:03:50including a very young girl.
00:03:54Another thing about this case is that there are two sisters,
00:03:57داره اینه که دو تا خواهرن که
00:04:07Taraneh was sentenced to death, and Romina to
00:04:1026 years in prison. Then
00:04:13there are three brothers: Milad, Ali, Mehrdad Boyeri.
00:04:17Mehrdad was sentenced to death, and the other two brothers
00:04:21to long prison terms.
00:04:25There's also another young girl named Setayesh Saedi, who I think
00:04:28is 18, or at most 19 years old, in this case.
00:04:32We're talking about children who are very young.
00:04:36Most of them were born in
00:04:39'84, '85, '86, meaning
00:04:43they could be our children, and such
00:04:46heavy, hasty, and ambiguous sentences
00:04:50in a situation where as soon as they were able to come
00:04:54to court, they said that they were forced to confess under torture.
00:04:57A little.
00:05:00The concern about this actually fuels the question of what
00:05:13maintain your unity. Isfahan, the January 2024
00:05:16protests were one of the bloodiest
00:05:20protests in Iran. Thousands were killed and injured,
00:05:24thousands were arrested, dozens were
00:05:28executed, and many more face death sentences.
00:05:31The case of Isfahan Martyrs' Square
00:05:34is one of the judicial cases of these
00:05:37protests. BBC Persian, by reviewing
00:05:40documents from this case and interviewing several informed
00:05:44sources, found that 16 people in this case face charges
00:05:48including "Moharebeh" (enmity against God), complicity in "Moharebeh",
00:05:51destruction of public property amounting to "Moharebeh", assembly
00:05:55and collusion, and propaganda against the system.
00:05:58The Isfahan court has issued death sentences for 10 of these
00:06:02individuals and has given heavy prison sentences to the rest.
00:06:05For Taraneh Rahimi, Navid Elyasi,
00:06:09Abolfazl Dadgostardani,
00:06:11Mehdi Mansouri Hassanabadi, Ahmad Reza Saeedi, Mehrdad
00:06:15Boyeri, Mohammad Mahdi Asadi, Armin
00:06:19Gholami, Parsa Jafari, Mehdi Jafari, death sentences
00:06:23have been issued, and Hamed Mehr Alian, Ali, and
00:06:26Milad Boyeri, Setayesh Saedi, Sajjad Abedi, and
00:06:30Romina Rahimi have also received heavy prison sentences.
00:06:33Most of them were born in the 80s,
00:06:37and these young men and women were all arrested in February
00:06:40in their homes.
00:06:43One of the most important ambiguities of the case revolves around the killing
00:06:47of two people: Abbas Kamrani, a security officer, and
00:06:50another person, referred to without name as a homeless person.
00:06:54The accused were mostly employees of shoe
00:06:57stores in Isfahan's Martyrs' Square, and some of them
00:07:01had not even seen or known each other before.
00:07:04There are many questions and ambiguities in this case. BBC
00:07:08interviews with informed individuals and sources close to the families
00:07:12indicate that these sentences were based on forced confessions.
00:07:16Taraneh and Romina Rahimi are 20-year-old
00:07:19twin sisters, and Taraneh faces a death
00:07:23sentence. We didn't know where the children were for the first few months. They kidnapped the children
00:07:27that night. They kidnapped them from their home without any warrant,
00:07:31without having any warrant. My aunt and my family
00:07:34almost daily, from this court to that
00:07:37court, from this hospital to that hospital, from forensic
00:07:39medicine, for several days were behind the door
00:07:43of Dolatabad Prison, and no one answered them. No one answered.
00:07:47The question was, are my children here or not? No one answered.
00:07:50They even protested behind Dolatabad Prison
00:07:54and got no answer. Those days were very painful
00:07:58until my aunt's family
00:08:01was able to go see the children, and that was also
00:08:04painful. She couldn't believe the physical and mental state of the children
00:08:08she had seen. She hadn't recognized them. She didn't know.
00:08:12She didn't realize they were her children until they spoke, or until my aunt
00:08:16wrote a heartfelt message saying that these children are all
00:08:20I have in my life. All my efforts in life have been
00:08:24for these children. I don't want to see one of them on the gallows and
00:08:27the other 25 years behind prison bars. It's very painful.
00:08:31Mehrdad, Ali, and Milad
00:08:34Boyeri are three brothers, among the other defendants
00:08:37in the case. The family had no news of the children for 90
00:08:40days. They constantly went to Dolatabad prison. They told us the children are
00:08:44there and no one can touch them. Mehrdad was in solitary confinement
00:08:48for about 50 days, and Ali and Milad for about 30 days. They forcibly
00:08:52tried to pin the murder of an officer on them, but none of them
00:08:56accepted. On the fiftieth day, they showed Mehrdad two videos and said he had
00:08:59to choose: either say he was the one who killed the officer, or the one who
00:09:03damaged the sign. Mehrdad, out of fear of choosing between bad and worse, said he tore
00:09:07down the sign, although he later told his family that he neither tore down the sign
00:09:11nor saw anyone killed there. They only had one photo of Milad, standing
00:09:14in front of the shop with his hand in his pocket. They told him his apprentice made Molotov
00:09:18cocktails and he was standing guard so he could throw them at the officers.
00:09:22Ali was also pressured by threatening
00:09:25his mother. When he said he didn't do anything, they told him, "Your case can't
00:09:29be empty." Finally, they forced him to write that he threw
00:09:32stones at the officers. One in the East Square and one in the Martyrs' Square.
00:09:36In the end, Mehrdad was sentenced to death and 11 years in prison
00:09:40for "Moharebeh" and destruction of public property. Milad
00:09:43to 36 years in prison, and Ali to about 17 years in prison.
00:09:47An informed source close to the case told us that
00:09:51the court process was completely unfair.
00:09:53When the children said in court that they were tortured,
00:09:56the judge, instead of investigating, threatened them and said, "They taught
00:10:00you these things." Even those who had court-appointed
00:10:04lawyers raised the issue of torture. The case is full of
00:10:07contradictions. The forensic doctor's letters have also been tampered with.
00:10:10In court, it was said that Ahmad Reza Saeedi has impulse control problems
00:10:14that affected his decision-making ability, but in the case file,
00:10:18it is written that he is completely healthy. The photos in the case file
00:10:21are also blurry, and the only evidence is the confessions, which are said
00:10:25to have been taken under torture, which is again full of
00:10:28contradictions. Lawyers complained to the IRGC intelligence
00:10:32about the torture allegations. In court, the judge accepted
00:10:35the children's confessions, but when one of them wanted to testify about
00:10:39what he saw or knew, he silenced
00:10:42him. Once Milad said, "I didn't do this." The judge said, "Do you have
00:10:45a witness?" And Abolfazl Dadgar said, "I am a witness." The judge started
00:10:49insulting Abolfazl. Or, for example, Ahmad Reza said
00:10:53he had been waiting all this
00:10:55time for the prosecutor to come so he could speak, and he hoped that in court, finally,
00:10:59someone would listen to him without beating him. The judge asked him, "Didn't
00:11:02you speak to the prosecutor?" He said, "No, I didn't say anything.
00:11:05The prosecutor came and shocked me in my testicles and neck." Then
00:11:09I realized it was this prosecutor who was torturing me.
00:11:13In the case file, it says Taraneh had a knife. Then, during
00:11:16the interrogation, they showed a knife to Taraneh, who, under forced confession,
00:11:20said, "Yes, this is my knife." In court, the knife they showed was completely
00:11:24different from...
00:11:46informed us that the families of these prisoners have been severely
00:11:49harassed and abused in these months, and have been repeatedly
00:11:53insulted. He spoke of the days and months the Boyeri family wandered
00:11:56to find news of their sons.
00:11:59Once, the mother of the boys sat for hours behind
00:12:03the interrogator's door, hoping to get an answer. As soon as the interrogator
00:12:07heard the names of the Boyeri brothers, he said, "I don't want to answer you." For a whole
00:12:10week, they went from 7 AM to 2 PM, hoping someone would give them an answer,
00:12:14and nothing. At the court, they were told, "You are bastards.
00:12:17Your children are also illegitimate." From February 4th
00:12:20to April 24th, this family had no news of their sons.
00:12:25They didn't even know if the children were alive or dead. The first
00:12:29time the family was able to see the children, they were shocked, so much so that
00:12:32all three of them had shrunk. They said they just stared
00:12:36at each other. They were all in a very bad state. Then they held a sham court
00:12:40on July 22nd, 23rd, and 24th. The children's defenses were not
00:12:44considered at all in that court. They were sentenced based on those
00:12:47forced confessions. No weapon was taken from any of them, nor are
00:12:51they related to the killing of the officer. A video of Mehrdad from 10 years ago
00:12:55was included in the case file, where he is dancing with a knife and cutting his cake,
00:12:59and they say the identity of this person was revealed through this case.
00:13:01If we look, with these
00:13:04drones, they are identifying the areas where demonstrations
00:13:08are taking place. The Isfahan Martyrs' Square case is an example
00:13:11of hundreds of cases where fair trial has been criticized.
00:13:15Trials lasting several hours, sometimes with less
00:13:18than 15 minutes for the accused to defend themselves, confessions
00:13:22that, according to reports, were obtained under duress,
00:13:26have been the basis for issuing heavy sentences and executions.
00:13:29According to Maysato, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights
00:13:33in Iran, even the defense lawyers in these cases
00:13:36have faced threats, intimidation, arrest, and disqualification
00:13:39from practicing law. When the right to defense and
00:13:43a fair trial is taken away from the accused,
00:13:47concern for the lives of those arrested is more
00:13:55you researched, we had more
00:13:58or less information about them. Information has been released, but
00:14:02often we know
00:14:05that incidents have occurred, but there is not much information
00:14:08about them, or obtaining information is very
00:14:11difficult. Jamal, you pointed out a very
00:14:14important and correct point. This very
00:14:17report, which contrary to our usual procedure, is a relatively
00:14:20long report, doesn't even show the tip
00:14:25of the iceberg regarding this case, which is a controversial
00:14:28case that has gained attention.
00:14:32In fact, we are dealing with families
00:14:36who have been wandering for months and don't even know if
00:14:39their loved ones are alive or dead,
00:14:43and they are looking everywhere for them, while at
00:14:46the same time, these children are in prison and being tortured
00:14:50to extract confessions from them. On the other
00:14:54hand, families are constantly under
00:14:57pressure and under threat, as Maysato said,
00:15:00and our own research shows that
00:15:04they become tools of pressure on the prisoner
00:15:07and are tortured to extract confessions. And these
00:15:10are families who don't even dare to speak.
00:15:14In addition, we are talking about
00:15:18very ordinary people who are not political activists and do not
00:15:22have the means and tools and don't know where
00:15:25to go or what lawyer to look for. Right
00:15:28here, I say that if they ever want
00:15:32to, the BBC's channels are open, and we are here if anyone wants
00:15:36to report
00:15:38their story and what is happening. On the other
00:15:42hand, we are dealing with lawyers who are constantly
00:15:44threatened. Their law licenses are revoked.
00:15:48They themselves are constantly going to court under heavy
00:15:52sentences so that they do not release information and do not accept these cases at all.
00:15:55And there are many such cases
00:15:59where even the prisoner and the accused did not
00:16:03have access to a court-appointed lawyer. That is,
00:16:06a set of events that all
00:16:10the time make these cases more distorted, and
00:16:13accurate and correct information does not come out. And on the other
00:16:17hand, as you said, in two nights
00:16:20thousands of people were killed, according to the Islamic Republic itself
00:16:24and its officials, over 3,000 people. And now we have statistics
00:16:27that show much higher numbers, and it seems that from the very
00:16:31first moment, the order was for the protesters to be killed.
00:16:35Now, the exact same thing is happening in the courts,
00:16:38only very hastily,
00:16:42without actually
00:16:44explaining clearly and transparently, death sentences are issued.
00:16:48On the other hand, when thousands of citizens have been killed
00:16:51and there has been no trial for the perpetrators
00:16:55and commanders of the widespread killing
00:16:58of protesters, not a single trial has been held. We
00:17:02see that, for example, in this very case, it is said that
00:17:05an officer named Abbas Amrani and another person who was
00:17:09homeless, even the name of that homeless person is not mentioned in this case.
00:17:12In any case, we are talking about human lives,
00:17:16and that homeless person should also have a name, and we should know what
00:17:20kind of person we are talking about. I want to say that it is very
00:17:23difficult to report and
00:17:27get to the truth and reality of what is happening
00:17:30in Iranian prisons, what is happening in Iranian courts. We just,
00:17:34as you said, sometimes wake up in the morning. A name comes
00:17:38up that someone was executed, and there isn't even a photo
00:17:42of the person who was executed, let alone more information
00:17:53of Iran Human Rights organization, is with us from Oslo, the capital of Norway.
00:17:57Mr. Amiry-Moghaddam, when a human's life is at stake, thorough
00:18:00investigations should be conducted. It seems
00:18:04that in cases related to our protests, there is a lot of haste.
00:18:07Necessary precautions are not taken. Why should this be
00:18:11the case?
00:18:2019 years that
00:18:24we have been following death penalty cases and executions
00:18:27daily, as mentioned in the report,
00:18:31unfortunately,
00:18:34these cases that were mentioned are cases.
00:18:47This is the case. You see, we do not have an independent judiciary
00:18:51in the Islamic Republic. The goal of the judiciary
00:18:54is not to administer justice, but rather
00:18:57to preserve the system. The expediency of the system
00:19:01has the highest priority, and
00:19:04currently, after
00:19:07the January protests, the Islamic Republic is going through
00:19:11one of the biggest crises of its existence.
00:19:15It doesn't know what will happen the next time there is a protest,
00:19:19and based on the experience it has gained in these 47
00:19:22years, it knows that
00:19:26intimidating people,
00:19:28in fact, instilling a sense of helplessness in people
00:19:32through execution, through these forced
00:19:35confessions.
00:19:49These are not courts; they are a continuation of the same
00:19:53organs of repression. We have heard this many times from many people in the past
00:19:5619 years, that it seems that when an accused
00:19:59is taken to the Revolutionary Court,
00:20:02the decision has already
00:20:06been made. That is,
00:20:37This method will not work at all, but the
00:20:41problem is that it seems
00:20:44that those who have this philosophy and pursue this
00:20:48policy do not
00:20:51think long-term, but rather are buying
00:20:54time. It is true that no system can continue solely
00:20:57based on intimidation, but at present,
00:21:01it seems that the Islamic Republic actually has
00:21:05nothing else to offer to the people. When
00:21:08thousands or perhaps hundreds of thousands
00:21:12of people come to the streets, instead
00:21:15of even responding to one percent of their
00:21:18demands, the government's
00:21:21response in the streets is with violence
00:21:25and killing, and after that, to prevent protests,
00:21:29it issues
00:21:32death sentences. This is not the first time, but we
00:21:36have a very fundamental crisis. Even
00:21:39if they want to change their policy, we
00:21:42have a system, in fact, a crisis of due
00:21:46process, a crisis of the judicial system in the Islamic Republic, which, well,
00:21:52meaning
00:21:55a judiciary that is independent,
00:21:59that judges, instead
00:22:02of reporting to political leaders, should report to the
00:22:06people, should think about justice, should
00:22:09be able to, as mentioned in the program, see,
00:22:13they should be able to hold government agencies
00:22:16accountable. This is the job of the judicial system, but on the contrary.
00:22:20Here, the only thing they do is
00:22:24they want to teach a lesson to the young people of Iran who went to
00:22:27the streets, and in this case that you mentioned, see
00:22:31they arrested these people, some of them might have been
00:22:35there, some of them worked there, but it doesn't
00:22:38matter who they are. They are usually
00:22:42people who are usually from the weaker segments
00:22:45of society. These people must teach
00:22:48the people a lesson. Most of the executions that have happened
00:23:03President has said that Ukraine needs a new president to end
00:23:06the war with Russia. He accused Volodymyr Zelensky
00:23:10of deliberately fueling the continuation of the war
00:23:14and ignoring US requests to stop attacks on Russian refineries
00:23:17and oil facilities. Earlier, Mr. Zelensky
00:23:21described the US decision to suspend part of the sanctions on Russian
00:23:25diesel exports as a weak gift to Vladimir Putin.
00:23:28Ukraine's European allies also supported Mr. Zelensky's position.
00:23:32Donald Trump, defending his decision, said: This agreement
00:23:36helps reduce diesel prices, which have significantly
00:23:39increased since the start of the war with Iran. Siavash Ardalan reports.
00:23:43The US midterm elections
00:23:47are approaching. Gas prices, which were profitable.
00:24:21Russia is to be partially exempted from US sanctions so
00:24:24it can sell some of its diesel, precisely at a time when
00:24:28a US Congressional delegation is in Ukraine
00:24:32to assure its government not to doubt US
00:24:35support.
00:24:39We hope our visit signifies our strong support in the Senate and
00:24:42House of Representatives for Ukraine. Voices that were choked
00:24:46by the announcement of buying diesel from Russia.
00:25:28war with Iran and the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz and the victory of his party
00:25:32in the elections, he is willing to go to great lengths, whether
00:25:35it's an agreement with Europe to release some of its diesel
00:25:38reserves, or a promise to give $5,000 to American
00:25:42voters, or this promise that before
00:25:46the elections, there will be no conflict with Iran. But.
00:25:59Just last week, new sanctions against Russia.
00:26:14These are the results of today's Russian attack on
00:26:17Ukraine. The Russian war machine has not stopped.
00:26:21The Ukrainian government is distressed and worried. The US Congress
00:26:24is stunned. The Strait of Hormuz remains
00:26:27insecure. And American voters are eagerly awaiting
00:26:31a drop in diesel prices. Analysts said that the amount
00:26:35of diesel Russia is supposed to sell
00:26:37to the rest of the world is so small that it does not exceed
00:26:41a few days of domestic diesel consumption in the US.
00:26:44Perhaps the agreement between the US and Russia will ultimately
00:26:47turn out to be an agreement that not only does not reduce
00:26:51diesel prices but also carries a heavy political cost
00:26:55for Donald Trump and the Republican Party.
00:27:32And after Iran, which still hasn't reached its goal
00:27:36in the field of Iran, he thinks that by removing
00:27:40leaders, by eliminating leaders, he can
00:27:43implement the policy he wants
00:27:46towards that specific country. In
00:27:50Ukraine, too, we now hear that after
00:27:53the announcement of the agreement with Russia and
00:27:56the dissatisfaction and criticism that is strongly seen in Europe
00:28:00and among Democrats, as well as in a part of Republicans,
00:28:04he has turned this criticism
00:28:06into the main issue,
00:28:10which is Ukraine's leadership, and not in America.
00:28:13And on the other hand,
00:28:17as I listened to Mr. Trump's remarks today, it seemed
00:28:20to me that he was saying
00:28:24that the diesel issue in Iran is due to Ukraine's
00:28:27attacks on Russian refineries, and
00:28:31America, whatever
00:28:33attack you want to do, do it, but don't harm
00:28:37Russian refineries. But Mr. Zelensky, according
00:28:40to Mr. Trump, did not listen to these words and caused
00:28:43American farmers to be harmed by the rising
00:28:47price of diesel. That is, the case of the Iran war
00:28:51and its impact on the fuel and
00:28:54energy market and diesel in America, which has led
00:28:58to strong voter dissatisfaction, he is putting
00:29:01aside and blaming all the blame on Ukraine
00:29:05so that he can use it in his election campaigns.
00:29:09Well, Republicans were not very happy about the high price
00:29:13of diesel. After all, it's not in their favor on the eve
00:29:16of the midterm elections. But now it seems
00:29:20that they are also not happy with Mr. Trump's new
00:29:22stance. There is a lot of pressure
00:29:26on Mr. Trump from Republicans, especially
00:29:29in states where agriculture.
00:29:55Many economists say this will be detrimental to the country's
00:29:59and global economy. And now he has gone to.
00:30:06But the reaction we see from serious
00:30:09Republican figures, such as even the senator
00:30:12from Nebraska, is that this response, meaning the agreement
00:30:16with Russia, is the wrong response to the diesel problem in the US,
00:30:19and Mr. Trump, if he wants
00:30:22to solve the fuel problem with Russia,
00:30:25it should be after the end of the war in Ukraine,
00:30:28and should not strengthen
00:30:32Russia's war machine
00:30:34with this action. This is the position
00:30:46Ukrainian MP and Chairman of the Committee on Migration
00:30:49and Refugees in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe,
00:30:52is with us from Ukraine. Welcome to the program, Mr. Honcharenko. First,
00:30:56I wanted to ask you about
00:30:59Mr. Trump's comment that