Merlin Thomas

There is a near total internet blackout with national connectivity at about 4%. And NetBlocks, this international watchdog of internet connectivity, has basically published this graph showing a steep fall in the internet connectivity in Iran. And this isn't the first time we've seen this. It was just in January, just a few weeks ago, that we saw a near total internet blackout during the nationwide protests. And that remained in place for weeks. And it meant that

It made it really difficult to get any information out of Iran. So it meant that any videos, information, messages that were being sent were being sent through other methods, such as SpaceX's Starlink, that's a satellite internet method that people are using, or VPN. So those are virtual private networks. And it's likely that those who have access to those methods will try to use them again later.

Merlin, mitä tarkoitatte?

It's not clear yet. Obviously the first time this happened earlier on this year, it seemed to be a government-imposed internet blackout. It's still unclear whether the same thing has been done in this case. We've had no reports as of yet that their connectivity issues are due to strikes, but that could very well be the case, but it also could be government-imposed, so we're still waiting to see. As I said, it still makes it very difficult to actually find out the causes of that.

I was sent a secret folder of hundreds of photos from this mortuary in South Tehran. And these are victims of people who were killed during the Iranian government's crackdown on protesters. Now, we've blurred these images to show viewers and audiences, but they show really close-up bloodied, bruised, swollen faces.

of dead men and women. These are people who were killed in the crackdown. Now these pictures were used as a way for families to try and identify their loved ones. And we were told that families were huddled around a screen in a mortuary.

Essentially watching a slideshow of dead bodies for hours. We've combed through these images and we've identified at least 326 victims, including 18 women. We were told that victims were so disfigured at times that even their loved ones couldn't identify them. We were also told there were victims there as young as 12 or 13. We've separately corroborated that by viewing a different video, which we've also verified, in which we see –

Absolutely. The internet blackout has been almost total for nearly two weeks now. And there have been dribs and drabs of information kind of coming out in pockets. And this is one of those pockets of information that have come out. But it shows just how desperate people are to get this sort of information out into the world to show people what is happening to protesters inside Iran, but also what's happening to the families left behind. And they're going to

And what about a response from the Iranian state? Have you heard anything from them?

Iranilaiset ovat otaneet ulkopuolelle suurimmat protesteit, joita maailma on nähnyt vuonna 2022. Protesteijat olivat edessä poliisivuotekannossa, eivätkä he pidä muuttaa. Toiset kutsuivat työtä diktatoreille ja laitettiin valoja.

Anger initially broke out in the capital Tehran on 28 December, after the value of the country's currency sharply dropped. In the latest protests, police and security forces seemed more restrained at first. But that changed this week. Verified footage shows a demonstration taking place outside a hospital. People stand chanting. Then security forces open fire.

Verified funeral videos and interviews with family members and friends, BBC Persian has confirmed the identities of at least 15 people reported dead since the 28th of December. Human rights group's HRANA says at least 35 people have been killed. This violent crackdown by the authorities coincided with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's first public reaction to the unrest, when he said that rioters must be put down.

Iranin regiimi on jo käsittelemässä alueellista huolimatta ja järjestyneellä ekonomialla. Nyt se pitäisi käsitellä isoimmista protesteista vuonna 2022.

There are several states which have issued a tornado watch from the National Weather Service, including Georgia, Florida and even Pennsylvania. That's for Sunday. And it's really a deadly mix of violent tornadoes, high winds, large hail and blinding dust storms, which have created this concoction between of this large weather system moving across large parts of the United States.

There are several states which have issued a tornado watch from the National Weather Service, including Georgia, Florida and even Pennsylvania. That's for Sunday. And it's really a deadly mix of violent tornadoes, high winds, large hail and blinding dust storms, which have created this concoction between of this large weather system moving across large parts of the United States.

And as you said, the death toll is still climbing and responders and local authorities are still assessing the damage from the number of the tornadoes that have hit. And it appears that Missouri has borne the brunt of the storm that has suffered most of the fatalities. But other states like Kansas have also seen dust storms because of those high winds and dry, parched ground.

And as you said, the death toll is still climbing and responders and local authorities are still assessing the damage from the number of the tornadoes that have hit. And it appears that Missouri has borne the brunt of the storm that has suffered most of the fatalities. But other states like Kansas have also seen dust storms because of those high winds and dry, parched ground.

And also we've seen car pileups of at least 50 vehicles, as you said, in states like Kansas, which have also caused some fatalities too.

And also we've seen car pileups of at least 50 vehicles, as you said, in states like Kansas, which have also caused some fatalities too.

Absolutely. Those kind of scenes of apocalyptic scenes, really very reminiscent of what we saw in Los Angeles of those wildfires. We've seen videos circulating online of houses being consumed by flames and the remains of houses you can see in kind of drone footage are just charred land and homes which have barely been spared and now little more than rubble.