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00:00Our coverage begins with the news we're getting from inside of Iran.
00:04We turn to Irshad Alijani, who's with the France 24 Observers,
00:09our citizen journalist and fact-checking website.
00:13Irshad, you've managed this Tuesday to get through to Iran.
00:18Yeah, we could contact. It's very rare.
00:21The connections are scarce, and we can have people who have access to Starlink,
00:31which is an expensive kind of internet connection for the Iranians.
00:36And we know that a jam is in place also by the Iranian regime
00:40and try to even jam the Starlink connections.
00:45However, we could watch and verify in the last couple of hours
00:51some videos.
00:54Some that are too graphic to show here.
00:56Yeah, too graphic to show here that strongly suggest summary executions
01:03are taking place or have taken place in Iran.
01:06These videos, multiple protesters are seen lying on the ground
01:10with gunshot wounds on the temple, to the temple.
01:15Based on the visible cause of this, the blood patterns around the bodies
01:21and the position in which the bodies, they were left,
01:25our analysis indicates that they were likely killed in a summary execution.
01:31We have also spoken to an eyewitness whose identity cannot be disclosed
01:36for the security reason, obviously.
01:38Due to the source professional background,
01:42this source is able to identify the causes of death.
01:48This source told us that my sister was killed in the same manner
01:55by a shot to the temple.
01:58Just to be clear, this is without any kind of trial or anything.
02:02This is an extrajudicial summary execution.
02:05Exactly.
02:05In the videos, if I want to describe a little bit,
02:09there are the bodies lying on the ground.
02:11We can see the blood around their heads
02:14and the visible shotgun wounds into their temple.
02:20And our source, or in this source that managed to identify her sister in a morgue,
02:32this source says that the family had to examine more than 400 bodies
02:39in a single morgue in Tehran to finally locate her remains.
02:46The source says that many of the bodies that they have to see to identify the sister.
02:52Did they specify when this happened?
02:55It was, the identification happened yesterday,
03:00but they don't know exactly when this summary executions taken place
03:05because they had no information of the sister for a couple of hours.
03:15What we know that they had to go over 400 bodies lying on the ground
03:21in a single morgue in Tehran to finally find the body of the source,
03:27our source's sister body.
03:29And this source indicates that lots of these bodies had gunshot wounds to the head.
03:40All right.
03:40Joining us from London is Alp Toker,
03:44director of the monitoring group Netblocks.
03:47Thank you for being with us here on France 24.
03:49You heard Ershad there saying that in parts we're now better able to get through to Iran.
04:03Ershad, you were describing in some instances that it was talking on landlines,
04:08but of course that comes with risks, those calls easier to monitor.
04:12What have you found this Tuesday, Alp Toker?
04:15Right, so we've been tracking the internet shutdown since early on in the protests,
04:21and we're now around the 120-hour mark, and the incident is ongoing.
04:26We did see a slight improvement in the overall communication situation,
04:30simply because some landline calls can now make it out of the country,
04:35but that doesn't mean that the internet situation has changed,
04:38and the shutdown is now ongoing into its sixth day.
04:42So the situation remains very severe.
04:46Remains very severe.
04:48Is it also, according to analysis, quite sophisticated compared to what we've seen in the past,
04:54even more sophisticated than in 2022?
04:58Well, right.
04:59In a sense, it is more sophisticated insofar as it's harder to work around.
05:04In previous incidents, there was a possibility of using a VPN or a tunnel
05:07and basically hopping through the network until you reach the outside world.
05:12This time, the restriction is far more extensive.
05:16So you're looking at almost a complete removal of that connectivity,
05:20which means that you can't really use the existing lines to communicate to the outside.
05:25So you're really left with no option but to use alternative mechanisms, if available at all.
05:31You talk about the concept of a kill switch.
05:34Can you explain how Iran is using that?
05:40Well, a kill switch is something that has been used in a figurative sense for internet shutdowns and disruptions by governments.
05:46But I think that when we're looking at the situation in Iran now,
05:49what we're seeing has truly become a kill switch scenario because authorities have refined their approach to internet shutdowns.
05:57In this case, we saw a very rapid ability to shut off all networks within the country on the 8th of January.
06:05So this is a centralized mechanism designed to limit and control all access to internet connectivity within a country.
06:14You heard Irshad talking about Starlink.
06:17It's a satellite service.
06:20So it's possible to jam it like any satellite service?
06:25Right. So Starlink has been useful and people do have these terminals when they've been able to get hold of them.
06:32But Starlink can be jammed like most satellite systems.
06:36In fact, what is being seen here is quite similar to what's been tracked in Ukraine,
06:41when Russia started jamming Ukrainian Starlink terminals to prevent their use on the front line.
06:49And it appears very much that a similar system, if not identical system, may be in use now,
06:55and it possibly even carried over from Russia to Iran.
06:58And that means that it's much more difficult to use these terminals, but they do still work.
07:03And that means that they do provide a trickle of vital information about what's happening.
07:08Irshad Al-Ajani, there's what the authorities are actually actively doing to shut down the internet.
07:15And then there's statements they put out.
07:1824 hours ago, you were saying, wondering aloud, how do, for instance, the equivalent of Uber drivers work if the entire internet is shut down?
07:28You're saying they're able to work but not use chats?
07:31Is that it?
07:32Yeah, we have a little bit of update.
07:34Since this morning, the authorities have restored a very limited and honest-based form of internal internet connection in Iran.
07:46That means people can access only the Iranian-based websites or applications with no connection to the outside world.
07:55For many years, Iran's regime spent millions of dollars to develop Iranian version of WhatsApp and Telegram designed to operate in this situation,
08:09but under control of the security system, security services of Iran.
08:16Yet even these domestic platforms who are under control and surveillance of the security system are not available.
08:24Even further that, our sources also confirm that the Iranian websites have been ordered to disable any chats or comment functions on their apps or on their websites.
08:39If a site or application allows users to communicate or even left a comment, they have been ordered to shut down that function.
08:51For example, in this website, it's the Iranian equivalent of Amazon.
08:55Its name is Digikala.
08:57And they say due to the security orders, we have disabled chat function.
09:03This is a sports website, as you see in the images.
09:06And they say that due to security orders, we have disabled commenting functions.
09:12So the Iranian regime appeared deeply fearful of any kind of communication between the Iranians and with the outside world that they even cut the commenting and messaging apps,
09:27sorry, messaging app function inside the other apps.
09:31So Alptoker, what do you do if you're a grassroots activist, you're trying to organize a protest movement with everything that's just been described?
09:42How do you go about it?
09:43Carrier pigeon, walkie-talkie?
09:45What's the way to do it?
09:48So it's a very challenging environment.
09:50And you also have to be aware about safety, because some of these approaches can get you in the crosshairs in terms of being a target.
09:58But satellites, for example, can be triangulated.
10:01And if you use a tunnel, there's a risk that that can be tracked online as well, even if you're on the national Internet that we're just talking about there.
10:09So part of the approach is to have a good online, offline strategy, which is basically sneakernet, being able to carry around and document incidents that might have happened through traditional means, USB sticks.
10:22If you need to do that, especially if you're a journalist and you do that safely, but also to have your own digital preparedness toolkits.
10:30If you need a VPN for times when there's a partial disruption, then have that prepared.
10:35And if you are ready to take that risk with that satellite terminal, then make sure you keep it somewhere safe and know how to use it when you need it.
10:43Ershad Alajani.
10:44Yeah, I have a question for you.
10:47And this question comes from Iran.
10:49It's not my question.
10:51And people are afraid in Iran and they want to know for how long economically and logistically it is possible for the Iranian regime to continue this Internet blackout.
11:04Is it possible that they continue, I don't know, forever or for months, for a year?
11:12That's that's I think one of the main concerns of Iranians now inside Iran.
11:16Alptoker.
11:18Right.
11:19So we have a basic assessment of what the economic impact may be so far, and it's on the order of several hundred million euros.
11:28So this is a significant economic impact, but it's not a death blow in itself.
11:33Technically speaking, the regime does have the capability to implement an extended Internet shutdown.
11:39It's something we've seen before.
11:402019, when we had the multi-week shutdown, it had a one-week core and then continued for several more days in various regions and as partial filtering,
11:51which means that there is a real prospect of a continued disruption.
11:57There is also the possibility that authorities might choose to bring in perhaps a curfew style pattern,
12:03which would allow businesses and business activities to operate to a degree during the day and then service would be cut back in the evenings.
12:12And there has been some precedent for that, again, in the provinces, but it's not something we've seen at national scale.
12:18So it's something to look out for as a middle ground that the government may attempt.
12:23Quick final question for you, Alptoker.
12:25Is this the longest you've seen such a shutdown when you think to other places that have seen big Internet shutdowns?
12:32I know places like Kashmir, they slowed the Internet for more than a year.
12:37But this kind of drastic shutdown?
12:38Yeah, I mean, this one is pretty bad when you're looking at national scale Internet shutdowns around the world.
12:46Iran has actually holds its own record in terms of being a multi-week shutdown in 2019.
12:53But if we set aside some of the regional ones, like, say, Kashmir or Myanmar, and we look at the national incidents,
13:01then you've really got Sudan, which stands out as basically only a month of total or near total Internet shutdown.
13:10And I think that Sudan also carries some similarity to the situation in Iran,
13:17just in terms of the fact that that shutdown was used to mask violence, atrocities against civilians who were protesting for basic freedoms.
13:27So that's the real concern here, is that as the duration of that Internet shutdown, that telecom shutdown continues,
13:34more and more lives are lost in that digital darkness.
13:37Alp Toker, so many thanks for joining us from London.
13:42Well, for more, let's go to Washington and correspondent Fraser Jackson.
13:46Fraser, you've just heard our guests there describe the pitfalls of protesting, of braving bullets, of even trying to get the message out.
13:55It's risky to be out in the streets right now.
13:58And yet, cheerleading, you might say, for more protests was the president of the United States a while earlier.
14:07Yeah, Donald Trump, of course, since these protests began, said that if protesters are killed, then he would intervene.
14:16And the reports of casualties now and protesters killed are really spiraling.
14:22We've heard reports of hundreds of people into the thousands now.
14:27One source even telling CBS News that it could be as high as 20,000.
14:31So reports at the moment varying drastically.
14:34But Donald Trump seemingly carrying through with his word.
14:37We know that he is going to be briefed by his National Security Council team on Tuesday about the options at his disposal.
14:44And the president tweeted on his true social platform earlier in the day his support for Iran's protesters, saying,
14:52Iranian patriots keep protesting, take over your institutions, save the names of the killers and abusers, they will pay a big price.
15:02I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian officials until the senseless killing of protesters stops.
15:07Help is on its way. Make Iran great again.
15:10Now, of course, that's referencing an outreach effort from the Iranian regime that took place on Saturday to the U.S. establishment.
15:19Donald Trump said that he was going to be looking into setting up a meeting with the Iranians when we heard from him on Sunday.
15:26But two days later, it seems that that effort has now fallen flat.
15:30And Donald Trump is seemingly ready to go ahead with some form of strike on the Iranians,
15:35although it could take another couple of days before that comes to fruition.
15:39We're getting a word that Qatar's prime minister has been on the phone with Iranian authorities trying to keep the back channel discussions going.
15:47What does Donald Trump mean when he says help is on the way?
15:53Well, there's a whole kind of suite of options that are at Donald Trump's fingertips, really.
15:58The main one really, of course, is military strikes, which could target military installations, government buildings,
16:05anything that he thinks will help bolster the Iranian protesters' efforts in terms of stopping the Iranian officials
16:13from being able to carry out intelligence gathering or their crackdowns.
16:17But, of course, there's also economic levers at his fingertips as well.
16:22We've already seen that he's going to slap a 25 percent tariff on any country that is doing business with Iran.
16:28That notably is going to massively impact China.
16:32There's also a cyber option that he could take.
16:34Numerous cyber options.
16:35Think back to 2010 and that Stuxnet virus, which targeted the Netan's nuclear facility
16:42and caused their nuclear centrifuges to tear itself apart.
16:46That was a covert action that was taken against the Iranian regime.
16:50So there are a suite of options available there.
16:52And then, of course, as we've heard, he could also help try to get the Internet back on in Iran.
16:58He said he was going to be talking to Elon Musk and to use his Starlink network.
17:03But, of course, they have been prone to jamming, as we've also just heard.
17:07I think it's worth pointing out, Francois, that we heard recently from Senator Lindsey Graham and Iran Hawken,
17:13somebody who was with the president over the weekend in Mar-a-Lago when he gave those remarks about Iran
17:18and was cheerleading the president.
17:20In a long post on Twitter, Lindsey Graham said,
17:23a massive wave of military, cyber and psychological attacks is the meat and bones of help is on the way.
17:30So a bit of an insight there from Lindsey Graham as to what the U.S.'s plan could be going forward.
17:35Fraser Jackson reporting live there from Washington.
17:38Many thanks for that update.
17:40I want to thank as well Ershad Alijani.
17:42There's more on what you found on The Observers, the France 24's website.
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