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Peru’s president ousted in ‘express impeachment’ after just four months

Peru’s interim president has been forced out of office in an “express impeachment” after a political scandal over his secretive meetings with Chinese businessmen. Lawmakers voted by 75 votes to 24 to proceed with the impeachment of José Jerí, who had been at the helm for just four months. He had become embroiled in a scandal dubbed “Chifagate” after security-camera footage emerged showing him in clandestine meetings with Chinese businessmen outside of his official agenda, including one visit in which he appears to try to conceal his identity with a hooded top. Jerí, 39, was Peru’s eight president since 2016 amid oustings, resignations and interim terms, in an unprecedented period of political instability. The acting speaker of Peru’s congress, Fernando Rospigliosi, said lawmakers would vote on Wednesday to decide who would replace Jerí just months before the country’s presidential elections in April. Jerí was initially popular but his approval rating collapsed amid the Chifagate controversy and other scandals. Political parties that had backed him began to call for him to quit, seeking to distance themselves as election campaigning got under way. Prosecutors have opened a preliminary investigation into alleged influence-peddling linked to the meetings with Yang Zhizua, known as “Johnny”, a well-connected Chinese businessman who has lived in Peru for decades. Prosecutors say another Chinese citizen, Ji Wu Xiaodong, who was present at one of the meetings, is accused of belonging to an illegal timber-trafficking network known as Los Hostiles de la Amazonia and had been placed under house arrest for two years. Jerí also faces scrutiny for allegedly hiring unqualified young women who secured government jobs after late-night meetings at the presidential palace, based on its official entry-and-exit log. Several of them had also accompanied Jerí on multiple official trips on the presidential plane. Jerí has denied wrongdoing and said the appointments were legal. The shake-up at the top of Peruvian politics comes amid a tit-for-tat row between the US Trump administration’s newly appointed ambassador to Peru, Bernardo Navarro, and China. Navarro, who began his diplomatic duties in Peru this month, lambasted “cheap Chinese money” in a post on X – adding that there was “no higher price to pay than losing sovereignty”, in what appeared to be a pointed reference to the port of Chancay, which is majority-owned by the Chinese firm Cosco Shipping Ports. The fully automated port is located about 50 miles north of Lima. Previously, US officials have suggested that the deepwater port could be used for naval activities, which Peru has denied. In response, China’s foreign ministry decried what it called the US’s “false accusations and disinformation against China’s cooperation with Peru” concerning Chancay port. Keen to deflect the US’s diplomatic broadside, Peru’s foreign ministry posted a photograph on X of its minister shaking hands with China’s ambassador to Peru, Song Yang, to mark the lunar new year and praising Chinese investments and bilateral trade relations.

Mexican president challenges UK asylum given to woman accused of corruption

The Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has said her government will send a formal letter of complaint to officials in the United Kingdom after the wife of a former governor wanted for allegedly pilfering £4.8 million of public money was granted asylum in Britain. Karime Macías, ex-wife of jailed former Veracruz governor Javier Duarte, is wanted for extradition to Mexico for allegedly siphoning millions from the state welfare office, but has reportedly spent the last few years in London. “How can a woman accused of fraud and corruption be granted asylum?” Sheinbaum asked. “Today we are sending a letter with this position.” Neither the British embassy nor Macias’ lawyer responded to a request for comment. The Home Office said it does not comment on individual cases. Macías’ asylum in the UK was first reported by Mexican news outlet N+. Macías was first lady of Veracruz from December 2010 to October 2016, when her husband resigned amid allegations of organised crime and embezzlement. He was alleged to have siphoned away billions of pounds from state coffers. At the time, Duarte and Macías’ alleged crimes came to embody the graft that has plagued Mexico for years, and was particularly rampant during the government of then-president Enrique Peña Nieto. Mexico remains one of the most corrupt countries in the world, with Transparency International recently ranking it as 141 out of 182 countries. After his resignation, Duarte fled the country, but was arrested six months later in Guatemala. He was jailed in Mexico on money laundering and criminal conspiracy charges. Mexican prosecutors recently requested to extend his sentence on charges that he embezzled £215,000 from a state fund that was supposed to support children and the elderly. While serving as first lady, Macías reportedly enjoyed the use of a 15-acre, $9.7m ranch called El Faunito, where the walls were decorated with paintings by Latin American masters such as Rufino Tamayo and Fernando Botero. She was also head of the state welfare office, where she is alleged to have awarded contracts worth millions of pounds to shell companies. Authorities later found a warehouse filled with goods belonging to the couple, including Macías’ notebooks. On Tuesday, Sheinbaum displayed a page from one of those notebooks where Macías had written “I deserve abundance” over and over again. Macías disappeared from view shortly after her husband’s capture. In 2018, a Mexican judge issued an arrest warrant for Macías, accusing her of embezzlement. Days later, Duarte’s successor, Miguel Ángel Yunes, presented the findings of a months-long surveillance effort, alleging she was living a life of luxury in London. According to Yunes’ investigation, Macías had a home in Belgravia, one of London’s wealthiest neighbourhoods, less than a mile from Buckingham Palace. Macías reportedly spent at least £60,000 a month, and attended a “face gym” to strengthen her facial muscles. The day the findings were released, Interpol reportedly issued a red notice for Macías’ arrest, although she does not currently appear on the agency’s wanted list. Macías was detained by British authorities in October 2019, however, she was released after paying £150,000 to face the extradition charges on bail. She also agreed to wear an ankle monitor. In 2022, Westminster magistrates court ruled in favour of her extradition to Mexico but Macías’ legal team filed several appeals to halt the process, according to local news reports, alleging that the case against her had expired, a fact that the Mexican foreign ministry had not shared with British authorities. Macías had also filed an asylum petition with the British government, alleging that she was the victim of political persecution by the Mexican government. According to news reports, the disgraced first lady was granted asylum in the UK last year. As well as condemning the British government’s ruling, President Sheinbaum also questioned how Macías was able to live in one of the world’s most expensive cities. “This person, who has been living in the UK for quite some time now, who knows where they got the money? Because having children there, living in a special place, where did they get it from?”

Four Chagossians return to islands in attempt to stop British transfer to Mauritius

Four Chagos Islanders have landed on one of the archipelago’s atolls to establish what they say will be a permanent settlement, in an attempt to complicate a British plan to transfer the territory to Mauritius. The Mauritius attorney general said the move was a publicity stunt designed to create conflict over a 2025 agreement with Britain on handing over sovereignty of the British Indian Ocean Territory, which is opposed by some Chagossians who accuse Mauritius of decades of neglect. Mauritius has denied the accusations. Under the deal, Britain would cede control over the islands to Mauritius but lease the largest, Diego Garcia, for 99 years to continue operating a joint US-UK military base there. Misley Mandarin, leader of the four people who landed on Monday on the remote Île du Coin atoll, said they were living in tents. They expect 10 more arrivals next week and many more in the coming year, he said. Mandarin, who was born in Mauritius, told Reuters that his father, Michel Mandarin, 74, was with him and had been removed from the island aged 14. “I am not in exile any more. This is my homeland,” he said, adding that he wanted to make it possible for the 322 people who he said were born on Île du Coin and still alive “to come home before they die”. He sought to reassure the US that the settlement did not threaten the military base on Diego Garcia. Up to 2,000 Chagossians were forcibly removed from the archipelago in the 1960s and 1970s and resettled mainly in Mauritius and Britain, with many wanting the right to return to their homeland. The UN committee on the elimination of racial discrimination has urged Britain and Mauritius not to ratify the 2025 agreement, saying it risks perpetuating historical rights violations. The Mauritius attorney general, Gavin Glover, told Radio Plus the group had landed illegally and dismissed the move as a “publicity stunt organised to create a situation of conflict with the British government”. He said Mauritius would not exercise authority over the Chagos Islands until the treaty was ratified. Earlier this month, Donald Trump watered down his criticism of the UK’s plan to hand the Chagos Islands back, saying the deal was the “best” Keir Starmer could make. The US president had described ceding sovereignty as an “act of great stupidity” only last month. He also claimed the deal was one of many “national security reasons” why the US should acquire Greenland. After a phone call with Starmer, Trump wrote on Truth Social that Diego Garcia was “strategically situated in the middle of the Indian Ocean and, therefore, of great importance to the National Security of the United States”. He said US military operations had succeeded over the past year “because of the strength of our war fighters, modern capability of our equipment and, very importantly, the strategic location of our Military Bases. “I understand that the deal prime minister Starmer has made, according to many, the best he could make.” But Trump added: “If the lease deal, sometime in the future, ever falls apart, or anyone threatens or endangers U.S. operations and forces at our Base, I retain the right to Militarily secure and reinforce the American presence in Diego Garcia. “Let it be known that I will never allow our presence on a Base as important as this to ever be undermined or threatened by fake claims or environmental nonsense.” A spokesperson for the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “The UK government recognises the importance of the islands to the Chagossian community and is working with Mauritius to resume a programme of heritage visits to the Chagos archipelago. This kind of illegal, unsafe stunt is not the way to achieve that. “The vessel does not pose any security risk to Diego Garcia.”

Brother of No Other Land co-director injured as Israeli settlers again attack family home

The co-director of the Oscar-winning No Other Land has said his home and family have come under renewed attack, almost a year after the documentary on Israeli settler and army violence in the West Bank received an Academy Award. Hamdan Ballal said a group of settlers who had conducted a long-running campaign of harassment against Palestinian villagers came on Sunday to his home in Susya, in the Masafer Yatta area on the southern edge of the West Bank. Ballal, one of the documentary’s four directors, said that since an Israeli court order two weeks before had banned non-residents from the area – in a rare legal victory for Palestinian villagers – he had called the police. Two soldiers had come instead, accompanied by a local settler leader. “The army came first and immediately raided our house, attacking everyone inside,” Ballal said, standing outside his small concrete home, set halfway up a rocky hillside. Last March Ballal, 36, was injured in a settler attack shortly after No Other Land was awarded an Oscar. On Sunday he was not at home but the settler had instead targeted his brother Mohammed, he said. “He gave the soldiers the order, and then they called my brother and pushed him down on the ground asking for his ID,” Ballal said. “One of them held my brother round his neck and pushed very, very hard and so that my brother couldn’t catch his breath. His face turned blue and my nephews when they saw it were scared he would die, so they took him directly to hospital.” There Mohammed Ballal was put on oxygen and treated for trauma to his neck and bruises. Relatives in a nearby village who got news of the attack and made their way to the Ballals’ house were intercepted by the army. Two of the director’s brothers, a nephew and a cousin were held in handcuffs and blindfolded for three hours in a nearby army base, Ballal said, before being released at night on a road used by settlers, putting them at further risk. An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson confirmed the detentions but denied the attack. “On Sunday night, IDF soldiers detained a number of Palestinians adjacent to the area of Susya, after they refused to identify themselves to the soldiers. A short while after being detained, the Palestinians were released,” the spokesperson said. “We emphasise that, contrary to the claims, IDF soldiers did not assault them and did not raid their home.” No Other Land, which won the academy award last year for best documentary feature film, portrays the destruction of Palestinian communities in Masafer Yatta, in the south Hebron hills, by Israeli settlers acting with the complicity and support of the Israeli army. The brutality of the treatment of Palestinian villagers shocked audiences around the world and shone a light on a campaign of settlement-building, intimidation of Palestinians and village clearances across the West Bank, spearheaded by extremist members of the Israeli cabinet. Human rights groups and a UN special rapporteur have termed the campaign “ethnic cleansing”. The Israeli government on Sunday opened a land registry for the West Bank, allowing Israelis to stake ownership claims to the occupied territory for the first time since the registration process was frozen after the 1967 war, when Israel captured the territory from Jordan. The move appeared to be in direct defiance of article 49 of the fourth Geneva convention, which prohibits an occupying power from transferring its own civilian population into an occupied territory. It was one of a series of government measures in recent days, aimed at tightening Israel’s grip on the West Bank, that have drawn rebuke from around the world and a reminder from the Trump administration that, despite its strong support for Israel, it opposes annexation of the West Bank. “The situation has become worse,” Ballal told reporters in Susya on Tuesday. He pointed to a recent attack on another village in Masafer Yatta, in which a group of settlers had raided a Palestinian barn and killed the sheep and lambs inside. The attack was recorded on video. “All the people who live in Masafer Yatta are farmers. They have to plant their land and graze their sheep in order to live,” he said. He added that the army had prevented them ploughing fields that would have provided vegetables and feed for livestock in winter, and had coordinated with settlers to stop Palestinians grazing their sheep. “It is not a life any more,” he said. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported last week that the Israeli army had issued orders at the behest of settlers for troops actively to prevent Palestinians from ploughing their fields, declaring agricultural areas closed military zones and using crowd dispersal techniques and detentions to drive Palestinian farmers off their land. In July 2024, the international court of justice ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory and the building of settlements was unlawful. It called on Israel to leave the occupied territories promptly and ruled that Palestinians were due reparations for the 57 years of occupation. Ballal said the recent government measures were just making official what had long been a harsh reality for the people of Masafer Yatta. “These laws, these decisions, are new for the media, but this is nothing new for us,” he said. He said the worldwide publicity his film had attracted had not changed anything for the better for the people of Masafer Yatta and the West Bank as a whole, but he hoped it would contribute to a generational change in international attitudes. “We hope the new generation can change [policy], but it will be in the future,” he said. “Some of those who watch the film and know the truth can [enter] government or diplomacy and do something and stop this maybe in the future.”

France releases suspected Russian shadow fleet tanker after huge fine, as Ukraine peace talks begin – as it happened

… and on that note, it’s a wrap for today! Several European countries are reportedly present at the Russia-Ukraine talks in Geneva today, brokered by the US in a bid to make progress in ending the war (9:51, 10:03, 10:40, 11:18, 14:09, 14:48, 15:50). Meanwhile, the European Commission has confirmed plans to adopt the new, 20th, round of sanctions against Russia by 24 February, the fourth anniversary of the full-scale invasion on Ukraine (12:41). France released a tanker suspected of being part of Russia’s sanctions-busting “shadow fleet” called “Grinch” after its owner paid a fine of several million euros, the country’s foreign minister said (13:20). Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has just confirmed that 2,000 Ukrainian children forcibly abducted by Russia “have been brought home” as part of his campaign to “Bring Kids Back Ukraine” (16:57). The head of Sweden’s military intelligence said Russia has stepped up its hybrid threat activities and seems willing to take greater risks in the area surrounding the country (13:08). And that’s all from me, Jakub Krupa, for today. If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at jakub.krupa@theguardian.com. I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.

A binge and a prayer: Italian monks told to avoid Netflix and social media

The prior of a hermitage in Tuscany has urged monks living in the secluded retreat to avoid the use of social media and streaming services, arguing that their rooms are sacred places for prayer and “not for Netflix or other platforms”. Father Matteo Ferrari, the prior general of the Camaldolese congregation and of the Camaldoli monastery and hermitage in Arezzo, Tuscany, said such digital technologies were “specifically designed to create addiction” and “should absolutely be avoided”. Ferrari, 51, published a long letter on Facebook in which he said engaging with social media such as Instagram and TikTok and watching films online presented “a challenge for monastic and religious life”. He said: “We cannot pretend this challenge doesn’t exist.” The hermitage of Camaldoli, located in the middle of a national park and founded by Saint Romuald of Ravenna in the early 11th century, is home to nine monks. The main purpose of the retreat is for the monks to engage in prayer and sacred reading and, when in their individual rooms, to spend time in deep contemplation or meditation. “If the room is transformed into a cinema then where does our monastic and Romualdine spirituality end up?” Ferrari asked. He warned that real “cinephile addictions” exist, and could lead the monks to “becoming film experts rather than seekers of God”. He said it would be “much healthier” for monks to use their time alone “thinking about community moments”. In an interview with La Nazione, Tuscany’s regional newspaper, Ferrari said his goal was not to reproach the monks but to invite them to “meditate on a theme that pervades everyone’s life and cannot be ignored”. In 2022, the late Pope Francis urged seminarians to use social media “to advance, to communicate”, while warning them about the dangers, particularly digital pornography. “I will not say ‘raise your hand if you have had at least one experience of this’,” Francis said. “But if each of you think you have had the experience or temptation … It is a vice that so many people have. So many laymen, so many laywomen, and also priests and nuns.”

‘An insult to our name’: AfD urged to stop using Simson mopeds at events

The Jewish descendants of a German motorbike manufacturer that was forced by the Nazis to be relinquished have voiced their repulsion at the appropriation of the vehicle by far-right populists. Members of the family, whose ancestors were forced to flee Germany in the 1930s, say they consider the use of the bike’s name by the anti-immigrant Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) as a “mockery of our history”. The origins of the Simson moped go back to 1856, when brothers Löb and Moses Simson founded the company in Suhl, Thuringia – now an AfD stronghold. It was the most popular form of two-wheel mobility during communism, when cars were hard to come by. It gave many teenagers in particular their first taste of freedom. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the moped has increasingly become something of a cult lifestyle item in the former communist east, and has been taken advantage of by the AfD. The party’s Thuringia leader, Björn Höcke, is often to be found riding the Simson, accompanied by fans and followers, during activities to promote the party. Höcke has said the “Simson outings” help promote camaraderie among party members. He has teasingly touted it as an alternative form of transport to the cargo bike, often viewed as a mainstay of Green party supporters. At the height of its production during the GDR, up to 200,000 mopeds left the Ernst Thälmann factory in Suhl every year. In total, about 6m mopeds were produced. Today, secondhand models sell for between €2,000 and €4,500. The factory permanently closed in 2002. The AfD has integrated the moped into its election posters and general promotional material, saying it stands for “freedom, independence and individuality”. It has also pressed in several east German state parliaments for the motorcycle to be protected as “intangible cultural heritage”, submitting motions to back its campaign. A spokesperson for the Simson family, who now live in the US, has delivered a plea via German media for the appropriation to cease. “We find any connection with the AfD repulsive and an insult to our name,” Dennis Baum, a descendant speaking on behalf of the rest of the family, told the news agency DPA. “My family and I firmly reject extremist ideologies and will not accept the AfD’s appropriation of our name.” He said the family was offended by the fact that the moped’s name was increasingly viewed as synonymous with a party “which is overwhelmingly extremist”. “The name must not under any circumstances become a symbol of the AfD,” he added. The AfD was classified as “confirmed rightwing extremist” last year by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency (BfV). Höcke is described as one of its most extreme high-ranking members. He had actively disseminated far-right extremist ideology, in particular with his use of Nazi language, the agency said. Höcke, a former history teacher, has been repeatedly criticised by his political opponents for calling for a “180-degree turn in the politics of remembrance”, stressing his objection to the way in which Germans are told to remember the crimes of the Nazi era, and calling the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin a “monument of shame”. The Simson family was forced to flee Germany in 1936, escaping to the US after having to sell its business greatly under its value, in what was effectively a transfer to the state. The factory was initially established as a producer of charcoal steel for rifle barrels. It went on to become primarily a manufacturer of weapons, but also developed vehicles, including a racing car, the Simson Supra. During communism it became a state-owned enterprise, and produced mopeds, initially under contract to the Soviet military administration. The AfD has yet to comment.

Iran-US talks: agreement reached on ‘guiding principles’ after ‘constructive’ meeting, Tehran says

Iran has described the latest round of indirect talks with the US as “more constructive” than the previous set earlier this month, and said agreement had been reached on “general guiding principles” that could lead to a further meeting to discuss its nuclear programme. The talks – held in Geneva through Omani intermediaries – were to discuss the terms for Tehran constraining its nuclear programme under the supervision of the UN nuclear weapons inspectorate. They ended after three and a half hours. There was no immediate word from the US delegation, but the US was expected to continue its military buildup in the region before a further round of talks in about a fortnight designed to address the gaps between the two sides. The talks took place against the backdrop of a now-familiar slew of contradictory messages from Donald Trump, in which the US president said he believed Iran wanted a deal but also highlighted the US naval military buildup in the region. In Iran, it was a day of high emotion as many people attended memorial ceremonials for the thousands killed in recent protests, which were held on the 40th day since the deaths, in line with Shia mourning tradition. Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, admitted that some passersby had been killed. The president, Masoud Pezeshkian, while attending a ceremony in Mashhad, looked broken as he stared at a sea of photographs of Iranians killed in the protests. Iran has refused to allow a UN independent fact-finding committee to work in parallel with an internal inquiry into the killings. Politicians who have blamed the security services have been arrested. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said after the talks that “agreement was reached on general guiding principles” and added: “The atmosphere in this round of negotiations was more constructive. Good progress had been made in comparison with the first meeting. “Both sides have positions that will take some time to get closer to each other. The path to an agreement has been started but that does not mean we can reach an agreement quickly.” He added that the aim was to exchange texts on a draft agreement and then set a date for a further meeting. Khamenei responded to the presence of US warships off the coast of Oman – across the Gulf from Iran – by saying the US could not destroy the Islamic Republic and appearing to threaten the vessels. Warships were dangerous, he said, but “more dangerous than a warship is a weapon that can send it to the bottom of the sea”. He said Iran could not be involved in a “foolish” pre-determined negotiation in which the only outcome was that Iran was not allowed nuclear energy. Iran also announced that parts of the strait of Hormuz would be closed on Tuesday to allow the Iranian navy to carry out live-fire exercises. A full closure of this narrow waterway, controlled by Iran, would cause chaos for commercial shipping. Iran insisted throughout the talks – the first round of which were held on 6 February – that it would not discuss its ballistic missile programme or its support for so-called proxy forces in the region. In a speech to the UN, Araghchi said Iran did not seek nuclear weapons and stressed its willingness to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency not Authority (IAEA). Iran instead focused its offer on a plan to dilute its 40kg stockpile of 60% highly enriched uranium, and the access it would grant the IAEA – the UN’s nuclear inspectorate – to Iran’s bombed nuclear sites. Highly enriched uranium at 60% is nearly weapons-grade material, and is not needed for a civil nuclear programme. Discussions also continued on the length of time that Iran might suspend enrichment – in part because the US bombing of its nuclear sites would make it impossible to do for as long as three years – but Iran has not ceded its right to enrich uranium domestically, a central US demand. The Iranian side was led by Araghchi, who on Monday met the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi. The US side met Grossi on Tuesday, underlining how verification of the nuclear industry was at the centre of Tuesday’s round of talks. Any deal to constrain Iran’s nuclear programme would require a full return of the IAEA inspectors to Iran’s nuclear weapons facilities. Previous talks in Cairo on the Iran-IAEA protocols that would allow the IAEA full access to three main nuclear bombed sites broke down. A small number of IAEA inspectors are still working in Iran, but they have no detailed knowledge of the damage caused by US bombing or how many of centrifuges could be quickly restarted. The process of “downblending” highly enriched uranium, downgrading it from weapons grade, is an acknowledged technology. Tehran also offered Trump sweeteners in the form of a prosperity package, and a non-aggression pact between Iran and the US – and possibly Israel. At times, Trump has said the best outcome would be for Khamenei to stand down, but the US does not seem to have a strategy to achieve this. The US president has not committed himself to supporting Reza Pahlavi, the former shah’s son, who has many supporters and is offering himself as a transitional figure to democracy. In Iran, an executive committee for the establishment of a national salvation front of Iran has been formed around the three principles set out by the former prime minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi, now entering his 16th year of house arrest. The principles are: non-interference by foreign powers; rejection of internal despotism; and a democratic and peaceful transition. In a formation statement, the group said it wanted to be “the connecting link” between Iranians who wanted a free, fair and impartial referendum to determine Iran’s future political system. In an attempt to stop this movement, the security services have arrested many leading reformist politicians, alongside thousands of mainly young demonstrators. A group previously close to President Pezeshkian, operating under the banner of the Reform front, were arrested last week but over the weekend most were released, largely on bail. Fars news agency reported that Pezeshkian had intervened to secure their release. They now do not appear politically active. Others were still in jail, such as Mostafa Tajzadeh, who was this week given a new 14-month sentence for propaganda against the regime. Another reformist, Ali Shakouri-Rad, has been charged with propaganda against the regime after claiming the security services may have run false-flag operations by attacking mosques. He was referencing an article written by an IRGC officer. The judiciary on Tuesday said 10,538 protesters had been summoned for trial so far, and there were widespread reports of the prosecution trying to extract confession under physical pressure. Protesters are also routinely being denied the right to choose their own lawyer. Hundreds of people were arrested in one raid in Hamadan province.