Like Phelan, Briere was held in the prison of Vakilabad in Mashhad and went on hunger strikes to protest his conditions.

BY G9IJA

Four more French citizens, described previously as “hostages” by the French foreign ministry, are still imprisoned by Iran.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has spent nearly two decades at the top of Turkey’s democracy – first as prime minister, now as president. On May 14, Turkey will head to the polls in the first round of the country’s presidential elections, and it is highly contested after the last few years. As for his main challenger, opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, he once won an award as Turkey’s “bureaucrat of the year”. Now, he is the face of a broad coalition, representing everyone from right to left – all with the goal of turning the page on Erdogan’s presidency. Will they succeed?

This episode was produced by Negin Owliaei with Sonia Bhagat and our host, Malika Bilal. Khaled Soltan fact-checked this episode.

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Munera Al Dosari and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers.