- Title: Dispatches: Iran Undercover: Inside The Hidden Revolution:
- Date: 15th November 2004
- Summary: Dispatches reporter Jane Kokan risks her life as she goes undercover in Iran to obtain secret pictures showing the medieval barbarity the Iranian authorities want to keep hidden. Iran has been labelled part of the Axis of Evil but as Jane discovers,the real evil is the state-sponsored torture and murder of its own young. This June,violent street demonstrations shook Teheran and other Iranian cities. Students,supported by thousands of ordinary Iranians,took on the mullahs' thuggish vigilantes to demand freedom of expression and democracy: the latest chapter in a peoples' revolution that has been quietly gathering pace. The world saw virtually none of this,because journalists were kept well away,with threats of violence. They were not idle threats. In July,the Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi was beaten to death after 77 hours of interrogation for photographing students demonstrating outside Evin prison. No television crew has managed to tell the story Zahra was killed trying to tell - until now. In this special Dispatches ,reporter Jane Kokan,another Canadian,goes undercover to reveal what is really going on in Iran,securing exclusive interviews with leaders of Iran's hidden revolution,and detailing,with powerful video and forensic evidence,the 'disappearances' and torture of young people opposed to the regime. Gaining entry to Iran via an overland package trip from the Balkans,Jane meets up secretly with dissidents right across Iran. In a series of covert trips away from the eyes of her minders,Jane films compelling first-hand stories of vicious torture,from student leaders under almost constant surveillance. Jane even manages to interview one the young leaders of the revolution,Amir Fakhravar,on a mobile phone smuggled into his prison cell. This was right in the heart of Teheran under the eyes of the revolutionary guards. Jane couldn't risk taking her tapes with her back across the border. Instead,they were smuggled out of Teheran,across the Turkish mountains. Just as well Jane didn't take the chance: leaving Iran,she was searched and all her tourist tapes viewed by the authorities.
- Description:Channel 4 programme 'Iran Undercover'. Dispatches reporter Jane Kokan goes undercover in Iran to obtain secret pictures showing the barbarity the Iranian authorities want to keep hidden. She travels in the guise of a visiting archaeologist touring Iran. Kokan investigating the death of fellow Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi,who was allegedly beaten to death after 77 hours of torture for filming students demonstrating outside Evin prison in Tehran. Kokan interviews leaders of Iran's hidden revolution and uncovers evidence of young people imprisoned and tortured for their opposition to the regime. Kokan,under constant surveillance by her government minders,risks her own life by meeting dissidents and manages to interview one young student leader,Amir Fakhravar on a mobile phone smuggled into his prison cell.
- Broadcaster:Channel 4
- Collection: Channel 4
- Genre:Documentary and Factual
- Producer:Hardcash Productions Ltd.
- Programme Episode:Episode 1
- Transmission Date:15/11/2004
- Rights:On Request
- Decade: 2000s