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More Than 1,000 Foreign Nationals Evacuated on Sunday; U.S. Evacuates Sudan Embassy; Ukraine Not Confirming Reports on Dnipro River Crossing; What It's Like Being a Palestinian Reporter for Israeli TV; Iranian Regime Accused of Reaching Beyond Borders. Aired 12-12:45a ET

Aired April 24, 2023 - 00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LAILA HARRAK, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Welcome to all of our viewers watching from around the world. I'm Laila Harrak.

[00:00:32]

Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM. Sudan's deadly power struggle grinds on civilians left without food, shelter or medicine after scores of countries evacuated their citizens.

Plus, a rare entity in Israeli media: a Palestinian journalist reporting in Hebrew. We'll show you the pressure he faces and the threats he's received.

And an image that captures the horror of Russia's war in Ukraine. We'll speak to the chairperson for the jury that decided the World Press Photo of the Year.

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause [SIC].

HARRAK: Hi there. I'm Laila Harrak. A 72-hour ceasefire between Sudan's warring factions has officially ended, and now the armed conflict is entering its 10th day with no end in sight.

The fighting has ravaged parts of the country, turning buildings into charred wounds, with smoke billowing high into the sky. Civilians running out of basic needs, including shelter, food and medicine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FREED ADEL, SUDANESE DEVELOPER: Khartoum is the most impacted city as the conflict is concentrated there, due to the fact that all important state institutions are there. Most of the needs are medical, due to the lack of hospital services, medical staff, and the fact that people cannot reach hospitals.

There is also a need for food, because shops are closed, and there is nowhere for people to buy their needs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRAK: On Sunday, authorities released inmates from a prison which held leaders from the toppled regime of Omar al-Bashir. The RSF paramilitary group accused the armed forces of freeing the prisoners to try to reinstate the former government.

Well, all this comes as a growing number of countries are evacuating their citizens from Sudan. On Sunday, more than 1,000 people were carried out, and many were taken temporarily to Djibouti.

CNN's Sam Kiley is there and shows us how the country has become a key base in the evacuation efforts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAM KILEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Evacuations from the Sudanese capital was launched from here in Djibouti, a multinational effort led by the United States, who beginning with a special forces operation, launched three Chinook helicopters with, of course, covert support from potentially 80 130-gunships.

They flew via Addis Ababa and then low very, very low for some 800 miles into the Sudanese capital, spending less than an hour on the ground, the Pentagon says, rescuing some 70-plus individuals, most of them staffers from the U.S. embassy, but also some foreign nationals.

Now, Djibouti is very much the hub of an international rescue operation. Almost simultaneously with the Americans, British and French forces were in the air and, indeed, on the ground, evacuating similar numbers about 100-plus from each of those nations out of Sudan, in the case of the French back here into Djibouti.

The British operation, the French operation again involving special forces. A number of other countries have also been trying to get their people out of this war-torn Sudanese capital, which is also the center of a violent storm that is engulfing very much the rest of the country and, therefore, some 19,000, potentially, of U.S. citizens remain stranded in Sudan. Not all of them, of course, necessarily want to be evacuated.

But this is echoes, again, of the mass evacuations from the collapsing structures that followed the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan.

But there is an anticipation that the international community -- France, the Netherlands, Belgium, other countries, Turkey, Egypt -- they're all trying to get their citizens out. There is an effort being made by the Emiratis to try to run land convoys out.

And the remaining Americans are being told to stay in place at the moment, whilst the State Department and the Pentagon tries to work out how they might be rescued as part of this wider international effort, if it proves necessary, particularly if they have to try to make road moves.

But those themselves are extremely dangerous. Very, very risky, with heavy fighting going on, not just in the capital, but on a lot of the main roads.

And of course, there is a dwindling supply of food and fuel in the country, and that is something that's going to make any kind of rescue much, much harder.

[00:05:14]

Sam Kiley, CNN, in Djibouti.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRAK: Well, the evacuation of U.S. government personnel from Sudan was a carefully-planned operation, conducted swiftly and, ultimately, safely.

CNN's Oren Liebermann has more details on how it all played out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Evacuation operations are never conducted under optimal circumstances, and that was certainly the case once again when it comes to the evacuation of the U.S. embassy in Sudan over the weekend.

Three Chinook helicopters, some of the largest in the U.S. military for heavy lift, flew from Djibouti, some 750 or more miles across Ethiopia, into Sudan, landing at Khartoum at the U.S. embassy, securing the embassy with 100 Special Operations forces on board those helicopters.

Then getting everybody on board. That includes diplomatic staff, family members and some nationals of other countries, and then getting them out safely, refueling in Ethiopia and continuing on the way to Djibouti.

All of the members of the staff there, the family members, as well, evacuated safely on those military aircraft.

Of course, the risk was that this ceasefire, which both of the warring parties had committed to, would fall apart. And we already know there were violations of it, and it seems tenuous at best. But that was a real risk.

However, U.S. officials who briefed reporters after the operation itself said that the helicopters did not come under fire on their way in or on their way out.

Of course, the more difficult question now: what happens to some 16,000 or more American citizens who remain in Sudan, many of them dual nationals. So Sudanese-American.

The State Department confirmed that it did reach out to at least some of them to inform them of convoys arranged by the UAE and Turkey to try to get out of Khartoum and either exit through Port Sudan or try to cross some of the land borders. Meanwhile DOD is considering setting up some sort of surveillance of

the land routes out of the country and is considering also trying to set up a deconfliction mechanism as it watches very closely the situation, even as it deteriorates in Sudan.

Oren Liebermann, CNN, at the Pentagon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRAK: And for more, I want to bring in Cameron Hudson. He's a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Africa Center.

Cameron, welcome back to CNN. It's now 10 days that -- of relentless violence and a country that seems to be unraveling. How do you reflect on what you've observed so far and a ceasefire, which is a ceasefire name only, that is now officially ending.

CAMERON HUDSON, SENIOR ASSOCIATE, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: Yes, I think that -- I think we have to be prepared for the worst now. I think that what we have seen is really a prelude to what is to come, sadly.

I think that there's every likelihood that, as international diplomats flee the city and the country, as we see more people leaving the safety and security of their homes to venture out, trying to find more safe passage out of the country. I think that there's a real risk, both that with the international community gone, that fighting will increase, and as local civilians flee for greater safety, they could be caught in the crossfire, as well.

So I think that things are going to get much, much worse before we have any hope of them getting any better.

HARRAK: Now, as you noted, a lucky few in the Sudan have been evacuated. I mean, the U.S. embassy staff have been extracted. Other foreign nationals also made it out of the country.

Not to take away from the incredibly complex logistics involved, but are we to understand that the warring generals are able to allow safe passage, just not for the locals?

HUDSON: Well, I think that it's -- it's difficult to ascertain that throughout the country. There is no one answer to that. Certainly, when the -- you know, Department of Defense comes calling to say that they need to clear the air space for an hour so, that Americans can be evacuated, even that took a lot of negotiating and a lot of back and forth.

Because we don't have full certainty that either side has full command and control over their troops. So even if a direct order is given to allow safe passage for an international convoy or local convoy, you don't know what's going to happen at a checkpoint, at a crossing or what troops might be doing, taking matters into their own hands, given the level of chaos and indiscriminate violence that we've seen in the last 10 days. So I don't think that we can take with great assurance that either side is able to guarantee safe passage for anyone, really.

HARRAK: Now in terms of U.S. nationals that are still in Sudan or Khartoum, the U.S. has said explicitly that there are no evacuation plans at the moment. Are you surprised by that?

HUDSON: Well, I guess I'm not, given the -- the botched operation to take out so many thousands of people out of Kabul last year. We know that -- that the United States has about 16,000 dual citizen nationals in the country.

[00:10:06]

But if you multiply that by British and French and Canadian, you're looking at well over 100,000, very likely, international dual citizens. That's an impossible number to try to evacuate. Certainly via air lift. And certainly when the country's main civilian airport remains closed.

So it's just not possible to think of airlifting that number of people out. What we could be contemplating, though, are humanitarian safe corridors out of the country.

And I think that that needs to be the focus right now, in addition to getting humanitarian assistance into the country, where people are and pre-positioning that aid to where they are going.

HARRAK: Are these two generals just going to duke it out until the bitter end?

HUDSON: Well, I think sadly, there's a good likelihood that that's the case. I mean, we have to remember that this was not a spontaneous outburst of violence between these two gentlemen. This is not trying to resolve a simple disagreement at a negotiating table. This has been building for many years, even decades in the country between these two individuals and the institutions that they represent.

The Rapid Support Forces have never been seen, in the eyes of the military, as a proper defense force. They were a product. They were creation of the military but never had high respect for them.

Similarly, you know, the Rapid Support Forces come from the peripheral, marginalized regions of Sudan that had long been kept out of the political power that the military has held onto.

So there's no love lost between these institutions or the individuals that run them, and I think that there is a lot of score settling that we're going to see playing out in the -- in the coming days and weeks to come.

HARRAK: Cameron Hudson, thank you.

HUDSON: Thank you.

HARRAK: The G-7 is calling for the extension and full implementation of the Black Sea green initiative, but Russia is saying maybe not. A top Russian official says Moscow will terminate the agreement to allow Ukrainian grain to transit the Black Sea if the G-7 bans its exports to Russia.

But the coalition of seven major countries and the E.U. says Russia is trying to weaponize food meant for nations most in need. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov is due to discuss the grain deal with the U.N.'s secretary general on his visit to New York this week.

And the Russian foreign minister had harsh words for the U.S. for refusing visas to Russian journalists seeking to cover his remarks at the U.N.

Sergey Lavrov said in an interview that Russia will not forget and will not forgive the decision. However, Russian media reported last week that most members of Lavrov's delegation did receive U.S. visas.

Well, inside Ukraine now, another day of relentless Russian shelling and missiles, left homes and other buildings damaged, from Kharif in the North to Odessa in the South.

The darkness of night could not hide the extensive damage the barrage caused.

Ukraine says the attacks spanned the entire Eastern front lines but that its forces did not give up any ground.

The Ukrainian military also says Iranian-made drones have been trying to attack its air defenses, which you see here. A spokesperson says it is evident Russia has replenished its drone supply.

To the South, social media reports suggest Ukrainian forces may have crossed the Dnipro River into Russian-held territory. Ukraine isn't confirming that, but its Southern military spokesperson says, rather cryptically, everyone is waiting for good news, and they will definitely get it.

CNN's Ben Wedeman is in Kyiv for us with more.

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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ukrainian forces may have crossed to the Eastern bank of the Dnipro River near the city of Kherson, according to several social media channels.

The Institute for the Study of War has geolocated footage that shows Ukrainian troops have reached the Eastern bank. Now, Ukrainian officials have neither confirmed nor denied these reports.

But the Russian-appointed head of the occupied Kherson region has flatly denied claims that Ukrainian troops have established a bridgehead on the East bank.

Now it's not clear if this is the opening shot of Ukraine's spring offensive or just a diversionary feint ahead of a larger push elsewhere. Now overnight, Russia launched multiple air, artillery and drone

strikes across Eastern Ukraine. Fighting continues to be intense in Bakhmut, where Ukrainian troops control a small and shrinking part in the city's West.

There are also recent reports that heavy rains have made Ukrainian access to those parts of the city increasingly difficult.

[00:15:05]

I'm Ben Wedeman, CNN, reporting from Kyiv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRAK: The son of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says he fought in Ukraine with Russia's Wagner mercenary force. Nikolai Peskov claimed in an interview with Russian media that he served for nearly six months and received the Medal of Courage.

Well, the news comes after the head of Wagner said Friday that the Kremlin spokesman's son had been a gunner with the group and has served under a different last name, with false documents.

CNN cannot independently verify those claims.

Protesters gathered in Paris Sunday outside a home believed to belong to the ex-wife of a Russian defense official. Participants at the demonstration, which was organized by supporters of jailed Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, wants the European Union to sanction Svetlana Maniovich, many of which they claim her 2022 divorce from deputy defense minister Timur Ivanov was a sham, intended to shield her from sanctions placed on him.

They also say he is still financially supporting her, giving her a life of luxury while Ukrainians die.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NATALIA SEROVA, PROTESTOR: I'm here because I'm against this terrible war because Putin and his team, they are terrorists. They -- their generals, they makes money on the war. And their wives spend this money in Paris.

So I'm here to tell my words about it because I'm against it. We should stop this terrible war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRAK: Still ahead, a Palestinian reporter working for Israeli TV describes his professional journey and the complicated nature of his job.

Plus, a former president of Peru has been extradited from the United States. Details on the charges he's facing after quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HARRAK: Mexico's president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has tested positive again for COVID-19 posted on Twitter that his condition is not serious and that his heart is working well.

He says he's canceled an upcoming work trip and that his interior minister will lead the morning presidential briefings from for now. This is the third time the 69-year-old president has had coronavirus since the pandemic began.

In Peru, former President Alejandro Toledo is back in the country after being extradited from the U.S. on Sunday. He's being investigated on charges of collusion and money laundering and had been under house arrest in California since 2019.

[00:20:02]

Toledo denies the charges, calling them political persecution. Peru's attorney general spoke with him as he had a medical checkup and examination on arrival.

Toledo served in office from 2001 to 2006 and is accused of receiving around $30 million in alleged bribes.

As the government in Israel continues to face backlash over its plan to overhaul the country's judicial system, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he will not withdraw the proposal and called it an internal matter.

The controversial plan has sparked weeks of protests in Israel. Here's what Mr. Netanyahu told CBS's "Face the Nation" on Sunday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: I've actually said that I will not accept a blanket ability of the Parliament to overcome judicial -- Supreme Court decisions, just as we don't accept that the Supreme Court can abrogate any decision by the Parliament or the government. Both sides, both of these extremes actually hinder the balance between the three branches of government, which is exactly what we're trying to bring into balance now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRAK: One reporter who has been covering the region for several years is a Palestinian working for Israeli TV. He says it's not easy and has even received death threats from both sides.

CNN's Hadas Gold has his story.

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HADAS GOLD, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nearly every evening on Israeli news channel Kan-11. One of the top reporters speaks Hebrew with a very slight accent.

Suleiman Maswadeh is a rare entity in Israeli media, one of very few Palestinians reporting in Hebrew, and not just on Arab issues.

GOLD: How do you identify yourself?

SULEIMAN MASWADEH, REPORTER, KAN-11: I don't know, because I was born in East Jerusalem to -- to a Palestinian family, to a Palestinian culture. I'm not ashamed to say that I'm Arab Palestinian, but I also live in Israel. I also feel Israeli in some ways.

I don't know. I just say I come from Jerusalem and I'm a journalist, and that's still the most important things of my identity.

GOLD (voice-over): Maswadeh grew up in the old city of Jerusalem, playing soccer in the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, attending a strict Islamic boys' school.

Though he now reports the news in fluent Hebrew, he did not learn the language until he was 20 years old, which is just seven years ago.

GOLD: What prompted you to want to become a reporter?

MASWADEH: Back in the Second Intifada, I lived in -- in the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in Jerusalem. And you remember that the -- the explosions and the busses and in Jerusalem.

And I didn't know what's happening. You know, I didn't speak Hebrew. I just looked at the TV, and I felt that I want to be there like I want to report. I want to do something.

His journey to journalism was not a straight one. Working at a hotel, studying accounting at a Palestinian university and then learning Hebrew before attending an Israeli college.

Maswadeh landed an internship with the Israeli public broadcaster, Kan's Arabic channel. And after a jumped to the network's main Hebrew channel, he became Jerusalem correspondent, where he's covered everything from clashes between police and Palestinians in refugee camps to Israeli politics.

His first major scoop put the spotlight on his constant internal dilemma: how to balance pressure from his community versus the story. In 2020, Maswadeh showed how COVID restrictions were being violated at the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, one of the holiest sites in Islam.

The backlash was swift.

MASWADEH: And I remember that my grandfather calling me and telling me that everyone there is, you know, talking to him and tell him that what his grandson did was a shame to the community.

GOLD (voice-over): Maswadeh says he feels like he is an important voice for Palestinians in the NEWSROOM.

Here, he breaks the Ramadan fast this year with dates at his desk, teaching his colleagues the blessing.

MASWADEH: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) GOLD (voice-over): Though he says his family is proud of him, he also says they want him to quit. When he visits them in Shuafat refugee camp, he does so only late at night for his own protection.

GOLD: You said you received death threats. Do these come from Israelis, from Palestinians? And how do you deal with that?

MASWADEH: I get -- I got death threats from both sides, but it was mainly from Palestinians who don't like the fact that I work for Israeli TV.

My answer to that is this is where you make things different. Like, I can make effect on people's lives were in Israeli TV. I feel that -- that I'm, you know, given a message for the Jewish people that, if you give all the -- the people of citizens of East Jerusalem a chance, like I got, everyone can be like me.

[00:25:03]

GOLD (voice-over): Last month, Maswadeh was promoted to be a political correspondent and is even anchoring, vowing to continue breaking barriers with every report.

Hadas Gold, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRAK: In Kenya, police have dug up dozens of bodies of people thought to be followers of a Christian cult who believed they would go to heaven if they starved themselves to death.

The suspected head of that cult, church leader Paul Mackenzie, was arrested after police said they learned about possible shallow graves belonging to more than two dozen of his followers.

They say they rescued 50 members of the group earlier this month, but four of them died before they reached the hospital.

Now an image that captured the horrors of war earns the World Press Photo of the Year award. A conversation with the chairperson of the contest jury is next.

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HARRAK: Welcome back to our viewers all around the world. I'm Laila Harrak, and this is CNN NEWSROOM.

An image that captured the atrocities of Russia's war in Ukraine has been chosen as the World Press Photo of the Year. It shows an injured pregnant woman being carried from a maternity hospital in the city of Mariupol, which had been damaged by shelling.

A photojournalist for the Associated Press took the photo in March of last year. A surgeon who had been treating the woman confirmed just days later that she and her baby died. Well, the World Press Photo jury says the image captures the absurdity

and horror of war.

Brent Lewis is the global jury chair for the World Press Photo of the Year award. He's a "New York Times" photo editor and co-founder of Diversify Photo, and he joins me now from Maplewood, New Jersey.

So good to have you with us, Brent.

If we think of emblematic photos, what do they all have in common?

BRENT LEWIS, GLOBAL JURY CHAIR, WORLD PRESS PHOTO OF THE YEAR: A really powerful emblematic photo is something that stands the test of time. It delivers an understanding of where we are right now in the world, what was going on that time.

And something for me is always the idea that, like, some of the sticks to your ribs, something that pulls at your emotional heart strings, something that won't leave you a year from now, two years, three years from now. Something that really speaks to the humanity of a powerful image. The humanity of an idea.

HARRAK: Explain to us what what went into the jury's deliberations when -- when picking the winning photograph and what were some of the criteria this year?

LEWIS: That's a good question. So what went into the idea of what the jury were looking for? We're really looking for the idea of what were those images that made up 2022? What were the images that you can look back in 10, 15 years and say that happened in 2022? That can only be 2022? And what were those powerful images that said that, that did that?

[00:30:19]

And so what we're looking for are the images that that land at all the levels of what makes a really good image. Is it emotional drawing visually, aesthetically? Is it pleasing? Does it draw your eyes somewhere? Does it inform you into the world and the universe that maybe you didn't have an understanding of before.

And you just humanize something and just bring something a little bit further home. It sticks to you where you can't forget it. I think that is what so much of these winners and from the region up to the global haven't done and accomplished in so many ways.

HARRAK: Brent, talk -- talk us through the final four shortlisted photos of the year.

LEWIS: That was -- that was tough. That was tough. I keep going back to being in the room and the discussions we had. I mean, the biggest story of this year probably was Ukraine.

I'm thinking of what happened at war, and we have so many submissions that came out of Ukraine. But for us, it was Eugene's photo out of Mariupol and the siege of Mariupol, and what went into that and just that deal, this -- this mother on a stretcher in this bombed-out area when you know moments minutes -- never moments, minutes ago, hours ago, days ago, weeks ago, she was just focused on having a child and just how this is taking so much of humanity of the people of Ukraine.

And just that -- that normal lives that they used to live before this took place.

When it comes to the stories out of Afghanistan, my mods (ph), those were really pressing and tied in beautifully with the story in Ukraine as, well as the whole piece.

Just because this was a war that lasted 25 years. And one year out of the removal of the U.S. and the Taliban retaking control, it adds to this amazing job.

I'm giving us nine stellar images that really sum up what Afghanistan looks like on all levels, from the ideals of the hospitals to ideals of people trying to find the food to feed their families and just being under the martial law of the Taliban.

Going into unusual story of just this beautiful look at central Asia. These four countries and through Asia on this long-term project that really dives into understanding how climate change is affecting so much of their lives. And that ideal of water and just that use of water and how water it's become scarcity.

Becoming scarce in that area and just understanding how people are -- are participating involving themselves with water, whether it was the bathing in the hot springs or looking for drinking water, or whatever that might be. And just the connections that we have and how that is indicative of so much of 2022. Because that might not be there in 2023.

Last, but not least, Mohammed's (ph) amazing work that he did at Alexandria and Egypt, with the removal of that community that's been there forever and just people trying to hold onto those memories, hold onto those ideals and just the way that Mohammed also made and designed this web platform where you can go back and forth, and you can send messages to these folks that you're seeing, and these people who are being displaced, and send them your thoughts and your wishes. Send them to understand what you're doing.

HARRAK: Let's look at this year's winner. You addressed it very briefly there.

I'd like us to deconstruct it a little bit if we can, broad strokes. What makes this such a powerful photo and why this particular photo? Why did it stand out for the jury?

LEWIS: So this image stood out just because of so much of what it invoked. I mean, we saw this year. We saw what's happening with the invasion of Ukraine.

And I think the one thing that we've seen in this war so much more was just the human toll. One of the jurors said that it feels like, looking at this image, that Russia is not only taking and destroying what's Ukraine now but also the future of Ukraine.

Also the idea that like the photographers, this is where he is from. He is from Mariupol. His background is Ukraine. So that he walked these streets six months before. And just how much of that life was turned upside down because of what happened.

And it takes so much to show your own community. It takes so much to not flee, but understand that you have a responsibility as an insider, as a person that knows this, to show that to the outside world and show what's going on, no matter what you know about this war.

This image is that -- this image is the image that will tug at our heartstrings for years to come, much like back to napalm girl by Nick Ut?

You think about, even some -- some of the images that we're seeing out of, like, from 9/11, like these are those images that stay with you. And I think this is that one with the staying power, that we couldn't turn away from.

HARRAK: None of us can turn away from it. Indelible, indeed. The power of still photography still unparalleled.

Brent Lewis, thank you so much.

LEWIS: Thank you so much for having me again, Laila.

[00:35:02]

HARRAK: And I will speak with the photographer who took the winning photo, Evgeniy Maloletka, in the next hour.

They left Iran, but they say the regime is still tracking them. The disturbing story of what activists say is happening far beyond the borders of the Islamic Republic.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRAK: Indian police say they've arrested a Sikh separatist after a month-long manhunt.

Amritpal Singh was captured at a temple in India's Northwestern Punjab state. The 30-year-old preacher is part of a movement that seeks to create an independent Sikh homeland, stoking fears of a return to the deadly insurgency that took place in the 1980s and '90s.

He and hundreds of his supporters are accused of attempted murder, obstruction of law enforcement and creating disharmony after allegedly storming a police station and demanding the release of one of his aides.

Activists who fled Iran are finding the government is tracking them to discourage dissent. The repressive regime in Tehran is even targeting the families that they left behind.

Salma Abdelaziz picks up the disturbing story from Paris.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Women and girls, hair flowing, dancing at a gathering in Paris for "Women, Life, Freedom," the slogan of Iran's anti-government movement.

But even here, firmly within the borders of Europe, activists say Tehran's tentacles can reach and crush voices of dissent.

Activist Massi Kamari fled here to France about four years ago as a political refugee.

MASSI KAMARI, IRANIAN ACTIVIST: Since I'm here, I can freely explain my feelings. I tried to be the voice of my people in Iran that are suffering.

ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): But Kamari says she soon found herself under threat again. She says Iran's intelligence service was harassing her parents back home, demanding to speak to her.

KAMARI: They've taken my -- my mother's phone, and they pushed me. And they forced me to call my -- my mother's phone. And then there was a guy who answered.

ABDELAZIZ: So this man answered your mother's phone?

KAMARI: Yes, exactly.

ABDELAZIZ: Kumari says she recorded the chilling call with a man she believes is a member of Iranian intelligence, though CNN cannot verify that.

"Whatever actions you take against the Islamic Republic there in France is a crime," the man says, "and your family will answer for it."

"No, sir," she responds. "Nowhere in the world is that the law."

"Listen," he says, "your mother will be taken to Evin Prison at her age. Your sister and your father will also be taken to Evin Prison. They will be interrogated."

KAMARI: It was so hard. I mean, because I don't understand how far these people can go. The Islamic Republic is brutally cracking down on a popular uprising that has rocked the country for months.

[00:40:07]

Dissidents abroad play a crucial role in this movement, carrying protesters' demands from the streets of Iran into the halls of Western governments.

That's exactly why Iran is expanding its repression, says this activist of three decades. NAZILA GOLESTAN, FOUNDER, HAMAVA NGO: Which is a fact that the regime

of Iran, they have the power, but we -- we are the opposition. But we are, I think, numerous. We have a breach, which today people inside and outside.

ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): And nowhere is safe.

MASIH ALINEJAD, JOURNALIST: I could have been killed.

ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): In January, the U.S. Justice Department uncovered a plot to assassinate prominent Iranian dissident Masih Alinejad near her home in Brooklyn.

The State Department has warned that Tehran is engaged in other acts of transnational repression to intimidate or exact reprisal against individuals outside of the country's sovereign borders, according to a 2022 report.

CNN's request for comment to Iran's authorities have gone unanswered.

For now, Kamari says her parents are safe, but she barely speaks to them as a precaution.

ABDELAZIZ: How -- how do you still come out and do your work and --

KAMARI: Because I'm not going to stop my activities because they are threatening me.

ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): A critical community in exile, under threat and under pressure, but unbowed and unafraid.

Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRAK: A lion has been spotted in a national park in Chad for the first time in almost 20 years.

The Wildlife Conservation Society shared this picture of a female lions, spotted at night. Well, they called her a beautiful lioness, clearly in great health.

Lions are considered extinct in the national park, due to poaching.

The International Union for the Conservation Of Nature estimates there are only between 23 to 39,000 wild lions left in the world.

A new record has been set at the London Marathon. Twenty-three-year- old Kenyan runner Kelvin Kiptum finished the course in two hours, one minute and 25 seconds.

He collapsed after crossing the finish line, saying he was happy and grateful.

Well, Dutch middle-distance athlete Sifan Hassan won her debut marathon. She said she hopes to compete in next year's Paris Olympics. And Switzerland's Marcel Hug won the elite men's wheelchair race just

one week after winning the Boston Marathon.

Thank you so much for spending this part of your day with me. I'm Laila Harrak. From all of us, thank you so much. Stay with us.

WORLD SPORT is up next.

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