The Interview

Since the beginning of 2018, the Iranian Government has locked up a number of environmental scientists and campaigners. One respected conservationist was found hanged in his cell in what the authorities said was a suicide. What is going on? HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Kaveh Madani, a scientist invited back to Iran from an academic post in London to be deputy head of the Environment Department. He got caught up in the crackdown and fled Iran in April. Why has environmental activism become so dangerous in Iran?

(Photo: Kaveh Madani)

When historians write their versions of Donald Trump’s extraordinary ascent to the Presidency, prominence will surely be given to the former Director of the FBI James Comey. He was a Republican hired by a Democratic President, whose handling of two key investigations; into Hillary Clinton’s emails and allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election, polarised America. His recent memoir was a withering condemnation of the man who fired him, President Trump. But has James Comey sullied his own reputation by stepping into America’s political swamp?

(Photo: FBI Director James Comey testifies before the House Intelligence Committee hearing into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US election. Credit: Joshua Roberts/Reuters)

One issue more than any other that is polarising European politics and dividing the European Union is migration. In Germany, it threatens Angela Merkel’s grip on power, whilst from Italy to Austria and Hungary and Poland, it is driving policies which threaten to smash any continental consensus.

Stephen Sackur speaks to Karin Kneissl - the foreign minister in Austria's right wing, nationalist coalition government. Are Europeans finding their authentic voice or is a dangerous brand of populism poisoning politics?

(Photo: Austria's Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl arrives for a cabinet meeting in Vienna, Austria, 2018. Credit: Heinz-Peter Bader/Reuters)

Can Kazakhstan move beyond one party rule? Stephen Sackur talks to the chairman of the Kazakh Senate, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. The country's shiny new capital city, Astana, tells you plenty about the country’s oil wealth and its big ambition to be Central Asia’s regional powerhouse. But all of this cannot mask a nagging question - what happens in this country when the long serving President Nursultan Nazarbayev finally leaves power?

(Photo: Kassym-Jomart Tokayev (L), chairman of the Senate of Kazakhstan's Parliament. Credit: Alexander Shalgin\TASS\Getty Images)

Mary Lou McDonald is the leader of Sinn Féin - the party of Irish Republicans in the Irish Republic and in Northern Ireland. Ireland is going through a period of extraordinary change. Social attitudes have shifted profoundly on abortion, gay rights and the role of the Catholic Church. Now Brexit poses a challenge to the island, north and south. Can Sinn Féin take advantage?

(Photo: Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald after delivering a keynote speech for the first time during the annual party conference. Credit: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

The new Ethiopian government is making dramatic reforms in the country: the state of emergency had been lifted, the military and intelligence chiefs have been replaced and opposition politicians have been released en masse from prison. One of those released is Andargachew Tsege a prominent opposition leader from the organisation Patriotic Ginbot 7. He had been on death row in an Ethiopian jail for four years. Will his group renounce violence and will he go back to Ethiopia to help build the country's future?

(Photo: Andargachew Tsege)

Rodrigo Duterte has been President of the Philippines for two years. His war on drugs has cost thousands of lives, with his human rights record attracting international condemnation, and prompting charges of authoritarianism. Yet he has an approval rating unheard of in most democracies. HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to former Chief Justice of the Philippines- Maria Lourdes Sereno, who was removed from the Supreme Court by her fellow justices. Was that a victory against official corruption or a devastating Duterte-inspired blow to democracy?

(Photo: Ousted Philippine Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno waves to supporters. Credit: Ted Aljibe/AFP)

Stephen Sackur speaks to Abdullah Abdullah, Chief Executive officer of the Afghan unity Government. The Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has ordered an unconditional ceasefire in the army's military campaign against the Taliban. But Afghans can be forgiven for being sceptical. The pause is for just two weeks. The Taliban has given no sign it will respond in kind; and the broader security, economic and political condition of the country remains parlous. Does he and President Ghani have a coherent plan for rescuing Afghanistan?

With Brexit the main preoccupation for politicians in Britain, the opposition Labour Party has announced a shift in policy which would see the UK retaining most of the elements of its current relationship with the EU. It wants Britain to have full access to the single market and stay a member of the customs union. But that does not go far enough for some staunchly pro-EU members of the party who want Britain to stay part of the European Economic Area. HARDtalk’s Zeinab Badawi speaks to Labour MP and prominent EU campaigner Chuka Umunna about challenging the Conservative government and his own Labour Party leadership on Brexit.

Image: Chuka Umunna (Credit: Press Association)

It's hard to imagine how the US-Russia relationship could be any more dysfunctional. Each accuses the other of consistently malign action and intent. 'Worse than the Cold war' was the way it was described by Russia's foreign minister. And yet, the two presidents, Trump and Putin, appear to have some regard for each other. What does it all mean? HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to former US ambassador to Russia, and Obama adviser- Michael McFaul. How deep does the poison in the relationship run?

(Photo: Michael McFaul in the Hardtalk studio)