In June 2009, millions of Iranians took to the streets to protest against what they considered a rigged presidential election. The hardline incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won 62% of the vote. All three defeated candidates disputed the results. The protests gave rise to the 'Green Movement', named after its signature colour, which opposed Ahmadinejad. Journalist Maziar Bahari was accused of being a Western spy and spent 118 days being interrogated in Iran's Evin Prison. He tells Dan Hardoon about the torture he endured. (Photo: Maziar Bahari in 2015. Credit: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images)

Tortured in Iran's Evin Prison

History as told by the people who were there.

History

Society & Culture

In 2001, the American Ana Montes, who was working for the United States Defense Intelligence Agency was arrested for espionage. Although the FBI knew that there was a spy they didn't know who it was. The Cubans always referred to Ana by a man's name. Former FBI agent, Pete Lapp, tells Gill Kearsley the fascinating story of how he and his team tracked down and arrested Ana, who is known as ‘Queen of Cuba’. (Photo: Ana Montes in 2001. Credit: FBI )

When Cuban spy Ana Montes was caught

In the late 1990s, a heavy metal band called Acrassicauda formed in Iraq, when the country was under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein.  Over the next decade, the pioneering band found themselves on a collision course with the dictatorship militants and the west.  The band was able to get inspiration from various bootleg tapes of heavy metal's greatest acts.  Acrassicauda performed under Saddam's regime, but because of censorship restrictions, they had to write a song that praised the dictator.  Johnny I'Anson speaks to bass player, Firas Al-Lateef. (Photo:  Acrassicauda perform in Iraq in 2004. Credit: Getty Images)

Baghdad heavy metal

It's 20 years since elections in French Polynesia in 2004, where the independence movement stunned the France-aligned government of the day, propelling pro-independence leader Oscar Temaru to the presidency.  It was a landmark in the country's politics, where protests against French rule had increased due to the practice of using Polynesian islands for nuclear tests. Antony Geros, who helped lead the independence movement, recounts that night to Lizzy Kinch.  This is a Whistledown production for BBC World Service. (Photo: Antony Geros. Credit: Getty Images)

How nuclear testing changed politics in French Polynesia

On 14 May 1948, the state of Israel was proclaimed. Tears and applause met the declaration, witnessed by 200 dignitaries, but fighting intensified in the days that followed. In 2010, Arieh Handler and Zipporah Porath spoke to Lucy Williamson about that day and its fallout. (Photo: Young Jewish people celebrate the new state. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

The creation of the state of Israel

In 1948, tens of thousands of Palestinians left their homes in the Middle East, never to return.  The period after World War Two in the region was tense, at times violent and politically complex. For Israeli Jews it was finally a chance to build their own nation after the genocide of the Holocaust. But for Arab Palestinian Muslims and Christians it was a time of loss.  Some sold their land, some were evicted - many felt intimidated by the violence and changing demographics.   Rebecca Kesby speaks to Hasan Hammami who was 15-years-old when his family felt ‘pushed out’ of Palestine. The interview was recorded before the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023 and subsequent Israeli military operation. (Photo: Palestinians leaving their homes in 1948. Credit: Getty Images)

Tortured in Iran's Evin Prison

Download our free app to listen on your phone