Iranian state media has aired at least 97 confessions from protesters since Dec. 28, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency. The U.S.-based group says testimony it has collected from those released shows these confessions are coerced, often following torture. The group says such coerced confessions can lead to severe consequences, including state executions. The organization also says this pattern of forced confessions has been used repeatedly in Iran but that the number of broadcast confessions since the protests began is unprecedented. Iran executed at least 12 people for espionage in the past six months.

The Kremlin is in talks with French authorities about French scholar Laurent Vinatier, who is serving a three-year sentence in Russia and reportedly faces new espionage charges. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia has made an offer to France regarding Vinatier, arrested last year for collecting military information. Peskov refused to provide details. The French Foreign Ministry had no comment. Vinatier was arrested in June 2024, accused of failing to register as a “foreign agent.” His sentence has been criticized as “extremely severe.” Detentions on similar charges have increased in Russia since the Ukraine invasion.