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The Slow Newscast

Londongrad: Iran’s Hit Squads

Season 1, Ep. 202

Towards the end of last year the Director General of MI5, Ken McCallum, warned that the security services knew of at least ten attempts to kidnap or kill UK-based enemies of the regime in Iran. That number is now even higher. Paul Caruana Galizia investigates why Iran wants to silence its critics on the streets of London. 


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