China-Linked Tech Powers Iran’s Protest Surveillance (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: During the protests you might have seen these videos emerge of protesters climbing up and dismantling these security cameras. Experts have told me that Chinese companies have helped Iran build this incredibly complex surveillance infrastructure over the last few years. That's in the form of big data, of facial recognition, of AI technology. Iran's widespread protests have largely died down thanks to this very violent crackdown from the Iranian authorities. But even with this continued internet blackout I've been speaking to people inside the country and outside who have taken part in these protests and have told me that even days or weeks afterwards the Iranian authorities are hunting people down and arresting them. One person sent me this video of a drone flying over Tehran and saying that the city is crawling with drones right now making them very afraid to leave the house. So there are companies like Hikvision and like TND which is sanctioned in the US that is providing drone and surveillance technology for the Iranian authorities and that's making it easier than ever for them to track and repress protesters. In 2021 Beijing and Tehran signed this cooperation agreement for 25 years and it seems like that collaboration is continuing. Iran has previously sourced surveillance technology from other countries as well but China is seen as the world leader in surveillance technology and they've used it to crack down on sensitive peoples and minorities including the Uyghurs in Xinjiang and now they're exporting this technology to places like Israel in the West Bank to Ethiopia to Myanmar and to Iran. The Chinese government have repeatedly said that they maintain normal trade relations with all countries and that no other state has the right to intervene in these security partnerships. During the recent uprising the Chinese foreign ministry has said that they hope Iran's government will overcome difficulties and uphold stability.