Families of people killed in the protests in Iran have told the BBC that the authorities are demanding large sums of money to return their bodies for burial.

Multiple sources have told BBC Persian that bodies are being held in mortuaries and hospitals and that security forces will not release them unless their relatives hand over money.

At least 2,435 people have been killed during more than two weeks of protests across the country.

One family in the northern city of Rasht told the BBC that security forces demanded 700 million tomans ($5,000; £3,700) to release the body of their loved one.

It was being held at the Poursina Hospital mortuary, along with at least 70 other dead protesters, they said.

Meanwhile in Tehran, the family of a Kurdish seasonal construction worker went to collect his body, only to be told they must pay a billion tomans ($7,000; £5,200) to receive it.

The family told the BBC that they could not afford the fee and were forced to leave without their son’s body. A construction worker in Iran typically earns less than $100 a month.

In some cases, hospital staff have phoned the relatives of the dead to give them an advance warning to come and get the bodies before security forces can extort any funds.

BBC Persian has been told about a woman – who we are not identifying for her safety – who did not know her husband was killed until she received a phone call on 9 January on his phone from hospital staff.

They told her she should quickly come and collect his body before security forces arrived and demanded payment for its release.

BBC Persian was told about this situation by a London-based relative, who has spoken to her.

The woman then took her two children to the hospital to find her husband’s body. She put it in the back of a pickup truck, and drove for seven hours to their hometown in western Iran to bury him.

“I rode in the back of the pickup truck, crying over his body for seven hours while my children sat in the front seat,” she told her London relative.

BBC Persian has also received reports that officials at Tehran’s Behesht-e Zahra mortuary are telling families that if they claim their child was a member of the Basij paramilitary force and was killed by protesters, the body will be released without charge.

The family member told the BBC in a message: “We were asked to participate in a pro-government rally and portray the body as that of a martyr. We did not agree to this.”

In another case in Tehran, a source told BBC Persian that several families broke into a mortuary to retrieve bodies out of fear they would be taken away by the authorities.

“Several families, fearing that the authorities might keep the bodies or bury them without their knowledge, broke open the morgue door and pulled the bodies out of ambulances,” the source told the BBC.

The families then guarded the bodies for several hours on the ground in the hospital courtyard to prevent them from being taken away until they could find private ambulances to transport them, the source said.

An internet and communications blackout has made it difficult to get a full picture of what is happening on the ground. International human-rights groups have no direct access to the country and, along with other international news organisations, the BBC is not allowed by the Iranian government to report on the ground.

Demonstrations began in the capital, Tehran, on 29 December, following a sharp fall in the value of the Iranian currency against the dollar. As the protests reached dozens of other towns and cities, they turned against Iran’s clerical rulers and security forces launched a violent crackdown.

The protests escalated significantly last Thursday and were met with deadly force by authorities.

According to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), at least 2,435 protesters have been killed since the unrest began, as well as 13 children and 153 people affiliated with the security forces or government. It reports that another 18,470 protesters have been arrested.

Meanwhile, arrests have continued across the country. Security forces and Revolutionary Guard intelligence units have detained activists, lawyers, and ordinary citizens.

Breast cancer patients suffered unnecessary mastectomies, delayed diagnoses and a lack of compassionate care at an NHS Trust in north-east England, the BBC has learned.

More than 200 cases are now being investigated at County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust (CDDFT) – 43 of these are reported to involve significant harm. One death is also being examined.

Women have told us they were left feeling “butchered” by surgery, while a leading expert says that what went on at the trust was “a textbook example of how not to carry out breast cancer management”.

In addition, we discovered that nearly £6m was paid out by the trust to clinics run privately by its main breast cancer surgeon.

In total, medical records of nearly 1,600 patients treated since 2023 are now being examined following concerns about the service the trust offered.

An independent review into the running of CDDFT, carried out by governance specialist Mary Aubrey, has also been published this week. Among the shortcomings it highlights are:

• Outdated clinical practices that did not meet guidance on best practice, and led to delayed diagnosis and cancers being missed
• A high rate of “re-excision” (repeated procedures) and low uptake of breast reconstruction immediately after mastectomy
• Operations that may have been carried out “too quickly”
• Outsourcing of many patient appointments in a manner that created a “conflict of interests” and “posed a risk to clinical standards”

The Aubrey review says “persistent concerns” had been raised since 2012, when the trust lost its status as a training centre for breast surgery services. In the following years, it “failed to act on repeated warnings and evidence… which allowed unsafe and outdated practices to persist”.

CDDFT has apologised to “women and their families who have been harmed because of our substandard care”, and it admits that “over many years, warning signs were repeatedly missed or not acted upon”.

Kate Driver, who is 31 and from Chester-le-Street, is one of several women we spoke to who had been treated by CDDFT’s breast cancer service.

In the run-up to Christmas 2023, Kate found a lump in her right breast. She was referred by her GP to the trust for an appointment with a specialist.

Although this was an NHS appointment, it took place at a private clinic held at Spire Hospital in Washington, where she was seen by Mr Amir Bhatti, the trust’s clinical lead for breast surgery.

He carried out a test known as a fine needle aspiration (FNA), during which a sample of cells is extracted to test for cancer.

What she did not know was that FNA tests are not considered best practice for breast biopsies, because they can produce inadequate samples, and lead to the risk of missed, incomplete or delayed diagnoses.

Kate’s test results were supposed to be provided within 48 hours, according to the trust’s website. In fact, the test was inconclusive, and Kate had to wait several weeks before she was finally told she had breast cancer.

“Waiting so long and having to chase everything up made it a hundred times worse than it needed to be,” says Kate. “I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep. It just made it felt like no-one really cared, no-one was taking it seriously.”

More bad news was to follow. Kate was told she would need a mastectomy, but advised that because of her particular type of cancer, she should not have breast reconstruction at the same time.

“They were going to completely remove my right breast and leave me with nothing, just a big scar,” she says.

Kate sought a second opinion at another trust in Newcastle, where she was told there was no reason why she should not receive a breast reconstruction immediately after her mastectomy. She chose to be treated there instead.

The County Durham and Darlington NHS trust has apologised to Kate saying her care “fell below acceptable standards”.

She made a formal complaint about her treatment by Mr Bhatti, which she says left her traumatised.

Spire Healthcare says that treatment and follow-up care of the clinic’s patients was the responsibility of CDDFT.

Mr Bhatti told us he was unable to comment on specific cases because of patient confidentiality and urged patients to contact the trust directly.

Research from 2024 shows that almost half of women diagnosed with breast cancer at the County Durham trust had a mastectomy. According to 2022 parliamentary evidence given by the charity Breast Cancer Now, the UK average was about 27%.

In addition, only 7.5% of mastectomies carried out by CDDFT were followed by immediate breast reconstruction – far below the national recommended minimum of 25%.

Dawn Gillott is another breast-cancer patient whose treatment at the trust is being investigated.

She told us she had been given no option except mastectomy: “I felt like I didn’t have a choice. It was ‘you’re having this and that’s all there is to it’.”

She says she has been left with a massive scar which has left her feeling “butchered”.

“I can’t look in the mirror at myself after having a bath because the scar is just a constant reminder that it’s horrific.”

The operation has also left Dawn in constant pain across her chest and under her armpit.

“Was my mastectomy necessary?” she reflects. “Maybe it wasn’t. Maybe I could have had a lumpectomy.”

Between 2022 and 2024, more than half of the patients referred to CDDFT for breast cancer tests or urgent investigation were – like Kate – initially sent to one of two private two-week-wait clinics paid for by the NHS.

Amir Bhatti ran these clinics, and he was also a director of one of the companies behind them – Durham Surgical Services.

The companies were paid on a per-patient, or per-appointment, basis – a set-up, the BBC has found, that cost the trust nearly £6m between 2019 and April 2025.

This arrangement was considered “overly generous” by some staff, who were interviewed for a Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) report into treatment and care at the trust, published earlier this year.

The clinics generally worked on an out-of-hours basis, seeing patients in the evenings and at weekends.

The RCS raised concerns about the high turnover of appointments, commenting that it was not unusual for one clinic “to run on until 23:30”.

“Obviously there was an incentive to see as many people as possible because of the per capita payment,” says Prof Ian Fentiman, emeritus professor of surgical oncology at King’s College London.

The BBC has also heard allegations from breast cancer patients about a lack of compassion and care at the trust, in both its clinics and its hospitals.

Catriona McEvoy, from Stanley in County Durham, told us she felt women were being treated by the doctors “like a conveyor belt”.

She says she was shocked by the response from one doctor during a hospital appointment, after she told him her breast had become infected following a lumpectomy.

She says that, without speaking to her, offering her pain killers or asking her permission, the doctor just “flicked his surgical knife” and cut her breast to drain the infected area.

“There was no dignity in any of it,” says Catriona.

We contacted the doctor who Catriona says performed this procedure, but he declined to comment. The trust has told the BBC he is now under supervision.

Serious concerns about the speed and quality of breast surgery were identified in the Royal College of Surgeons’ report. “Some surgical procedures appeared to be undertaken with great swiftness,” it says.

These included a mastectomy and lymph node procedure performed in 28 minutes, and an excision of benign thickened breast tissue in 10 minutes, “which the review team considered to have been unnecessary”.

The RCS also noted “a very high re-excision rate” – in other words, repeat operations.

The RCS review was “an appalling indictment” of a “third-rate” breast clinic service, according to Prof Fentiman. “In every way, things were being done wrongly,” he says.

It followed two other critical reports into the breast care service at CDDFT.

In 2019, an internal NHS Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) report highlighted multiple concerns about breast surgery at CDDFT. The trust’s executive director of nursing, Kathryn Burn told the BBC that the concerns in the report were discussed, but not much action was taken.

The GIRFT report, along with a 2024 review carried out by a team of experts at the Northern Cancer Alliance, was not made public until the BBC made a Freedom of Information request .

“The important thing to do… is to say how deeply sorry I am, that women who have been cared for in our breast services have been let down by us,” says Steve Russell, who was appointed chief executive of County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust in September 2025.

“I can only imagine the distress and pain that has been caused to the individuals and their families and the loss of trust and confidence in us as an organisation.”

“It is true to say that there were a number of missed opportunities. It was not good enough and it is not good enough that we were too slow to act on the information that was there.”

He adds: “I’m determined to make changes so that it doesn’t happen again.”

As well as a new chief executive, a new interim chair of the trust has been appointed. NHS England told us it will “continue to support the new leadership and partner organisations to make the improvements required”.

In a statement, Mr Bhatti said he had been disappointed not to be given the opportunity to comment on the draft findings of the RCS report. He told the BBC it contained “some factual inaccuracies” which he believed led to “erroneous conclusions”.

He also told us that “serving the best interests of all our patients is of paramount importance” and that, when things go wrong, “we learn from this and make the necessary changes and improvements”.

Earlier this year, the trust stopped using the out-of-hours clinics run by Mr Bhatti. He is no longer clinical lead of the breast service, treating breast cancer patients or performing surgery, while investigations continue.

In a statement to the BBC, his spokesperson said: “Mr Bhatti has been raising concerns about the adequacy of equipment in the breast cancer department since May 2021. He looks forward to working with all those involved in any way required.”

If you, or someone you know, has been affected by cancer, BBC Action Line has a list of organisations that may be able to help.

Additional reporting by Ben Milne

Thousands of North Sea oil workers are being told they must lose weight if they are to keep flying offshore – or face losing their jobs.

From November next year, industry body Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) said the maximum clothed weight for a worker heading offshore should be 124.7kg (19.5 st) – so they can be winched to safety in an emergency.

The 249kg (39st) maximum Coastguard rescue helicopter winch load is made up of that figure plus the average 90.3kg (14st) weight of a rescue worker, a 29kg (4.5st) stretcher and the 5kg (0.8st) kit.

OEUK said more than 2,200 workers were currently above the weight limit, and jobs could be lost in the worst case scenario.

One offshore worker, Phil Perry, told BBC Scotland News he was managing to lose weight – but was worried colleagues could lose their employment when the new rules come into force.

The new safe weight limit policy comes after the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) warned that rescue winches – which are critical during offshore emergencies – cannot safely lift heavier people.

OEUK said the average weight of offshore workers had risen by almost 10kg (1.5st) since 2008.

The decision to implement a safe weight limit for offshore workers follows a review by industry experts over the past two-and-a half years.

Rules about shoulder size were previously introduced for workers travelling to and from offshore installations by helicopter.

Passengers with a shoulder width of 22in (56cm) or more were classed as “extra broad” and had to sit next to a similarly large helicopter window, so they could escape.

Phil Perry, 42, from Aberdeen, was 129kg (20st) at one stage – which would have been over the new limit.

He is now 118kg (18.5), and his target weight is 110kg (17st).

Mr Perry said the fear of losing his job was an added motivation to keep his weight down.

“There’s not a lot of people talking about it offshore yet,” he said.

“You’ve kind of got to understand that back in the 70s and the 80s the average person was about 70-odd kilos, it’s obviously going in an upward trend.

“I think you maybe have to do something about that, because you don’t want to be the one stranded there because you’re too heavy to be lifted out.”

Mr Perry said it was possible to be healthy while working on a platform in the North Sea.

“There are a lot of healthy people offshore, there are gyms, you can go for a walk round the helideck, you can be fit there, I think it just comes down to personal mindset of each individual.

“There’s a wide range of fruit and healthy options, but there’s also crisps and sweets which does not help.

“Everybody can lose weight, it’s keeping it off that’s the hard thing. I was one of these people that did these kind of crazy diets, but you can’t keep it off.”

He said he started eating the right foods at the right times, adding: “I started seeing the results.”

He said he “definitely” feared the new rules would lead to job losses.

“It will affect the pool available to go offshore, there’s a lot of us out there, and sadly it’s just the way that it’s going to go, that people will start losing their jobs, which is not good for anybody,” he said.

He added that the onus was on staff themselves, as well as employers, to make a difference.

Graham Skinner, the health and safety manager at OEUK, said it was hoped the new safety policy – as part of a “robust safety culture” – would not lead to job losses, but he could not rule it out.

“That would be the absolute worst-case scenario.

“Employers will have a duty to support their workers through this and try to find reasonable solutions for it, but in the very worst cases that would be the case for some people.”

Mr Skinner described it as “really important” that there was a clear message to the workforce that the new rules were going to come in.

“Hopefully that is the impetus for everyone to get behind the policy and lose weight in time for November next year,” he said.

“There are those who are going to have a real challenge over the next 12 months to lose weight to get under the weight limit.

“There is about 2,270 that are going to have to lose a little bit of weight to make sure they can continue working after November next year.

“At that point an offshore worker who weighs over 124 kg will not get their medical and that will preclude them from getting on a helicopter.”

However, Mr Skinner said they were “really confident” that the “vast majority” of workers were going to get under the weight limit.

He cited the support they would get from their employers, the offshore operators, and the offshore community itself.

“We have already heard of offshore workers who are offering circuit training and gym sessions for workers,” he added.

“So it’s a great opportunity for the community to come together.”

John Boland, the regional officer at the Unite union, said: “We would hope that nobody loses their job through this and there can be support put in to stop that from happening.

“The biggest concerns we have had are from individuals that are naturally larger built and in some cases are extremely fit but are above that actual weight limit.

“Those are discussions we need to have, how we can support those individuals as well.”

The mandatory implementation of the new policy will be from 1 November 2026.

A doctor accused of pouring beer down a younger colleague’s cleavage before licking it off and touching her breasts has been suspended for a year.

Dr Mark Johnson, who was working at West Suffolk Hospital at the time of the incident, also allegedly sent “derogatory and sexually demeaning” messages to another junior colleague.

Some of these messages included comments about the size of his colleague’s breasts, sex positions and oral sex, a tribunal was told.

The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPT) said some of Dr Johnson’s actions constituted sexual harassment and suspended him from practising for 12 months.

During the hearing the General Medical Council (GMC) representative argued Dr Johnson should be banned indefinitely from the profession.

The MPT panel, however, concluded his “conduct was not persistent nor was it a pattern of predatory behaviour” and that he was “capable of remediation”.

Dr Johnson joined West Suffolk Hospital as a consultant in 2013, before leaving 10 years later following disciplinary proceedings.

The panel heard he sent sexual and inappropriate messages to a junior colleague about other colleagues between November 2018 and November 2019.

During a work Christmas party in December 2022, Dr Johnson moved his hand up and down a colleague’s back, blew smoke from a vape in her face and kissed her.

Then he was said to have tipped some of his drink onto the junior colleague’s cleavage before licking it from her skin.

The GMC suggested this was “a grave violation” of her “dignity”, while the MPT said his actions were “sexually motivated and constituted sexual harassment”.

The MPT ruled the conduct of Dr Johnson, who is now employed at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, was “inherently serious, deliberate, and sexually motivated”.

While it concluded his fitness to practise was impaired, it said he had “developed meaningful insight” and “embedded sustainable behavioural change”.

Dr Richard Goodwin, the medical director at West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We referred Dr Johnson to the GMC following an internal process, prompted by reports of potential sexual misconduct.

“We’re committed to eradicating sexual harassment and abuse in the workplace by promoting a culture that fosters openness and transparency, and never tolerates unwanted, harmful or inappropriate sexual behaviours.”

The Royal Sussex County Hospital has been contacted for comment.