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The Fifth Floor

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Global stories from the BBC’s 40 Language Services, with Faranak Amidi

Faranak Amidi presents global stories from the Fifth Floor, home to the BBC’s 40 Language Services.

Faranak Amidi presents global stories from the Fifth Floor, home to the BBC’s 40 Language Services

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The Fifth Floor: Life in a Kurdish military camp

Documentaries

Trainee graduating at Komala training camp, Iraqi Kurdistan

05/03/2021 GMT

Life in a Kurdish military camp

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, Life in a Kurdish military camp

The Iranian Kurds risking death to train as Peshmerga fighters with Komala

The Iranian Kurds risking death to cross into Iraqi Kurdistan, and train as Peshmerga fighters in the Komala military training camps.

BBC Arabic's Namak Khoshnaw was given unfettered access to film in a military camp of Komala, the Revolutionary Party of Iranian Kurdistan, in Iraqi Kurdistan for his film Escape from Iran. Komala has become a magnet for young Iranian Kurds prepared to risk everything to leave their homeland and train as Peshmerga fighters. We find out about the challenges of filming it, the people fleeing Iran, and the memories it brought back for Namak, himself a former refugee.  

Reciting the Koran
Nourin Mohamed Siddig was a Nigerian Koranic reciter who died recently. He found popularity on social media and sang in a unique African style, rather than the more usual Middle Eastern way. We hear from Ahmed Ambali of BBC Yoruba and Reem Fatthelbab of BBC Arabic, about the different ways of singing the Koran and why it’s important to keep them. 

Selling the Amazon 
A wealthy farmer, looking for investment opportunities in the Amazon. That was BBC Brazil’s Joao Fellet's assumed identity for almost a year, after he discovered “traders” illegally selling rainforest plots on Facebook Marketplace. From Sao Paulo to the Amazon, to Brazil's Supreme Court, Joao shares the “behind the scenes” of his epic report.

Russian prison colonies
Notorious Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has been sentenced to 2 years imprisonment and it's rumoured he may spend them in penal colony ‘Number 2’. Oleg Boldyrev of BBC Russian explains the differences between prison and penal colonies, and what life in a penal colony might entail. 


Image: Trainee graduating at Komala training camp, Iraqi Kurdistan
Credit: BBC

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