Washington Post columnist and journalist Jason Rezaian talks about events in Iran, protests, and demands, years spent behind bars in Iran's worst prison, and what could happen to the Iranian regime in an interview for N1.

N1: It has been a month since these protests in Iran started, the death of the late Mahsa Amini started all this. You spent two years in Iran's most notorious prison as a foreign prisoner. So can you explain to our viewers what is happening at this moment, why we lost Mahsa Amini, and also what is happening to those who go against the regime of Ayatollah Khamenei and the Islamic Republic of Iran?

REZAIAN: Well, basically these protests started, as you stated when Mahsa Amini died in custody, she was arrested by what they call the moral police for allegedly not following hijab rules. I say this because throughout the Islamic Republic the rules on women's hijab are enforced, but in very arbitrary ways, not in a very effective or complete way. This woman was arrested, detained, and apparently beaten in custody. When pictures of her lifeless body began to spread on the Internet, people immediately began to take to the streets, protesting against the regime, protesting above all the lack of women's rights. But it spread like wildfire across the country. We don't talk about it much, but in Iran, there are several different ethnic minorities, Kurds, Azeris, and Arab Iranians. All of these groups have felt slighted by the Islamic Republic throughout its 43-year history. There was much tension and resentment over their lack of representation in government. And this is just a manifestation of that. I don't think it will stop.

N1: According to Amnesty International, 144 people have died so far, of those 144, 23 children died during these protests. And the arrests are about 1500. But in reality, we know that these numbers are probably higher than those published by Amnesty International. Could it fuel more protests in the future and even threaten this regime?

REZAIAN: I think so. I think protests in Iran were a part of life even before the Islamic Republic. And they always existed in some form, smaller, larger, sporadic. But right now what we're seeing is protests happening across the country, different classes of people, different nationalities, women, college students, and high school students. I think that when we start to see members of the regime, members of the military, and especially other members of the Revolutionary Guard defecting and starting to protest against the regime, then we will have a situation where one could predict that the regime will fall. I think we are far from that. You have to understand that it is a system that has a very strong government and has control over all the weapons. Iran is not a country like the United States where people can just walk into stores and buy guns, the guns are in the hands of the state. This makes the situation particularly dangerous. But I don't think the protests will stop because the Islamic Republic has no answers to the people's demands.

N1: May I take you back to the period from July 2014 to 2016, January 2016, which you spent in prison Evin in Iran with your wife who was also arrested with you? You said in your latest op-ed in the Washington Post, and I'll quote you: “Even though it's a miserable place and the unfortunate souls who end up there are kept in a state of frozen reality, confused about when, if ever, they'll be released. Every kind of deprivation is possible within its walls. Prisoners are routinely denied system, medication, attention, sleep, and human contact. Not to mention legal representation.” That prison was recently under attack or some sort of attack or accident, several people lost their lives, and several were injured. Can you take us there? I know it's hard for you to talk about it, but can you explain to our viewers how it's been in that place for almost two years?

REZAIAN: I'll tell you, it's a terrible feeling, as I tried to convey in that column this week. It is a prison that is like purgatory. You don't know how long you'll be there. You don't know if you'll ever get out of that place. During the first seven weeks of my detention, I was in solitary confinement. I was threatened with execution every day. They interrogated me tirelessly. Everything was denied to me, I had no idea where my wife was, or what was being done to her. It was a terrible, terrible, terrible place. One which represents a kind of the most repressive manifestation of the Islamic Republic. And yet filled with the best and brightest of Iranian society, intellectuals, artists, journalists, poets, scientists, conservationists, business people, and all kinds of people, who are all there because they dared to oppose the government in one way or another. As excited as I was to see the smoke and flames coming from that building, I was concerned for the safety of the people still inside. And still salty because it's a very dangerous place to be. And then I add something like a fire and a possible prison riot or a battle between guards and prisoners. I can only imagine, they reported eight people dead, I can only imagine it's probably a lot more than that. My heart breaks for those people and their families.