The Australian defence force should consider formally acknowledging and commemorating military personnel whose service causes wounds or costs their lives away from the battlefield, according to a man who has heard their harrowing stories of trauma and loss.

The chief commissioner for the royal commission into defence and veterans’ suicide, Nick Kaldas, has told Guardian Australia he believes there is merit in formally recognising the service and suffering of those whose lives have been damaged by their service but whose wounds were not caused in battle.

In an interview ahead of Anzac Day, Kaldas proposes what he describes as a “recognition device that acknowledges a loss of life and wounds or injuries sustained by ADF members and which encumber the family and or individual”. “[It’s] a permanent loss to be endured by them for life and that perhaps ought to be recognised,” he says.

Kaldas acknowledges such a recommendation may be outside the commission’s charter.

“But it is something that many people have said to us: that there ought to be more recognition of those who have not necessarily fought in a war but have suffered grievously in some other way.”

In what Kaldas describes as a startling realisation, it emerged from evidence to the commission that most of those who take their own lives during or after their military service have never actually been to war.

“There are factors in service that cause suicidality to occur that are not related to battle,” he says. “And it’s important to address those – just as important as addressing the factors that may come out of a battle.”

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With the royal commission’s public hearings now complete and private sessions reaching their conclusion ahead of the preparation of a final report due in September, Kaldas is reflecting on what the process has achieved and what remains to be done.

He welcomes the acknowledgment of the service chiefs and the chief of the defence force, Gen Angus Campbell, that suicide can be linked to service.

“It is now undeniable and therefore must be dealt with,” he says.

The commissioner has already used his interim report to urge the government to establish a permanent body to monitor progress in reducing deaths by suicide and addressing trauma. He is now warning more directly of the risk of a lack of vigilance.

“The dilemma is that there have been nearly 60 inquiries preceding us – nearly 800 recommendations,” he says. “But the dial hasn’t shifted, and you cannot keep doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the result to come out different. So for us … [having] someone who’s watching this – base reporting publicly, frankly, perhaps embarrassing government in its various forms into action – is going to be essential.”

Kaldas welcomes the recent assurance from Campbell, who retires mid-year, that the defence leadership is committed to being accountable for the suicide rate among serving and former personnel. But he is blunt about what accountability – and responsibility – must mean. And he insists it is “missing in the ADF”.

“That’s individuals in very senior positions who accept the fact that they are responsible for what happens or does not happen,” he says. “The reason these problems exist is that there is not enough of an emphasis on individuals having the torch to their belly about what happens on their watch.”

Kaldas wants defence chiefs required to report regularly on their progress in reducing the incidence of death by suicide and to face consequences for failing to improve it.

“There’s no metric that requires the chief of a service or the chief of the defence force to report against that. Is it going up or down? What are the outcomes that are coming out of it? Are they being dealt with in an expeditious way?”

He says delays in investigating and resolving complaints are contributing to the situation.

“If you have a piano hanging over your head for two years, you can’t help but feel unwell,” he says.

The former New South Wales deputy police chief and United Nations investigator accuses the defence hierarchy and government above it of being more focused on equipment than the people who operate it.

“Frankly, a lot of it is more about submarines and machine guns and whether they’re ready to go,” he says. “And they are very important issues that should be addressed. All the reviews that have been done of our defence force have addressed more clearly the issue of operational readiness but I don’t think they adequately address and consider the human factor. The people who make these machines work – if they’re not well, if they’re not happy coming to work every day, then problems will arise.”

He pays tribute to those who, having suffered trauma and loss, have found the strength to testify and explain what happened.

“They found it in their heart to get out of the house, put their hand up and come and talk to us, sometimes in public, sometimes in private,” he says. “But we could not have done what we needed to do without hearing from them. All I can do is commend them and thank them for their courage.”

He hopes, at the very least, the nation can do the same.

Few Australians will know the story of the Cumberland brothers.

Perhaps this is because it is mostly a story about loss: for a tight-knit family, for an older sister and for a community near Scone, New South Wales, left reeling.

But there is this great quote from Joseph Cumberland, the 20-year-old from Satur, in the Upper Hunter Valley.

“Joe said ‘If one boy were to go to war from every family they’d have a big army, and if two of us go, our family will be doing more than our share’,” the curator of private records at the Australian War Memorial, Dr Bryce Abraham, says.

The Cumberland brothers would go on to do more than their fair share.

A remarkable story

On 31 August 1914, a month after the first world war broke out, Joe – the younger Cumberland brother – enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force and was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, leaving his railway job behind.

Within a fortnight of the declaration of war, young troops were recruited from NSW and underwent months of training before they were sent off – travelling through Albany in Western Australia, to Colombo in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) and across to Egypt by December 1914.

Oliver Cumberland, the older of the pair, was a local labourer and stockman. He could not let his younger brother go to war alone.

The day before the 2nd Battalion left, he just got in, writing about it to his eldest sister, Una.

Just a line to let you know that I am going away with Joe, he met me at the station and took me out to the camp and I got in by the skin of my teeth.

Una, I cannot tell you how sorry I am to go away without having a few days with you but we sail tomorrow so there is no hope of seeing you again before I go. But I know Una that in your heart you won’t blame me. I could not see Joe go alone and remain behind myself and I think it will be better now we are together. I promise you I will never leave Joe wounded on the field whilst I have the strength to carry him off and I know he will do the same for me.

The brothers were the youngest boys of 10 children. “They had two elder brothers, two older sisters, one sister in between them and two younger sisters as well,” Abraham says.

“Their mother died in the 1900s, so Una had quite a role in raising them. You can see in [the letters] them referring to her as mum sometimes, which is quite sweet.”

Separately, historian Meghan Adams, explains that the boys’ father died just before the outbreak of the war. “So by the time the two brothers enlisted and went to war, they just had their siblings,” Adams says.

“It’s a really sad story and a lot of loss for the Cumberland family in a short period of time.”

Pyramids to the frontline

Oliver and I are in the best of health … we are camped under the pyramids … they are marvellous!

It was a photograph of the two brothers sitting on camels in front of the pyramids that led Adams to discover their letters. “I was just incredibly moved by this story,” she says.

The Australian War Memorial’s collection stores nearly a dozen letters of Joe and Oliver Cumberland, mostly addressed to their sister Una, which Adams and Abrahams have both studied extensively.

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Even as the chaos and carnage of the war revealed itself, Joe and Oliver tried to be optimistic in their writing to not worry loved ones at home, Abraham explains, especially at the beginning, when their sense of adventure was ripe.

In one letter, Abrahams recalls Joe asking Una if she can use their pay to fix their younger sister’s teeth, but as training in Cairo wrapped up, Joe’s tone shifted:

80,000 Turks are advancing on the Suez Canal and next week we are about to leave here to meet them … you never know what is going to happen to Oliver or I so don’t let it upset any of you too much … you must remember that thousands of sisters are losing their brothers daily and if the boys are prepared to die fighting for their country I reckon their sisters ought to be prepared to give them up if need be, when they know they are dying for a noble cause.

Why we remember

Just before dawn, the Cumberland brothers went ashore at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915.

“Well before the first allied soldiers waded ashore … the Turkish defences had been heavily fortified and their troops – disciplined and well dug in, high up on the peninsula’s precipitous ridges –reinforced six times over.”

Charging enemy lines, Oliver was wounded by a bullet to the thigh and evacuated to a hospital in Cairo. It is during his recovery that he finds out his younger brother has died from wounds, also sustained at Gallipoli.

[Una] If you have not already heard it- poor Joe is gone- he died of wounds in Alexandria hospital on the 5th of May. I did not know until just yesterday, I went to headquarters offices in Cairo and saw the list of killed and wounded. I had been very anxious wondering where he was and when I saw the list I did not know what to do. I wandered about the streets nearly mad, I felt so lonely …

In June 1915, Oliver returned to the Gallipoli peninsula. He fought in an offensive designed as a diversion for Anzac units fighting at Chunuk Bair and Hill 917.

The last letter from Oliver to Una was on 26 July 1915, two weeks before he was probably killed, Abraham says.

A court of inquiry in 1916 ruled Oliver Cumberland died while fighting at the battle of Lone Pine on 8 August 1915. His identity disk and remains were found buried in an old trench.

Of the 4,600 Australians who fought there, 2,277 were killed or wounded.

“So often we get caught up in the numbers and the stats … these are all people with lives, with ambition, and you can see that in these letters,” Abraham says.

Joe’s final resting place is at Chatby Military and War Memorial Cemetery in Alexandria. Oliver is buried at Lone Pine Cemetery at Gallipoli.

“When we’re coming towards Anzac Day and we’re thinking about the meaning of that day … I think these kinds of stories are so important,” Adams says.

“It’s the individual stories [but also] these families and these communities that are so impacted by the first world war. That’s why we have Anzac Day and that’s why we remember.”

Bullying and harassment “are normalised” in some sections of the Australian Border Force according to a damning report suggesting cultural issues are not confined to its marine unit.

The Australian Human Rights Commission’s Respect@Work report for the ABF concluded that “gender inequality persists in the ABF, creating unsafe work environments for some women”.

On Wednesday Guardian Australia revealed a secret AHRC report on the ABF’s marine unit had found that 100% of women who responded to a survey “witnessed sex discrimination, sexual … and/or sex-based harassment” and 78% had personally experienced that behaviour.

A broader Respect@Work report on the ABF, a summary of which has been seen by Guardian Australia, also details “examples of potentially unlawful conduct or inappropriate behaviour raised by ABF officers”.

These included alleged sexual discrimination, such as:

• Comments from a team leader about wanting to “get rid of all his part-time workers” who were all women;

• misogynistic and belittling comments by a male supervisor to a female officer to the effect that she belonged in the kitchen;

• a female officer constantly told to smile while working on sensitive issues;

• co-workers withholding information from a pregnant officer on the basis that she was not going to be around;

• leaders commenting that some women are not suitable for certain roles because of their childcare responsibilities.

Alleged sexual harassment uncovered included: sexual images sent to female officers by a male officer, sexual innuendo seen as “banter” as commonplace in some teams, and “a senior male leader sending multiple junior female officers numerous, unwelcome personal messages and calls after hours”.

The report also warned of “bullying and other discriminatory conduct” such as “yelling, screaming and belittling behaviours by high-ranking officers” and “use of discriminatory language directed at clients from specific nationalities”.

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The AHRC Respect@Work report was based on 30 focus groups with 143 participants, 29 interviews and workshops with 45 participants across a range of ABF groups including customs, detention management, maritime border command, and regional and remote operations.

“Some ABF officers expressed limited confidence in senior leadership’s ability or desire to address unlawful or inappropriate conduct,” the report said.

“They noted that consistent, visible action was needed, and that one‐off communication of expected behavioural standards is ineffective.”

In a section on culture, the report noted a “lack of consistency by senior leaders and people leaders [at the APS 4‐6 levels and EL1 and 2 levels] in setting standards expected in the workplace and in taking action to address unlawful conduct and other inappropriate behaviours”.

Despite some examples of “positive leadership”, the report also heard complaints of “a lack of leadership action and accountability in response to unlawful and inappropriate behaviour, with a tendency to ‘sweep matters under the carpet’ and leave officers to deal with their own matters” and that “individuals who engaged in unlawful or inappropriate conduct, including sexual harassment, were allowed to behave inappropriately without consequences”.

The AHRC found that “reporting options are perceived as unsafe, lacking confidentiality and lengthy, discouraging officers from reporting”.

“Fear of victimisation was raised as a further barrier to reporting.

“Officers spoke of negative career impacts and retaliation such as unfavourable rostering and reputational damage.”

“Women officers reporting sexual harassment spoke of facing dismissal of their allegations based on supposed ‘he said, she said’ scenarios, highlighting that reporting can lead to judgment and a lack of empathy towards those reporting.”

Officers also complained of “a relatively high threshold” for formal sanctions and “a perception that current processes focus on individual incidents and not prior … or [a] series of incidents, which may highlight patterns of behaviour”.

The AHRC recommended the ABF develop “a monitoring and evaluation framework … to understand the prevalence of unlawful conduct and inappropriate behaviours”.

It also called for reporting systems to be redesigned “for a person-centred and trauma-informed practice”.

The Community and Public Sector Union national secretary, Melissa Donnelly, said the cultural issues “are deeply concerning, but not surprising”.

Donnelly said her members had been “working for years to raise and address issues that were allowed to fester and grow” but were “largely ignored or silenced”.

“Our members are relieved to see new leadership no longer turning a blind eye to the issues that plague their workplaces and compromise their safety.

“The union understands that this investigation is the first of many that will occur as the Department of Home Affairs works to address deeply entrenched cultural issues.”

Both the Respect@Work report and deep dive into the marine unit were produced by the AHRC as part of a five-year partnership with the ABF, which the commissioner, Michael Outram, said he had “proactively commissioned” in April 2022.

Outram responded to the reports by telling staff the reported behaviours were “confronting and disturbing and run counter to our ABF values”.

Outram has accepted all 42 recommendations of the reports and promised a “detailed implementation plan”.

“I am resolutely committed to working with the AHRC to establish ABF as an exemplar in providing a safe, equitable, diverse and inclusive culture and workplace,” he told Guardian Australia.

The home affairs minister, Clare O’Neil, said she “shared the commissioner’s concerns with the findings of the report and note the ABF has accepted all recommendations”.

A 73-year-old feud plagues Bendigo, Wagga Wagga and Bathurst. It strains diplomatic ties, haunts their politicians and at times brings their very sense of identity into question.

Who gets to claim rightful ownership of the Chiko Roll?

Now, a giant golden sculpture paying tribute to the savoury snack has reignited the war.

Artist Chris Roe likes to play on history and Australian icons with his pop art, and his two-metre tall Chiko Roll is among a series of apocalyptic paintings on display at his Rogue Thoughts exhibit in Wagga Wagga until the end of the week.

“I came up with this idea of doing a giant Chiko Roll because Wagga claims to be the birthplace and, weirdly, it is a part of our story,” he says.

But it is part of Bendigo’s and Bathurst’s stories too.

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A boilermaker from Bendigo, Frank McEnroe, launched the Chiko Roll at the Wagga Wagga Show in 1951. Encased in a thick, deep-fried skin of pastry, the cabbage, barley, vegetable and beef-filled creation spread in popularity across Australia.

More than seven decades later, Bathurst is challenging Wagga and Bendigo’s claim to the Chiko legacy.

“I think it is generally accepted everywhere outside of Wagga and Bendigo that the home of the Chiko Roll is in Bathurst,” says the federal member for Calare, Andrew Gee.

A sign at the Simplot factory in Bathurst, where the snack is now manufactured, does indeed declare it to be “the home of the Chiko Roll”.

“I admire Chris’s artistry. I admire his commitment to this Australian icon … but the giant Chiko Roll really needs to make the journey home,” Gee says.

But former deputy prime minister Michael McCormack, the Wagga-based member for the Riverina, dismisses Bathurst’s case as “rubbish”.

“Sure, Frank McEnroe thought it up in Bendigo. Yes, it is now manufactured and processed at Bathurst. But its home is Wagga Wagga,” McCormack says.

“It’s not about where you were conceived – most people wouldn’t even know where they were conceived – and it’s not about where you end up. It’s about where you were born. That is what is on your birth certificate.”

According to McCormack, “the Chiko Roll was born here”.

“Bathurst can borrow it but they can’t have it, because it belongs to Wagga Wagga.”

Described as “a giant phallus,” Roe’s 2m-tall Chiko Roll is built around two inflatable punching bags, covered by a layer of felt with purposely placed wrinkles “so it gets that Chiko-texture,” then painted with several layers of liquid latex.

The Chiko wrapping was printed on to banners, which Roe Photoshopped to include Chinese script “paying homage to the fact the [Chiko Roll] is essentially cultural appropriation, taking a spring roll and making it our own”.

Roe has declared Wagga Wagga his sculpture’s home. Bathurst, where the Chiko Roll is now made, “doesn’t really have anything to prove,” he says.

Bendigo, where the McEnroe family remain, is “quite comfortable with their history as a point of origin”. But for Wagga, “we seem to be clinging desperately to the idea of this Australian icon belonging to our town”.

He is, however, willing to extend an olive branch and tour his giant Chiko Roll to the warring cities.

The feud is “a very Australian thing to get upset about”, Roe says.

“Australia likes to boast about things, and we love big things,” he adds – notably the Big Prawn and Big Banana.

“It says something about Australia’s view of itself, and the way we put ourselves down and are just a little bit uncomfortable with our identity,” Roe says. “So I like the fact we can sort of play up on that debate through an artwork.”

A 73-year-old feud plagues Bendigo, Wagga Wagga and Bathurst. It strains diplomatic ties, haunts their politicians and at times brings their very sense of identity into question.

Who gets to claim rightful ownership of the Chiko Roll?

Now, a giant golden sculpture paying tribute to the savoury snack has reignited the war.

Artist Chris Roe likes to play on history and Australian icons with his pop art, and his two-metre tall Chiko Roll is among a series of apocalyptic paintings on display at his Rogue Thoughts exhibit in Wagga Wagga until the end of the week.

“I came up with this idea of doing a giant Chiko Roll because Wagga claims to be the birthplace and, weirdly, it is a part of our story,” he says.

But it is part of Bendigo’s and Bathurst’s stories too.

• Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning

A boilermaker from Bendigo, Frank McEnroe, launched the Chiko Roll at the Wagga Wagga Show in 1951. Encased in a thick, deep-fried skin of pastry, the cabbage, barley, vegetable and beef-filled creation spread in popularity across Australia.

More than seven decades later, Bathurst is challenging Wagga and Bendigo’s claim to the Chiko legacy.

“I think it is generally accepted everywhere outside of Wagga and Bendigo that the home of the Chiko Roll is in Bathurst,” says the federal member for Calare, Andrew Gee.

A sign at the Simplot factory in Bathurst, where the snack is now manufactured, does indeed declare it to be “the home of the Chiko Roll”.

“I admire Chris’s artistry. I admire his commitment to this Australian icon … but the giant Chiko Roll really needs to make the journey home,” Gee says.

But former deputy prime minister Michael McCormack, the Wagga-based member for the Riverina, dismisses Bathurst’s case as “rubbish”.

“Sure, Frank McEnroe thought it up in Bendigo. Yes, it is now manufactured and processed at Bathurst. But its home is Wagga Wagga,” McCormack says.

“It’s not about where you were conceived – most people wouldn’t even know where they were conceived – and it’s not about where you end up. It’s about where you were born. That is what is on your birth certificate.”

According to McCormack, “the Chiko Roll was born here”.

“Bathurst can borrow it but they can’t have it, because it belongs to Wagga Wagga.”

Described as “a giant phallus,” Roe’s 2m-tall Chiko Roll is built around two inflatable punching bags, covered by a layer of felt with purposely placed wrinkles “so it gets that Chiko-texture,” then painted with several layers of liquid latex.

The Chiko wrapping was printed on to banners, which Roe Photoshopped to include Chinese script “paying homage to the fact the [Chiko Roll] is essentially cultural appropriation, taking a spring roll and making it our own”.

Roe has declared Wagga Wagga his sculpture’s home. Bathurst, where the Chiko Roll is now made, “doesn’t really have anything to prove,” he says.

Bendigo, where the McEnroe family remain, is “quite comfortable with their history as a point of origin”. But for Wagga, “we seem to be clinging desperately to the idea of this Australian icon belonging to our town”.

He is, however, willing to extend an olive branch and tour his giant Chiko Roll to the warring cities.

The feud is “a very Australian thing to get upset about”, Roe says.

“Australia likes to boast about things, and we love big things,” he adds – notably the Big Prawn and Big Banana.

“It says something about Australia’s view of itself, and the way we put ourselves down and are just a little bit uncomfortable with our identity,” Roe says. “So I like the fact we can sort of play up on that debate through an artwork.”

The assistant treasurer, Stephen Jones, has argued it would be “anti-democratic” for Facebook to again remove news content from Australian feeds, in the dispute over the government’s news media bargaining code, as he flagged a commitment for mainstream media outlets to be paid fairly by the social media companies.

Jones said the Albanese government would “back local journalism”, stressing his belief that Australians should be able to access news content on social media – and that outlets should be compensated.

“I think there’s no doubt that if they [social platforms] are using and deriving value from news content, they should pay for it,” Jones said.

Meta announced in March it would not sign new deals to pay for news in Australia for use on Facebook, alongside plans to shut down its news tab in Australia and the US. Current contracts with major news outlets are due to expire this year.

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At the time, the company downplayed the value of news to its services, stating less than 3% of Facebook usage in Australia was related to news. Meta later said “global tech companies cannot solve the longstanding issues facing the news industry”.

The federal government has since faced calls to designate Meta under the news media bargaining code, which would force the company to negotiate with news media publishers and pay for news content on its platforms, or face fines of 10% of its annual Australian revenue.

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young this week urged the government designate Meta, X and TikTok under the code.

Jones is awaiting advice from treasury and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission about the effect of changes on news outlets and the social platforms.

Some news outlets have used the funds from deals with Facebook to hire more staff, expand their offerings, or invest in new resources. There is concern in media industry circles that an end to such deals may see news outlets scale back their work or cut jobs.

Asked about Meta’s statements of deriving little value from news in Australia, Jones indicated he was committed to reaching an outcome that would see media outlets compensated.

“Meta quotes the number of about 2% of their traffic is news. That may be true, it may not be true … it’s still 2% of a very large number, and that is relevant,” he said.

Jones said there was a “strict process” on the media bargaining code, which he was following “to the letter”. He said he’d written to major news publishers asking them to cooperate with the ACCC process.

“I want to understand the situation with each of them, under the existing agreements, and the consequences of Meta not agreeing to continue with commercial agreements,” he said.

Meta’s Australian office was contacted for comment.

Jones said social media companies had a “social responsibility”, including to carrying news on their platforms.

“There needs to be a place where people can go and get fact-tested, reliable information. In Australia, journalism is one of the critical sources of that information,” Jones said.

“If people are going to Facebook or other social media platforms for that information, then they should be able to get it there.”

Michelle Rowland, the federal communications minister, said on Wednesday she was confident the government would “get a result” in the code negotiations.

Harrowing first-hand accounts of women being dragged from the streets of Iran and detained by security services have emerged as human rights groups say country’s hijab rules have been brutally enforced since the country’s drone strikes on Israel on 13 April.

A new campaign, called Noor (“light” in Persian), was announced the same day the Iranian regime launched drone attacks against Israel, to crack down on “violations” of the country’s draconian hijab rules, which dictate that all women must cover their heads in public.

Hours later, videos verified by human rights groups showing women and girls being forcefully arrested by agents of the notorious Gasht-e-Irshad (“morality police”) flooded social media along with stories of beatings and assault.

One mother and daughter walking through a busy Tehran square were surrounded by five chador-clad female agents and two male agents, who hurled insults and accusations before they grabbed the women. When they resisted arrest, they were violently dragged into the van, a source close to the family said.

Dina Ghalibaf, a student at Tehran’s Shahid Beheshti University and was among the first to tweet about a confrontation. On her now suspended X (formerly Twitter) account, she said: “Yesterday in the police room of Sadeghiyeh metro station, I insisted that I had the right to use the metro as a citizen and a taxpayer. But then, they violently dragged me into a room and Tasered me. They handcuffed me and one of the officers sexually assaulted me.”

A day after her post, she was reportedly arrested and transferred to the notorious Evin prison. The state judiciary’s Mizan news agency announced that Ghalibaf will face legal action and refuted her allegations of sexual assault.

However, jailed Nobel peace prize laureate Narges Mohammadi sent a voice message – published by relatives on Instagram – about Ghalibaf’s visible bruises. In the post, she urged Iranian women to share their stories of arrest and sexual assault at the hands of the security forces.

The Guardian spoke to the families of two women who were arrested last week and three women who were arrested by the Gasht-e-Irshad. One young woman from Tehran said: “Around eight agents surrounded me on Saturday and started screaming at me. They hurl insults like ‘whore’, ‘naked America-loving slut’ – all while kicking me in the legs, stomach and everywhere. They don’t care where they hit you.”

Another woman said: “Both women and men touch our bodies during arrests. They say they’re religious and loyal Muslims, but don’t care if the male agents touch our bodies, which is supposedly forbidden for them to do. There were around six evil women agents and three of them attacked me. Two of them held my hands [behind] my back and one of them tried to throw me into the white van. Two male agents then violently grabbed my arms and pushed me into the van. While in the van, they were verbally abusing us and took five or six of us – arrested for hijab – to the detention centre in Gisha.”

The woman added that at the detention centre she saw about 40 detained women. After spending more than five hours in detention, where they were subjected to insults and beatings, some of the women were released.

A family member told the Guardian: “My mother was kicked in her legs, and now has bruises and long lasting injuries to her legs. During her arrest, the agents called her ‘ugly’, ‘old dog’ and a ‘crone’, and continued hitting her.”

The Guardian has seen pictures of at least two women who showed signs of violent attacks, which they say occurred during their detention last week. Since nationwide protests gripped Iran after the death in custody of the 22-year-old Kurdish woman Jina Mahsa Amini, independent human rights organisations and the UN fact-finding mission on Iran have investigated cases of rape and sexual assault of protesters, concluding that the Iranian regime committed crimes against humanity.

Speaking on the continued repression, Shabnam, a student, said: “In and around Valiasr Square there’s always police present. It’s not just ‘morality police’ or hijab bans, even the traffic police have joined hands in making our lives hell. They stop motorcycles, cars, taxis … wherever they find women driving or seated without a hijab. Some get fined, some have their vehicles confiscated and others get away with a warning but later receive an SMS that they need to come and surrender their vehicle because they’ve defied hijab rules. Many of my friends have received these SMSs.”

Masih Alinejad, an Iranian-American journalist, has launched the United Against Gender Apartheid campaign in collaboration with Iranian and Afghan activists to urge the international community to codify gender apartheid.

“I want the free world to hear the tragic stories of women who experienced gender discrimination in Iran and Afghanistan in a united movement,” she said.

Kosar Eftekhari, a 24-year-old artist was blinded by the security forces during protests and has now joined other women to speak up. “I was arrested eight times by the ‘morality police’ – the Islamic Republic took my eyesight simply for being unveiled,” said Eftekhari, urging world leaders to recognise and classify the Islamic Republic as a gender apartheid regime.

The “chastity and hijab bill” was sent back to the Iranian parliament by the country’s Guardian Council in October 2023 for further clarifications of “vague” terms. Human rights activists fear women could face longer jail terms and the harshest punishments when the law is implemented.

An Iranian student said: “There are hijab ‘protectors’ swarming and stationed almost permanently in the Shahr and Enghelab theatre subway. There’s no escaping them and I want the world to know.

“We are not going anywhere, there’s no wearing of hijab or following the rules of this regime. We boycotted the elections and we won’t stop.”

The Australian federal police are conducting an internal review to determine whether any officers leaked material or otherwise breached professional standards in handling evidence obtained for the criminal investigation and rape trial of the former ministerial adviser Bruce Lehrmann.

The AFP commissioner, Reece Kershaw, told the National Press Club on Wednesday that an examination of those processes was under way.

“We are reviewing that material and that case as we speak,” Kershaw said.

He was responding to a question about the leaking of personal text messages from the phone of Brittany Higgins, Lehrmann’s former colleague who accused him of having raped her in their ministerial office at Parliament House in 2019, and whether action might be taken against anyone as a result of the leak.

“Without me getting technical, there is not an investigation,” Kershaw continued. “But reviewing the material to see if there is a threshold for an investigation.”

The private messages had been part of an evidence brief for Lehrmann’s criminal trial but were never tendered in court. In separate civil defamation proceedings recently concluded in the federal court, in which Lehrmann was found on the balance of probabilities to have raped Higgins, Lehrmann was accused of leaking material from the evidence brief to the Seven Network’s Spotlight program.

It is alleged in the case that the leak breached a rule, known as the Harman principle and laid out in a high court judgment from a 2008 case, Hearne v Street. The principle specifies that evidence provided under compulsion by the court for one set of legal proceedings cannot be used for any other purpose.

Lehrmann has always denied the rape allegation and pleaded not guilty at the criminal trial of the matter.

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Guardian Australia understands the review to which Kershaw referred is an internal AFP review to examine whether any police officer breached professional standards in the handling of evidence relating to the Lehrmann prosecution. This follows allegations levelled against police after the criminal trial, which collapsed due to juror misconduct and was discontinued out of concern for Higgins’ mental health.

An internal AFP professional standards review is a separate process from any investigation of allegations that other people may have leaked confidential material in relation to the Higgins-Lehrmann matter.

The AFP said it would offer no further comment.

In his ruling on Lehrmann’s defamation action against Network Ten and its former presenter Lisa Wikinson, the federal court justice Michael Lee said he was “comfortably satisfied” Lehrmann had lied about his role in leaking text messages between Higgins and others to Seven’s Spotlight program.

“Consistently with the instructions provided to his lawyers, Mr Lehrmann gave evidence during the trial to the effect that he did not give documents to the Seven Network, he just gave an interview,” Lee said.

“As I explained at the trial, I am not some sort of roving law enforcement official, and if any issue concerning an alleged breach of the Hearne v Street obligation is to be pursued in relation to anyone, it will not be by me, and it will not be by this court.”

Breaching the Harman principle could lead to a charge of contempt of court if a person gives those documents to people outside of the case “without reasonable excuse”, a spokesperson for the ACT’s justice agency said.

The decision over whether to investigate Lehrmann for any potential contempt of court now lies with the ACT director of public prosecutions, whose office made the decision to discontinue the rape prosecution in 2022.

Guardian Australia has contacted the ACT DPP for comment.

The Australian federal police are conducting an internal review to determine whether any officers leaked material or otherwise breached professional standards in handling evidence obtained for the criminal investigation and rape trial of the former ministerial adviser Bruce Lehrmann.

The AFP commissioner, Reece Kershaw, told the National Press Club on Wednesday that an examination of those processes was under way.

“We are reviewing that material and that case as we speak,” Kershaw said.

He was responding to a question about the leaking of personal text messages from the phone of Brittany Higgins, Lehrmann’s former colleague who accused him of having raped her in their ministerial office at Parliament House in 2019, and whether action might be taken against anyone as a result of the leak.

“Without me getting technical, there is not an investigation,” Kershaw continued. “But reviewing the material to see if there is a threshold for an investigation.”

The private messages had been part of an evidence brief for Lehrmann’s criminal trial but were never tendered in court. In separate civil defamation proceedings recently concluded in the federal court, in which Lehrmann was found on the balance of probabilities to have raped Higgins, Lehrmann was accused of leaking material from the evidence brief to the Seven Network’s Spotlight program.

It is alleged in the case that the leak breached a rule, known as the Harman principle and laid out in a high court judgment from a 2008 case, Hearne v Street. The principle specifies that evidence provided under compulsion by the court for one set of legal proceedings cannot be used for any other purpose.

Lehrmann has always denied the rape allegation and pleaded not guilty at the criminal trial of the matter.

• Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Guardian Australia understands the review to which Kershaw referred is an internal AFP review to examine whether any police officer breached professional standards in the handling of evidence relating to the Lehrmann prosecution. This follows allegations levelled against police after the criminal trial, which collapsed due to juror misconduct and was discontinued out of concern for Higgins’ mental health.

An internal AFP professional standards review is a separate process from any investigation of allegations that other people may have leaked confidential material in relation to the Higgins-Lehrmann matter.

The AFP said it would offer no further comment.

In his ruling on Lehrmann’s defamation action against Network Ten and its former presenter Lisa Wikinson, the federal court justice Michael Lee said he was “comfortably satisfied” Lehrmann had lied about his role in leaking text messages between Higgins and others to Seven’s Spotlight program.

“Consistently with the instructions provided to his lawyers, Mr Lehrmann gave evidence during the trial to the effect that he did not give documents to the Seven Network, he just gave an interview,” Lee said.

“As I explained at the trial, I am not some sort of roving law enforcement official, and if any issue concerning an alleged breach of the Hearne v Street obligation is to be pursued in relation to anyone, it will not be by me, and it will not be by this court.”

Breaching the Harman principle could lead to a charge of contempt of court if a person gives those documents to people outside of the case “without reasonable excuse”, a spokesperson for the ACT’s justice agency said.

The decision over whether to investigate Lehrmann for any potential contempt of court now lies with the ACT director of public prosecutions, whose office made the decision to discontinue the rape prosecution in 2022.

Guardian Australia has contacted the ACT DPP for comment.

Ukraine’s foreign minister has enthusiastically praised US politicians for approving a long-delayed $61bn military aid package for Ukraine, but said western allies needed to recognise that “the era of peace in Europe is over” and that Kyiv would inevitably need more help to fight off Russia.

“Hallelujah,” Dmytro Kuleba said when asked for his reaction to Tuesday’s final vote by the US Senate. He said it had been “my belief that we would have a positive outcome”, based in part on the cultivation of religious conservatives, but the west needed to build its defence industry further.

Speaking to the Guardian, Kuleba said he was hopeful that the White House would unveil a new package of weapons “within days, maybe hours”, and it was “just a matter of logistics” to get the supplies to the frontline.

Pentagon officials have indicated that some munitions have already been stockpiled in Europe, with artillery and air defences expected to be among the priorities.

Kuleba also said Ukraine had identified seven Patriot air defence systems it could use to protect civilians in major cities outside Kyiv. One had been obtained from Germany, four more had been located and negotiations were taking place, Kuleba said, and two more were in his sights.

Press reports indicate that Greece and Spain are considering whether to supply Patriots, while Poland and Romania also own the batteries. Kuleba added that an eighth system could come from the US. “I think the US army probably has one spare,” he said.

Negotiations to obtain these were complicated because “countries who operate these Patriots bargain for backfill and compensation”, Kuleba said, but he added: “I’m in no doubt, given the progress we are making, that Patriots will arrive and Germany must be commended for making the first move.”

Cities such as Kharkiv, which has been repeatedly bombed this year and seen residents move away in fear, could “live in peace and their industrial production continue”, he said, as long as Ukraine’s allies adopted a more hard-headed approach to helping his country.

He said Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, had discussed the military aid with Joe Biden on Monday.

Kuleba said Ukraine’s allies should switch from “expressing condolences and sympathy to Ukrainians and promising to help with recovery, to preventing loss of life and destruction of the country”.

He said the restoration of US military aid, held up for months by Donald Trump-aligned Republicans, would not be sufficient to defeat Russia. “No single package can stop the Russians. What will stop the Russians is a united front of all of Ukraine and all of its partners.”

Kuleba said the west needed to increase arms production, as Ukraine had, because it had been outpaced by Russia. Russia is out-shelling Ukraine by a ratio of about 10 to one, while Ukraine is running short of air defences.

“When I see what Russia achieved in building up its defence industrial base in two years of the war and what the west has achieved, I think something is wrong on the part of the west,” Kuleba said. “The west has to realise the era of peace in Europe is over.”

Peak military industrial production on the part of Ukraine’s allies was not expected until late 2024, the foreign minister said. Most observers think the war is unlikely to finish soon and will go on into next year. Russia is expected to mount a summer offensive and is thought to be in the process of mobilising an extra 100,000 to fight.

Kuleba praised the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, for securing Saturday’s historic vote in Congress, which approved the aid package that had previously looked in doubt.

“I think Mike Johnson did a good thing for America and for the world,” he said. Asked why he thought Johnson had changed his mind after opposing aid for six months, Kuleba suggested religion may have played a role.

The first indication that Johnson could be willing to back the package came in December, Kuleba said. An evangelical Christian, Johnson sent a video message of support to a prayer breakfast in Kyiv convened by Ruslan Stefanchuk, the chair of Ukraine’s parliament.

Johnson ultimately acted out of conviction, Kuleba said. “It came from his deep beliefs and not from political expediency.”

Kuleba claimed that Trump had come under pressure before the vote from Ukraine sceptics in his own party but in the end stayed silent. He said Kyiv was not making any special preparations for a second Trump term.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, or how political elites in the US will behave. What we learned from the first tenure of Donald Trump as president is there is always a way out of any crisis,” he said.

“We’ve been so many things since 2014 [when the war with Russia began] that, without exaggeration, we are ready for anything.” He acknowledged that his personal interactions with Trump’s team had been minimal – “a quick chat” – but noted that Zelenskiy had invited Trump to visit Kyiv.

He was dismissive of those who argued that after more than two years of full-scale war it was time for Ukraine to negotiate. He said there were “200 rounds of discussions” with the Kremlin between 2014 and the 2022 invasion.

Some observers supported peace out of naivety, he believed. Others were “playing for Putin”. A third category “did not understand Russia” or its president. They were wrongly convinced it was necessary to negotiate with the devil, he said.

The minister said Putin would only engage in meaningful talks when his military position was “close to collapse”. To get to this point, Ukraine had to pursue a twofold strategy: “success on the battlefield” and a coalition of countries to back Zelenskiy’s peace formula of a Russian withdrawal, reparations and a war crimes tribunal.

Kuleba said a move announced on Tuesday to terminate consular services for Ukrainian men of fighting age living abroad was about justice, at a time when “guys in the trenches are very tired”.

“They don’t understand why the government is not trying to bring more people into the war effort,” he said. Kuleba said it was unclear how many Ukrainian men would come back, but it was unacceptable for those outside the country to “sit down in restaurants” while others were dying.

In a speech on Monday in Poland, Rishi Sunak promised an additional £500m in support for Ukraine’s army, the largest UK contribution yet. Kuleba said he did not expect this to change if Labour won this year’s general election, saying Britain belonged to a “very elite group of countries” where support for Kyiv transcended the political cycle. He said he had met the shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, but had yet to talk to Labour’s leader, Keir Starmer.

Kuleba said he did not know how long the war with Russia would last, and on his way into the office – a Stalin-era building next to Kyiv’s gold-domed St Michael’s monastery – he had passed a funeral procession.

“Every time I pass by a funeral for a soldier I double and triple my effort to bring it to an end, with Ukraine’s victory,” he said. “I think that in the end of this war, only one side will survive and it will be Ukraine. But when I say survive, I do not mean that Russia will cease to exist as a country.”

The UK edition of Australian actor Rebel Wilson’s memoir will be published with redacted passages relating to her experience on set with Sacha Baron Cohen.

In a chapter titled Sacha Baron Cohen and Other Assholes, Wilson recounts filming the 2016 comedy film Grimsby – released in the US as The Brothers Grimsby – alongside Baron Cohen. “SBC summoned me via a production assistant saying that I was needed to film an additional scene,” she writes.

“What followed was the worst experience of my professional life. An incident that left me feeling bullied, humiliated, and compromised. It can’t be printed here due to peculiarities of the law in England and Wales”. The rest of the page of the book is blacked out, and there are several further lines redacted on the following pages.

“We are publishing every page, but for legal reasons, in the UK edition, we are redacting most of one page with some other small redactions and an explanatory note,” a spokesperson for HarperCollins told the Guardian. “Those sections are a very small part of a much bigger story.”

The memoir, Rebel Rising, will be out in the UK on Thursday, after its US release earlier this month. The UK edition was due to be released on 4 April, but was pushed back “to coincide with Rebel Wilson’s press tours”, according to the publisher. Publication was also delayed in Australia.

Last month, representatives for Baron Cohen rejected the allegations of bad behaviour on set. “While we appreciate the importance of speaking out, these demonstrably false claims are directly contradicted by extensive detailed evidence, including contemporaneous documents, film footage, and eyewitness accounts from those present before, during and after the production of The Brothers Grimsby,” they said.

In the memoir, Wilson also writes that every time she would speak to Baron Cohen, he would mention that he wanted her to “go naked in a future scene”. She told him that she did not do nudity. “I was constantly saying no to him, and he didn’t like it.”

Another passage refers to an email Wilson said she received which stated that Baron Cohen wanted her to fly to London for “reshoots” for a “graphic sex scene”. She said she called a meeting with Baron Cohen, the writers and the director, Louis Leterrier, to express what she “would and wouldn’t be comfortable doing” in the scene. “The attitude I felt from them was: Rebel Wilson is causing an issue. I’m the problem. Why won’t I just film the graphic sex scene as written, where because I’m so overweight the bed falls through the floor?” she wrote in the book. “Eventually […] I agreed to shoot something so I could get the hell out of this awkward room.”

Sacha Baron Cohen has been approached for further comment.

• Rebel Rising by Rebel Wilson (HarperCollins Publishers, £25). To support the Guardian and Observer, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.

Megan Thee Stallion has been sued by a former employee who alleges she withheld payment and created an “abusive work environment”, including having sex with a woman next to him in a moving car.

Cameraman Emilio Garcia alleges “severe” and “pervasive” harassment by the chart-topping rapper following the incident, including sexual comments and fat-shaming insults, as well as a loss of earnings. He is seeking unpaid wages and interest on them, as well as damages, and wage penalties under California labour laws.

A lawyer for Megan, real name Megan Pete, responded to the allegations by saying: “This is an employment claim for money – with no sexual harassment claim filed and with salacious accusations to attempt to embarrass her. We will deal with this in court.”

Garcia began working with Megan full-time in 2019. He alleges that during a trip to Ibiza, Megan began having sex in an SUV they were travelling in together. “I felt uncomfortable. I was kind of frozen, and I was shocked. At kind of just be the overall audacity to do this right, right beside me,” he told NBC News. Garcia claims Megan told him the following day: “Don’t ever discuss what you saw.”

Garcia’s lawyer said: “Emilio should never have been put in a position of having to be in the vehicle with her while she had sex with another woman. ‘Inappropriate’ is putting it lightly. Exposing this behaviour to employees is definitely illegal.”

He claims that Megan subsequently took him off a monthly salary and on to a more ad hoc payment system, giving him fewer bookings and treating him differently than before, while prohibiting him from taking employment with others.

He also alleges Megan called him a “fat bitch” and told him “spit your food out … you don’t need to be eating”. Garcia told NBC: “To hear someone who advocates about loving your body tell me these things, I felt degraded.” He says he suffered emotional distress and unspecified physical injuries as a result of Megan’s alleged behaviour.

Since her mainstream breakthrough in 2019 with the much-memed single Hot Girl Summer, Megan Thee Stallion has become one of the most successful rap artists in the US. In 2020 she topped the singles chart with Savage, aided by a guest spot from Beyoncé, and again earlier this year with Hiss, a track released amid a high-profile spat with rival Nicki Minaj. In the wake of Savage, she won three awards at the 2021 Grammys, including best new artist.

In 2020 she was shot in the foot by rapper and singer Tory Lanez in an incident in Los Angeles. In August 2023, Lanez, real name Daystar Peterson, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the shooting.

Also in 2020, Megan sued her label, 1501 Entertainment, disputing terms of her recording contract. The two parties settled out of court in October 2023 and ended their working relationship.

Germany’s president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, raised hackles at home during a visit to Turkey this week by serving up kebabs at a reception in Istanbul, a gesture of cross-cultural exchange many in the diaspora said reduced their contributions to an offensive cliche.

Steinmeier himself took a long, sharp blade to 60kg of meat on a skewer brought specially from Berlin, and included Arif Keleş, a third-generation snack shop owner, in his delegation during the three-day trip.

With bilateral relations at a low ebb, Steinmeier said in Istanbul the döner diplomacy during his first visit as head of state was aimed at highlighting the accomplishments of Germany’s 2.7 million people who have roots in Turkey.

But prominent Turkish-Germans took to social media to blast what they saw as a clumsy attempt to represent descendants of the 1960s “guest worker” programme, failing to take them seriously or treat them as equals.

The journalist Ozan Demircan pointed to a deep bench of accomplished people Steinmeier could have chosen to highlight, including the BioNTech founders, Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci, or the film director İlker Çatak, who was nominated for an Oscar this year.

“Millions of guest workers helped build the German ‘Wirtschaftswunder’,” Demircan said on X, referring to the postwar “economic miracle”.

“And the German president brings a döner kebap maker to Turkey,” he added.

Tuncay Özdamar from the public broadcaster WDR criticised the choice to spotlight the handheld snack as “from yesterday” and “cliched”: “If you visit Italy you don’t bring pizza,” he said.

As the row risked overshadowing a celebration of 100 years of diplomatic relations, Jörg Lau, an international correspondent at Die Zeit, simply posted: “C.R.I.N.G.E.”.

However, Keleş, whose grandfather worked for years in a German factory before opening his own restaurant in 1986, said before the trip that he was proud Steinmeier was taking him “to the home of my ancestors”, telling AFP it was a “great honour”.

The delicacy of thinly sliced meat grilled on an upright rotisserie was introduced to Germany by Turkish migrants, who adapted it for local tastes.

Topped with chopped vegetables and slathered with garlic or chilli sauce, the döner kebab reigns as one of Germany’s most popular dishes.

German kebab sales total an estimated €7bn a year. Steinmeier said in Turkey that he was also partial to the dish.

Ties between Berlin and Ankara have been marred by a range of disputes including over the Gaza war and German criticism of an erosion of democratic norms under Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Turkish-Germans have also long criticised economic and social exclusion.