>> violence, stopping homegrown threats, and we hear from one. so called in europe raising new fears. [ unintelligible ]. >> fall from grace. a revered muslim leader in chicago is charged with sexual assault and the case is shining

a light on the muslin commune. taking to you east porterville california, where the wells are dry and the relief efforts are not working and close up. the cameras are turned around on a trail blazing photo journalist. the outcome is the director up for an academy award. >> and washington today the white house began a three-day conference on what it calls combating violent extremism. the idea is to prevent westerners from using violence for groups for a political end. and from many sources. it comes after a series of attacks on westerners and groups who claim links to isil. one person, a controversial

muslim preacher who supports isil and he's out on bail after facing terrorism charges in britain. we spoke with him in london. >> it's a duty on every muslim to support the jihad. >> meet one of the most prominent so-called hate preachers in europe. he agrees to meet me in a london park. he says britain and america are enemies of islam. where christians and jews come under an islamic law in an islamic state. >> one of the core tenants of the islamic creed. everyone must believe in the duty to establish the policy and to rule. >> do you believe in europe and britain? >> i believe one day it will happen. and jesus will come down, and return, and he will be presented as a muslim, and there will be complete occupation by islam and there

will be complete peace. the jihad is not tied to a particular land. >> he goes by abu bar a. parageses al qaeda and isil and boko haram. he spent four years in a british prison for calling for 9/11 style attacks in cities, and for british to come back in body bags, and it would he doesn't take back his words. a few days after a captured jordanian pilot was burned alive by isil, he justified the killing, and evenly the way in which it was carried out. >> do you condemn that murder or not? >> i condemn the jordanian pilot, the jordanian government and the american and the british involvement in iraq and syria. >> it's one thing to be caught in the crossfire but this guy is put in a cage and fuel is laid out on the ground and he's burned alive. do you think that's an act of

war? >> absolutely, it's an act of war, and it's shocking, the way they executed him. and i think they're trying to ter file the enemies. and i think it will have the desired affect. >> would you advise young men to go support isil? >> i think that muslims are obliged to support wherever they are in the world. and to support them financially. >> many muslims say that rackman is a threat to british and european security. >> it's extremist and dangerous. >> usama hasan fought in afghanistan against the russians but he started speaking out against violence after the 2005 suicide bomb attacks on london subways. for condemning those who would force women to wear the rail, and denouncing groups like

racman's, and he says that he has received death threats. >> they're lunatics, because they believe in the ideas very fanatically and seriously and of course, that would lead to more violence in the future. >> many muslims consider you absolutely extreme. >> i'm presenting the islamic viewpoint. >> later he said, if he has reached his bail, he should be locked up. >> i don't break any laws, and i don't i speak and yet i'm harassed and arrested. and when you kidnap somebody from their home and you tie them up and put them in a cell, it's violence, and that's hang to me because i'm undermining the propaganda of the british government. >> he says that the british security services allow him and others like him a certainly amount of freedom because their networks are easier to monitor if they're not forced underground. >> it's a problem for a free

society and knock. because we have free speech and freedom of expression. and i think that the agencies note that they're playing a dangerous game by allowing certain individuals to operate. >> rackman condemns certain acts carried out by al qaeda and isil but he doesn't belong to those organizations knowing that he risking put in jail again. he walks that thin line in briton between freedom of speech and incitement to violence e. >> if you don't like our laws and society why don't you leave and go to syria? >> that's a funny question. i group up here and there's a notion that i'm a guest here. this land belongs to god. and i'm a host here for you you came from america presumably, you're my guest. and i'm not the guest i'm the host. so if people don't like me,

maybe they should be. it's not the idea of if you don't like what's going on in the country leave no, you should fix it. >> he's from rome and an expert on islamism. and lorenza what's your reaction to our interview with mr. rackman? >> well, he follows a long line of preachers in the uk for 20 years, who have tried to make very out land, and intentionally provocative statements and tried to make a name for themselves. they do so under the comp of british law and obviously he's trying to make a name for himself. >> and i understand that there are a lot of clerics like rakman. but taken together, how much of a threat are the clerics like him? >> well, i don't want to make him bigger than what he is.

he has a follow on line, and he's partly of what i would call the mood music of a group a cluster of individuals that use pretend theological arguments to make a case for people to engage in vain activities in going to syria and we have seen softball more than 3,000 people that have left europe and have stayed in iraq to fight. and these people, by a certain ideology the ideology peddled by individuals like mr. rackman. >> and this music, is it really an incite to violence or is it exercising freedom of speech? >> that's a debatable question, and the answer is different in country to country. in a country like the uk, i would say that this kind of language for the most part.

>> does if he was preaching in the united states? >> i would say that it's mostly a european phenomenon, but i wouldn't say that i agree that that doesn't exist in the u.s.. i would argue that the most famous of the western clerics a new mexico-born cleric, the first western-based jihaddist cleric to explore the internet. and he was based in new mexico for a long time. the first freedom allowed in the united states makes reaction to this kind of speech very easy in the united states. the phenomenon, as i said, is bigger in europe, with the fraternization with jihadis in the united states, but you have some individuals in the u.s. >> lorenzo, thank you. >> . >> and now to the fight in

america over immigration. tomorrow was supposed to be the day that undocumented immigrants could start applying for deportation protection. it's the first phase in the president's executive actions meant to spare millions of undocumented immigrants. blue today a federal judge put a stop to the order. and the president will appeal. >> this is not the first time that a lower court judge has blocked something that ultimately was shown to be wrong. and i'm confident that it's well within my authority. >> heidi jo castro is live in brownsville, texas tonight. and heidi, for the undocumented immigrants where you are, what was their reaction to this court decision today? >> hey david, obviously it was not the news they were hoping for, but for the state leaders here in texas they're the ones celebrating. texas was the leader of this

group of 26, mostly republican states that filed this lawsuit against the federal government, in it claiming that the obama administration overstepped it's authority, and that the states would bear the burden of its executive action. of course that brawnsville judge agreed and he issued this temporarily injunction for the immigrant community here, and that was devastating news. >> 36-year-old doris clutches an american flag in front of the courthouse where hours earlier, a federal judge ruled now is not the time for her to step out of the shadows. >> i was waiting for my kids to finish breakfast and i read it and started crying. >> this is your life. >> it is. and it's been this way for many years, and i thought i was going to do something, and i read this, and it's heartbreaking.

>> lada said her mother sent for her to come to the u.s. from mexico when she was nine. she crossed the rio grande following strangers, holding her four-year-old sister. >> did you have any idea that doing so would mean you were breaking the law? >> no, when you're small, you do whatever your parents tell you. >> now lada is married with two u.s.--borne children of her own. she's among the 4.9 million undocumented immigrants who would have qualified for protection and work permits under president obama's executive action. applications were set to open tomorrow, but monday's late night ruling bars the federal government from carrying out the president's plan. papers, and i was going to go to lupe and get the application and fill it out. >> the ruling says the obama administration violated the administrative procedure act. a 1946 law governing how the federal government establishes regulations.

in his state of the state address this morning, texas governor, greg abbott, called the executive action lawless. >> i'm proud to report that late last night a federal judge halted the president's executive action plan. >> the fight, of course, is not over. >> it is the decision by one federal district court judge. i expect and have always expected that this is a matter that will ultimately be decided by a higher court, if not the supreme court, then a federal court of appeals. >> meanwhile, immigration activists are telling undocumented immigrants to remain hopeful. >> don't freak out. this is temporary. the program will happen. you need to get prepared and get your documents ready.

>> i'm american, i get proud. >> when the 9-11 thing happened, i wanted to serve my country. >> but for now, the country lada claims as her own remains divided against her, and she'll have to continue waiting. and now, what can we expect in the killing days? the federal government is considering filing an emergency appeal to the 5th district court of appeals and if they do that, with the expedited timeline, it would take around three weeks for there to be any decision and of course the legal road is long ahead, all the way to the supreme court. >> heidi jo castro reporting live tonight from groupsville texas. the coalition that supports immigration reform. and caesar, what is your reaction to the judge's ruling?

>> it was not surprising. he has a history of being very active and vocal in being against the immigration process, and so it's a minor legal bump, and ultimately, we were going to win from the supreme court, we were going to win. >> so you're confident that when it goes to the court of appeals as heidi mentioned you'll get a different outcome. >> i'm going to continue to fight for my sister, who today i have to tell her hold off on the paperwork, and hold off on submitting the application, but i'm hopeful. the law is on our side. and the constitution has given the president brought authority on immigration. so for us, it's not so much that we're hopeful. we have the law on our side. and we're going to assure that the republicans and lawmakers know that the president has the power and we're going to protect families. >> what about those who say that the president used unlawful action by exceeding

whatever executive authority the executive branch has in these matters? >> let's look at this throughout history. we have had 11 u.s. presidents who have taken similar actions. >> nothing like this. >> but the degree, jeb bush said that he opposed it. and his own father took the actions to help people when their parents were being separated. so we have leadership when congress has failed to act on immigration reform. >> what would be the message that you would send to senate democrats, when the republicans are holding up funding the department of homeland security because they want the democrats to strip out the money that would go to dhs for the president's executive order. the democrats are saying, no, we want a stripped vote. and now there's a danger of it going unfunded and what would you suggest that democrats do?

>> right now, we have the president's authority to act on immigration reform, and it has been already established. right now, it's about national security. if the republicans want to shut down dhs in isis and europe, it's up to the republicans to confront t not the democrats. but it's about speaker boehner and mitch mcconnell to say we need to keep dhs open. and right now we need to fund it. >> and as far as the track of this, it will lift the stay. and they will move forward and this battle continues in the courts. >> i think as attorney general i would call it perfectly. this is only one district judge, eventual the courts of appeals and the court will decide. we need to make sawyer that a higher court studies the law and implements the overview that this court didn't do to

make sure that we have the application submitted and we have the injunction so people like my sister, and like many innocent families can apply and continue to pay taxes. >> ceasar, thank you for coming in. and up next, in chicago, it would a leading imam was charged with sexual abuse. it's a remarkable case in part because of the enormous pressure on some muslim girls and women to stay silent. and in the united states, transporting oil by rail. the derailment in west virginia, the flames, they're underscoring the danger yet again.

>> tonight, there are new developments in a television exclusive we first brought you yesterday. a story out of chicago where a prominent american muslim leader has been charged with sexual assault. mohamed saleem was taken into custody on sunday, accused of abusing a child of a staff member in the school he founded. but it goes beyond that. today several women filed a civil lawsuit against the imam in a case that goes back decades. it's sending shock waves through the muslim community in chicago. and lisa stark joins us with the latest.

>> reporter: well, david abdullah saleem appeared enter court today to hear the criminal charges against him two felony counts. one for sexual assault and one for aggravated battery. now, this is an astonishing fall from grace for a man who has been a muslim leader in the chicago leader for decades and if the charges are true, an abuser as well. >> these allegations cover four decades. >> do you think that he was ever worried about being caught or exposed? >> he knew we would never go against him. he was so powerful. and nobody said anything negative ever. >> he's a renowned scholar, the founder of a religious school and education in illinois, a

chicago suburb. it's a boarding and day school for students, aged 10-17. as criminal charges were filed tuesday, so too was a civil lawsuit against saleem and his school alleging sexual assault. >> we're here today to ask for justice. >> on behalf of five people, four females two of whom were children when they say saleem abused them. and a male, who was a young boy at the school says that he was abused by another school employee. there are 37 counts in all in the civil suit. the alleged abuse came to light only after last year when a female staffer at the school told her relatives and the police that saleem had repeatedly touched her inappropriately. the social worker met with the young woman who gave her permission to share her story. >> the first incident happened

where he grabbed her behind and her initial reaction was shock. >> saleem grew bolder over a seven-month period. >> he pulled her on his lap and kept groping her and touching her, and she kept saying no and pushing off of him. and he kept pulling her on until he forced her on his lap. >> the civil and critical complaints say that saleem's bodily fluids ended up on the young girl's clothes evidence turned over to the police. and they have a document signed last year during a meeting that included the alleged victim in the criminal case. it states, saleem has apologized to the victim and her mother and he has admitted to his actions. but at this point saleem is categorically denying the charges that have been leveled against him in court. and he also said that saleem is in good spirits and at the

completely understands what's going on, he's in a very good frame of mind and he's very positive. he's not yet responding to the civil claims, where other women claim that the cleric abused them as children, during private tutoring sexes 30 years ago. >> i never ever said anything to anybody. >> it's still hard for you to talk about i can tell. >> it is, because it's not something that you can share within our community. >> the women have asked us to hide their identities. they allege that saleem forced them to touch him and touched them. >> it was just those feelings that are going to stick with me for the rest of my life. >> in this most private of cultures, it is nearly unthinkable for victims to come forward. >> the emphasis on modesty and

privacy, that are very values that i hold near and dear to my heart. but the emphasis that they put on that actually encourages the silence and makes the issues taboo. >> it alleges that one teacher at the school was told of the abuse, but no one went to the police. >> this civil lawsuit will also provide a fund of money available for victims to receive the kind of good mental healthcare that they need to get on with their lives. >> many are now calling the young staffer, who was brave enough to report the alleged abuse a hero. >> in the beginning her family told her, this is going to ruin your reputation. the folks from iie told her that you may never get married. and there was a constant barrage of shaming and blaming her. >> now though, the shame and blame has shifted to a man once

considered a spiritual leader. now, saleem has surrendered his passport. and he has been ordered not to have any contact with the alleged victim in that criminal case and no contact also with anyone under the age of 18. and david, we should say despite all of these charges it's apparently very difficult for some people to reconcile this respected leader with someone who may have been a sexual abuser. his lawyer tells us that in fact the courtroom was packed today with his supporters. david? >> lisa stark reporting from chicago. thank you very much. a therapist in an organization that councils victims of sexual abuse, he's in chicago tonight. and the last thing that lisa was saying, are you surprised that the spiritual leader would have so much support for him it in court today. >> i think that you can definitely contextualize this, in the fact that many people --

spiritual leaders in our community have a great deal of influence and power and it has taught many students and have a positive impact in the community. so therefore you know, when somebody so close to you is accused of something to heinous and repulsive and grotesque you might initially have definitely a defensive response which is a very natural thing to do. and similarly, if any one of our family members or very trusted mentor to us was accused of any such crime then we might be appalled at such an allegation, and come out to show a sense of support. so i think it's important to be able to recognize that that's a normal process but we also have to recognize you know, the legal proceedings have also not been laid out. so i don't necessarily comment about the legal ramifications

of this. because the legal case isn't really done, but we can definitely talk about some of the secondary trauma and some of the questions and issues that this raises for many muslims. >> well, i want to get to that point, because this has happened in many communities the jewish and catholic community have had allegations made against them. but is there something specific in the muslim community in terms of a role that an imam plays to make it that much more difficult with the privacy culture for women to make these accusations? >> we want to categorically denounce any sexual allegations, regardless of any religious orientation or leadership. but you're right. i mean, definitely different religious groups have an accompanying set of cultures

around them. and to be quite honest, this is very similar to a lot of -- this is sort of a human problem, and i don't think that it discriminates against a religion. so people in positions of power tend to maybe use it. now what can i comment about the muslim culture and some possible vulnerability? i think that we have to contextualize this in the text of collective cultures. meaning that american muslims come from an immigrant community that has settled here and collectivistic cultures there's a great benefit to those and that is the social support and unity and being able to turn to one another and that sort of thing but on the other hand, when boundaries can be blurred just like in any other community or collective culture where you know where the extended family

can be very involved, or we put a lot of trust and stock into authorities, and spiritual leaders and that sort of thing beyond the checks and measures, that can set up collectivistic, a degree of vulnerability. >> that definitely sounds like what happened here, given the enormous pressure on these women not to come forward. he's a therapist and a director for the center. so thank you for coming on, we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> still ahead the danger rolling through american towns. tinker cars loaded with highly flammable crude oil. and the fires are increasing. what's being done to improve safety. >> if water is live, then this small town is dying. i'm in east porterville california, where half of the population are without water. residents are only surviving

because water is being delivered to their homes and those deliveries may soon stop. and then what?

>> hello everybody, this is aljazeera america. i'm david schuster in new york, and coming up on this half rain shower. >> derailed. the crash of an oil train shut off drinking water for thousands of people. and now the investigators are not sure that safer and more modern railcars would have made any difference. we will explain. dry towning. a record drought is still raging in parts of california. and how political infighting is putting residents at risk. shattered truce. today a new report that russian rebels made strategic gains both sides have missed a critical deadline. and salt of the earth. it's the latest documentary by

legendary director, and this oscar nominated film is one of his best. >> in west virginia the last 24 hours have brought yet another reminder that while the price of oil has plunged over the past year, the risk of transporting crude is significant. this year's analysts estimate that 40 million tons of crude oil will be moved on trains throughout the united states, and that figure is 10 times the amount traveling on rails since 2014 and with the creased traffic, there's a greater chance for danger. in a west virginia town yesterday, a 109-car train derailed. and at least 14 oil cars caught fire and exploded. some of the tankers plunged into the river and two community water systems had to be shut down. the residents could feel the

heat from half a mile away, and the explosions felt like an atomic bomb. we have report order real dangers for months now and tonight we have new questions on who is accountable and what's being done to be protect people. >> the new rules to better protect the public have been slow to materialize. concerns about them, and others question how effective they will be, and in the meantime, the accidents continue. >> stun the fireballs by crude oil, dumping crude into the river and shutting down the local water supply. >> right after he got out of the house the train exploded. >> a casino all too familiar. as oil drilling booms in the u.s. so has the amount of crude on the nation's rails. in just five years the number of tanker cars carrying crude

oil has sorried. it too often leads to disaster. from north carolina to virginia this one in downtown lynchburg. >> and most tragically in canada. 47 people killed when a runaway crude oil train crashed in 2013 and in fact more last year 1 million gallons than in the past four decades combined. and federal officials repeatedly say more rules are needed. >> there's not one citizen in the country that has been told what the railroad decisions are for the routing of the most dangerous cargo. >> many blame the design of the tank cars themselves, dating to the 60s and how fragile they can be. new federal rules last year,

better brakes, and slower speeds for trains, but the administration is still reviewing the rules for them. >> i call them pepsi cans on wheels. they are so thin skinned that the national transportation safety board has been alarmed by them for 21 years. >> railroads are slowing down their trains, and buying new cars with stronger, thicker tanks. but as we saw in west virginia they don't necessarily avoid disaster. this train had the newer cars, raising more questions on how to prevent them from turning into disasters. >> new federal rules are due in may, and it raises questions of how effective they may be. especially since steadier cars don't necessarily prevent explosions. >> former journalist, robert bryce, is a fellow for energy

policy at the manhattan institute. and he joins us from tulsa oklahoma tonight. and is this a case where we have to accept a certain level of danger, where if we are going to transport them, there are going to be derail wants? >> that's a good question, david. and my reply would be, we should be moving as much oil as we can by part-time line. it's far safer and cheaper and that would be an obvious way for transportation, but to put it in context, your reporter mentioned it earlier but since 2008, it has increased by 4 million barely els a day. we have added a kuwait's worth. $2 million a day and we don't have the pipeline capacity to move all of the crude being produced here. >> we might not have the pipeline capacity. but we certainly have the rail

capacity. and for the administration to fig out a way to strengthen the rules if you have cars dating back to the 1960s? >> well, you raise an excellent question and it's true. the train that derailed in west virginia, many of the cars were the cpc1232 model and the newer model. but the punch line is clear the railroads have to get better and have safer on regs and safer tank cars, and that has to happen now. we have seen a number of these derail wants and you have a number of communities along the rail lines and they're concerned, and i don't blame them. but i'll just add one other point. there was a repeat report that was put out last october that pointed to ethanol is moved by railcar, and we have had a lot of ethanol cars that have derailed. just two weeks ago in iowa, we had an ethanol train derail and another fire.

ethanol tank cars ended up in the mississippi river leaking so it's not just about the oil industry but ethanol as well. >> and the companies responsible for transporting the ethanol or whatever they're transporting and certain circumstances. the railroad lines seemed determnant. we saw this in west virginia a horrific snowstorm, and suggestions that that might have played a role in the derailment. but can you talk about the pressure that they're under to move the product from point a to b? >> the railroads have always been about efficiency, and they measure that by the speed of their trains. so they want to keep their trains moving, and we have seen the railroads from effectively moving no crude oil in the united states just four or five years ago to where they're moving roughly 8,000 barely els a day which is 9% of all u.s. crude production. it's an incredible increase in

their tank car movements and obviously they're under pressure to keep those moving. but as i said before, they have to get safer there's no other option here. >> robert bryce, for energy and policy and environment. thank you for joining us, we appreciate it. california's devastating drought is now in its fourth year. the winter has brought some rain but in many towns the wells are dry. east porterville is one of those communities where half of the population has no running water, and each time we visit we leave seeing them run into new problems. jennifer has more. >> imagine turning on the faucet in your kitchen or bathroom and nothing comes out no water and imagine going outside and having to fill up a bucket and carry it into the house so you can bathe or wash dishes or flush your toilet. that's exactly what's happening to thousands of residents

living in california's central valley. it's an ongoing water crisis that has no end in sight. when east porterville resident, ed rodriguez wakes up, he worries about water and when he goes to sleep he worries about water and during all of the hours in between he worries about water. >> when did you run out of water? >> we run out last march. >> so it has almost been a year since you haven't had any running water. >> that's right yes. >> down the street, deborah mad gal ran out in july >> so this is one of the extreme measures that you had to take to get water in the house? by putting a tank in the tree. >> my husband has a tank like that and he pills it up every day. >> more than half are struggling to live without water. private wells have dried up as the historic drought continues

to punish the state. aljazeera first reported on the town's water crisis last september. every few months, we have returned and the situation has only gotten worse. a few inches of rain may have turned the grass green, but the wells are dry and the people are desperate. for residents tuesdays have become incredibly important. that's when the weekly water deliveries have arrived. but on this day tuesday came and no water and you can see the water tank, it's really low. and this amount of water has to last the family for how long? >> they don't see us as human beings because we're abandoned already. there are too many politics over there. >> politics, local and county governments, all over the water in east porterville. the county has refused to fill the tanks because they can't verify they're sanitary, so the city of porter schill stepped

and helped out. but the public works director said that the deliveries will soon stop for good. >> why not hook up the residents of east porterville tom city water? why has that not been done? >> well, the city has to be concerned with its own citizens. we have 50,000 people that we have to assure that they're going to get adequate water. >> because east porterville is unincorporated the responsibility actually lies with the county. it has organized bottled water delivery and brought in mobile showers, and now it's installing new larger tanks which the county will fill. but that's only another temporary solution. andrew lockman is with the tule ar emergency services. >> why doesn't the county just put in an additional water source and problem solved. >> that's what we're looking at doing, and the challenge is finding the funding. >> this is an emergency isn't

it an emergency now. >> yes, it is, and that's why we're doing the tanks behind us. >> long-term solutions. >> they don't ham overnight but the long-term fix for the area is a minimum 5-year, $30 million project. and we're six months into that five year process. >> are politics getting in the way of helping the residents of east porterville. >> i don't believe it is. it's a matter of economics. >> i see that the people of east porterville are in a bad situation, they can drill deeper wells and hope that they can find water. >> for most rents, it's not an option because they can't afford it. >> did you ever think that you would be living like this. >> never in my life. i look at east porterville and it's really bad you know? you live over here. but we got faith that some day

we might get the water. >> while many residents i spoke with said they feel forgotten and they feel abandoned, they will have the chance to be heard in sacramento tomorrow. the residents in tule ari county have been invited to attend a hearing in sacramento to talk about the water crisis, and david to discuss possible solutions. a lot of people would like to see the residents in the east side hooked up to the city of porterville water system. >> jennifer, thank you. now to ukraine where the battles continue to rage despite a two-day ceasefire. trying to control the town debaltseve, there was a plan to

remove the heavy artillery from the front and that came and went and instead the rebels launched an all-out attack on the center of debaltseve, and they are in control of the town. it has been two months since the u.s. senate released a report about the cia's use of torture, power and mismanagement and deception and still nobody has been prosecuted and no charges are expected. lindsay sat down with calim al-sharif, a libyan man who was abducted and held for 16 months at a black sight. this is his first american interview. >> khalid al-sharif spent two years in a secret american prison not knowing if he would live or die. >> one of the officers told me, i can pull out my gun now and kill you and no one will hold me accountable your life is in my hands. >> snatched from his home in

broad daylight, he was in prison at a so-called cia black site. there, he was shackled for days at a time. and subjected to round the clock sleep deprivation and forced into painful positions despite having a broken foot. he calls it torture and so does the u.s. senate. he's one of 119 detainees whose stories were told in the interrogation program. the report says that much of the harsh treatment that sharif received was approved. nor did the bosses do anything to stop it. despite everything that he went to the u.s. government never charged al-sharif with a crime. >> they also tortured us by plunging us in tubs of freezing water until we felt our bodies turn to ice and they put a cloth over our face until we couldn't breathe. >> the bar against torture is a

bedrock principle of international law banned by the geneva convention, and banned by the u.s., and the u.s. incorporated into its own domestic law. >> to date, no u.s. official has been prosecuted for the abuse inflicted by al-sharif and other detainees. ironically there's one cia operative who has been sent to jail not for harsh interrogations, but for publicly raising questions about them. his name is john care yako. he was part of the team who in 2002 captured a logistics specialist for al qaeda. he spoke with us from a federal penitentiary in pennsylvania. >> there has been an executive order saying that we shouldn't do this anymore but do we really trust the intelligence infrastructure? i think without a legal foundation our future president can decide, i think

torture was a good idea, and maybe we should do it again. and that's why we need registration and we need prosecutions. >> as for khalid sharif he said that getting the government to admit their behavior is the first stem to truth of what happened to him. and of all of the others held in captivity by the cia. lindsay moran, aljazeera washington. >> you can watch lindsay moran's special report at 10 p.m. on america tonight. ash carter returned to the penitentiarypentagon today as the new boss. he has worked in it the pentagon before in different posts, most recently as the deputy of defense. and he met with president obama at the white house. he seceded chuck hagel. and the obama

administration announced that it will allow foreign companies to export armed drones. but the companies can only use them for national defense or situations covered by international law and the remote devices cannot be used for surveillance, and they will review perspective sales on a case by case basis. coming up, academy award director xander, the salt of the earth. about the extraordinary life and work of a trail blazing photo journalist.

>> there's out rail in turkey over the murder of a young woman last week. >> david they not only raped this woman they killed her in brutal fashion and we're talking about the murder of a 20-year-old college student which has sparked protests among turkish women and? men in cities for days now.

violence against turkish women rose 31% last year, and some believe government policies. >> we no longer want to die, we want to live and be accepted as part of the society. >> coming up in the next hour, why some are saying this is a wake-up call to turkey's government. and david some are saying that it's part of a culture war that's happening there. >> stephanie, thank you. if. >> salgado is a photographer who has witnessed many of history's tragic events, but salgado recently decided to stop taking pictures of war zones, and to focus on natural landscapes. the oscar nominated documentary, the salt of the earth. we spoke with wim wenders and asked what makes it so unique.

>> i saw his pictures in the late 80s and i was blown away, because they were different from all of the social photography that i knew. >> and you noticed that the pictures have taken a personal toll on him as well? >> yes, he had seen unspeakable horror all over the world, but especially when he witnessed at very close range the genocide, and he was involved young the people and had stayed in the jungle and had seen thousands and thousands of deaths, knowing that he couldn't do anything about it. and that even his work as a witness wouldn't change anything and he fell apart afterwards, and realized that he couldn't do this job anymore. >> were you surprised as you learned this about him? you have done amazing documentaries and met amazing people on the planet and

interviewing sebbastio salgado did he take you by surprise? >> his photography means very much to me. but realizing the arc of this man's life, and the amount of emersement that it took him to be there and stay with these people. he's not like these photographers who fly in and stay for a few days and fly out. he stayed in these places and photographed them sometimes for weeks and for months, and i didn't know that there was a whole other life that i had no idea of that there was something that brought him back to life after he had broken down and that was his connection to nature, and the unbelievable action that he took in brazil. >> the action that he took in brazil, in terms of documenting nature and his style in being immersed in total subject matter t. is that what makes this documentary totally different than others, when you

talk about photographers in your estimates? >> i think so. it came as a surprise to me, that he had so entirely collapsed, and that him coming back to life was nothing that he had concocted but it was a present given to him by nature. by planting trees on the land that he had inherited, he realized that damage to nature could be reversed. and them he planted a few thousand trees and then the water resources came back, and he ended up planting 2 and a half million trees and the first man who replanted the tropical rainforest and learned how to do it, and this is now being done on a huge scale all over brazil. >> wim wenders, thank you so much for letting us talk on you on aljazeera. salt of the earth opens in theaters on march 27th.

finally, tonight's freeze frame comes from singa pore, where they're celebrating the new year. and this is different from the chinese new year which happens on friday. i'm david schuster. and the news continues now with antonio mora and stephanie sy.

>> a call for help. egyptian president abdul fatah al-sisi is appealing for international intervention in the fight against i.s.i.l. in libya gunfire during a campaign rally in nigeria. the new threat a splinter group of boko haram presents ahead of elections french president francis hollande visits a jewish cemetery where 250 graves were vandalised. why it is renew