by police after documenting a student protest in august and then criticizing your government on this channel actually on al-jazeera english should have seen your prime minister described them as quote mentally sick do you think he is mentally sick or is he just a journalist trying to do his job those who are familiar with the media in bangladesh will know one thing it is free it is vigorous. was not arrested for appearing and. and making a comment he was arrested for spreading misinformation which was inciting violence shahid is my very close friend of the law and told reporters outside court in august that he was beaten so badly by police that his tunic needed washing because of all the blood he was jailed for one hundred seven days and said he was tortured is that how you treat your friends i. have not said a word about his treatment all i have stated he is a close friend of mine and when he was arrested i took it on myself to make sure

that he was given proper medical treatment his family was able to carry food for him ok and while he will need medical treatment well not because of the beating that you said you are denying that he was beaten by the police i did not deny that but i cannot deny it because i do not know what happened to your friend mentally sick no one of the prime minister say he's mentally sick i have no idea about that . i don't know what she was at in our mind but if somebody. spreads distant from which endangers life which inside all wireless information just before we move on to the bad there were several people killed and with dead bodies very hidden and i one we leave office in in the on monday remain where raped i don't know desk or don't know although even if it was false you think it's worth looking into i stand by my court and i will go to my death saying the same thing that

without freedom of expression our civilization will collapse on the other hand the government has responsibility to protect citigroup let's bring in our panel who are waiting patiently to come in here i'm joined by swedish bangladeshi journalist author of july death squads and state terror in south asia do you think it's fair to say that turning bangladesh into a one party state into an authoritarian state as many journalists acclaim especially in the west yes many because c.n.n. has not only turned the country into a one party state and she has very successfully done that she has very key people in pfizer's like the tories be who would come on international television and very low currently you know try to defend her but the truth remains that bangladesh is a country where people are picked up from their homes they're ducted they're kept in secret detention there is

a program of enforced disappearances people are really cute people are imprisoned in thousands i mean we saw during the recent elections and even. anyone who the regime things that is a problem grew after him or higher with absolute viciousness and just on his point about free and fair media everyone in this hall would agree it's a free for vigorous media you're a journalist you no longer live in bangladesh what's your view well bangladesh is a. tree where journalists are beaten marsalis lead by the goons of the shah to lead the student wing of bangladesh army league we have video footage of cause you would see a well one or two journalists getting beaten up that's nothing to care about maybe but it's a very very dark situation before i bring back in going to go to saeed a monitor bangladesh's high commissioner to the u.k.

and ireland when you hear him speaking there it's a litany. thousands behind bars extrajudicial killings and forced disappearances must make their job quite hard defending the bangladeshi government here in the west doesn't even live in mind that is so you know he's. just like you do why doesn't he live in i've no idea. what i'm saying is that. but there's definitely you know in the history of bangladesh in press freedom if you look at the seventy's eighty's ninety's in two thousand even until two thousand there was just one private t.v. channel like no she could see between two thousand and nine and two thousand and eighteen has opened up the media and thirty two private t.v. channels every day ninety political talk shows she has seen has been criticized left and right there are newspapers criticizing she can stay in the parliament she's been criticized so why wouldn't they have press freedom she doesn't need to put anybody's waste out in the us they were being arrested for criticizing her to was just there only for a little bit let's hope there's a restaurant that's

a fraction this is small fraction that doesn't mean that one doesn't have press freedom before i bring in a bar space why don't you live in bangladesh as a journalist i can operate independently in the country i would be abducted be tortured like michael egan when i was that which period did he leave the country before she goes and i came into office but he's given many examples where let me bring in. south asia analyst at the u.k.'s essex university previously worked for amnesty international for more than thirty years i must be mentioned in forced disappearances or something i'm going to bring you back on it so can you shed some light on what is going on about english with these claims being made about people disappear what is happening in bangor on the government's watch is really very unacceptable in terms of democracy all the independent institutions of the parliament have become an extension of the growing of them all of these things have happened by the support of people intellectuals like mr grover's of you who are

actively files of the nation the nature of the issues now to just go back. force disappearance of the way top of that group plain clothes officers go to the house of the people that collect them they take them away and then the police the security agencies all of those people they just say that they don't have any knowledge of them to a result of it but i think if you are saying abbas that this is the government policy i fear you are mistaken government does not need to disappear people government have authority to arrest people if this field somebody has done nothing but grow out of this anger to protect and to remind them are you denying that people like me are mad because some. who would in front of their families in many cases were taken by plainclothes police of on c.c.t.v. in one case i am with they not taken i am going to say again denying. me for

illinois deplorable if this is drew this were to happen what are their names that are also given the things that of people have resurfaced and are openly moving around in this is how but not all of them have the religious government and the u.s. government and amnesty international and human rights watch and bangladeshi human rights groups are all saying you people are being disappeared how do you invest this is of course we will investigate and the ok i want to ask about the war crimes tribunal set up in two thousand and ten by the bangladeshi government to bring justice for the atrocities that were committed during the war of independence in one hundred seventy one first these tribunals were welcomed by the international community however in recent years the un amnesty international human rights watch the international center for transitional justice they all raise serious concerns about the fairness of these trials in particular the use of the death penalty you claim to be part of a progressive party but you're overseeing tribunals that the international commission of jurists says do not add here to international standards of a fair trial and due process let me first ask you is why every time i ask you

a question you want to ask i want to ask you because this was part of it because you. you have raised the question of international practice international standards you know like international no no no i am going to ask you is there. international gold standard no there is it what exists in every country that countries have set up their own schools and where do you compare the code is with the law and the appellate division was the process followed in the tribunals in any way inferior to our high court and our supreme court no but this was the only country which tried war criminals and gave them full right of representation full evidence was placed into the hands of their defense lawyers they were allowed to bring in as many defense lawyers as were necessary as witnesses what about

witnesses who were abducted from outside the court protest over there i don't know about that particular thing you are in the international commission of jurists as defense witnesses have been abducted and intimidated and there are credible allegations of collusion between the government prosecutors and judges isn't it the case the ship has seen or just wants to get guilty and therefore cut corners first you first you tell me it is not of international standards when i tell you that the standards followed in bangladesh were higher than what that happened in nuremberg trial is as good as i don't remember anyone accusing the nuremberg trials of abducting witnesses outside the court of law at the international tribunal gave an opportunity for appeal not only appeal it also be a battle of the rules give an opportunity for judicial review if after all these things you say i'm not saying these are international tourists are saying it who know their stuff ok let's move on there's a lot of opposition to quote unquote secularism islamists in bangladesh in just

three years between twenty thirty and twenty sixteen as you know there were ten brutal murders of atheist bloggers. as well as other activists this is zero tolerance for extremists who kill bloggers from your government indeed yes then why did the after the death of one blogger roy in february twenty fifteen why does she has seen a son an advisor to the government he said your government quote can't come out strongly for him as they don't want to be seen as atheists another minister sharia said that while these attacks are not acceptable at the same time we expect people to stop criticizing the profit from a supposedly secular government that's a pretty intolerant some would say cowardly approach to the murder of your own citizens i'm not going to defend the statements made by those you can as them but they your colleagues are what i am going to hear dirty solo what al gore is your are they going to tell him no this is what i am going to say to you is government does take very strong action against all crimes including crimes against bloggers while what is often not recognised is that there is also another law in the country

with sais that you can be punished for insulting religious beliefs or religious sentiment is that your version of a blasphemy law that is where a blasphemy law is how can you say you're a secular government secular country of course you are thank you look at your blog as for offending religious sentiments how is that secular i don't know as yet of which blogger has been arrested for russell purvis the blogger who fled to japan after being arrested or the arrested for blood. religious sentiments. if you are if you are going to if you are going to incite violence by an income on there is no reason that i ask you when you are you a secular country if you look at bloggers for offending islam yes or no i do have to as a member of the government ok if. public safety is endangered governments have

a responsibility. to many governments use you say that you're a secular party and secular government you say your opponents the b.n.p. the bangladesh national party a theocratic you say they're in bed with jamaat e islami quote unquote islamists but some would say that you've gotten into bed with some pretty extreme groups to the his father to islam movement you've given into some of their pretty extreme demands you even refused your party to condemn them when they recently attacked the education of teenage girls and one that is why now of maybe compare like with like. jamaat is a political party if this law is not a political irrelevant to my question oh it is relevant i was i was going to say to her it is. a family holiday i mean that i'm into that because it is a student's movement so i was a part of our students movement there are one point four million students studying in in madras has controlled by the. group the government is

trying to bring them out to modernize their curriculum to make them employable ok to train their own of modern science is an education so that they become employable and keep away from radical and no one saying you should talk to them and that is what america giving into their demands you say that your modernizing their curriculum they seem to be having more impact on your curriculum they offer seventeen stories and poems to be removed from school textbooks you agreed they asked to move a female statue representing justice from the supreme court you agreed they condemn the education of teenage girls your minister said that's fine it's free speech you just appeasing the more telling the world you're secular does it not. there to reflect on the fact that there are more women today in secondary or bribery schools than there are men is that a restoration so do you condemn a small group after they do you condemn them are saying the college girls should our policy is condemning them know that i am sure you know very little to education refuse to get the he said who has made the comment is i am going to meeting you

here and i am saying that it is exactly against the government policy ok let's go back to our panel. do you accept that this is about bringing the mother and bringing these groups forward modernising getting jobs. what's your position on the relationship to slum came to prominence back in two thousand and thirteen after the marder of a blogger and their demand was capital punishment for anyone who would criticize islam and this they would carry placards seeing that you know he is like you would kill dogs and cats that is how far that the islam now has been declared as the mother of call me students in bangladesh who have very questionable ideas i'm not sure how islamic they are even so you don't monitor slimmers here the high commissioner what's your response when you hear for example it's not just atheist bloggers there are many minorities among others who are upset the secretary

of the bangladesh buddhist federation said that when hindus buddhists and christians face abuse in bangladesh there is no one to turn to for justice that's quite damning isn't it for minorities in this i think she is seen as a party has been the most secular party that bangladesh has ever witnessed it's very clear that her policies in her previous government she had five cabinet ministers who are hindus and christian and buddhist and in this cabinet is at least three cabinet minister put up with mr who are hindus and buddhists after the runway incident if you recall she casino has rebuilt nineteen which is temples has myanmar built one temple one must remember as if what i'm saying is that benchmark for me is actually a gross not really serious problem but i thought well what is there is buddhist leaders hindu leaders christian leaders they're all saying we feel i want to follow that i would agree with that why does she empower women she empowers women to marginalize extremist forces and that is how bangladesh is doing so well it cannot be equally about. what do you make of the result human but the government has tried

its best high commissions argument it has improved things in terms of protections for minorities protections for atheist bloggers is that fair have there been massive improvements to the recent protection from the mine no that is no person dumb enough to talk with tell me how many people have been. tried and convicted for setting fire on the homes of the christians for attacking hindu minorities or yes none have been brought to justice you have raised a very important these few minorities have often been. victims of persecution but to say that under this government there has been persecution of minorities please i urge you to go back to your sources i urge you to go back to the most of positive voices on this is. hindu buddhist christian association there told me that and i don't know what they have told you they have

come to the prime minister and they have thanked her never in the history of bangladesh minorities have and yard looking like freedom just to be clear also number though it just was the number of convictions that i don't know but i can tell you one thing when you are next visiting palca ok i will be glad. i'm not note we're going to have to take a break do join us on head to head for part two with doris we were going to be talking about the writing issue and we're also going to hear from a very patient audience here in the oxford union after the break from. christian priest you are a friend of the palestinians is a true friend of everyone and champion of the palestinian cause. and activist who is willing to sacrifice his freedom. for his

beliefs. al-jazeera world tell us the extraordinary story of the archbishop and the piano. i mean this is different whether someone is going or someone is very very dismayed when you meet i think it's how you approach each other and i think it is a certain way of doing it you can't just. inject a story and fly out. of a holiday and and these are the top stories of. representatives of algeria's presidents have told me put his name forward for reelection of dennis he's seeking a fifth term despite large scale protests that are unfit for office but the eighty

two year old has pledged to call a youth vote if we elect the next month. there as obtained exclusive pictures inside the residence of the saudi consul general in istanbul after the murder of journalist jamal khashoggi it documentary airing on our sister channel al-jazeera arabic details how turkish officials believe any of it may have been used to dispose of his body it's our nato has hit the u.s. state of alabama killing at least twenty two people rescue teams says searching the wreckage of homes and businesses destroyed in lee county thousands of people are without power we we've done everything we feel like we can do the saving of the area is just very very hazardous to put anybody into a just point in time debris everywhere and it is just his and his nature previously this evening just some massive damage to structures residences in the area when israel is opposition leader says he will return home on monday to lead new

protests against president nicolas maduro despite the threats of her arrest now ecuador was the last stop on a wide wide those latin american sort to build up support. k.-i callus is set to become as sone as first female prime minister after her center right opposition party won the general election the reform party beat the prime minister's ruling center left party almost thirty percent of the vote but opinion polls had predicted the ruling party would hang on to power but it only secured twenty three percent of the ballots malaysia's government says it is considering new proposals to resume the search for flight m h three seventy five years after it vanished with two hundred thirty nine people on board families and friends of the missing have been marking the anniversary of malaysian airlines flight was on its way from kuala lumpur to beijing when air traffic lost control our air traffic

control lost contact with the plane the disappearance has triggered the most expensive search in aviation history stay with us now for. march. madness. discusses and dissects the big issues of our times and head to head five years after the revolution. crane will have a chance to offer a verdict on what comes. in a powerful new film residents of occupied east jerusalem. and its past present and future. leaders will gather for the thirtieth arab league summit in tunisia join us for coverage and we examine the development of an unusual alliance between radical buddhist monks and the military. march on i'll just.

walk about to head to head on al-jazeera english my guest tonight is going to reveal international affairs adviser to the bangladeshi prime minister sheikh hasina in recent years garvey one of the biggest challenges bangladesh has had to face has not come from the inside but from the outside from neighboring myanmar more than a million muslim rohingya refugees have fled into bangladesh it's very admirable that your country has taken in so many refugees but here's what i don't get you've called what's happening in myanmar ethnic cleansing your boss the prime ministership are seen as called it quote tantamount to genocide and crimes against humanity and yet your solution to the crisis seems to be to try and send the refugees back to me and it makes no sense really that is the egg solution that these people belong to be had they want to go back home and their bus go home however what we have also seen is we will only send them when they're

when the conditions are safe and people will go back voluntarily very few governments in the word let alone a developing so. horst a million refugees and then see we we would like you to go back only when the situation is there now of course the problem doesn't lie on bangor they side it lies on me and marcel agree and what else can bangladesh do the responsibility lies with the international community that they must insist on myanmar save for the return agree of the in the meantime though you say we won't send them back while it's not safe which is good to hear and yet in the very there were reports covered by international media covered by human rights groups that you were trying to send them back against their will security forces were deployed to some of the camps in cox's was all refugees were told that if they didn't leave they would stop

receiving russians they would be blocked from working with n.g.o.s the u.n. put out a statement saying do not send them back against their will that's what you are trying to do in november let me clarify what we had said was dawes who want to voluntarily return. because myanmar government criticised us saying that bangladesh is preventing the return forcibly preventing the return of russian girls who want to come back so we said if those who would like to leave voluntarily may go people refused to go voluntarily we did not push out we did not force the un referred to terror and panic in cox's bazar the imminent risk of being sent back against their will i don't know from where this statement came but you know you a lot of u.n.h.c.r. person from bangkok with whom i work very very very closely we work in concert there was never ever a question of any forcible repair to

a new start that is the policy of the bank that is a policy and this is the policy the prime minister has announced again and again including at the united nations there's also a plan right now a belief in the government to send thousands of these refugees to a place called busson char an island three hours from the mainland which is particularly prone to cyclons and severe flooding human rights groups of one that it could become an island prison ok the whole of course the region is prone to cyclons strong tidal surges so that island is not anything different from the rest of the coastal belt. second thing is on the one hand we are under enormous pressure from humanitarian organizations that there is congestion in these camps these camps have become unsafe create more space for them so that they can live better we have developed an island put protections against surges we have built a cycle on shelters there but most important before we have say to these

international organizations go and see it for yourself and then these people if they are voluntarily or some of them want to be relocated there they are welcome to be the guardian footage of the island or what's being built there in the number twenty eighteen they found the families that we housed in rooms which measured two meters by two and of meters which have small barred windows just kind of sound prisoners. well have you been to the coxes bizarre camp now if you if you had been to that camp i can assure you you wouldn't you wouldn't have. that because that accommodation created in boston to our is far far superior to the current existence of the temporary shelters in which they live living ok you could allow some other countries to take some of these refugees of your home but you don't seem to be letting the bangladeshi government refused exit visas to rohingya refugee women who had been offered asylum in canada under

a specific program designed to take care of victims of sexual violence why would you do that when did this happen in twenty eighteen i don't know why this happened but let me give you a larger explanation the larger explanation is that there is a fear that if third country settlement begins to happen and we don't know how many people are canada was willing to appear there are a million people who want to take fifty or sixty people all it does is it creates hope those who are left behind in myanmar that if you can reach the camps of bangladesh you may be resettled in the third that is the argument you made this not a good argument here is that you say the people in myanmar are facing genocide if you're facing genocide you want to get out just how are you going to canada are all ok i did not i'm saying as i said this is one another argument that has been and what about the argument you could have let more in earlier it was admirable to let in a million people in the last couple of years but refugees have been fleeing the violence

there for years now as you well know and yet you were turning them back between twenty twelve and twenty sixteen bangladeshi border guards were turning away refugees in the hundreds many of those people who turned away probably died go one step back we already had three quarters of a million running the refugees in bangladesh they have been there since the late one nine hundred ninety s. . so to say that we turn some back which country has allowed so many people into there and i said that's a brutal position what i'm wondering is given you've let these people in given you said the victims of genocide in hindsight at least you look back over has been saying you know what i wish we'd let all in earlier we could have saved all lives is this what happens when they came to your border guards they are trained to prevent people from coming in that was their reaction when this came to the high level decision i was present in the meeting that day all the security forces argue

that we should hold them back our prime minister said no this is a humanitarian crisis opened our frontiers let them in and i think this is the only unique example possibly angela merkel was another where a billion people legally were allowed be ok to the county fair enough let me ask you this last question before we go to our panel and then the audience you said myanmar should be referred to the international criminal court or indeed just stage do you think aung sang suu chihiro you know personally do you think she should face an international tribunal as well for her role in this genocide or at least her role in denying and covering it up who ever is involved should be faced with the international court of justice there is no doubt because this was premeditated genocide so you think there could be a case against aung san suu kyi as well it could it would be against the entire government or any member of government that aided and abetted in this process you like to see her on trial. now you are asking me to comment on

a friend. and i. have a soft spot for friends and i roared back. interesting choice of friends tonight. let's go to our panel of experts who are waiting on the oxford union i'm joined by our boss phasers a south asian analyst at u.k.'s six university previously worked for amnesty international for more than thirty years abbas as a human rights activist and specialist how worried are you about the fate of refugees in bangladesh today what's your view and that is commendable but dang that this is the but that is not enough to do so after a very strong movement within the international community to ensure that the pressure that is needed to be placed on the government of myanmar is the government of bangor this is not doing all of that so you don't want to hear bangladesh is high commissioner to the u.k. and ireland you've also served on budget issues and national tossed force on the repaired tradition of the refugees abbas's you've done well but not enough we have

done excellent with the only country in the world who's giving maximum protection to the. why isn't the was doing enough that should be a question of what bangladesh is doing in a bunker this is a country with a three these values their values this is a list of other ponty we're we're the most densely populated country in the world we are sharing our food and space and sovereign space with the language was given we've given sixty six six thousand acres of land for us we are protecting sixty thousand women who are raped and gave babies seventy thousand babies who are raped babies we're providing support and shelter to those babies we're providing health education you know health care prenatal post near to women who are sexually violated in. states the question is why isn't the one doing enough would they you know existing would they not to kingdom be ready to take one point one million refugees where there was a kind of the question it would. be very. palooza swedish

bangladeshi journalist author of death squads and state turned south asia testing you're a critic of this government is very difficult to disagree with i commission is saying that they've done a lot for the ring refugees this is sheer cussedness finest hour many genocide is not something we just didn't like have a competition of who has done enough and there's not not done enough and i'd like to ask a direct question to me here i mean you see that you want to see me and mark tried international court of justice for genocide you on record saying it is a genocide crime is. genocide now what is stopping you from referring. to the international court of justice under article nine of the genocide convention i think the answer is obviously no we haven't done it but you are a government would help if handful training feeding providing

health care why the government had of course we will do of course we were going really well i like you know we're going to wrap this up but let's go to our audience raise your hands i want to bring you in as as many of you as i can go to judge me here in the front i represent ahmed bin qassam he was disappeared by the bangladesh special forces wrap in august two thousand and sixty with all the evidence points to this being done on the direct orders of prime minister sheikh hasina he's only one of hundreds have been disappeared these disappearances have been noted by un human rights bodies international human rights organizations the international press ok and foreign embassies when will the bangladesh government stop pushing the ridiculous line the disappearances are not happening and when will these men be released so they can return to the family. when disappearances happen it is deplorable. and but i have also stated that this is not a government policy of moving people so where is his client i

wouldn't know since you are the lawyer you tell us ready is your plan you just want to respond when and with with proof there is credible evidence he was being held in dock or can torment a military base in the middle of dhaka and that's credible evidence from foreign addresses and your government knows where he is no one believes that you don't know i don't even go further you're going to let me go when i thank you for the statement but you have said nothing you have just made a statement that he is your question he told you where he thinks you know it's your job to go check it out you're the only thing he does not i am prepared to take it out but you know it when you use the word credible well i have to take your word for it i want the cell number as well i was timing for meaning he would give me something for less scrutiny we'll ask about the audience gentlemen here in the front thank you i covered the runaround applause a factory collapse and the aftermath of that twenty thirty twenty thirteen which was convulsive event and which created a lot of promises from the government i'm just curious because it seems that now

thousands of workers are demanding fair wages and have not been allowed to be unionized they're being shot at. and summarize. sacked from their job this is a recent protest of yes and. despite just two days after the election the government gave a seventy five percent tax break to factory owners and in a country which has the highest growth rate amongst rich people in the world. i don't know if you have been back since you covered rana plaza and now must changes have taken place to begin with. bangladesh is now fully compliant with its commitment to the. convention bungler this constitution fully allows. unionization there are no restrictions to it working with accord an alliance we have improved and made all the factories

save we are insisting that the owners provide a million mom health care in the in the factories and as far as the government is concerned there is no rest whatsoever on unionization so you rather as happened since you regret the deaths of hundreds of innocent people for these changes to come about on your watch you are tragically often a war a tragedy. forces pushes the momentum and the speed at which changes take place yes in that sense it was it a tragedy did propel us to move fast lady the second row what are the challenges and vision of present government in bangladesh after this landslide victory well our plans and visions are very very straightforward we have numerous steps by twenty twenty one we want to become

a middle income state by twenty thirty we want to complete and fulfill sustainable development goals to the extent possible by twenty forty two we want to be a developed country ok because a lady here in the from high east spoke about shahid i'm the niece of the yes we've sat here and heard you say that there is freedom of expression in bangladesh but you know what happened to my uncle your friend. for scrutinizing the government perhaps not in a dissimilar way from what's happening now as a journalist the way that made these a journalist also scrutinizing your government. we've all listened and laughed and debated about everything that's happening but the reality is that bangladesh is a living nightmare for thousands of people you deny it but there are torture there is torture extrajudicial killings disappearances the ugliest face of the human

condition and if you're saying that everyone is lying then i think you're insulting people i'm asking you as a human being how do you feel about this you comfortable with this i'm not asking as a politician i'm asking you as a human being i would like to give you a direct clean. i. really like to give you a direct answer i understand your pain and i will also see with great respect to my friend. that and to compare him with what this journalist is doing asking question is unfair as i said earlier he was not arrested and i don't think one should be arrested for his journalistic work but for spreading this and for the second thing second thing i want to see you just sit

that life is a living hell in bangladesh. do you have any idea how the quality of life for millions of people have improved in the last ten years how millions of people have moved out of extreme poverty and i mean how this has achieved a higher social in this is in all respects compared to all if you go to resign at all or not at all it's me or is just reading economic news you're on record you are on record saying this is a product development development is not the same as democracy or the same you would want to set up i think these two work hand in hand actually and you cannot exclude so i am coming to that but you said it is living living hell for thousands of people i am telling you their lives have improved that is not to say that if there is a breach of human rights if there is arbitrary arrest of people that we justify and

we applaud absolutely not and that is what i say the prime minister's current agenda high emphasis is on the question of governance and when i say governance it is a shorthand for all the thing that we all of us aspire to full liberty freedom of expression . you know. a real qualitative improvement and just on her particular question to you personally as someone who's not a politician a goal is to measure if you have to be the politician you are an academic a scholar you are teaching people about the world when you read these reports from academics from scholars from human rights activists all making the same claims about enforced disappearances crackdowns on the press torture it doesn't bother you at all of course it bothers because i think it is deplorable it is that where these things are true and i also say to you whenever this information has come to me and i will not cannot at this moment divulge names i have done everything personally humanly possible to make sure including in the case of your uncle which i do not

want to say publicly ok let's go back to the audience yesterday when the tires. just a question to mr regime he is an advisor to the pm and he is a very intellectual man but does he call that when there is a crackdown on opposition and there is extrajudicial killing and disappearances even the opposition party doesn't have any freedom to gather free assembly or anything that cannot speak is that called democracy in bangladesh what has happened was not a crackdown what happened is again this is the law of the land that if you want to hold a public meeting you need to secure the permission of the police department so that . adequate facilities are provided but where the difficulty arose when two parties decide on the same day to hold their meeting in the same venue no rich police force in the world will allow ok all right is a very serious event really but the same let's go back to the audience dr is very

you've already answered a couple of questions on the in-force disappearances and some of the other human rights violations and you've used the term deplorable why have you refused to engage with the un special rapporteur and working groups when they've tried to engage with you on this issue and all you do is flatly deny the existence of these that is true what he said un special all wrong record i can let me ask my colleagues we are working very closely with un special rapporteur us geneva but have you invited him to visit the country they always request us to come the country all of us a lot that and how they have any record where we didn't even know what you're going to tell you to take them to the going to take them some of the prisons we had mentioned earlier some of these people might be at you know un special rapporteur has visited balad visited by prison once it's not a question of inviting them there have been complaints there have been request made by the special rapporteur that your government has not replied to not engage with in any way ok just before we finish one last couple questions for me very quickly.

you were an advisor to you've been for years you represent her here on the international stage you know that she's now widely considered by many people many journalists many governments to be leading bangladesh towards an authoritarian destination you may not agree with that view but you know that is the view of many people do you feel that view back to her does she care because there's a quote from a son where he says that she thinks it's a badge of honor to be called authoritarian well. you know what he was saying is when you have been cornered and authoritarian perth and the prime minister of malaysia. mahathir mohamad has been so he was putting it in that. my point is this he has these things have been said we have heard it we have heard it and we hear it again and i think the reality is very different we have had. regular elections not only are there no you made this point i'm asking about her

what is her attitude when you tell her this is what people say to me you travel around the world he knows he will raise these complaints seriously she reads the newspapers he reads. gets her daily bother her daily briefing and she knows that this is not what she is and does it bother you you're an academic a scholar you people of a lot of times you've told a harvard oxford before you join this government job or think you know all this is hard work going around defending her as a time to have but i could. i could tell you on t v to you while i would love to do that let me say to you i am truly delighted to be able to stand and speak for a person who has qualitatively seeings the lives of millions of people. that is. and as she has promised herself that she's going to address many of the questions that have been raised so

i think we should applaud her for what she has achieved. we should give her the credit but the okayed it is due and to start believing that somewhere in the middle there was some people say she is very good somebody will say this is very red over here take the middle written oh let's little bit more and you have no plans to retire anytime soon i'm seventy. i'm seventy this year congratulations thank you and oh i have a writing aspirations but at the same time i'm very privileged and honored to subject to resist thank you very much for joining me on head to head that's our show head to head will be back next week thank you.

matthew has an old american story comes. at the head on a jersey or. hello it is stopped raining and snowing in afghanistan in pakistan and there's no more in the immediate future pretty look further west there is another system developing i think instead look for the north of course immediately it's affecting turkey and probably syrians far south as lebanon this is the picture on monday breaks of lightish rain the wind not overly strong it keeps marching slowly eastward the cloud is still on the coast and further south into egypt it's tuesday with

a few showers on it but it hasn't come to much in iran just a little bit of rain every now and again across the heart of the country cyrus it has not made it for the temperatures don't change very much the wind doesn't change very much in the clouds cape doesn't change very much so a largish window on the gulf the temp is recovering encounter about twenty four bit hard in riyadh and obviously high still in mecca we can add one more three countries to the breeze becoming something of a southerly notice the rains have briefly been heavy in the last day or so in parts of south africa but as i'm back in towns unable to focus the focus the heaviest right is in tanzania maybe eastern side of zimbabwe and beyond but if you look into the stats of course you won't see very much the way showers unless you're in jaipur or possibly in swaziland these two areas are prone to big showers at the moment.

the fact. place on the planet. with an international team of scientists is determined not to make that happen without intervention give the big i would say a year or two about now it's a race against time to try and. thank you chrysler it's an imagined. tag no on al-jazeera. oh oh. facing protests over his rerun algeria's long ruling leader bice time if like a promise his political reforms if he is reelected. i'm

richelle carey this is al jazeera live also coming up. we're tornado hammers the u.s. state of alabama killing at least twenty two people and leaving a trail of devastation. exclusive pictures of the saudi consulate and also home for more light on the murder of jamal khashoggi and the come. from one of italy's richest regions where anti-racial policy stride but my crown is key to the economy . algeria's eighty two year old president has formally put forward his name for a fifth term in office adele's he's been a flake that has been facing growing protests against his rule is try to appease algerians promising electoral reforms if he wins next month's vote argo has the latest. demonstrators marched into the night in protest against algeria smalltime luna abdelaziz bouteflika al-jazeera contant apparently fairy

floss this picture is posted on social media showing hundred. students told the president it's time to go to the protest has one of the constitutional court to stop with a ficus time and for a fifth time in next month's election in response to the protest beautifully because campaign manager it signaled the president will not rule for long if he wins a post election. i pledged to organize early elections to be set up by the independent national conference i pledged not to be a candidate and that selection. before that announcement police fired water cannon in the capital as crowd swelled the protests have been echoed in places like france thousands demonstrated in paris on sunday as well as in other cities we are all mobilizing through for example today being many be going up against the fixed

mandates but also against the system they have taken our country away from a president but to flee his eighty two has used a wheelchair since suffering a stricken twenty thirteen and is rarely seen in public to recently travel to switzerland for medical checks on saturday he sacked his veteran campaign manager possibly a tactic to calm the growing protest movement the day before tens of thousands of people took to the streets in the capital and in towns across algeria the protest represent the biggest challenge to put to flick israel since the twenty four thousand election which was denounced by the opposition but analysts say this is different to the protests during the arab spring i don't think there is the anger and hostility against the president which you saw in egypt that he did hope to heal the wounds of the civil war he has he has brought some measure of prosperity but he can buy off the votes is because the economy is is crumbling.

in algeria half the population is under thirty and calls for protests on social media have resonated particularly with young algerians to struggle to find employment but now that anger is sustained in the protests barbara and get out to syria. because their research fellow at the french for advanced studies and social sciences she's in algeria and says the government is out of touch with the demands of the people. on the religion science and the idea that they will organize on to the base of the elections fake transitions as those who are transitioned they will control from the top is a way to get in time and to think that. that protesters we will be tyrants and get home get back home on the positive side there's no interest in elections whatsoever curiously people are out talking about general strike about serial there's

a million so they're not talking about elections or another candidate america a candidate even if it's not perfect who wins the election so there's a sort of this connection between delusion and the people who actually currently they want to organize their old political life you know they have been marginalized from the opie show boys equalised in sixty two thousand in the end in the d.n. dependency of the country and now they are singing it from now we can do we want to be in control want to get back control back over our political life and that's why they are not targeting only would see a car but asking for the system has the will to to lead and that's why also they have been so happy to be able to take the streets. in the unity in philly there is he and also in self control they have been able to do so without any balance out of the u.s. or at least twenty two people have been killed after a tornado hit the state of alabama rescue teams are searching the wreckage of homes

and businesses destroyed and lee county it is fear the number of dead could rise or than ten thousand people are without power. we've done everything we feel like we can do to save the area is just very very hazardous to put anybody into a just point in time debris everywhere and it's just a has it has mentioned previously this evening just some massive damage to structures and residences in the area i got in the car with four of my kids. my wife left with two more going to my mother in law as we were just trying to get out of this area right here coming up around the corner as i was making a left right up there around thirty eight and this old area right. here is pretty much just gone. russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov says and qatar as part of a tour of gulf countries it's his first stop before he goes on to saudi arabia kuwait and the united arab emirates russian state news says he will focus on energy

and best men and regional issues including syria yemen libya and palestine. everyone has an associate professor and conflict resolution at the institute for graduate studies he joins us here in the studio so all those countries i just named at the gulf in common but they don't have a lot else in common right now considering the blockade so what is trying to manage this thing all these countries while he has a busy agenda it's very obvious for his the trip and there are actually so many issues that. he needs to talk about what are the top syria the top for him in syria yes yes that's right actually because the situation of the talks with turkey over the issue of the is not going very well this has been very clear in the past few days about the statements that russia seeing turkey approach has an eating the way they said it about the implementation of the the big women. and so lover of is

hoping that he can get some support from the gulf countries and other arab countries when for the issue of. the talks over there and also for what's called the constitutional committee that they're trying to establish in order to deal with the situation in syria which is part of the reconstruction process and also and that's i think where he needs most of the support from gulf countries though there is nothing in common now between the gulf countries as you said because of the crisis he needs to discuss the return of syria to the arab league which has been an issue that also russia is trying to advance in the past few months. through several talks to get support from arab countries to allow seeder to . do that

a big in addition of course there is something that palestine and. what's called the deal of the century that we are seeing signs from a chair questionnaire they president sign a law saying that he has a plan for peace in the middle east that being the deal of the century exactly and that's actually that according to some statements that he made just caution or lately that he's talking about the release of his plan soon and probably after all of the israeli actions which is taking place in so this is something related to the whole issue of the region and let me ask you this why has russia so forcefully inserted themselves in to the middle east and all of the the issues there well is trying to find an opportunity for itself where it can play a role in the politics of the middle east and i think they have the support unity

in pakistan because we have the palestinian partner who is fairly rejecting to talk to the united states this is the legitimizing what's called again the deal of the century just caution is trying to put forward because this there is a policy and an approval for the deal of the century then there is no legitimacy for or for this plan because the policy ends are a part of the conflict of the major part of the conflict here and no one can take their place so given that they are refusing to talk fairly to the united states so russia sees an opportunity where they can they call here and for that reason actually just two weeks ago we saw russia inviting different palestinian factions how monson felt there to moscow in order to try to broker some sort of an understanding or you know to take this so there is an opportunity of the russia the

way they see it that i get it and i hear back to the why they're here to console or did this at all that this is happening or to taking a very big agenda can we we're going to keep you close today to talk us through this as a start to hear what comes out of these meetings thank you ever hear of a shot at. al jazeera has obtained exclusive pictures from the home of the saudi consul general in istanbul after the murder of journalist. a documentary airing on our sister channel al-jazeera arabic is shedding new light on his death and how his body may have been disposed to show she was killed inside saudi arabia's consulate last october more from ankara these pictures show a furnace a tenderer or when that was built by a turkish constructor in the garden of saudi consul general's residence in istanbul just a few hundred meters away from the consulate general building where jim was brutally murdered and according to older toppings obtained by the turkish intelligence his

body parts were this member in the closely general building again we heard from we heard from the police department and the persecutors office that. by departs carry it in a luggage is and bags to the residence building close to the current slate and according to the f police as i said into thought before two thousand eight hundred the police strongly suspect that his body parts might have been burnt in this town there were over in according to technical details of this all when it can fire up to one thousand degrees celsius which means that it leaves no trace of the d.n.a. of a body part or any bones and the turkish police insists that since. who is a forensic experts of the saudi hit team who came to murder jamal has shipped in istanbul his dissertation thesis was about analysis of d.n.a. .