this church censorship is not acceptable and you won't hear such strong words from nazi berlin or paris or london in cairo on al-jazeera. saudi arabia sentences 5 people to death in connection with the murder of journalist jamal. bhatt souled tani the most senior official implicated in the prophet and a top aide to the saudi crown prince walks free. to am . fully back to boyer watching al-jazeera live from a headquarters in doha also ahead more rallies expected across india as anger over a controversial new citizenship law shows no sign of subsiding we'll have

a live report from new delhi also russian and government forces pound the last rebel held area of syria triggering a mass exodus of civilians. to . saudi arabia's public prosecutor says 5 people have been sentenced to death and 3 to 25 years in prison 24 years in prison in the case of the killing of saudi journalists. but a top aide to crown prince mohammed bin solomon and the most senior official implicated in the crime has been cleared of wrongdoing the identities of those convicted haven't been released the closed door trial was held at the criminal court in saudi arabia's capital riyadh jamal khashoggi was murdered in the saudi consulate in istanbul turkey. on october 2nd 2018 the crown prince of saudi arabia

mohammed bin soundman has said he had no prior knowledge of the operation now announcing the sentence is a short while ago saudi arabia's public prosecutor said the murder was only decided once jamal khashoggi was inside the consulates have am and a whole lot who did the investigations carried out by the public prosecution reveal that there was no provocation or murder at the beginning of this assignment it was a spur of the moment action when the leading negotiator inspected the consulate premises and it was established to him that it was impossible to have the victim may he rest in peace transported to a safe place to continue with negotiations consultations were made with a leading negotiator and it was agreed with the perpetrators to kill the victim inside the consulate. well let's remind you of how all this began and unfolded was last seen alive on october 2nd 2018 when he entered the saudi consulate in istanbul

3 days later take issue officials confirmed he was killed take media later publish images of a 15 member saudi team that arrived in istanbul on the same day disappeared and said the group was inside the consulate when the journalists arrived from this point onwards evidence began to mount linking saudi arabia's crown prince mohammed bin solomon to the matter in mid october the saudis finally admitted that khashoggi was killed but said it was a result of a brow. court advise a sadhaka tiny and deputy intelligence chief siri was sacked and 18 saudis arrested turkey for a sponsor insisted it was a premeditated murder and shared recordings from inside the consulate with several countries including saudi arabia the us senate later pass a resolution in december holding crown prince mohammed bin salman responsible for

the murder and in january sodger arabia said it was holding trial for 11 people it believes were behind the matter saudi prosecutors said it was not premeditated well as speak to bill law who is in london he's the editor of the online magazine arab digest this is a story that we're followed with you here on al-jazeera this past year and a half this very expel law presents more questions than answers it seens what is your reaction to it 1st. yes it does very much present many more questions the idea that it was not a premeditated murder that it was the result of a rogue action that's very strange isn't it because the forensics expert who accompanied that team carried with them the tools that were used to dismember the body of jamal khashoggi and i think it's very clear to anyone outside of saudi arabia that the way in which this trial was approached it was it was held behind closed doors there was not even

a knowledge about of who was being charged the fact that 2 of the key players involved 'd in the murder of now walked free the side of the pani end up without a city again raises many many questions this story is not simply going to go away because the saudis have decided that they have finished their version of what they say is the truth i think there are many many questions still to be asked and they need to be answered bill there was quite a knot of evidence linking the crime to the people who've been released sadhaka tiny on a c.v. evidence that had been gathered by turkey by the u.n. special investigator agnes khan amar did the saudi authorities not have access to this evidence how credible was the try. i think the trial itself lacked any real credibility i think that the saudis did have access to this evidence they simply chose not to use it there was a decision made i believe that saw the body in particular would be protected it was

said to have been arrested my understanding was that he was under a very soft a house arrest without a city again very loyal to a moment's oman the crown prince someone who he would probably want to protect other people lower down in the pecking order i think they've been sacrificed right how how will the turks bill view this verdict i mean they've been under a lot of pressure for the past year and 2 months now to open some sort of international investigation into the matter of jamal has shoji do you think with this verdict they will now have to do so well i think the turkey has always played for there was always put a pragmatic game in regards to this particular situation and general in regard to how we how he views his difficulties with saudi arabia and i think he will view again this decision in light whether there will be much international pressure

to repudiate is verdict to push the saudis to wards full and independent inquiry which has been called for i rather fear that that's not going to happen thank you very much for being with us and sharing your thoughts bill knowledge joining us and from london let's speak some more about this now to our senior political analyst marwan bashar who's here in doha marwan just to remind our viewers once again of this the consul of the saudi consulate in istanbul where the maid of jamal khashoggi happened released the top advisor to the saudi crown prince saud aka tani released as well is this a convincing display of justice in your opinion. well i'll tell you what in terms of keeping up appearances if you just google the words shuji and put it on the news you'll see that every single news outlet out there has already titled the news as saudi arabia sentences 5 to death over the cases about hugs and that's what the

saudis wanted they wanted that bit the bit about 5 rogue elements being sentenced to death as the main news and i think most news out that picked it up but as you said this is a political killing and hence where is the political justice where is the political implication where does the investigation on the prosecution enter the political responsibility behind the killing because as the saudi prosecutor says. there is no enmity quote unquote enmity between those who carried the murder and what if there is no enmity why would they kill him how would they travel to istanbul and travelled back how would they deal with all the logistics if there was no someone in the political echelon who according to the cia and to the un special rapporteur on your skull ahmad is either the crown prince or someone close to him but as you

just mentioned the 3 people who are within the echelon that probably they rectally . responsible for this whether it's the head of intelligence or the special advisor or the consul general who by the way the united states has just sanctioned are basically being moved away from the prosecution's list as innocent people and that that puts a damper over the whole justice or the judiciary process and so direct get any wonder how the rest of the world and the u.s. in particular will be viewing this and i'm talking about the u.s. congress. not the u.s. administration the trump administration if you know the saudis feel justice has been saved and most of the world doesn't where i've scanned justice come from that you know the interesting thing part for you here is that after a period of denial that not anything has happened at the consulate and to another peter of the dismissal that ok this is behind us we're trying to deal with it so

there may be tried a public relations campaign in order to convince the world that it has changed and this was just a glitch in the system and so on so forth and in the process and this is important . it's basically has been normalized by the international community so much show that it is heading the g 20. summit in 2020 and now it is the leader of the g 20 so here arabiya so basically it needs to give some sort of an impression that there is some sort of a justice system in saudi arabia and they are trying to tackle the situation and hence the 5 people presumably rogue are responsible for the killing we are sentenced and all the others that are probably giving the order or or or basically manage the entire operation are presumed innocent and that is where the problem lies and that is where the your question needs to be answered in the international

community as you said probably congress i suspect the international media or let's say the washington post where. wrote or the new york times will they take this a face value and accept it of course not but i think what the saudis are trying to do is right trying to do this some kind of a crisis management were in the one hand they try to normalize relations with the international community and on the other hand keep up some sort of appearance that they are trying to tackle the situation all right thank you very much for that marwan bashar is our senior political analyst let's now speak to our correspondent in turkey mohammed atta who's in antakya turkey of course is where he was made it inside the saudi consulate in istanbul and the matter a strange relations mohammed between turkey and saudi arabia how will the take us government to be viewing this verdict. well so far we've been speaking to some of the government and we particularly spoke

a few moments ago 2 years he's a member of parliament for the ruling party and he was the 1st one to report that showed you was missing after he was contacted by his turkish fiance. junkies and. seen act is saying. this is unconvincing and is just a continuation of these said the theme the very lies tissue of lies he said that was coming from riyadh and said that this was nothing that was going to a piece of the friends of you who are going to continue the search for justice and he also said that the chief prosecutor here in turkey is continuing apart a little process and that this will continue and if it has been unable to provide

justice then it would be incompetent pawn to step in and provide of course turkey has in the past asked for the extradition of believe top been evolved in the murder of journalist jamal khashoggi but that has not had any favorable results. rejected by so did it and if it looks us if the reaction from the government is going to be along the lines of the mobile fundament yes you knocked i thank you for that mohammed i don't live for a. on to other world news and 3 days of national mourning have been declared in algeria following the death of the army's chief of staff lieutenant general ahmed guide sana suffered a heart attack the 80 year old was regarded as the most powerful man in the country following the mass protests and resignation of longtime president. in april in

india the main opposition congress party is holding a rally against a controversial new citizenship law demonstrations are again ramping up in the capital new delhi and several other cities romanism render modi has defended the law which opponents say discriminates against muslims in india at least $25.00 people have died in violence since the legislation was passed in parliament earlier this month that speak to our correspondent elizabeth cohen i'm in new delhi for a series of elizabeth more protests in new delhi and elsewhere today tell us 1st about what's happening where you are. the only way here. let me university it has been one of the. sights i think all over the last week was when students were really driving the fortunes of against me and it. was having

a larger tank lays but. ringback that's not the case on camera here in terms of being able to change their. whole gathering out so i don't want the information was they were. worried about the 5. days of the information in the largest number of events from the 18 of the 25 people killed we now know that. there is a man on top that the chief minister. has said that he would take for john protest the 17 shops. was to. belonging to most of those accused that the jews are allowing for justice to the world rots from them again this is hard to measure but we're watching very closely because where it's taking my name is not for my god well there are provisions enough really deadly communal violence going to the logies that's what's happening there but elsewhere there are

the world as it is happening like there are here in calcutta i was no never very much continuing my around the country. the violence most of the violence as you say we've seen is in areas that are governed by the ruling b j p party at a rally yesterday sunday prime minister monti accused the opposition of inciting the violence of being behind this on rest and we have today the congress party holding a rally in new delhi what is the message there what are they trying to say the congress pani. the. people the congress party or the colleagues interest or the prime minister that is what i'm already accusing arm opposition parties of starting the unrest because the congress party has also been accused by others of not taking part in protests how these are the biggest protests happened in india for years allegedly so this government was 1st elected 5 years

ago and the congress is not only just how. certain and they're calling it a silent they're not doing it somewhere that's a very symbolic and a memorial to mahatma gandhi the place where he was from a set up and they do need to send the message that i am the along with india's other founders and question the haitian secular country i am that the lord of the ship meant that i was a strong and secular am i have a secular constitution the congress was how many different groups are challenging the floor and be a supreme court thank you very. elizabeth random live for us in new delhi or critics say the citizenship law is another example of narendra modi's government undermining india's secular constitution and launching the rising the 200000000 muslims who live in the country in august the government stripped statehood and autonomy from india's only muslim majority state kashmir that same month modi

stepped up a national citizenship registry program in the northeastern state of assam it's left nearly $2000000.00 people many of them muslims potentially stateless and the prime minister has vowed to expand the program threatening to put those who can't prove their indian in detention sentance. president say his country can't handle another wave of syrian refugees as 800000 people head towards the border the exodus follows heavy bombardment by russian and syrian forces in the last rebel held province of idlib shot report. and so the nude lip is pounded from above its people rushed towards the turkish border scrambling to escape the area long story from russian and syrian friends it's. not a. look from the bombardment russian work planes are striking helicopters

missiles and rockets we cannot remain there. syrian president bashar al assad boasted his mission to retake the province from former al qaeda affiliates hiatt to here a week ago sunni province out of his control the russian backed syrian army celebrated retaking more than 20 villages on it lives fringe cutting hair cut the price dozens of civilians killed tens of thousands displaced of them actually on the job you have fled from and to moderate a lot more than 20 times for what reason tell us where is our next destination we don't know. but this is what they're running from. filmed on sunday on the damascus lipper highway and it's lewd volunteers from a syrian in geo rushed to the aftermath of the suspected russian. it's tragic there is heavy bombardment the warplanes are always flying but there

come along as i counted on him yesterday more than $400.00 rockets hit us that are read a new man our children couldn't sleep through the night they were crying every hour now we are heading towards the i don't know. turkish president read your time over one is bracing for the exodus from it live turkey currently holds 3700000 syrian refugees he says they cannot. support but. 6 more than $80000.00 of our brothers from running from the bombs there have started migrating towards our borders if the violence towards the people of a lift is not stopped this number will increase even more turkey will not carry such a migrant burden on its own the negative impact of that pressure will be something that all european nations especially greece but also feel. syrian rebels in the russian backed syrian forces had agreed to a ceasefire an orchestra in the south a little something we are putting up every effort with russia for the attacks to stop and we will continue to do so in fact we are sending

a delegation to moscow on monday until the bombardment stops the exodus will continue resistance homes abandoned empty targets in the way of president assad's mission to retake the last rebel besting in charlotte ballasts. preliminary results show ruling party has won the most seats in the parliamentary election so far after saturday's vote however the liberal democratic party has yet to secure an outright majority the election has been criticized for not having any genuine opposition choices are made is live for us in tashkent the capital so these early results good news for the ruling party but it's not a big victory yet. it's not a big victory yet and but it is good news for the ruling party as it has always been good news for the ruling party ever since this country was created about 28

years ago now at the end of the day as you said all the 5 parties who were in this election are all supportive of government policies their platforms are all the say so regardless of what the final figure will be for the ruling party it's not that anything will really change for it or it will change or the country will all of a sudden politically change course now what could technically have happened is that other parties could form a coalition and sort of oust the prime minister and demand that the prime minister would be someone from their parties but that is mostly unlikely to happen now one interesting point here is that so far only 127 seats out of the 150 of the parliament have been allocated so we've just heard that actually they will be another a 2nd round of elections maybe in chewy eckstein for those 20 seats leave remaining

again might change the numbers for the ruling party might change in numbers for the other parties but it would not change the overall picture of what is happening in the country and what or what have international observers said about this election . well it's just been a press conference from the o.s.c. you've had about 300 observers around the country indeed phrase really the changes that the president has been implementing in the coach's specially didn't you do new rule rules when it comes to elections in new laws electoral laws are but it did say that nonetheless did observe serious violations and i'm quoting also the disappointments according to rio. about 42 they've recorded about 42 percent of violations that is down from last elections in 2015 where they said that violations amounted to more than 50 percent well now they say that's gone down

but still old habits remain you know in this country that have a habit for example of having family vote where you basically have one person who brings all the passports of the entire family and he filled the ballots for everyone well that despite the fact that is now against the law that has continued they also said that they have observed a lot of. irregularities rather when it came to violence counting device ballots about a lot of sloppiness when it came to counting the ballots but they said that the overall atmosphere was much more positive than in previous elections that this is this newfound freedom of speech that made people more comfortable to go to the ballot boxes it also said that in general it is kind of a good step but you need to have opposition voices you need to have voices of dissent and that the moment the option for the voters is still quite limited so

a lot still needs to be done ok what i thank you very much for that hoda abdel-hamid life. now on a visit to nice air france's president has questioned whether west african leaders want french troops to stay. in the region to confront armed groups speaking in the capital niamey emanuel markhor said he was reluctant to send soldiers to countries where their presence isn't clearly wanted mark owen is as president mamadou is so for discuss recent attacks by fighters link to eyesore and al-qaeda in the region paid tribute to $13000.00 soldiers killed in mali last month when 2 helicopters collided. places with french an international presence is not accepted i say clearly we will draw the necessary conclusions because we are talking about sovereign states of a sovereign state in the region says i don't need for any international military presence we should not be via. a major as has more from nigeria's capital abuja.

well basically this is of the 1st time president mccrone is making this statement we go he was saying he was category and saying that african leaders need to tell him exactly whether or not they need french troops on their soil but the recent situation now is such that president mccrone needs to hear from these leaders because of the goal we. both says in the region about french road actual french role in calming tensions and ending the violence in the sahara and other parts of west africa because of al qaida because of islamic state in that event because of. all these attacks that we've been seeing violent attacks in recent weeks have been rising and people are wondering that with the presence of 4005 more than 1500 french troops in the region they can't understand why these things are not being

brought under control and if i thought. it was in mali just last week the the question people are asking was that why are these attacks increasing by the day and you when you listen to african leaders the president of the president of mali president of book an apostle talking about these attacks growing in sophistication and. then in terms of the number of these attacks being carried out without hindrance despite the presence of multinational forces remember missler the united nations mission in mali still there out there that thousands of troops there and the pressure president presence there is also something that many west africa's feel that they should be able to control the situation from escalating to this level. in australia homeowners in areas scorched by bushfires are returning to see what's left around 200 fires are burning many of them in the states of new south

wales and south australia weeks of bushfires have killed 9 people and destroyed at least half hours and properties one particularly hard hit small community moral south of sydney jessica washington is set for dozens of families here in balmoral this is all they have left most of the town was engulfed in a blaze sophia's it created a firestorm this family stayed to try and protect their home while the inferno swept through their property we had no chance we got smashed. there he was seriously tense for want of a better word. estimating that probably he 1002004 degrees back here. without a house just days before christmas members of this family are being helped by their neighbors but there are unsure of what lies ahead the generosity of the community as these small communities and everywhere else that they've just been amazingly

generous people. that have offered us homes in everything else under the sun. at this time. really we don't have any plans at this stage this community is a small one home to just 400 but it's been devastated by this bushfire crisis dozens of homes were lost this weekend alone and more than a 1000 houses have been destroyed since the start of the bush. this couple's property is scorched but they still have their house. and. thanks to. emergency warnings are still in place and a heat wave is expected to return in just a few days but fire crews are making the most of the cooler weather and that's

allowed some of those who evacuated to return and assess the damage. but we. have a close knit community and what. her house has escaped the fire along with her christmas lights. just a washington. journalist mahmoud a sane has now been detained without any formal charges in egypt for 3 years hussein was arrested on arrival in egypt in december 26th seen while on a personal visit to see his family he is accused of defaming the state and spreading false news allegations he and al-jazeera deny al-jazeera staff are holding a moment of solidarity and are continuing to call for mahmoud hussein's release.

hello again i'm fully battle with the headlines on al-jazeera saudi arabia public prosecutor says 5 people have been sentenced to death and 3 to 25 years in prison for the murder of saudi journalist. but a tiny a former high profile saudi royal advisor and top aide to crown prince mohammed bin salman who was implicated in the murder has been released without charge announcing the sentences earlier public prosecutor said the murder of jamal khashoggi was only decided once he was inside the consulate never am and the whole loaded the investigation is carried out by the public prosecution revealed that there was no proliferation of murder at the beginning of this assignment it was a spur of the moment action when the leading negotiator inspected the consulate premises and it was established to him that it was impossible to have the victim may he rest in peace transported to a safe place to continue with negotiations consultations were made with

a leading negotiator and it was agreed with the perpetrators to kill the victim inside the consulate. 3 days of national mourning have been declared in algeria following the death of the army's chief of staff lieutenant general. suffered a heart attack the 80 year old was regarded as the most powerful man in algeria following the mass protests and resignation of longtime leader president abdelaziz bouteflika in april in india the main opposition congress body is holding a rally against a controversial new citizenship law demonstrations are ramping up in the capital new delhi and several other states. as always much more news on our web site at al-jazeera dot com coming up next here it's inside story i hope you just stay with us thanks so much.

defiance the indian prime minister the defense he's called the virtual citizenship the deaths of angry protesters sweeping the country the book by modi challenges on how followers the undermine secular groups and the media this is inside story. hello welcome to the program grow a secular state where all religions are welcome and equal before the law now that idea is at the core of india's constitution but many believe it's under threat hindu that.