it remains unclear whither amos was targeted, specifically, or simply because he was a british member of parliament jona hall al jazeera london. now, more than 5 tons of cocaine has been seized. my yacht in the atlantic ocean during an international police operation. portugal police say it's one of the largest olds in europe for several years. they suspect the drugs belong to traffickers who wanted to smuggle them in through the bearing peninsula. 3 men have since been arrested. ah, i could check the headlines here on the al jazeera, colin powell is being remembered as a trail bathing soldier and diplomat after his death from coven 19 complications. he was the 1st african american to become chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and u. s. secretary of state,

secretary powell was simply incompletely a leader and he knew how to build a strong in united team. he treated people the way he expected them to treat each other. and he made sure that they knew he would always have their back. the result was that his people would walk through walls for him. the u. s. envoy to afghanistan zel mahjong that has stepped down. his resignation comes less than 2 months after america is at times chaotic withdrawal from afghanistan. and he was that lead trump administration talks with the taliban that resulted in the agreement for u. s. troops to leave his deputy thomas west as been named to take over the ethiopian air force was launched attacks against rebels and michaela, the regional capital up to dr. a t v station control by the rebels said 3 people were killed. ethiopians state meter reported that communications infrastructure was targeted. the death toll after floods them landslides, in southern indian state of caroline wasn't

a 35 more rain is expected this week. on the streets of puerto prints are largely empty up the unions. an organization is called a strike to protest against haiti's security situation. strike. well, as the kidnapping of 17 christian missionaries, which s, as in chile, a mocking the 2nd anniversary of the start of violent demonstrations that left more than 30 dead. demonstrate to say they are still waiting for the government to fix social inequality and are demanding a complete overhaul of the political system. a protest come ahead of presidential unless age of elections next month. russia is closing nature's permanent mission in moscow. the move is in response to the expulsion of 8 members of russia's mission in brussels by the western military alliance. milly, 2 weeks ago, when i was asian, i choose them of being undeclared russian spies, moscow's foreign minister announced the retaliatory move in immediate briefing while blaming nato for the worsting relations. so those were the headlines. the news continues here now to 0 after full life stage

and thanks for watching back now. the world is warming, and green lynn's ice sheet is melting, which is changing everything from sea levels to the way people live. and now even exposing the remnants of a cold war pulse greenland the melting of the frozen north on al jazeera. and we would think that is the word that i can describe and have been valuable to whenever i you know, and it out because i never word dictionary and i've been waking up like dad since 1990 sees a big abided all day every day. afforded no probably 50. ready december to night. so you spend all of your young adult life into now in, in prison. and you,

you basically see i grew up in prison. brandon jackson was convicted of armed robbery in 1997, a crime. he says he didn't commit and sentenced to life. the verdict and brandon's chase was not unanimous. 10 years, but a guilty. 2 jurors voted not guilty in 48 out of 50 states. brandon would have had the right to me trial, but not in louisiana. ready it's important to have a unanimous jury verdict because it is important to make sure that there are not reasonable doubts as to someone scout. so in one or 2 jurors say that they have a doubt about guilt. how you can continue to plug someone in prison is, is beyond me. brandon has been fighting to get out of prison for years. in 2020, there was hope when the supreme court ruled that these convictions were unconstitutional. but the court later said the ruling would not be retroactive,

meaning brandon wouldn't get a new trial and you'll get it across the julian. boy, you speak or really, you know why we know why? because do you eat a victim more african american males than indeed any other race fault lines partnered with the lens. a nonprofit newsroom in new orleans to investigate the path forward for people locked up on non unanimous convictions. have you thought through what the day would be like the day that you leave prison? don't. would they that i look forward to saying they require a deal. my mind is probably just devote my mom. is it? you know, you're just dog, my mom and justin. oh we're and just channels, you know, our login is here where she had to say that, but i know she never stopped. grand happy

mothers day. he is your hard. his son. you are my mother of fargo, family ambition. green. i'm praying that all will be trying when i go to court. so as you bow waves dawn, pray for my release. though remember in his time night owl this you have a special relationship with brian because he was the one bed needed me most and i didn't love my other kids in the mid. but brandon was always sickly. as a young child, brandon had severe asthma and needed constant medical attention. so he spent his very 15 years in house on the breathe machine, or else he was in

a half bedroom. more than less, he was a shared key. when he turned 15 and was able to master his tags, he tried to make go, but the can did he and now. and then when he beginning to dear to the male, trying the phoebe and, and given what does it been like for you as a mother to have him be put behind bars for so long is indescribable. you don't bring your child into the world to become a prisoner. and to me and the state of louisiana being incarcerated is just another form of slavery. this little zambrow grove have on visit january 25 years. nobody visited him, but me and i my family has di and so right now are he

hes, is me 24 years after his conviction, brandon's asking for a new trial based on the fact that the verdict in his case was non unanimous list of people, families that are with us today and was trying to help with our billing days and have a blessed day. so jesus miss your home. it's july and there's a hearing of the court house and bowser parish north west louisiana. brandon's fate is in the hands of a judge in this conservative part of the state, the district attorney, or da here, as opposed brandon's effort to get out how many hearings have you been? oh, to live. and how are you feeling about the hearing that we're going to to day? i just pray for a positive outcome because my hopes have

been dash o manage on gone to this core. how brandon ended up with a life sentence for a crime in which no one was hurt is as much a story about the harsh laws passed in the 19 ninety's during the so called war on drugs. the prosecutor seized on 3 previous drug convictions to give brandon life. in 2019, his sentence was reduced to 40 years that made him eligible for parole. for the 1st time that his application was denied, his mother was devastated. i had the heart said, ju must made every case at our rear as wireless duration, not just hold it in, hold them hold. so it's yours took a townhome. i'm glad you thought that the heart attack was because of what happened

to brandon. yeah, it, it, it was in the cow, but it helped your own go. hard. good. take so much. brandon jackson's trial was here at the bowser parish court house. he was accused of robbing an applebee's restaurant at gunpoint. there was no physical evidence that connected him to the crime, but the state had a star witness. tell me who has joseph young? oh, joseph young was my brother in law. he was all day my sister had to turn. joseph young worked at the applebees. he initially denied any involvement in the robbery, but later changed his story and told police he planned it with brandon. he said he opened up the back door and let 2 armed men walk in. they tied up the staff and stole more than $6000.00. nobody was injured. young testified that brandon was one of the 2 gunmen and paid him $1000.00 to participate. did you come at the robbery?

no. in the ever did show that none of the de description of the individuals looked alike mean. oh, was built like me and all that was brought up. the biggest thing to me is that no physical evidence were found on brandon jackson's person. no physical evidence was found in his home. all the evidence of no fingerprints on the guns or money didn't have. they couldn't like any of that to brandon jackson's finger, correct. and so like all they have is the testimony of joseph young. we obtained and reviewed the transcripts of brandon's trial. so right here, the pro, as a cuter, is questioning joseph young, and he asked them so you would hope that this helps you with your sentence. is that correct? in other words, you're testifying against your friend to reduce your sentence and clear as day. joseph young says, yes sir. joseph young serve 3 months in jail and was placed on probation for his

role when the robbery. we also obtained and digitized a videotape that hasn't been seen in 25 years. it's a statement joseph young gave to brandon's lawyer at the time before the trial. he claimed that neither of the robbers looked like brandon brandon. that's right. yes and tito how he felt neither of and bill. so the judge didn't allow the jury to see this video ruling that joseph young had made the statement in competence to an attorney. he was a star witness. how common is it that the star witness would be changing his story? more common than you think, but it's still ultimately problematic. but i think even without that video being admitted to evidence, something in the way that the state presented the case convinced to jurors in a row not guilty. and so in most states, it would have been a miss trial in louisiana, though it was a, it was enough to convict what sticks out with brandon's case is what sticks out

with so many other men and women's cases that we have with non unanimous dr. verdicts, and it's that there are serious doubts as to guilt right. ah, the accuracy of these convictions are really in doubt. they involve eye witnesses who get a benefit for testifying against another. as was the case and brandon's, they involve long sentences. this is not what would happen elsewhere, louisiana laws are unduly harsh. the history of this harsh on louisiana dates back to the gym pro era following the civil war. black americans began to exercise newfound civil rights like access to the ballot box and serving on juries . white politicians responded with poll taxes and literacy tests, tools to disenfranchise black voters. they also implemented non unanimous jury

convictions. there was a constitutional convention, billings 1898, and the goal, profess goal. it was said, it was actually written down. its purpose was to ensure the supremacy of the white race in perpetuity to the greatest extent permissible under federal law. and so that, you know, they can, you know, that was the purpose, an ad. that is what the official journal of the proceedings states. and one of the ways they thought they needed to accomplish that mission was to marginalize some of the voices that might wind up on a jury. so as opposed to having all 12 people beside guilt or innocence after reconstruction was possible that it could be some black folks who might get on a jury. their intent was to convict more black people and to silence the voices of lecturers. in practice, they have convicted more black people and have disproportionately silenced black

jurors. there are now more than 1500 people in prison in louisiana, convicted by non unanimous juries. 80 percent of those prisoners are black. we tried to contact all of the jurors and brandon's case, some of died and some we spoke to didn't remember the trial very well. we did confirm that the 2 jurors who voted against convicting brandon were black. one of the 2 was willing to speak with us, but she asked us not to reveal her name or show her face what our family were pamper edge. that when i presented all weight liberated there, i was, that could be that it with. why were you having doubts about that? no one say it that they knew what it was brand that they recognize. and they think it manner room. no one was able to say enough to convince me that they were sure

that it was committed to robbery. you did you express your point of view to the jurors? i'm sure i agree. explain one statement and i was blown down and i just missed it. and when they dismissed your concerns, how did that make you feel? i felt like ok, i voice my opinion and i was hoping that maybe what are they it has. thank then i'll some one is made a think about it is that change your mind? even if they did a lot of big out in front of the room, but now from the verdict that did not happen, we tracked down one of the jurors who voted to convict brandon. there were just a multitude of things that made me believe that he was guilty of this crime. could you have any doubts in your mind about his guilt? no, i did not. i remember am brandon jackson coming into the jury into the courtroom and he was very sure of himself. he seemed to have

a very and he smiled a law. he seemed very relaxed. but i remember brandon made a lot of our contact with the jurors and he seemed to be pretty sure of himself. and like i said, i felt he was real, really over confident. and so there was no news about his doing or something about his demeanor that it was like he was trying to win us over to his side with his smile. his he made a lot of eye contact. i remember and. and so i thank think that was i remember that real strongly about them. and so it was attended to conviction. i was at 10 to 200. okay. and the 2 who did not agree were african war, both african american l. okay. we actually caught up with the one woman. oh, she didn't think he was guilty or she just wasn't convinced because she said that nobody had,

nobody was able to identify him. like because they all had ski mask or they had bandanas on. nobody was able to identify him except for the co conspirator who. how does that make you feel about non unanimous jury convictions? do i mean, does that become problematic for you if there's one person or more than one person on the jury that doesn't feel like their voice is being heard, especially someone of color and well, you know, i've, i've been right. i've lived in the south my whole life. i was born here raised here, and i don't believe that their voice was not heard. i mean i, i don't think i'm not sure that are. i don't even remember if she explained why she didn't think he was guilty. i don't, i don't even remember that. i don't think that their voice isn't heard. i just think that there were more people that thought he was guilty. one of the reasons why she thought you know that you were guilty was because you were looking at the jury and you were making eye contact with the jury. the only day that i was due and

at that time was what i was asked to do by my turn. you see always give the jury. i heard you know, so you, she beige her decision on the way that i look. you know what, what, what does, what does it say about the type of world that we living a look you blow me without, without knowing him. sidwell. you know, so you tell me about the never looked at you. i did look at the job the whole time . i would be sitting right here because you would have found me not guilty. it's very, very telling it really sort of speaks to the language and that $898.00 cost. and you had mentioned that created this law. a black male making eye contact with a white person years ago could cause him to lose his life. and in this particular situation, it caused him to lose his freedom. and you were

a little bit nervous about talking to us on camera. why was that? what was it to get back to my boss? it could have a negative effect on me. why is that? ok, thanks a lot of the like the jury yet which is a straight to lock it with the lock or maybe even a lock on there for get this person or some of the jewish base. someone was actually this man before the verdict was handed down. but emma may am a bit of i may, i go to because i'm a, you know,

what happened to me to actually to try to sharing some of these logs am. if brandon hopes to change the laws, she will likely have to do it at the louisiana state house in baton rouge. in april, democratic state, lawmakers proposed to bill that would revisit past convictions like brandon's. but it was rejected by republicans who said banning the practice moving forward was enough. i can't really look at it through that lens and say i'm gonna look back and see what could have been done. different. i'm wanting to look at what can be done forward and try and make changed that way if it was deemed unconstitutional. and we know that is rooted in a racist origin. and there is, there's 1500 people there that are sitting there. they sleep there at night, and a lot of them are in there for a life. don't they deserve their case to be looked at again. i feel pretty confident the mother because the supreme court said that the way we did it was correct. how was it not unconstitutional for the people there who are there now the

supreme court said we were fine. so i can't argue with what, what do you think? i think what we did was bowl monumental and i'm happy that we got that push forward . do you think that those people deserve a remedy? i think there is a remedy. what is the remedy? the remedy is the da can review it. but if the da decides not to review, then they don't, they don't ever em. and how do you feel about that? you think that's right. i feel confident in what we did, but i look, i don't look at it from a racial lens. what we did was not about race was about normal was right. they did exactly what has been done so many times before. when we say we've fixed the law, we've called it a jim crow law. but we refused to acknowledge that there are people who are carrying the weight of this. and we refuse to take that weight off of their shoulders. there are no black republicans here, right? so when a node it that the people that this would benefit don't look like them, likely big groping. and mabel is likely don't know, anyone make a contact them,

they'll care about it. so i'm, you can eliminate that the racial element because i would guarantee you if 80 percent of the folks that we were talking about were white, the bill would have passed period if brandon jackson can't get help with the state legislature, his only hope is back in both parish, the district attorney here could agree to look at his case again, but very few days throughout the state have agreed to re examine old cases. so we are back at the bowser court house. we've been trying to get in touch with sta multiple times and he's not returning any of our messages. so we're gonna see if he's here, maybe we can find them here and ask him a few questions. is he here today? no, ma'am. he did. yeah. okay. well so he is out of town, i just spoke with his daughter,

so she took down my name and number and said she would tell him to call me ah old case of a gentleman named brandon jackson. i dont know if you remember the details of that case. i'm not familiar with this particular case level with this convention. rather this wasn't both longer. this was in bowser it was in 1097 to you know, to realize that in united states supreme court to 75 years told it was okay. are not calling you this constitution. and so now in 2020 to tell us is not okay. we know that the origins of this law go back to, you know, jim crow times and, and in this case these it was, it worked exactly like it was intended to, to, to, to mute the voices of these black jurors. well, i have one here. i'm not disputing original law. i think all of that got

a lot of action with the legislature in or jerome. you know, so i don't have any time in our history and i get all that. i do believe and adris is too big, huge. for the most part, they get it right. it's glorious. what the facts on i'm giving you details about this one particular case because this is the one that i've been looking at and that i'm interested in. does this sound like the kind of case that you would be willing to go back and look at and retry sure? sure, i don't have a problem with that. his name was randon jackson, brandon jackson jacks. and if you could look into brandon jackson's case, and give me a call back, i would really appreciate that. i'll call you back. thank you, sir. have a great, have a great weekend, bye bye. bye. more than 3 weeks later, in a letter to fault lines, bozer parish district attorney skyler, marvin said, quote, my office will not vacate and retry convictions solely because of

a non unanimous verdict back at the bowser paris court house. brandon still has one last possible remedy. i've been up here so many times at deer like i need to give me or how dear room the judge in his case, still needs to one his application for a re trial. but it's not going to happen today. even though the state had months to prepare. ready the judge decided to give them even more time to respond. it's like we're in a holding pattern. vegas are longer turn him loose. it is lives lagged. me is a good are warm make were 0 and there was a waiting game. i don't have laurel mass said my heart surgeries on 6 months and i'm trying to stay up as god allowed me to live longer than there to see him go free. but at this rate,

i'm not gonna make me. how does it make you feel to see that confederate monument right outside of the court house and both parents, i think in seeing the convent or is that you is like that constant reminder that the system was not built for black people. this same jury system ways erected in the way that that statue was and in order to send a message to black defendants that this isn't in place for you. i was gonna ask you one more question. when you, you said to me the other day that was very important to you, you've made it all. brandon's hearings, even if you have to drive, however far, you go to everything. why is it so important to you to be there for every single one? i never warm brown enter, be a good. he has been forgotten. i want him to know when he's worried

no matter how long he's gonna be in prison or what else is gonna have. he would never be forgotten. his mom on will never. ready ever forgive him? well, you be able to get out in time to have that cup of coffee with her immediate for her hill. yes. as more to say there's this. there's something on the go. i know. you know, she don't been to every thing dead. it is to go to your heart attacks there. kaden is counsel colby and guess would it would turn our call the she always say, jeremiah go no, well joe, i see him come room. i did as while friday every day. you know, and i will continue to fight until i get there would because i know she need. thank

you lou, who's oh, multiple people and told ashley including my father that he was gonna killer us laws prohibit some people convicted of domestic violence from owning firearms. fold lines investigates the gaps in the system that allow the law to go unenforced . and the deadly consequences that he see, we shouldn't have laws on the books that are just for show on, relinquished on al jazeera. ah,

and he is super growing region. the 3rd a female workers have had the winds with me. one, a one east investigates why? so many women are having invasive surgery on out there. ah flags a load across the united states off the death of former secretary of state colin powell from cope at 19 complications. quite frankly, it is not possible to replace and coal. we will measure. ah, hello, i'm darn jordan. this is al jazeera live from doubles are coming up arising,

deaf toll and more. rain is full cost in southern india were flooding and landslides of sweat through villages. as the hunger crisis claims more young lives in.