still. to be. discovered. subscriber. documentary. i'm sure you want to talk good things about your country because that's what you're paid to do every question you left off you have blogs i think this is the legacy which is bangladesh and i haven't given pardons to convicted murderers though the certain 50 of the rich york. men who read this a surprisingly for years now the government of bangladesh has been criticized around the world for its human rights record but its reputation received another

jolt this month with the release of a new documentary alleging high level bribery and corruption my guest this week from baca is gallery's me foreign affairs advisor to the country's prime minister what will be authorities stop denying the truth about the repression they've inflicted and clean up their own. however is very welcome to comfort zone thank you your country has become a by word for egregious human rights abuses which your government routinely denies as an academic who is used to dealing in truth why do you sort of a government that seems to have so little regard for that commodity with the sebastian i think this question needs to be qualified. when you say

of igneous human rights violations mike i. explain that hoover's human rights is a very large. word but let me remind specific then let me be more specific arbitrary detention torture in force disappearances extrajudicial executions all of which your government is accused of by the un human rights groups around asia human rights watch honesty international the committee against torture that's what i had and i well. i wish i could accept these allegation in its entirety i will run we did i know that there have not been instances of. some disappearances. when you talk about culture there is no documented evidence of. the

best of my. knowledge when committee against torture is certain that it's carried out routinely it's received report after report that it's carried out routinely by your security forces and you would really would have us believe that they've all got it wrong and where bangladesh i would not i would not deny it and i would not say that they have it wrong but i do also want to say that as far as the government is concerned culture is illegal and we try to make sure that carter doesn't take you know why i was objecting to the way you posed the question mr sebastian is because so many good things have happened in bangladesh. could a bangladesh is one of the spectacular successes of development yes and you're very

good at promoting the successes economic successes for in front of your country and more like what we have but that's not what i have come along about i'm not what i'm asking you about i'm asking you about the things that have gone wrong in your country your government for instance claims 0 tolerance of corruption the boss of transparency international bangladesh himself summed up the extent of corruption when he accused the government of going after only what he called the small fish the activities of corrupt leaders at the top are beyond our imagination he said we don't see repast investigation or effective legal action against any of those big players so so much for the the promise of 0 tolerance for corruption. if you if you recall about 6 to 9 months ago there was a big. action against various corrupt individuals

and organizations many of them have been arrested police investigation is taking place. the anti-corruption commission is an inquiry. at the end of the day we have to follow additional process and this is a talent and fuming process i'm not saying our process is perfect i have got to say that there isn't sometimes a political. direction also go into it these things are true but where i object and sebastian you are such an experience. is that. the grade you read the picture is also one type if you think you will really work the end up getting the wrong impression that well if i'm not i me painting the picture i'm relying on reports from internationally respected organizations like human rights watch amnesty international committee again after i

was active in that it is allowing me to a balance that picture with the reality as it happened on the ground yes which is which which you are doing but but all of this is pave the way for a high profile documentary which was released this month by the al-jazeera network which alleged shocking levels of corruption among senior officials of your state and your government's immediate reaction was to brand the film false defamatory and the smear you didn't even bother to investigate 1st that's not the sponsor banani government this. inquiry is taking place it is being inquired but let me really all. ask you the title of that a documentary was all the prime minister's men and we were told that it would expose corruption around the prime minister lou really believe that documentary

succeeded in doing that was there is a single evidence which intimidated the prime minister in the alleged. corruption i mean this this is where i think as sensible academics and journalists we should stand back and ask ourselves what was the evidence. given to incriminate the prime minister's involvement and yet this all documents this was big. as to show how corrupt the regime is dr reef we have some serious looking looking at the film which was produced by al jazeera he was a television team that was able to locate 2 high level fugitives from justice convict. whose elder brother just happens to be your serving chief of the army general this up met apparently your own law enforcement couldn't find these

brothers who were on the run but they did catch pretty embarrassing for you isn't it certainly but on the other hand again i'm not going to be defending everything but the way you are putting the question to me i feel almost it is necessary should a person be judged guilty because of the guilt of his brother i think this is a question we need to us now if the brother has helped if. the brother in. law has helped his brothers to invade justice to avoid. further his criminal activity this accusation would be extremely extremely. valid what happened was long long before this gentleman. became the army chief all right well and

let's just look at some of the details which came out in the film about the general general aftermath brothers. 2 of them are nice and harris were found guilty of involvement in the 1996 murder of a member of a rival party and both absconded from justice in ones on the run now 3rd brother joseph was also convicted and spent more than 10 years on death row magically just before his brother as this was promoted to head of the army joseph gets a presidential pardon how did that happen in bangladesh in the habit of giving pardons to convicted murderers to gun down their opponents on the street in cold blood is that what you did you give him a president. sebastian the certainty with which you are speaking in many ways is a surprisingly and you have linked the appointment of i wish he and his brothers released. into one school let me remind you there is one hour

a doctor no no no no no mr sebastian let's not forget you have to be pretty well connected to get a power for cold blood letting you know that let me give you the facts then you draw your conclusion please let me give you the facts the the brother in question has. about 20 years in prison that is if. law in the country that after serving a certain amount of years you may be given for were ot clemency by the president all this happened long before months and months before even the vacancy brother was appointed or arose it happened completely separately this man has 35 years left in the answer to what is

a up. with a fairly record so why should be maligned. and lynn link these 2 stories together i would like you to look at this time i would like to look at the timeline of the 2 events these are fixed months apart all right ok talk to me 3 the point is also which the film brought out is that your army chief knew perfectly well where his 2 other brothers were the ones that were on the run and apparently didn't tell the relevant authorities is not worth investigating it would be averted investigated but please also you know as much as i do would this gentleman outside the jurisdiction of bangladesh and yet if this information had been available we would have tried to have extracted extradited them and provided we had an extradition treaty with this book and in

fact in many cases we have done and there is no reason to believe that we would not have done and you are quite right. that if this had provision had been available to the government the government would have taken action not i would this is all just too close to the higher echelons of power are too dangerous to delve into in the fact that nobody in your country wants to delve too deeply into suspicions of high level corruption do that too many people disappear and end up dead if they say the wrong thing and ask the wrong questions don't say fact of life in your country no dodo this is a bastion. we are proud. of it we have proud of our liberal democratic system we are proud that we have a prime minister. who has. a

very low intolerance of corruption our armed forces a family under civil air patrol and therefore who says that. corruption is connected and the highway well how do you how is it how is it then that in a state which is supposed to have a functioning justice system that these 2 fugitive brothers of your army chief anderson harris convicted murderers actually are reported killed return to tackle in broad daylight in 2019 to celebrate a family wedding there aren't many fugitive killers who can shop in a big society wedding mingle with the president dignity unless they have protection right at the top you know that as well however. we are both you are absolutely right if it was known to anyone that this gentleman have returned to bangladesh. immediately they would have been

apprehended there is no. question about that they were pictured at the wedding talk to reveal a picture let let let let us rami military club to convey murderous uncles of the bridegroom happily celebrating with everyone else we at telescoping something that happened over 25 years. into a single incident the the brothers had committed a crime in 1906. long before gen as is that even joined the army as a cadet we now. go forward 25 years later and we are saying that these 2 men came back to bangladesh. and if they did

and as the photographs this was absolutely a great failure of our. justice administrator and the. immigration police in the air force there is no question about that but you will also have to understand that these people had acquired different pass. which unless it was known to the government unless that was on the watch list it is quite easy for them to have slipped in along with thousands of other people who come in and wow i am not running for one moment suggesting that this has not been a failing that the government it or has done of the you really. want to raise it in a democracy with the kind of free press that you've claimed exists in bangladesh

all these allegations from al-jazeera would be plastered over the newspapers in the broadcast media but hands of a something that the dhaka tribune sought to explain when they wrote to its readers the reason for our silence it said is simple the current state of media and defamation law makes it unwise for any bangladeshi media house to venture into any kind of meaningful comment on the controversy that's it isn't that you have cowed the media into submission and muzzled it says become afraid of it and shadow are you proud of that. if if it were. true as you say i would be ashamed of it but let me tell you what the truth is yes are you saying the paper is lying or are you saying the newspapers lying. let me not. yes and let me give you the explanations in this there

is a thing called digital security act it is to prevent. violent rumors and inciting of people through the. digital platform this law unfortunately. our government inherited was the i think the act was passed in 1906 our government devised it and it is now called the digital security act but sadly we have now learned that some of the words a very loose and very rich leaves it open to abuse but could jump from there to say that the press has been muddled to say

that there is no freedom of press in bangladesh let me just tell you there are probably 3 over 6060 daily newspapers been published from the. top to retail anarchy in. private companies i understand amnesty international said that in the 1st 9 months of last year more than $800.00 cases were filed under this act with the least language that you talk about with many of the most prominent editors and senior journalists increasingly targeted 800 cases in this with using this law which your government apparently inherited your government doesn't seem to have any reservations about using this law does it mean to admit you have is nothing but a weapon the silence critics and suppress dissent that's the truth of the drive. no i would accept your criticism and i would have accepted the allegations had you

asked the human rights watch of the 800 or so. and i'm taking your freedom as you as you gave me who were arrested how many of them are very german you know you you have used a broad figure of 800 how re faced a serious a terrorist attacks in this country we had to fight to fight hard against terrorism how many of those 800 were actually terrorists how many of those 800. criminals who incited violence. activity without differentiating you have given me the figure of. police i challenge you to look at that figure and tell me how many were actually journalists and what i can i can break i can break down some of those figures for you because human rights groups are pretty much united in their condemnation of your

government's crackdown on free speech especially during the current plan demick human rights watch said you arrested journalists artists students doctors political opposition members and activists who spoke out against the government's response to the pandemic or otherwise criticize the ruling party last june you even arrested a 15 year old boy for allegedly defaming the prime minister on facebook the child was sentenced to time in the juvenile detention all right thanks let me now. unforgiveness question as as as clearly as i possibly can you have been telling you are telling your viewers that during this period of pandemic the government did all sorts of horrible things. have you told your ordeals

that unless this is one of the few in the world compared to your own and in the u.k. to the united states or anywhere else in the world where we have acted spendable really well with our limited resources we have one of the lowest death rates in the world we have the highest rate of recovered we have it and that our hospitals to provide treatment none of these facts are mentioned you have picked up 15 example or so i'm sure you want to change the subject to resign or not show you want to talk good things about your country because that's what you're paid to do that's why you're no government that's why you come to realize. why it is like the way i was why i'm asking do you turn a blind eye to what the un committee against torture has been calling the widespread and we've seen commission of torture and ill treatment you passed an act

in 2013 supposedly outlawing torture for 6 years later only 17 cases had been filed against security personnel and not a single one had been completed by 6 years later not one in 6 years had been greeted is that a proud achievement for government it is that allegedly is cracking down on torture it isn't is it it's a great. well let me again think you're right in the sense when the say that he is in 70. x. number of. target have been filed and none of them yes i know that if i take your statement to be 3 and i will agree that this is not a very. good. record but the truth of the matter is we get passed a law. the truth of the matter is we are trying to build

a bill with it and where i am constantly objecting not because you think i'm doing this because i am as you say i am paid. to do this i might done the same thing to you and say is this not right that you are you are being paid simply to make this attacks that are putting it into broad wide on every question you have out so. you have gone straight into the negative mentions even on them when you said very clearly that all this horrible thing that happened please tell me another country in the whole wide world which does the pandemic as effectively as our government. does have is a very good tactic to change the subject but i don't want to leave it because you said your government is taking action against human rights abuses are is it time

to take action against members of the so called rapid action but alyan that you have because they the un says its members have been credibly alleged to have committed torture arbitrary arrests and acknowledged detention disappearances and extrajudicial killings of people in their custody you tell me about the good things your country has done but i am not embarrassed with the actions that this rapid action but alan has been carrying out in the name of your government your government is killing the level against killing it. let me say with all orders and humility and embarrassment that the some of that is that you have just. stated are true that have been instances of that which nobody in the government

in his or her right mind defend but and luke what you like john who's in charge or so of course there wasn't a memorandum on anything about that. with mr sebastian let me finish you have asked me a question let me finish answering what you did not see in your. question is how many of those. rapid battalion police force have been removed from services how many of them are under investigation and how many of them have been charged this was not mentioned by you this is the role of the government that when he finds out that something had the biggest while ation of human rights or law has taken place there must get to the bottom i don't think we are all of a success but i do resent not being given the credit for the efforts that we have. all right talked to gary's me been good to have you in conflict zone

thank you very much indeed. thank you myth about you know been fucked up i don't think so you don't.

get. the ball. boy. the big one. to get to go.

take on the moral leader alibi that gets all of the. stories that matter to you. come on my head. cut loose on policemen fun being paid. to find. out. we are here is actually on fire made some muslims. life on earth one of a kind to and. a gigantic coincidence. that tampa previously the earth was just a messy chemistry lab that i thought mission to find out. where the improbable happened. because the creation of our solar system with our planet is a bit like winning the lottery ok am i supposed to get. money for earth

which starts february 11th on t w. good girl whose all. of the morning. i cannot sleep because you know war isn't love the. endless swallow small all over. the news oh the rules. it's no use no love. for the wicked. doesn't. work using a girl. oh i can't sleep.

couldn't sleep. her nurse. this is why i'm from berlin tonight no early exit from the coronavirus lockdown here in germany despite declining numbers of infections the viral variants have chancellor angela merkel insisting on extending restrictions for another month schools and here dressers make it a quicker. also coming up tonight the wife of the kremlin critic alexina volney is

.