the history of slavery i think will truly be making progress when we all accept the history of slavery as all of our history. our documentary series slavery routes starts march 10th on t w. she is one of the most revered catholic icons in poland known as the black madonna and 2 years ago 3 rights activists replaced her 14th century halo with a modern day rainbow and suddenly the virgin mary was called in a legal tug of war freedom of speech and respect for others versus respect for the church in a conservative society today a polish court ruled in favor of the activists with the message the rainbow was not offensive trying to ban the rainbow is i'm burnt off in berlin this is the day.

of the culture of the prosecution failed to prove that the defendants were intentionally insulting towards their religious beliefs as catholics not without that would probably. be the church is for medical and legal gun yeah yeah i know all of that they carried out the election of desecration of the god people. the sense of those who has it to do with chechnya false that encourages diversity solidarity and empathy. that the defendants found innocent of the acts they are charged with. also coming up he was responsible for the video that brought down the government in

austria 2 years ago now he's fighting to stop his own extradition from germany to austria is the man behind a set up now the target of a set up. nice may have caused a sad but if all you need to lock someone up is 2 people with questionable reputations and strange statements and you can lock up anyone you want to absolutely anyone and that's in austria which already has autocratic tendencies and danes said in a b.z. he pictured having a system like or buns hungry so if we're being honest austria isn't so far away from that anymore. or to our viewers on p.b.s. in the united states and to all of you around the world welcome we begin the day with a 21st century battle between homophobia and religious conservatism that can really only be understood by starting in 14th century poland it was more than half a millennium ago when the icon known as the black madonna took its place among

roman catholicism is most revered symbols 2 years ago this religious icon became a symbol of a modern day social struggle in 20193 women were arrested after they distributed images of the madonna not with a halo but with a rainbow a symbol for the community a symbol for tolerance and acceptance of others the conservative life and family foundation accuse the women of desecration and offending religious beliefs a charge that carried with it a 2 year prison sentence if convicted where today a polish court acquitted the 3 women the ruling is being seen as a victory for freedom of speech in a european country that has made headlines recently more for restricting not extending for it. the relief to be acquitted after nearly 2 years of unfit. poland's criminal code prohibits offending religious sentiment violators face up to 2 years in prison but

the judge ruled the activist had aimed only to fight for equal rights for poland's l g b t community and you've been there throughout the prosecution failed to prove that the actions of the defendants were intentionally insulting towards the religious beliefs of catholics or that they desecrated the icon of the virgin mary of since the hoarder. the case centered on one of poland's most revered catholic icons sporting a rainbow halo in april 21003 activists put up the poster in the central town of ports in response to a church exhibition that equated the acronym g p t with lies and hatred. the catholic church is extremely influential in poland all the more so since the conservative lauren justice party took office church leaders opposed gay rights. moneta her post so i was stunned that the prosecutor called

for us to be sentenced to 6 months in jail whereas the accuser representing the catholic church called for a year and a half and that shows a certain imbalance of no god so you have this put up or that's your homophobia here is what matters here is that homophobia is not characteristic of all polish catholics we need to differentiate between the vicious and the people especially young people who don't find our activities offensive. it's a victory for a game rights in poland but the activists legal battles aren't over yet prosecutors say they will appeal the decision. or one of the 3 women acquitted today was. no you just saw in that report and she joins me tonight from warsaw good to have you on the program today's ruling we know we could have gone either way what went through your mind when the court announced that it was ruling in your favor.

i know but yes it is repeated frequently i felt. really 1st of all. basically i'm i speak to you from quotes from the c.t.'s i decided to stay here for tonight because there is so much interest of international media that driving that car it wouldn't be possible to answer your questions and i and i appreciate it really very much because i think that international coverage and support and interest and that helped us a lot. and we really have had this had this feeling that we are not alone in this battle. sometimes when you yet i'm just going to ask you i may ask you about what happened here with this case if you want polish society to tolerate except to respect. gays and lesbians why did you alter an image that you know is

revered in a very catholic society i mean some people could say to you that 2 wrongs don't make a right. oh. yes i can say dad but i would like to look. at a line that like madonna does not belong to anybody it does not belong to catholics this is all to russian icon of a jewish woman. which was found in poland one day and she loves as a current sheryl of just a bit. equally to me to my friends and still to be shops. and for me it just and then must read to people and the most sensitive at the same time picture of unconditional love so it was not the aim of using this symbol which is same for somebody because i think the care

of mother over their kids is something which can be understood in every religion and should be respected and what we wanted still show it was a sort of acceptance no instead of rejection so merely of course not and. if i could apologize for the delay in the sound here but let me ask you from the outside the image of poland has been very positive i'm thinking about all the way to where when the end of communism joining the european union there's always been this sense of positive energy surrounding the poll and yet the recent headlines paint a picture of an old true conservative homophobic government can you explain to our viewers what happened in poland. just this

beginning nothing happens because poland has different faces and this phase which the west of europe wanted to see was the face of the toll around peaceful country successful in economic transformation was the same times for the nation left a lot of people and attend. poor and helpless and it's very easy to manipulate with. well sounding strong sanogo it's. such people and so. as far as the church is concerned in poland it's important to derry because the solidarity was against communism and why. the company and its in poland. was innocent paid back by

huge privilege it's in poland and attention but it was never progressive it was always fall big and. and really deep. so. some people come next to. the church we'll see into. yesterday there was another trial of 3 brains men decided to pull down is a monument of the. priest who was proved to be pedophile and a collaborator of communist and this year and to send it is and she said you never read maintain a babbling space and you restrain man decided to do it with own hands and they are in danger to prison to 80 years and people who accuse them and who feel.

incurred by the act not are also the members that solidarity movement this one used respected so much ok back to them as well as unfortunately we're out of time but i'm one of the thank you for taking the time to share your experiences with us tonight or less not joining us tonight from poland thank you thank you. the united states is facing criticism over a decision not to target solti crown prince mohammed bin solomon with sanctions last week the u.s. released an intelligence report showing that the prince had approved the murder of saudi dissident and journalist jamal cause show even though the prince is not on the same sions list the white house is insisting that the relationship with saudi arabia is being recalibrate. these are the last images of washington post

journalist jamal khashoggi walking into the saudi consulate in istanbul turkey in october of 2018. according to a u.s. intelligence report declassified on friday he was shortly afterwards brutally murdered there by a team linked directly to saudi crown prince mohammed bin sultan on washington says the prince gave the green light to the capture or the killing of his shows she calls prince mohammed vehemently denies having any role in the murder and rejects the report. fiance on the other hand says the report demands the prince be held to account. in a statement published on twitter she says it's essential that the crown prince who ordered the brutal murder of a blameless an innocent person should be punished without delay. and she's not alone in criticizing what's perceived as a lack of firm white house action experts in the united nations have followed suit saying sanctions on those individuals involved and she's murder but not prince

mohammed himself are not enough. the state department's response is to say the biden administration's goal is not to end but recalibrate the u.s. relationship with the saudis we have meet crystal clear and will continue to do so that the brutal killing of democracy 28 months ago remains an acceptable conduct. at the same time our relationship with saudi arabia is important it's important to us interests and it requires continued progress in reforms still the white house press secretary added the u.s. was not limiting its options and course we reserve the right to take any action at a time in a manner of our choosing the biden administration says it now wants to focus on the future conduct of saudi arabia to see if it improves its human rights record. well where the u.s. has held back others have nots the press watchdog reporters without borders has filed a criminal complaint with the german public prosecutor against the saudi crown prince

over can show he's killing the complaint is seeking an inquiry under germany's international jurisdiction walls it accuses saudi arabia of persecuting because shogi as well as dozens of other journalists as you heard his show he was a u.s. based contributor to the washington post he was murdered at the saudi consulate in istanbul it's believed on the orders of the soul of the crown prince. are for more now we want to bring in rebecca vincent she's director of international campaigns with reporters without borders she joins me from london rebecca it's good to have you on the program even if the courts were to convict the crown prince what effect do you think it would have to mean what do you hope to achieve with this lawsuit. we hope to achieve accountability i think it would certainly be a significant factor for any of the officials named especially the study crown prince

to find a court decision against them in any jurisdiction they have gambled with the fact that they can get away with these horrific crimes and so far they have and that gamble has been pretty safe so far because what we've seen is an international situation of impunity for the vast majority of crimes against journalists in the past decade there have been nearly a 1000 journalists killed around the world nearly all with full or partial impunity and at any given point there's nearly 400 journalists imprisoned around the world so our reporters without borders we're trying to now impose costs for this we're looking at saudi arabia which is have long held one of the world's worst press freedom records the murder of jamal is one of the most horrific examples of a crime against a journalist in modern history and the bold faith community with which it was committed make it especially necessary to achieve some form of justice here but not just for jim all but the 34 journalists that we've named as well that have suffered arbitrary detention and a range of other systematic and widespread crimes in saudi arabia but if you could

tell us more about the significance of this german law which allows prosecution of individuals who committed certain crimes outside of germany. well you want universal jurisdiction exists in other states as well we chose to bring this suit in germany for a number of reasons i we think that the judiciary is likely to be favorable to it and political conditions are right as well but there are other countries where this sort of lawsuit would in theory be possible however it's a fairly creative stat i don't know of another n.g.o.s who has taken an action quite like this arguing crimes against humanity have committed had it have been committed in these acts against journalists as part of our justice for journalist task force within r.s.s. where we are trying to to find creative solutions to impose concrete costs for crimes against journalists where justice within their own countries is not possible i mean you know you say that you choose germany because the political conditions are right you're in london was the u.k.

considered a country where this may not be looked upon so favorably. the u.k. also has universal jurisdiction but we didn't look particularly here for a number of reasons not just politically but i have to say the u.k. government's position on saudi arabia has been really disappointing that clearly there are other interests in the bilateral relationship it is very rare for our foreign office here to take a strong position hardly ever publicly on any case you know related to human rights in saudi arabia with few exceptions and when other areas of the relationship continue such as arms sales it sends a clear signal to saudi arabia that other countries are willing to engage in business as usual but for these $33.00 of the $34.00 journalists named for arbitrary detention 33 are currently in prison for these 33 people and their families i mean enough is enough we can't continue to enable this repression as you know in our democratic states so we're hoping to help find other ways to address this to impose concrete costs where our own states are failing so far rebecca bids

the director of international campaigns at reporters without borders rebecca we appreciate your time and all the work that you're doing thank you thank you. first . he was responsible for a secretly filmed video that brought down austria's government in 2019 the video appeared to show the leader of austria's far right freedom party offering government contracts to russia in exchange for political funding when now that man behind the video is trying to avoid extradition from germany to austria on drug charges he's afraid of what will happen to him if he returns home. have spoke to him in the berlin prison where he is being held. but it was this covert recording that brought down austria's governing coalition the man on the couch soon to be vice chancellor heinz. discussed his plans with a wealthy russian to buy out

a major austrian newspaper for political advantage or. when the video was published by german media in 2019 it was forced to resign and the chancellor called new elections it was a political earthquake. the video had been a set up the russian had been an actress and the man who arranged the sting remained unnamed. in december however the alleged producer of the video was arrested in berlin and is being held in this jail a whistleblower to some conspirator to others yulian age faces extradition charges that appear to be unrelated to the so-called abuse if air cocaine trafficking an allegation based on the testimony of 2 witnesses. speaking to the w m o of the prison mr h. said the case against him is politically motivated. if all you need to lock

someone up is 2 people with questionable reputations and strange statements and you can lock up anyone you want to absolute. the anyone and that's in austria which already has autocratic tendencies and danes said in a b.z. he pictured having a system like or bonds hungry for being honest austria isn't so far away from that anymore and he says. mr h. was also charged with making an illegal recording but a berlin court ruled that the video did not break the law mr h. believes the separate cocaine charge is being used to punish him for making the video while only appearing to be unrelated. the berlin justice department says it has no authority to get involved in an extradition case. left wing member of the german parliament believes germany should take a stronger position though you look at what they're there. i think we ought to look

very very closely at the motives for this extradition request and whether we want to comply with it. or whether that would set a totally wrong tone in terms of intimidating those who expose wrongdoing. i believe exposing wrongdoing like this is extremely important and that should be kept in mind in this case. without an exceptional intervention from german authorities really an age might soon face a judge in vienna a city where his name is political dynamite. you know this has all the makings of a political thriller let's bring in my colleague i mean yes if he just filed that report anything to you i mean since you spoke with julian h. there have been new developments in this case right. that's right the berlin court of appeals announced today that they've approved his extradition but before he goes

he will be a witness in a separate case a separate corruption case that involves some of the seem far right austrian politicians that he and gray shaded himself to when he was setting allegedly setting up the sting in 2017 so this this case keeps getting more complicated but what you need to know is that his extradition has been approved but he won't be extradited immediately although the proceedings are supposedly under way now and you went to the prison here in berlin where he is being held he says that the cocaine trafficking charge is part of a set up is there any evidence to support that claim well he says this is speculation he admits that but what he and his lawyers have been saying is that it seems that prosecutors in austria have been throwing charges at the wall to see which ones stick so the original charge which is that he made an illegal recording

was dismissed both in an austrian court enter berlin court they said that that was not illegal then comes the cocaine charge which is based on testimony not on the presence of any cocaine or any video so there's no hard evidence in that so that supports you in ages argument that they're throwing these charges that him just to get him back to austria what remains though is the charge of blackmail that during this 2 year period between when he filmed the video and when he sent the video to german media he was allegedly trying to get someone to pay him for the recording do we know what was this man julian ages what was his motivation for making the beats a video that brought down the government in austria. well yulian age was a private detective and this is also where the story gets complicated he was hired by a lawyer he was hired by a lawyer to essentially dig up dirt. based on the accounts of of

a former employee so that's somewhat unrelated but really an age says that once he got involved in looking at what he was up to he decided he took it upon himself to take the risk to expose corruption and apparently when he could not expose the corruption based on just things that scott had said he had decided to push it a little you could say and set up. this meeting and visa you know when we talk about this person julian h. we're not trying to paint a portrait of a saint here mean there are some very unsavory things about him but we know there's been a debate about whether or not he's a whistleblower or a conspirator explain that when we got about a minute left well look his lawyers say this is the case with all whistleblowers with all people who expose government corruption it's not the currents not the exposure of that corruption that democracy like austria will go after it's

something else so they have compared him or have drawn parallels at least to julian a songe who was pursued by the u.s. government for leaking top secret documents but then was arrested on charges of sexual assault but there is a difference between a whistleblower and a journalist like yulian julian a songe and these affair which was not stumbling upon a conversation but setting one up so that's where politicians in germany has the tate to step in and say he's a whistleblower he needs to be defended yes right it looks like entrapment for sure there i mean yes if excellent reporting a fascinating story and thank you. well the day is almost done the conversation it continues online you'll find us on twitter either due to the news or you can follow me brant goff t.v. and remember whatever happens between now and then tomorrow is another day we'll see that everybody.

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this is. tonight a new installment in the clash between russia and the west europe and the united states announcing new sanctions against russian officials. warning that it will retaliate the new sanctions are an answer to the poisoning of kremlin critic. is u.s. president joe biden is he keeping his promise to get tough on russia also coming up hundreds of kidnapped nigerian schoolgirls were released after being held captive by gunmen for days it's the latest in a series of school abductions in nigeria it's fear it will not be the last and more

reports of wind speed fired at civilians in the south east asian countries are calling on the country's general to stop shooting and to release civilian leader. suchi. it's good to have you with us we begin tonight with an answer to the poisoning today both the european union and the united states in a coordinated move slap new sanctions on russian officials in companies connected with the poisoning and imprisonment of kremlin critic alexina ball the ball he is now serving a 2 and a half you. a prison sentence washington says its intelligence found that moscow was behind the volunteers poisoning with a nerve agent last august and this is the 1st time that the new u.s. administration has sanctioned russia in response russia's foreign minister says his

country is preparing its own set of punishments against the e.u. and the us my 1st guest tonight is an authority on the corruption involving near putin's russia bill browder is the head of the global magnitsky justice campaign he's also the author of the book red notice a book about russian corruption it's going to have you back on the show tonight the u.s. has imposed sanctions on high ranking russian officials including the head of the country's prison service a former prime minister and the federal security service what difference will all of this make. you some truth i'm very glad to see that biden. veered away from the policies of trump in gotten tough when russia but i should point out that this is a very short list and it's a list that doesn't include putin's billionaire cronies and those are the people. dozen people who would affect hooten actions going forward as the people who want

seen only and called to be sanctioned before he was arrested and so i would say it's sort of the glass half full type of situation a lot more still needs to be done and there's criticism with the bite of ministration in for example with saudi arabia and the crown prince being blamed for the killing of a journalist mr shogi the reaction from washington has been sanctioned but not against the crown prince and in this case we have sanctions but not targeting vladimir putin do you see parallels here bill. well i think it's unrealistic to sanction vladimir putin. but but it's very realistic and it has even been done before during the trumpet ministration to sanction putin's billionaire cronies his cashiers in 2018 the trumpet ministration sanctions 7 of the russian of the biggest russian all darks that's what really touches putin and that's what he

should do right now that's the bike you should do right now and he hasn't and heard the reason he hasn't is because biden wanted to do this in a multilateral way combining forces with the e.u. but the e.u. gets watered down by its own dysfunction of having to have unanimity and so it has since a country like hungry can hijack the whole world by being one of the 27 members of the e.u. it has to agree on things and then the e.u. and then the u.s. copies that and so it's definitely not as good as it could be by any stretch of the imagination these sanctions that they do target people who are close to putin will be sanctions will they effect members of the russian elite living abroad i'm thinking of course those who live in london where you are. well so these sanctions are against an important high level and and i would call high value targets in the

putin regime but you should understand that none of these government officials keeps money in their own name they hold keep money in the name of their pals they're all of our friends who hold it for them and so the only way that you can touch these people in touch of latin or putin is by going after the oligarchs and so yes by naming and shaming them it's good these are high value targets. they willing convenience their lives i'm sure they're not happy to be on the sanctions list but in order to do this properly a lot more needs to be done and needs to be broadened to these businesspeople you know bill you know we've spoken before about the threat the danger coming from the kremlin under vladimir putin is mel saying that it will react income mind to these western sanctions what do you think that means what do these really bring retaliations in kind look like well i mean you have of these sanctions that are that most of these russians want to keep their money in properties in the western

banks in the west and it's not as if important government officials from the e.u. in the united states want to keep their money and spare bank or travel to lake baikal and so they can sanctions many people if they want from the west most western politicians i know considered a badge of honor to be on the russian counter sanctions list ok joining us tonight from london bill as always we appreciate your time in your insights tonight thank you thank you. well hundreds of students kidnapped from their boarding school in northern nigeria have been released the regional governor says the girls are now safe and well after being seized by armed men on friday their abduction was the latest in a series of mass school kidnappings in recent months. but their ordeal is over. officials say the almost 300 school children are healthy however some did suffer physical wounds it's the psychological impact of their kidnapping that may take

longer to heal. if they did and when did most of us injured our feet and we couldn't continue to walk our captors said they would shoot anybody who didn't continue we walked across the river and they hit us and let us sleep under bushes in a forest. and a mother cried. for the families of the schoolgirls their relief is unsurmountable. how. very happy. you know that i guess i'm not god has brought our or deal to him and that he is what we're so happy as them is that i thank god for everything. i do i look like that if jim did a lot what he wanted them would not allow him to get in that the students were abducted from this boarding school by an armed gang last friday government

officials have been in talks with the kidnappers known locally as bandits. they say these bandits in zamfara state often kidnap for ransom money and to press for the release of their members held in prison authorities are searching for the culprits you think on this one don't think that if you. do this on this it is to somebody you know you. are lying to you too. when you see doing some things couples are in and then just getting off. nigeria's president also tweeted saying they're working hard to bring an end to these grim and heartbreaking incidents of kidnapping saying the military and the police will continue to go after the kidnappers. this latest kidnapping was nigeria's 4th mass abduction in less than 3 months this time it had a happy ending but there are fears that children may become the kidnappers target

once again. so why are we seeing so many kidnappings our correspondent fred move on ye is in nigeria in forest state near the location of the latest school abduction it is believed that schools have started to be targeted because such abductions attract a lot of attention and are putting more pressure on the authorities to negotiate with the bandits there or fish was that some for us to told me that on some was not paid but some nigerians say it is unlikely that they got many would truly is their victims without some sort of exchange a the in terms of paying them money or really ease some of their members who are jade some parents will now have to think twice before they send their kids to school. did abuse fred move there reporting from nigeria let's take a look now at some of the other stories that are making headlines around the world government in afghanistan have shot and killed 3 women who work for

a broadcaster in the city of jalalabad government sources say the women were attacked separately on their way home from work these are the latest in a series of shootings in bombings targeting journalists and other professionals in recent weeks reporters without borders has accused saudi arabia's crown prince of crimes against humanity over the killing of journalists in the media watchdog has filed a complaint with germany's public prosecutor seeking an inquiry under the country's international jurisdiction laws the group accuses saudi arabia of persecuting because shogi and dozens of other journalists the f.b.i. director chris ray has told us lawmakers that there's no evidence to support a right wing theory that the siege on the u.s. capitol building was carried out by people posing as trump supporters he described the events of january 6th as domestic terrorism and he has vowed to hold the rioters accountable. foreign ministers from southeast asian countries have held

talks with me in mars' military hunta in an attempt to tackle the crisis in that country for jesters continue to turn out in force after the military seized power one month ago security forces are stepping up their response as the unrest claims an increasing number of. saying goodbye to a friend the funeral of a young man shot dead by police just one victim of an escalating crackdown by me and mas military thousands accompanied his coffin free of the streets people showing for 3 finger salute a gesture that has come to symbolize solidarity and resistance. throughout democracy we want democracy but they are not and justice the road to court and our human rights back for we also want justice for our fallen heroes have given their lives for this revolution they are not on the old drug order. crowds with

saluting in the i'm gone too despite the crackdown protesters continue to flood the streets here and across the country. many gather behind barricades and homemade shields hoping to slow or stop the police response. as security forces struggle to disperse them they've resorted to increasing levels of violence deploying more to cannon firing rubber bullets and even live ammunition as an activist and young gong told them you news. industry are bullets and a few has shots they are that crew out to market and now the military is not a military organization anywhere they are already terrorists organizations. as the standoff continues international pressure on the military is mounting. on the situation is worrying that. because an increasing number of civilians have

lost their lives young and to enjoy it and. them and it is worrying because if it is not addressed at once this crisis could affect peace and security in the entire region a man. neighbors have code on the army to stop the killing release political prisoners and return the country to democracy until that happens who protesters say that will continue mobilizing name out so what. are let's take a look now at some of the developments in the coronavirus pandemic the world health organization's emergencies director says it's unrealistic to think the pandemic will be over by the end of this year the global number of new infections is increasing for the 1st time in 7 weeks u.s. media reporting that former president don will trump and his wife milan a year received their coronavirus shots before leaving the white house both

contracted and recovered from cope at 19 in the run up to the presidential election and health experts in china say the vaccine rollout there is slow because it has the virus largely under control officials say they aim to inoculate 40 percent of the population by jews and finally reggae legend bunny wailer has died in kingston jamaica he was 73 is career spanned 6 decades but he's best known for co-founding the whalers the group that catapulted bob marley to global stardom or say goodbye now with one of the whalers early hits go tell it on the mend. close upon the. world must have. done. some good comes to say he was.

crazy to get. to see cloud news. regarding. those. series of cloud. cover. gone. why are people forced to hide in trucks. there are many present. there are many cancers.