the news this is d w. news live from berlin. the mother of detained ballad with the journalist from a few that appeals to international leaders to states. first on she called on the world to stand up and help saying, spell of working authorities would kill him. she said he had obviously been tortured since being pulled off or diverted. ryan, their flight also coming up to us secretary of state antony blinking has arrived in egypt as part of the middle east. tor aimed assuring office the fire between israel and palestinian militants and south africa, the former president, jacob dumont,

appears in court and pleads not guilty to corruption fraud and other charges. ah, i'm so it's kinda good to have you with us. bella was the leader alexander, look, shameka says he acted lawfully to protect people by diverting a commercial flight over bella, risky and aerospace. he address parliament in his 1st public remarks since the country forcibly routed the plain and arrested a dissident journalist who was on board rum on practice. david and his girlfriend were taken into custody and bell roofs after their ryan. their flight from athens to vilnius was forced to land in minsk on sunday. now this week the you imposed sanctions on beller roof over the incident, the 26 year old co founded a social media channel that help mobilized anti government great protests last year

. president lucas shameka defended the decision to divert the plane and condemned the international response customary progress in order. nothing is predicted are ill wishes from outside and inside the country and changed their methods of attack on the state. and you prefer to be the they have cross many red lines and have abandoned common sense and human morals situated schema that those are new, informal. this is not information warfare anymore, but this is modern hybrid warfare. we must do everything to prevent it becoming a real war. it at us love, good extra. meanwhile, there is mounting concern about bella versus treatment of the detained a journalist for this year, which is parents are calling on the international community to help us not across this. we will see not what if i know my son very well. the we and tell friends and relatives have clearly seen that there was,

is on his face is being covered as well with makeup premium was more, but i see that the nose bridge is apparently his nose is broken, tv learn muslim, knowing also, and i can say with confidence that he will never admit his skills. because 1st of all, if you haven't taken part him master steph, and says, he's never organize them. is all new world. please stand up and help. i urge you to because they will kill him. they will kill him. sophia, a pig, the companion of ram and pop to see if she was also detained. a she appeared in a video on tuesday evening. i am so take us to see under leave. now i was born on february 10th, 1998. i'm a citizen of the russian federation. i live in lithuania, vilnius, on may 23rd 2021. i flew on the same plane with rum on because of which i am the

editor of telegram channel black book, which publishes private information about internal affairs officers. so let's speak more about this now with tanya book. she now she's the europe and central asia associates director at human rights watch in moscow. thank you for joining us. we heard there what was likely a confession from sophia as a picket that was recorded under duress. and we've seen a similar video from roman for this year, which what do you make of these videos? first of all, all it is crystal clear is actually made on did us dog is without saying. and indeed if you look protest search his face, it's healthy and eat blasted with pancake makeup which reinforces the very way the concerns about protest. savage courses

being tortured no the doubt in recent months. so and thousands of peaceful protest up to this indelibly, the arbitrarily detained and subjected to cruel and degrading treatment. the vicious with bitter they withheld in truly tortures condition. to the concern for the joy and physical insurgency of protest. 7 rich and sophia, god extremely, extremely grave. right? very law calling in danger, their lives are in danger. and we know meanwhile that there could crack down on journalists and bella rufe has also ramped up. can you tell us what the situation is for journalists right now? both of the russian of lloyd to child, he change, ill treated,

who is doing the search. numerous offices are independent media out the local and for in the locked up need to another including a chunk of criminal charges. the also introduced new legislation that effectively makes it impossible for independent for us to convey to physically to report on peaceful proctor read. who would see streaming from unsanctioned process is no, effectively bombs in ok. she. so it's an extremely dangerous situation for both protesters and journalists now the opposition leader to fit on at the sky a spoke to the european parliament about this incident a little while ago. let's listen to what she said with the rain if light incidentally, santa cruz, the line in became a threat to international peace and security. trans direction of the international

community is justifiable or strong and effective. but i would like to emphasize the blow since leave in decent must fear of lawlessness for more than 9 months. disrespectful human rights. and freedom is the teacher of caution cost for the case . but since ranked elections of august 2020, the regime has completely lost the boundaries of acceptable behavior. so we heard a very clear message from atlanta to kind of kind of, there are to the european parliament. what would your message be to europe in lawmakers right now and what needs to be done by for saying dislike to loans, boise. soc. hijacking like bill russian of for, to clearly aim to send a message to civil society that they will not talk anything

in the attempt to crush the new action. what's the law if you will, all is to the trade and to crew. and in addition to sending the message to the people there also, the thing is to democrats and government, sending it to the last of the e. the foods, to respond to the lawless action by mr. lucas shank. gender, clerk and government should drive the safety of rum on protest average . and the fee is to go and try to always do wellbeing of bill of russian. civil society needs like novel before we'll have to leave it there. tanya looks, you know, europe and central asia associate director at human rights watch. thank you very much for joining us. thank you. let's get

a round up of some other headlines now. a former chief adviser to british prime minister boris johnson has been answering lawmakers questions on the government's initial response to the corona virus crisis. dominic coming that the government failed the public by reacting to slowly leave. excuse johnson, if not taking the threat seriously. a court in brussels is hearing the european union's case against the vaccine producer astrazeneca, the e u says the company violated their supply contract. it says astrazeneca was the block, $50000000.00 doses, which it failed to deliver on time. us media reporting that new york prosecutors have convened a special grand jury to decide whether to indict former president donald trump on criminal charges. they say the jury will look at evidence from investigations into trouble. business feels and the alleged payment of harsh money to women on his behalf. this is just us secretary of state antony blink and has arrived in egypt. it is the latest stop on his middle east,

tor following 11 days of conflict between israel and tomorrow. he is due to meet the egyptian president of the fatah sci fi, and the 2 men are expected to discuss strengthening. last week's gather ceasefire, getting aid to the worked on gaza strip and finding a long term solution to ongoing hostilities earlier on wednesday blink. and also met with israel's president reuben ritalin. let's get the latest on the story correspondent kareem alcohol re standing by in cairo kareem. it's good to see you. egypt brokerage, this sees fire between israel and hamas, so how closely are aligned are egypt and the u. s. and how to cement the cease fire and maintain stability in the region. with 1st and foremost, of course, this is a thank you visit by joe biden, for to egypt for brokering the ceasefire. because we should not forget the relationship between the 2 countries is not without tension. i mean, the former us present donald trump called the just to present up to his favorite

dictator. and then on the other hand, biden, when he started his office, he said he would put more emphasis on the simplification of human rights. that seemingly, of course, the date is not on the agenda, washington is same simply recognizing the strategic importance of egypt. when it comes to god, of course, both countries have a common interest and it is to stabilize the volatile situation because they don't forget the gaza strip lights on the doorstep. so the main interest of egypt is god's us stability. it's where the things might, when the escalate, they might be stuck with the problems that follow for washington. on the other hand, of course, egypt is the main channel of communication to us because as it's not directly talking to them, well, we know that the secretary said enemy blake, and he said it is key to rebuild and repair garza without re supplying her must. so

how will they be allowing aid through this border to gaza? when egypt is sharing the only border was the got the ship that is not directly controlled by israel, the president up to the pledge, 500 $1000000.00 for the reconstruction of the gods. but when comes to the question, how to circumvent the, how much in the reconstruction of gods? i think this is a token illusion. how much is controlling all aspects of life in the gaza strip and mainly it's been racial. but this is a problem not only easier has to deal with, but also of course the americans and europeans because the situation on the grounds is very, very different. and kareem, looking ahead, you know, secretary state blanket will also move on to meet with danny and leaders. what role does jordan play and maintaining the ceasefire? what i think joiners emphasis will go to other progress than many dissertations.

the jews limit the with think for palestinian genius and dejection. the main problem year is the israeli occupation and is the question of equal rights between israelis and palestinians. no, no. those issues close to the source and i think the arab states, all of them, will try to remain these issues on the agenda. the talking john jordan most probably will focus for now on coming station east, susan and the issue of force evictions of policy unions and moving sets us to policy in neighborhoods to eastern a lot on the agenda there correspond kareem alcohol speaking to us from cairo. thank you. us syrians, head to the polls today to vote in presidential elections. only voters and government tell the areas of the war torn country can cast their ballots. the opposition claims. the pole is the force. it says president,

i thought who is running for a 4th, a 7 year term is pre ordained to win. it is the 2nd presidential election since the civil war, abrupt at 10 years ago. yeah, no, that's fine. i just compete. the final vote, kelley is expected to show similar dominance by his side. so why is everyone so sure of an aside victory? to start with? not all syrians can participate, only residence of areas under government control can vote in the country that has the largest number of displaced people in the world. those in rebel held districts are ineligible, and the autonomy is curtis regions in the north are not participating. millions of syrians have fled the country during its years of civil war. some of those living abroad can vote like here in lebanon. on the other hand, germany has forbidden the syrian consulate from registering voters. the president,

bashar al assad is running against 2 other men. abdullah saloon, abdullah and mock mood mad marie, who said very little chance of winning they qualified for the vote after an extremely restrictive process in parliament. all candidates must have the support of 35 members of parliament, which is overwhelmingly dominated by a party. candidates must have lived in syria continuously for 10 years, excluding any one from the diaspora, and they must be married to a syrian citizen. the united nations has said it is not involved in the election, and the u. s. says without un involvement, it won't recognize the results. syria media says the regime has invited observers, but from regime friendly countries like russia, iran, china, and venezuela. the last elections were held in 2014 at the height of the civil war

and saw a sod win and a landslide in a vote that was also widely condemned by the u. s. and b. u, as neither free nor fair. let's get some analysis on this now with a journalist kristin, head back, one of germany's leading experts on the middle east and syria. kristen, thank you for joining us. we thought there, there's pretty much, no doubt that serious president bashar last side will be the winner here. he will get another 7 year term and office. is there anything that we should watch out for that could come as a surprise in this election? i don't think there's going to be any surprise president michelle, aside, needs the electron to legitimize his rule internally and externally, because it's naturally very strong. and i, russia, i seeking the rehabilitation of the machine internationally because you realize in ruins it needs money for reconstruction. so what letting me put in aims at is we

contract and being paid by the west, by the europeans and the americans. so they want to put some dynamic into this rehabilitation of the regime by claiming this electron to be some kind of democratic by putting to other candidates basically, which doesn't make it any more democratic than used to be without candidates. ok, but let's talk about that legitimacy domestically at home. because as you said, the country is in ruins. the economy is in freefall and how much support is there for us beyond that, the propaganda that we see it is very important to understand that this election is an opportunity for syrians to prove their loyalty to the regime. and this is important in a dictatorship and in a police state, because it gives you security, it could save your life, it can save you from detention. it could bring you some more humanitarian aid. it could bring you a commission by the secret service that you need to maybe get back to your own house. so many syrians use this actually to say that they are, you know,

on the side of the peasant, obviously because they aren't afraid of being detained or being persecuted. so this is very important. what we have seen during the last month. this is a growing discontent. and even critics, by his own, supported by people in the media, journalist, judges, lawyer, civil servants who have spoken out, especially on social media, on the very bad economic conditions and the mismanagement of the government itself . so these people were detained and they were just released in just before the election in this presidential amnesty. so this is the message to the people living there. look, you don't, you're not supposed to criticize what i'm doing in this country. just go and elect me for now, but it's important to see, you know, to understand these pictures and you see all these people railing reading. this is the way to really save your life or to make you, you know, to gain a little bit from this machine and its methods in the country. and this 10 years after the civil war, abrupt it in syria. do you think that this election election is also about our last,

i'd trying to take this as a turning point to say the war has been one now we look into the future. well, he's definitely sending a different signal. this one's messages with this. first of all, he's saying, but he doesn't care about any you and the process because it's a constitutional committee that is supposed to meet in geneva and that it's supposed to create a new constitution 1st and then have democratic elections under you and civilians are such the late the work of this committee for several months, as for the last meeting, was in january and it ended without any results. so he's saying, i don't care for you and processes. i'm just going to stay here. he's also saying to russia that he's not going to go anywhere in a deal, you know, that may be, but putting a broker with the west saying that, ok, we'll let go and look for somebody else could replace it. he's basically saying that he's going to stay where he is. he is dependent on the people who keep him in

power, which is important to understand. it's iran and russia internationally. it's melissa leaders, walls and the business elite. internally, all these people want to be rewarded by himself, which makes syria basically, marcia said, because these people are in witching themselves by bride, by controlling the black market by smuggling things, by taking humanitarian aid, their own religion members. so this is basically what the 3 genes supportive. i've seen them 1st and what they were criticizing to not stabilize the country because he needs people empower until now because he needs them in the future to keep him there. journalist kristen hell berg. thank you very much. for that analysis, my pleasure. now the un security council will hold an emergency meeting on a growing crisis in molly the military there has stripped the countries, transitional president and prime minister of their powers. the 2 leaders had been tasked with steering the country back to civilian rule after

a qu last august. but the military to some of trying to sabotage the process, the the streets of bomber court, seen. com. the situation remains, hence, molly's vice president. i see me going to defend the rest of the president and the prime minister, accusing them of sabotaging the ongoing democratic process. the transitional vice president had no choice but to intervene in order to protect the transitional charter and different the republic. they had to push aside the president and his prime minister as well as the people indicated in the situation that became the guess, you know, president bon dow and prime minister marked a wanna reportedly being held at a military base outside the capital. the 2 men had been leading the process of

returning molly to democracy of the law. she is qu against president abraham booker cater. both the united nations and the european union have criticized the rails of renewal. we call for a return to the transition must be civil, but what has happened is serious and grave. and we are ready to consider the necessary measures more or less necessary. in august, abraham duplicator was ousted as president following weeks of anti government protests. all the rising insecurity and its corruption and feeling economy though most people celebrated his removal. the slow pace of change over the last 9 months has been causing tension in molly bubble. this is not good military men in politics. i think they are failing in the front door. it's not their job for the civilians are much in the late military or

none of us a problem. so we have fed up with these constant and rest by the military. now they attacked people either to kill them or to arrest them. and we never knew why. out about the moment, one moment money together with its neighboring countries is finding a growing insurgency from islamist militants. instability and molly could handle these efforts and lead to more insecurity across west africa. south africa, former president jacob zoom has pleaded not guilty to corruption charges relating to a $1000000000.00 arms deal dating back to the late 190-1900. numerous excuse of accepting annual payments from a french arms manufacturer in return, prosecutors say he granted the company protection from scrutiny through most facing charges of corruption, money laundering, and racketeering. and

d. w. 's after increases that the court in peter my risk for covering the story for us. i adrien, so jacob, whom i showed up in court, she pleaded not guilty. tell us more about what's happened. both take up to my as well as the company involved pleaded not guilty of do my indicated once again that the all the see if at all at the political trial, that's what we've heard from him before. is that many times in the past that business is conspiracy against them by white monopoly capital by foreign, by agencies. but you never put any evidence for that. any evidence on that table, but this kind of urgency there is you can hear that a lot. yeah. right. in front of the court at the moment, where do my supporters showed up? they set up a massive stage of do much written on it in his home province. natalie said the very, from the base, but on the whole country that has changed dramatically. he's definitely not having so much power in its own party even before the charge back to the late 1990 is what

took so long to get to this point. right. that happened that 998 in 2005, one of my former financial advisors was convicted for accepting a bright from the manufacturer and passing it onto zoom on after what brought us to investigate. you might as well, but drop the charges shortly before he became president south africa, only after his presidency in 2018. the investigation started again. the case started again, but even ever since then, they've been a lot of delayed because of legal technicalities. mainly, some observers do much to blame and legal team that's trying to delay the process, which is also what the security today indicated once again. but boomer denies that and how likely is it that the former president will actually end up in jail? well this gate, they will drink 4 months, possibly even years, more than $200.00 witnesses will testify here. but there's another case that could get them into trouble as much spot to do my set up as state capture investigation

during its time. as the president a panel that is investigating corruption and the high level institutions taken over by corrupt individuals, he testified for a few days and then refused to go again. thing the commission is biased and because of that, the court here decided he has to testify. you have to come back. he refused to do so. so in the next week, possibly they might rule that he is facing j a term. even this year. d. w correspondent, adrienne creature, at the courthouse in peter mar, richberg. thank you very much. the reminder of our top story, the mother of detain, belushi and journalists, roman process that she has appealed to international leaders to save her son, saying he's obviously been tortured since being hauled off at diverted bryan air flight. on sunday, she said she feared the government that would quote, kill him coming up next. what's out versus india, how

a big court case over privacy rules could set a standard for the rest of the world. chris covers all the details on the business . fisher, who's the the the, the, the the

news, the the, the ah many places apparently hydrogen is being sold as clean all rounded as the energy source of the future. many industries are very interested in the feel. feel, but what potential doesn't really carry me?

ah, what matters to us in that's why we listen to their stories reporter every weekend on d. w. twos . it's been ongoing quest for the spring began in 2011. people stood up against what's rulers and dictatorship. all these moments had left the box in my memory. the 1st was, it was an incredible feeling to be, were liberated. they

had hoped for more security, more freedom, more dignity, have their hopes for 10 years after the arab spring. and rebellion starts june 7th on d, w. the freedom of speech on the threat in india messaging service. what's that case? because to court over controversial, you meet the rules online platform say will force them to break privacy. protect, also coming up, britain loses this that, but i for german cars leaving china to take germany as the biggest important market for the 1st time. and we'll take a look at why small companies and start us are likely to feel the pinch of the global. somebody conduct a shortage longer and they are bigger competitor.