06/03/16 06/03/16 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> our task is to unite the world behind low carbon growth. the maldives is trying to lead the way. i call upon every country in this room to join us, not just for the sake of the maldives, but for the sake of the entire planet. amy: seven years ago, maldives president mohamed nasheed became a hero of the climate justice movement with his impassioned pleas to address global warming.

but in recent years, his voice has been silenced after being ousted in a coup and then jailed by his political opponents. he has just received political asylum in britain and joins us today from london. but an army chaplain resigns his first, post to protest the u.s. drone program. >> i submitted a resignation in protest of the president. i resign because i refused to serve and support u.s. armed drone policy, a policy of unaccountable killing. i resign because i refused to support u.s. nuclear weapons policy, nuclear weapons should not be modernized or miniaturized. they should be completely eliminated. i resign because i refuse to serve as an empire chaplain. amy: we will speak with the reverend chris antal and get new revelations in the tragic case of kalief browder, who took his own life nearly one year ago at the age of 16 when he was

locked up at rikers island and held for three years without trial on suspicion of stealing a backpack. a new expose by "the new yorker" by magazine -- magazine by jennifer gonnerman. all of that and more coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in san jose, california, clashes broke out between supporters of presumptive republican presidential nominee donald trump and hundreds of protesters who gathered to condemn trump's rhetoric against mexicans and muslims. "the san jose mercury news" called it the "biggest and most violent political protest san jose has seen in decades." dozens of scuffles broke out with reports multiple people being punched.

there are all sorts of video that came out. san jose mayor sam liccardo, a democrat, criticized trump for sparking problems that fall on local police departments. "at some point donald trump needs to take responsibility for the irresponsible behavior of his campaign," liccardo said. house speaker paul ryan has endorsed donald trump. ryan, the top elected republican in the country, had previously criticized trump, saying his proposal to bar muslims from entering the united states was "not what this country stands for." last month, ryan told cnn he was just not ready to endorse trump. but on ryan said he changed his a column mind and submitted to his hometown paper, the janesville gazette, ryan wrote -- "it's no secret that he and i have our differences. i won't pretend otherwise. and when i feel the need to, i'll continue to speak my mind. but the reality is, on the issues that make up our agenda, we have more common ground than disagreement."

in another potential sign of support from the republican establishment, trump has held a private meeting with karl rove, the architect of george w. bush's presidential campaigns. rove, who has launched a vast network of political fundraising organizations, has publicly criticized trump calling him a "complete idiot." but the "new york times" reports karl rove and trump met two weeks ago at the home of a mutual friend, casino magnate steve wynn. meanwhile trump has continued to , attack the judge overseeing a civil fraud lawsuit against the for-profit trump university. now defunct. trump told the "wall street journal" thursday u.s. district judge gonzalo curiel had "an absolute conflict" in presiding over the litigation because he is of mexican heritage and a member of a latino lawyers' association. trump cited his pledge to build a wall along the u.s.-mexico

border, saying -- "i'm building a wall. it's an inherent conflict of interest." democratic presidential candidate hillary clinton took aim at donald trump with some of her harshest criticism to date. speaking in san diego ahead of tuesday's california primary, clinton said collecting trump would be a historic mistake. >> this is not someone who should ever have the nuclear codes because it inot hard to imagine donald trump leading us into a war just because somebody got under his very thin skin. amy: trump responded by blasting clinton's decision to "stupidly raise her hand for the iraq war." meanwhile, speaking in modesto, california tuesday, clinton's democratic rival, vermont senator bernie sanders said he was the best candidate to defeat trump. sanders also took aim at clinton's policies on climate change. >> of course to recognize is the reality of climate change, but i

want her to join me in supporting a tax on carbon. i want her to change her views on the very important issue of fracking. she supports fracking. she wants to regulate fracking, but there are people who think by definition it cannot be effectively be regulated. when she was secretary of state, she pushed the fracking technology on countries all over the world. amy: bernie sanders says the democratic national committee the code -- vetoed his nomination of a labor union leader to the committee that will write the party platform. sanders was allowed to choose five of the 15 platform members. one of the people he tapped was roseann demoro, head of national nurses united, but sanders said the dnc rejected her. dnc platform committee spokesperson dana vickers shelley told the "washington post" -- "because union leadership was represented on the full platform committee, a decision was made no union leadership would be represented on the platform

drafting committee." the dnc did approve one labor union pick by hillary clinton -- paul booth of the american federation of state, county and municipal employees. the german parliament has voted to call the 1915 massacre of armenians by ottoman forces a "genocide." the turkish government continues to deny the genocide, which saw an estimated 1.5 million armenians exterminated through direct killing, starvation, torture and forced death , marches. in response to the german vote, turkey recalled its ambassador to germany and said it would consider further actions. in texas, massive flooding around fort hood has killed five soldiers and left four missing. the soldiers died after their army truck overturned in a swollen creek. may was texas' wettest month on record. massive flooding has also struck in europe, where paris' louvre museum closed today as artwork was moved to higher areas. in southern germany, flooding

has killed at least six people in recent days. scientists say such heavy rains and flooding are linked climate -- linked to climate change. in brazil, suspended president dilma rousseff joined protestors in rio de janeiro denouncing what they consider a coup against her. congress suspended rousseff purportedly for manipulating budget accounts, but leaked transcripts showed at least one plotted to oust rousseff in order to end a corruption investigation that was targeting him. the political crisis has coincided with protests over the gang rape of a 16-year-old girl by more than 30 men. on thursday, the ousted president rousseff addressed a crowd at the women's march for democracy. >> we know that what happened here was a gang rape and the same time, one of the elite country club has clearly shown its prejudice against a nanny, prohibiting her from sitting or using the bathroom. this culture of rape and social

excursion against women is something that we know needs to be defeated. amy: rousseff was brazil's first woman president. her replacement, michel temer, appointed an all-male cabinet. the american civil liberties union is suing alabama over anti-choice restrictions, including a law that treats abortion clinics like sex offenders. the measure banning abortion clinics from operating within 2000 feet of a k through 8 -- kindergarten through eighth grade school would shutter the only abortion clinics in huntsville and tuscaloosa, which together provide more than half of abortions in the state. the alabama women's center in huntsville is located across from a school. it was forced to move there to comply with other anti-choice restrictions. the aclu also challenged restrictions banning a safe abortion method and forcing abortion providers to give every patient a copy of her medical records, even if she doesn't want them. the man accused of killing a professor at ucla in what authorities called a

murder-suicide appears to have killed his ex-wife first. authorities said they found a kill list in the home of accused gunman mainak sarkar, which included three names -- william klug, the ucla professor who was shot to death on wednesday, another ucla professor, and a woman identified as sarkar's ex-wife ashley hasti. she was found shot to death in her home. here in new york city, hundreds of macy's workers rallied outside the retailer's flagship store in herald square to call for a living wage, reliable schedules and affordable , healthcare. thousands of macy's workers have authorized their union to call a strike if macy's doesn't meet their demands for a fair contract by june 15. stuart appelbaum, president of the retail, wholesale and department store union, said macy's is seeking unreasonable cuts. >> macy's is looking to take away pensions from senior employees, reduce commissions for commission workers, refuses

to provide affordable health care coverage. the workers are angry. the workers are upset. the workers have taken a strike vote. and it was unanimous. people are prepared to strike if macy's refuses to give them the respect they have earned and deserve. amy: toxicology tests have revealed the legendary singer prince died from an accidental overdose of the opioid fentanyl. fentanyl is many times more powerful than heroin and morphine. 78 americans die every day from opioid overdoses. an elderly new york prisoner who won wide support for his freedom has died just two months after he was released to a nursing home in staten island. mohaman koti was 89 years old. in 1978, koti was convicted of attempted murder after he shot a new york city police officer during a traffic stop in which

he says the officer drew his gun first. the officer later recovered, and koti was offered a plea deal of 7.5 years. when he demanded a trial, he was sentenced to 25 years to life. he spent the next several decades mentoring young men -- young male prisoners. a corrections officer at sing sing said he had never met anyone so well respected on both sides of the bars. 10 years after koti was eligible for parole, he was profiled in a 2013 "new york times" column about prisoners over the age of 60 who are denied release based on their original crime, instead of an accurate assessment of the threat they pose. it described a parole board hearing where commissioners had to repeat questions to koti because he was hard of hearing. he suffered from several medical problems and used a wheelchair but he was still found to be at , risk of committing another crime. koti was ultimately granted parole in september 2014 when a judge ruled the previous denials

were irrational and called for a new hearing. then, because of a pending bank robbery charge from the time of his arrest, he was ordered to serve an additional year in prison at a federal medical center in bunter, north carolina. koti was finally freed in march. his longtime lawyer and friend susan tipograph told democracy now! -- "the kind of life koti lived when he got out -- confined to a nursing home because he was not able to care for himself -- shows that it was ludicrous to think he would have posed threat to society all these years." and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. during a commencement speech on thursday, president obama defended his foreign-policy, including targeted assassinations and drone warfare. obama made the remarks at the u.s. air force academy in colorado springs.

>> i've not hesitated to use force where necessary to protect the american people. thanks to our military, intelligence, counter intelligence, the modern is gone. anwar awlaki is gone. the al qaeda leader in somalia, he is gone. the man accused in the attacks in benghazi, captured. the leader of the taliban, gone. leader after leader in isil, the number two, the man who brutally murdered americans, the isil leader in libya -- all gone. the leader of their chemical weapons program, captured. the list goes on. because if you target americans, we will find you and justice will be done and we will defend our nation. [applause] amy: that was president obama delivering the commencement

speech at the u.s. air force academy in colorado springs on thursday. with only a small number of u.s. special forces on the ground, iraq and syria have become new fronts in a global drone war that has launched thousands of strikes in pakistan, afghanistan, yemen and somalia. , the exact number of civilians killed by drones is unknown because the program operates in secret. we turn now to an unlikely voice challenging the drone warfare program former u.s. army reserve , chaplain captain chris antal. he recently resigned his post in protest. in april, he wrote a letter to president obama detailing his reasons for leaving the u.s. army reserves, citing his opposition to the administration's use of drone strikes, its policy on nuclear proliferation, and what he calls the executive branch's claim of extraconstitutional authority and impunity for international law. this is not the first time reverend antal has voiced his concerns.

in 2012, he delivered a sermon in afghanistan and anonymously posted the text on a unitarian universalist website. at the time, he identified himself only as an army chaplain in afghanistan. the sermon read in part -- "we have sanitized killing and condoned extrajudicial assassinations -- war made easy without due process, protecting ourselves from the human cost of war. we have deceived ourselves, denying the colossal misery our wars inflict on the innocent." reverend antal's superiors discovered the sermon and he was reprimanded, nearly losing his job. in mid april, he decided to voluntarily resign over his continued concerns about drone warfare. in doing so, reverend antal forfeits benefits that otherwise would have accrued to him through his eight years of service in the u.s. army reserve. reverend chris antal joins us in

the new york studio. he is a minister for the unitarian universalist congregation at rock tavern, new york, and a founder of the hudson valley, new york, chapter of veterans for peace. welcome to democracy now! >> i am glad to be here. amy: you are still in the army? >> the paperwork has not been completed yet. amy: but you have resigned. >> i have submitted my resignation, but the army is a big iraq receipt and it takes time to get all of the signatures. amy: so you are still a u.s. army chaplain. >> i am. i can't speak from the capacity on this program, but on paper, yes. amy: talk about your decision. how long did you serve as a normally -- army chaplain and where did you serve? >> i served for five years. eight years and reserve, five years as a chaplain and most of that time was as a reserve chaplain. i did spend about two years in active duty. and altogether, about six months

in afghanistan. amy: talk about your decision to leave. talk about myn decision to leave, i need to say why i got in in the first place. as a minister, ouster of and by compassion to care for the wounded. and as a citizen, driven by a sense of civic duty to carry my fair share in our nation's wars. i think i did both of those things during my time in service , but eventually, began to feel a role conflict between my role as a military officer and my role as an ordained minister. i could not reconcile that conflict, so i decided to resign. amy: talk about the speech i just quoted from. where did you give that speech? >> it was a sermon. it was never anonymous, as you said, when i posted it i identified myself.

i gave that sermon on veterans day, which was on a sunday in 2012 at kandahar airfield to gathered community desperate community and other for worship it might tradition. that was about six weeks into my deployment when i had witnessed drones. i had learned about practices that violate my sense of what is right. and i decided it was my prerogative as a religious leader to address that in the context of a religious service, a form of limitation, a confession. and on that is what i did. and because i think the issues i raised are of concern for a larger audience for the all nation, i made that available through a church website that is sponsored in my denomination.

amy: and talk about what happened then. how was it discovered and what was the response by the military? clucks two days after it appeared online, i was contacted by an army lawyer you had read the post. you forwarded it to my commander. i was summoned to the commander's office. he told me that my message doesn't support the mission. he told me that i make us look like the bad guys. he asked me to take it down -- which i did immediately. nevertheless, i was subjected to an investigation called in article 15 six investigation. i had to get a trial defense lawyer in afghanistan that was provided to me by the army. that process throughout for about two months and ended with what is called a general officer memorandum of reprimand. i was handed an official reprimand that said i have made politically inflammatory basis its and on that

was released from active duty in afghanistan, sent home with a do not promote evaluation -- which is really a career killer in the military. amy: you quit in a very public way with a letter to president obama will stop your letter of resignation. in it, he said, i resign because i refuse to serve as an empire chaplain. explain. >> sure. for me, democracy is about checks and balances. democracy is about due process. these drone wars have blown due process up in smoke. they have blown checks and balances up in smoke. democracy is also about no establishment and free exercise of religion. we have in our nation and established religion. it is not christianity.

it consists of the unholy trinity of governmental fee is some, military supremacy and an understanding of capitalism as freedom. and as a religious leader, i feel it is my prerogative to differentiate myself from this state sanctioned religion and speak from my authentic tradition in a way that resist , and national policies that is what i have done and offering my resignation and stating quite clearly that i will not serve as an empire chaplain. i will not lend religious legitimacy to the state sanctioned violence. amy: have you received a response from president obama since that is you you wrote your resignation letter to? >> i have not. amy: you have also become a shareholder of honeywell? >> i am, yes. amy: is this how you plan to support yourself now?

>> well, i've never been a shareholder before of anything, and i only own one share. the reason why i became a shareholder is because i was frustrated with the lack of progress through legislative advocacy and i believe what we are facing in our country is not just a military industrial complex that eisenhower wrote about, it is a mistral -- industrial complex. legislative advocacy without doing shareholder advocacy and confronting some of the corporations that are lobbying our elected officials in order to influence the militarization of u.s. foreign-policy. you talk about attending the honeywell shareholders meeting and what you did? >> i have been to two meetings. the first one in 2015 where i coty.sed the ceo david

year, i went, as i did last year, with my fellow veteran n who addressed the drone profiting and i chose to address honeywell's profiting from nuclear weapons. coty how much honeywell is profiting from the administration's investment of trillions of dollars in the modernization of our nuclear arsenal. i asked him how much honeywell is profiting from the administration's decision to launch a new era dropped nuclear christmas all. and i asked him if you never been to hiroshima, because i have been there twice. and whether he had faced the horror that this technology produces. amy: your wife of 18 years as

japanese? >> yes, and we have five children. amy: what was your response to president obama just last week going to hiroshima? >> i was glad and proud of our president for visiting hiroshima, however, i'm disappointed that although he talks the talk of nuclear abolition, the actions of his administration are not consistent with what he is saying. i agree that hiroshima calls for a moral revolution, a revolution of consciousness and awakening of america. and i hope -- and i remain hopeful that the administration will cancel plans for the new airdrops nuclear cruise missile and take the thousand nuclear warheads off launch on warning status. , canreverend chris antal you talk about how those you have ministered to have responded to your resignation?

who did you serve in afghanistan? >> i served as an army chaplain. as an army chaplain, i'm responsible for the soldiers in my assigned unit, but also soldiers in my area of operations as well as , service members from all branches. i served all of those people during my deployment to afghanistan. i can say when i preached the sermon that led to my reprimand, i had the full support of the community of faith that attended that service. when i appealed the letter of reprimand, i appealed with more than 30 letters of support from everyone in the congregation as clergy am aerned chaplain's, and citizens across america. so i have had a lot of support. amy: i want to get your response to the presidential election. i want to turn to democratic presidential candidate former secretary of state hillary clinton. in 2014, guardian columnist owen

jones questioned her about the use of drone warfare. to the would you say living parents of up to 202 children who have been killed by drones in pakistan in a program which you escalated as secretary of state? >> well, i would argue with the premise because, clearly, the efforts that were made by the united states in cooperation with our allies in afghanistan and certainly with the afghan government to prevent the threat that was in pakistan from crossing the border, killing afghans, killing americans, brits, and others, was aimed at targets that had been identified and were considered to be threats. the numbers about potential civilian casualties -- i take with a somewhat big grain of

salt because there has been other studies which have proven they're not to have been the number of civilian casualties. amy: last october on nbc's "meet the press," chuck todd asked democratic presidential candidate bernie sanders about his position on drones. >> what does counterterrorism look like in a sanders a administration? drones, special forces? >> all of that and more. >> you're ok with drones? >> a drone as a weapon. when it works badly, it is terrible and counterproductive. when you blow up a facility or building which kills women and children, you know what? not only does -- it is terrible. >> but you're comfortable with using drones? >> yes. >> so that continues. >> look, we all know that there are people as of this moment plotting against the united states. we have to be vigorous and protecting our country, no question. amy: that a senator bernie

sanders and before that, secretary of state hillary clinton. >> what they are not saying is the numbers and the numbers released just two days ago that there have been 7142 people killed with u.s. drone strikes -- most of those in pakistan. my question is, where is the necessity? where is the imminent threat to my family, to our families here in the united states when we kill people halfway around the world with a drone strike? amy: reverend chris antal, i was wondering if we could end with you recently -- reading your resignation letter to president obama and your own words. >> i would be glad to do that. "dear mr. president: i hereby resign my commission as an officer in the united states army. i resign because i refuse to support u.s. armed drone policy. the executive branch continues to claim the right to kill anyone, anywhere on earth, at any time for secret reasons, , based on secret evidence, in a secret process, undertaken by unidentified officials.

i refuse to support this policy of unaccountable killing. i resign because i refuse to support u.s. nuclear weapon policy. the executive branch continues to invest billions of dollars into nuclear weapons, which threaten the existence of humankind and the earth. i refuse to support this policy of terror mutually assured destruction. i resign because i refuse to support u.s. policy of preventive war, permanent military supremacy and global power projection. the executive branch continues to claim extra-constitutional authority and impunity from international law. i refuse to support this policy of imperial overstretch. i resign because i refuse to serve as an empire chaplain. i cannot reconcile these policies with either my sworn duty to protect and defend america and our constitutional democracy or my covenantal commitment to the core principles of my religion faith.

these principles include -- justice, equity and compassion in human relations, a free and responsible search for truth; the commitment to the democratic process and the inherent worth , and dignity of every person. respectfully submitted, christopher john antal." ,my: reverend chris antal minister, now in rock tavern, new york, founder of the hudson valley chapter of veterans for peace. he served as a u.s. army chaplain in afghanistan before publicly resigning over the obama administration's drone warfare. he wrote that letter to president obama in april. this is democracy now! when we come back, we hear more about the story of kalief browder. kalief, a 16-year-old arrested in new york, falsely accused of taking someone's backpack. he spent three years at rikers

island without trial. ultimately, he was released. he would commit suicide a few years later. today, we bring you part two of the story of the life and death of kalief browder. then the former president of the maldives known around the world as a voice dealing with climate change, now freed from the maldives. he is gone political asylum in britain. he will speak to us from london. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. to rikers island, new revelations in the tragic case of kalief browder, who took his own life nearly a year ago on june 6, 2016. -- 2015. at the time of his death, kalief was a 22-year-old new york student who spent three years in rikers island jail without being convicted of a crime. in 2010, when he was just 16, he was sent to rikers island without trial on suspicion of stealing a backpack. he spent the next nearly three years at rikers even though he , was never tried or convicted. for nearly 800 days of that time, he was held in solitary

confinement. kalief always maintained his innocence, requesting a trial but was only offered plea deals , while the trial was repeatedly delayed. near the end of his time in jail, the judge offered to sentence him to time served if injured a guilty plea and told him he could face 15 years in prison if he was convicted. kalief still refused to accept the plea deal. he was only released when the case was dismissed. during kalief's time at rikers, he struggled with depression and suicidal thoughts stemming from his incarceration. he attempted suicide multiple times. now in a new piece for the "new yorker" magazine, jennifer gonnerman details how kalief actually learned how to commit suicide at rikers, after seeing another prisoner attempt to take his own life. the piece also details how, before taking his own life, kalief recounted prison guards

goading him on during suicide attempts, saying -- "if you don't jump, we're going to go in there anyway, so you might as well go ahead and jump, go ahead and jump." these revelations in kalief browder's case come amid increasing scrutiny of the infamous prison -- where, currently, 85% of the 10,000 prisoners at rikers have not yet been tried. on wednesday, the intercept reported on the case of jairo pastoressa, who has been waiting nearly six years for a trial after having been arrested in rikers also made headlines this 2010. week for the case of aitabdel salem, who spent five months in riker's because no one told him his bail was only $2. well, to talk now more about kalief browder's case and rikers island, we're joined once again by jennifer gonnerman, reporter, author, contributing editor at "new yorker" magazine. she first recounted kalief browder's story in 2014 in her

article, "before the law: a boy was accused of taking a backpack. the courts took the next three years of his life." jennifer, welcome back to democracy now! explain what you have learned since kalief's suicide. >> the one-year anniversary is on monday, june 6. i was planning to write about him and went and track down and managed to get three depositions that he gave in the last year of his life, and which was interviewed by an attorney for new york city for hours at a stretch about his time in rikers. the last one that was conducted a year ago may focused largely on a suicide attempts in rikers. write anythingto about these depositions, but as i was reading them, there were a few moments when i almost fell off my chair and a was so disturbed by some of the revelations that i ended up having to write about it and we published a story on the new

yorker's website yesterday. amy: talk about those revelations. >>'s description of rikers is a must as if it were a school for suicide. he never had attempted suicide before never really thought about it before he was arrested in this is when he was 16, when into the jail system in the spring of 2010. at some point he sees another adolescent boy in his jail without sheet tied around his neck who has just been taken out of his cell. he did not take his five, but he attempted. it was on us like a culture of suicide attempts that he was exposed to any started to think about it a lot and spent much of his time in solitary confinement when he was locked up. amy: 800 days. >> the only way -- it is a little complicated how the world -- it was completely upside down. the world of rikers. the only way -- the perception among officers and some of the

employees when a person attempts to harm themselves in solitary, they're only doing it to get out of solitary, to get into general population, so there is this deep skepticism. that is what you see coming through in the story. kalief is truly depressed and having serious suicidal thoughts, but in that context, things are not taken seriously. this is sort of what happens when we turn our jails into sort of mental hospitals almost. amy: i want to turn to kalief browder in his own words. and the the cymer 2013 interview with huff post live's mark lamont hill, browder talked about his suicide attempts at rikers and his efforts to get psychiatric help. >> i would say i committed suicide about five or six times. >> you attempted suicide five or six times while in prison? >> yes. meried to resort to telling correctional facility i wanted

to see a psychiatrist or counselor, something. i wasn't feeling right. everything was just getting to me and i just could not take it. i needed some of you to talk to. i needed -- i just into do talk and be stress free. the correction officers did not want to hear me out. nobody wanted to listen. amy: that was kalief soon after he was released from prison. for people who have not followed kalief's story, jennifer gonnerman, you have done such an amazing job bringing his story to life, explain again how he went to rikers at the age of 16. >> he was walking home from a party late one night in the bronx, the spring of 2010. a sophomore in high school at the time. eckstein, justbout to turn 17. a police car drives up and 70's in the backseat who point them out and says, does somebody in the backseat point some out and

says, he and another young man he was with had robbed him prior , a week or two prior, and accused him of stilling his back. that set in motion a chain of events. kalief insisted he was innocent. he says he was told, don't worry about it, we will just write in a few things out and you will go home soon. he thought it was just a routine matter in which you would be getting home by the morning. instead, it turned into a three-year odyssey. he was in his perverse catch-22 situation where in order to prove his innocence, yet too stale and jet -- stay and jail and reviews they prosecutors plea offers. what he did not realize is trials barely ever happen in the bronx and across the country, almost everybody gets out by pleading to something. it was his insistence on his innocence, i'm not pleading to something that he said he is not

done that kept him in jail all that time. in the bronx, notorious for complete lack of speedy trials. the court delays are outrageous. andunction in the courts the jail system, he is going back and forth between two of the most dysfunctional systems and new york city, and that is what led to him spending so much time locked up. amy: and there were the beatings. the horror of the release of the video from inside the prison as a guard escorts kalief to the appears tolief speak. then the guard suddenly, violently hurls him to the floor as he is a ready handcuffed. a separate video from 2010, he is attacked by almost a dozen other teenage prisoners after he punches a gang member who spat in his face. the other prisoners pummel him until guards intervened. the first one, again, that image of the prison guard -- you see

him flexing his muscles -- before he takes kalief out, and then he takes him down. >> the craziest thing, when i met kalief not long after he got out of jail, he told me about the incident. he said, get the video. but i thought, how my going to get it yet go the incident upset him so much, not because it was the worst thing that happened on rikers, but he knew it happen in full view of the cameras and there were no consequences for the officer. he never got a chance to get any justice in that situation. generally, in 2015 -- ultimately, in 2015, the new yorker got the video and posted it on our website and i watched it with kalief the first time he saw it. it was unbelievable. unbelievable. amy: as we wrap up, talk about takeawayst piece, the almost a year after kalief did

succeed in committing suicide. this piece that just came out on our website yesterday is actually part of a package and the rest will be posted on "new yorker" website today. we did a radio piece on our website today. you can hear kalief talk about what it was like to be in solitary in his own words, using interview tapes i conducted with him back in 2014, and also a video montage. he has gotten a lot of attention in the months and years since his death, but it doesn't detract from the fact this was an american tragedy that never should have happened. there have been some reform efforts on rikers, around the country. obama cited kalief when talking about reducing solitary in prisons. theink a year later, as

attention has waned and time has gone on, there is been a lack of urgency about the same issues. i thank you, amy, for keeping a story live here on democracy now! amy: thank you, jennifer gonnerman, staff writer for the "new yorker" magazine. we will link to her piece called "kalief browder learned how to , commit suicide on rikers." when we come back, we go across the pond to london to speak with a man who was also imprisoned. this by the coup government who replaced him, the former president of the maldives mohamed nasheed. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: music by zero degroo atoll. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as we turn to britain or the former president a tiny indian ocean state of the maldives has been granted political refugee status. mohamed nasheed was maldives' first democratically elected president, known internationally

for his work on climate change. in 2009, he pleaded with world leaders in copenhagen to do more to tackle the climate crisis. >> our task is to unite the world behind the shared vision of low carbon growth host of the maldives is trying to lead the way. i call upon every country in this room to join us, not just for the sake of the maldives, but for the sake of the entire planet. amy: months before the copenhagen talks nasheed made , international headlines when he held an underwater cabinet meeting in an attempt to bring attention to the dire consequences of global warming. president nasheed and 11 members of his government, 11 of his government ministers, wore scuba gear and plunged nearly twenty feet into the indian ocean.

>> let the world know what is happening and what will happen to the maldives if climate change is not changed. that everyone else is also occupied as much as we are, and would like to see the people do something about it. amy: while president mohamed nasheed was hailed as a climate hero by many in the international community, back home in the maldives it was a different story. in 2012, he was ousted in what he called an armed coup by supporters of former dictator maumoon abdul gayoom. then in 2015, nasheed was sentenced to 13 years in prison after being convicted under the maldives' anti-terrorism act. well, in january, mohamed nasheed was released from prison

and permitted to travel to britain for back surgery, where he sought and received political asylum. on wednesday, nasheed brought together political rivals in london to announce the creation of an opposition-in-exile group armed at -- aimed at toppling yameen's government. well, for more, we go to london where we're joined by mohamed nasheed, the former president of the maldives. welcome back to democracy now! can you talk about your freedom after you spend in this lastperiod more than a year in prison in the maldives? >> thank you, very much, and it is nice to be back again with you. i was imprisoned after a trial that has been widely condemned by every single institution, country, and commentator on the trial. the charges were wrong. the trial was wrong. the sentence was wrong.

the u.n. working group has specifically and very much detail outlined where it went wrong. we all knew this was a politically motivated trial. it is not just me. all of them will the opposition are now behind bars. -- all of the maldives opposition are now behind bars. the defense minister is in jail. gush their own elected president -- their own elected president is in exile. all of the opposition leaders in the maldives are now in jail or having to live in exile. we feel that this is a very grave situation. we want to see how we may be able to overcome this and get the country back on a more democratic track.

we would like to see the international community more engaged and more focused on the gravity of the issues in the maldives. we feel these issues are very closely elected to the indian ocean. we have islamic radicalism, people going to jihad from the maldives. at the same time, we have shortly rising powers -- sean the rising powers, china and saudi arabia specifically, also seeking for a foothold in the maldives. i believe that would be disturbing, not only to our immediate neighbors, but also to the many, many number of other countries at large. ousted,n you were president nasheed, in 2012, what was the response of the u.s. government? >> well, unfortunately, the us

government recognized the coup regime instantly. i have the view that they read the story wrong at that instant. they must've gotten the wrong end of the stick. and now i am hopeful and happy to see the u.s. government is now coming to understand the realities in the maldives. the congress and the senate have passed a resolution indicating their sense of the gravity of the issue in the maldives, and we're hopeful the state department will follow suit from what the senate has said in the congress has said. the treasury and the justice department is clearly aware of the money laundering issues and the implications and the connections that it has two president yameen. we are seeking targeted sanctions on regime leaders.

we think it is absolutely necessary now, and we are hopeful the justice department and the treasury and the state department would come to understand it and would come to lead targeted sanctions against regime leaders in the maldives. amy: human rights advocates are -- concern. this is your lawyer, human rights lawyer, amal clooney during your imprisonment. >> former president who fought very hard to bring human rights and democracy to this country, and is now a political prisoner here -- one of many, unfortunately. i am arriving in your beautiful when the humanme rights situation and security situation is deteriorating by the day. amy: amal clooney is merit to the actor george clooney and in the u.s., she is mainly known for that. but she is a well,

world-renowned human rights .awyer and represents you can you talk about getting political asylum in britain or political refugee status? if you could explain what that is. >> basically, i believe that it is providing a safe haven where i can exercise my freedom of expression. another basic rights. so we have a view that we must have -- we must get all of the opposition groups in the maldives together and to see how we might be able to get the country back on the kind of democratic half -- path. for that, we have been able to come out with a united itssition where most of shadow leaders are behind bars, in jail, but we have a shadow

cabinet that would push for reforms that would also, hopefully, look to see how we might be able to have a transitional arrangement that would take us to free and fair elections. ard, the threeger international lawyers, and my legal team and the maldives, have fought very hard and i'm extremely thankful to them for eautiful andt so having hll oth results come oo that we may be able or are able to engage in peaceful political activity. i think it is very important the international community understands the gravity of the issues in the maldives. amy: can you talk about how your ouster, the coup against you in the maldives in 2012, affected

the island's position on climate change? it was well known the coup was perpetrated by friends and allies of the current president, abdulla yameen, and this certainly -- especially when you were imprisoned, silenced your voice for a period around the issue of climate change. what is yameen's position and what are you saying now that you are out? >> i think -- i very strongly feel that we must find a low carbon development strategy. in my view, the signs for such a strategy is there. it is clean energy, better ways of waste disposal, and recycling. there is a good, complete development strategy that

developing countries can adhere to and can follow. it is not false or fuel-based. -- fossil fuel-based. especially the world bank and imf another bigger banks, clearly to understand these strategies. and when they push governments and push agencies on developing strategies to have these strategies, the low carbon development strategies, and i think it is very important that some country or people advocate for these strategies. unfortunately, president yameen has decided to throw for oil and drill for oil in the maldives. has also decided to increase carbon emission by 300%. --course, what the maldives

is not going to affect the planet, but for us to be leading the argument, the advocacy, we must have the moral high ground and we must be able to say that there is another development strategy. we all lead the good life. we all have refrigerators, washing machines. all of the appliances. but we must find a good development strategy. amy: mohamed nasheed, safety for being with us ousted president , of the maldives. has just received political refugee status from britain last . democracy now! is hiring a news producer and an office coordinator. check our website at democracynow.org. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by

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