>> fresh uncertainty in algeria as a powerful general dies. he has been a major player in the country's delicate transition to democracy. saudi arabia sentencnc five people t death for the m murder of journalist jamal khashoggi. top government figures are exonerated.

modiow to india's narendra as his nationalist party loses elections in the north of the country. delhi and live to new our correspondent. those are the headlines this hour. you are watching france 24. we begin this hour with fresh uncertainty in algeria, where gaid powerful general ahmeded salah died. he pushed for the country to hold elections this month despite opposition from the protest movement. last week more than 40% of the country turned out to vote. i am joined by our international

affairs editor. what kind of role did general syria befefore and after the last uprising? the expressionr a lot that he was a pillar of the regime. in algeria, there has been a system dominated by they military -- the military since independence. the gegeneral consensus is that behind the scenes, the kingmakers were t the military.. no one personified that military dominance of the system, the ruling elites than general salah . what we are seeing in this man is someone who wanted to preserve power f for the systemt all costs. of boot supporter resignhe was forced to

lalast april. turn on his heels and try to then say the army is with the people. he tried to make it look like he had the popular will at heart. the reality is he went out of his way to crack down on and preserve power for himself and the so-called system, that so-called military dominated system. that has been the trend. what you are seeing is this is a man whose legacy will be seen as someone w who tried to present a facade of supporting popular will, supporting a civilian president, but at the same time tong everything in his power ensure he remained at thee centr

of the nexus of decision-making in the country. >> bearing that in mind, what significancece does his dedeath hahave? >> it sounds like i am sitting on the fence, and i i am in a sense saying that it is toooo early to say. were two died, there general options seen among most people. either you were going to have an election of this new president, some openness to dialogue with the opposition, something that had not happened before. a presidential votote earlier ththis monthth on decemr 12. we saw calls for boycotts of the vote. it was seen byby theopular protesters as s illegitimate. it could have either been a crackdown on the protest movement, and there have been

arrests of a lot of the top leaders, or it could have been the opening of dialogue with the new president. that question remains now. the has been a new man named t t replace salah as the military ruler chief of staff. will he go the way that salah did and continue to crack down on the protesters? that is going to be decisive. the e protesters, we will not se ththeir ckcks. they will continue. we might see more latitude for the new presidede, calling of the tensions. you could cut the tensions with a knife following the election. in that context, that landscape tensee calm, less landscape, perhaps you will have some option to go forward with dialogueue. >> thank you very much indeed.

the organization reporters without borders says this s meas justice has been trampled upon, this after saudi arabia sentenced five peoeople to death and three otothers to like the jail termsms over the e murder f jojournalist j jamal khashshogg, murdered in turkeyey last yeara. the deputy i intelligencnce chif has been freed for lack of evidence. to show the was killed -- jamal khashoggi was killed at the embassy in istanbul. the u.n. said the saudi crown prince and other high-level officials were individually liable for his death. the saudi government called the killing the result of a rogue operation. turkey's president has warned his country cannot handle any more refugees from syria. tens of thousands of people have fled from the turkish border.

major rebelst stronghold in syria. erdogan says there is no room to take anymore refugees. more than 80,000 of our brothers running from the bombs have started migrating towards our borders. if the violence towards the people does not stop, this number will increase even more. in that case, turkey will not carry susuch a migrant burden on its own. >> he has only been in the job for a matter of days, but there are already calls for lebanon's new prime minister to step down. the former education minister lasthe approval of mps week. for the protesters, he is a member of the ruling elite and should step down immediately. market square, one of the key

hotspots in lebanon was filled once again on sunday. this peaceful demonstration cacalls for the new prime minisr to step down. we are protesting today because we are not convinced by their choioice of new prime minister. >> we will continue until all of the aims of the revolution against corruption and the authority that controls people's lives are realized. >> protest leaders shunned an invitation on sunday to enter discussions with the new prime minister over the formation of his government. as a former government minister, he is seen as part of the elite,'s corrupt little accused of causing lebanon's worst financial crisis in decades. in a bid to regain the people's trust, he has vowed to form a government composed of experts rather than establishment politicians. has been3, lebanon

ruled by a restricted group of tradaditional, regioional, and sectarian leaders becausese of e power-sharing agreement set up after the destruction of the caliphate. ththe prime e minister must be a sunny muslim, and the parliamentary speakaker a s shi. sunni himself, he does not have support from the main sunni parliament in desperate he in parliament. but of the -- party in parliament. much of the proposition has been calling for an end to this system for decades. the loss for narendra modi's hindu nationalists comes amid mass protests over a new law on cicitizenship. more than 20 people have died in 10 days of clashes.

says theister modi protesters are being whipped up by misinformation and lies. >> since my government came into power in 2014, i would like to tell the 1.3 billion people in india that the mrc has never been discussed. there has been no talk of it because of the supreme court'ss direction, we had to go through with it. what are the opposition talklkig ababout? lies are being spread. congress and urbanan axles have beenen spreading rumors about muslims in detention centers. they are all l lies. they are ill mentioned a a all lies. lies and lies. >> for thehe very latest, we can

go to new delhi. our correrespondent is there. is this result and lost for the bjp linked to the nationwide opposition to this citizenship law? >> there are several reasons they lost their majority, in the lead up to the polls, the party's allies ran their own candidates. tribal arithmetic issues, the bjp sought strong opposition in the form of the congress, and candidate willy now be chief minister. has the economic slowdowown impacted severerely this ststat. sweep the general elections in the state, but this

nationallmple of how elections ararnot a bewethther for lolocal elections.s. bjpis is the third time the finds itself on shaky ground, most recently when it lost a close ally. this is coming at a time when prototests are ragaging againsta controversial citizenship law. i incentive toore prototesters. >> the protest movement continues. people say that citizenship law undermines india's constitution. what is planned for today? >> protests are continuing across the country over this law -- citizezenship.

the government plans to publish a nationwide register that will identify illegal immigrants. even though the prime minister plan -- his wasas any homeme minister hahas talked abt how they want to implement this. the arab cititizenshipip act is closelely linked as it will protect non-muslims who are disputed frorom the register if they failed to providederoper docucuments. protests are continunuing, alththough there was overnight violence. thahank you very much. apologies. we seem to have lost her. top two contenders in the presidential election will face each othther in a runf next monthth.

sunday's polls have the left-leaning prime minister leading the field with nearly 20% of the vote. not far behind, the incumbent conservative. that is it from the newsroom. stay tuned. this is "france 24." >> in the busy streets of hong kong, just another face in the crowd, but in june 2013, his life changed forever when he crossed paths with edward snowden. he ended up serving as an

informal bodyguard for the whistleblower on the run. the former nsasa c contractor hd just revealed how mass surveillance was being used by american secrett services to spy on its own citizens and alallied governments across the world. >> because even if you are not dodoing anything wrong, you're being watched and recorded. 1014,onfined to room snowden shared his proof with a documentary filmmaker and guardidian journalist. soon after he became the most wanted man on the planet, hunted by the u.s. government and several intelligence agencies. he reached out to a canadian lawyer well known for defending asylum-seekers in the region. very early mororning, june 10,

which was a monday morning, i received a phone call before 7:00 a.m., and it was a request for help. how are you holdingng up? >> pretty good. i'm dodoing well. thank you so much for helping me. he is going to say -- human rights l lawyer robebert tebow masteterminded the plan to hide snowden in one of hong kong's poorest neighborhood. >> this community is so discriminated against and marginalized, they are hong kong's version of untouchables. it is highly unlikely anyone will be looking there. hong kong society and government would never expect that mr. orwden would be living with

hiding within this community that is so marginalized. in effect hiding him in n plain sight. it was in mr. snowden's best interest that he go underground, that he disappear off the radar. later, in an exclusive interview with "france his snowden recounts episode of escape. >> it was a a little crazy, butt the same time it was genius. this is definitely the one place no o one was going to look for . ththat was a very differentt wod than i had been used to living in. i lived a pretty privileged existence. ajit is among those who had the fugitive, alallowing him to evade capture and the intelligence agents on his heels.

>> protection here. i give the protection. i go with him. i get in the taxi. his former soldier, he fled home country of sri lanka in 2003. he explained he was repeatedly befored by his superiors being tortured and thrown into jail for treason. in the end, he decided to desert the army. safetysnowden owes his and most likely his life to these refefugees who agreeeed to protectt him, to guidede him through the city he did not know. they kept him safe when he was the most wanted man on earth. thanks to his military training

and survival skills, he managed to live in hong kong without any resources, so he was the ideal person to ensure mr. snowden would be able to move safely around hong kong when it was necessary. >> a lawyer for snowden's guardian angels founded a nonprofit organization called for the refugees to support them. us to a couple who welcomed the fugitive into their home. that time we did not know anything about snowden. >> the second day, we find the newspaper for him. i show it to him. this is you. this is you. he say, yes. i say, is you.

maybe e you spy. > it was amazing the little things they would do to try to make me comfmfortable. i think they could obvioiously tenensed iressesed and was s and how worried i i was. they were realilistically realizing any day the police could not on the door. >> they sheltered the former cia employee in their tiny apartment. they give him their bed while they slept on the floor in the hallway. american, we thought he like doughnuts, but not at all. food.d.our curry and he ate what we make for him. >> he don't like the vegetables.

meat and the cake. him how much government and then he tell us salary. i am upset. salary in one year, he get in one month. i say, you stupid. .ook at my life i have nothing. your job, your salary, your life is like a dream. i say, why are you stupid? he says, i i did the right thin. the release of a film directed by oliver stone turned their lives upside down. suddenly the role they played in snowden's escape was r revealed.

you're not alone. >> since then, they have been hounded by hong kong authorities. arrested on several occasions, they have been questioned about their t ties to edward snowden. the little support they receive from the government was cut. >> we lost the home. we sleep different places. hong kong any time can deport anybody to their home country. >> he fled sri lanka because of political persecution. she began she was sexually abused. today they are afraid of their children, -- afraid for their children, born in hong kong and stateless.

>> they no have life in hong kongng or my country. everything you can see, we need to go together. >> all live in constant fear. if they are deported, they could .ace torture and death if the guardian angels are deported by hong kong authorities to their home country sri lanka, they will be tortured and jailed, maybe even worse. the children will be separated from their parentsts, and they will be exposed to human trafficking. deserter will definitely face a death sentence.

it will be a nightmare. they will all definitely be going back to hell. > their lawyer is also facing reprisal. hehe has been undeder financial pressure. as he explains the hong kong state legal services are retaining 400,000 euros of his fees. the hong k kong bar association has tried to disbar him. he lives in exile between france and canada. associationkong bar hahas done everything to try to have major feared with or removed from these cases or disbarred. it is toxic. i never said i helped mr. snowden escape. thisis is politically fueled. when the bar made demands i answer questions for them, i realized most of these questions are at arbitrary. they are fishing for evidence to use agaiainst me. if you l look at the first question, how did you initially

come into contact with mr. snowden? their r ly interesest was gaerining intelligigence about . snowden. >> the help provided to mr. snowden by these refugees was legal. back then there was no res arrest weren't for the man who had just left hawaii. the whistleblower believes he owes his life toto these unexpected allies who could have turned him in at anytime. >> they could have w written ina email to ththe cia and gotten chehecks or whatever they wawanted. they could have finally got silent. they wouldn't have to do it by sellininsomeone into a grave. for that i will never be able to repay them. given all t the dangers they face in n hong kong, snowden's guardian angels have asked for

asylum in canada. one of them has been granted refugee status. she arrived in montreal in may with her daughter. they are now permanent residence in the country. the nasa is excited about starting a new chapter in her life. she now takes french lessons and hopes to study at mcgill university. i am so happy i am one of the edward snowden angels. now i am here inin canada. can --free and safe i safe. i can start my new life. >> the other refugees whose lives are at stake are constantly on her mind. >> i worry because i know they

also have situations. i am very worried about the kids. they are young. they are innocent. .hey have the rights it is very unfair r with them.

reporter: horrifying escalation of ethnic violence in the democratic republic of congo. different militias have terrorized huge numbers of the civilian population. second reporter: the drc's government say the extent of hunger and displacement is being exaggerated. reporter: 13 million people in need of humanitarian aid. crawford: i'm alex crawford in the democratic republic of congo, and this is "hotspots." tonight we're gonna take you behind the scenes of the world's biggest and hardest-hitting stories. we travel to drc to honor the world's forgotten conflicts. man: we've got sense that you were going into o the badlands. crawford: stuart ramsay returns to eastern ukraine where