07/06/20 07/06/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, , this iss dedemocracy now! pres. trump: make no mistake, this left-wing cultural revolution is designed to overthrow the american revolution. to make this possible, they are determined to tear down every statue, symbol, and memory of our national h heritage. amy: president trump delivers a divisive a address to mark independence day at mount rushmore while virtually

ignoring the coronavirus pandndemic, which has killed 130,000 in the united states. a quarter of the deaths in the world. at least 15 indigenous activists were arresd for blocking traffic to protest trump's visit to the sacred black hills. we will speak to indigenous historian and activist nick estes. then we go to egypt for an exclusive interview with laila soueif, one of egypt's most outspoken and active advocates for prisoner rights in egypt. she is now fighting for the release of her son and daughter, both prominent activists, as well as other prisoners amid the coronavirus outbreak. to kes is the onl way not hundreds prisoners who will b s sick.

in the thousands, actually. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to dememocracycy now, democracynow.org, the quarantine repoport. i'm amy goodman. coronavirus cases continue to surge across most of the united states with nearly 2.9 million confirmed cases and 130,000 deaths. around one quarter of the global death toll and global infections. though both numbers are believed to be significant undercounts of the true toll. on sunday, the seven-day average for new cases reached a record high in the last month. cases arare still on the rise in some of the country's most populous states, including florida, calalifornia, and texa, where gogovernor greg abbott has ordedered face coverings to be worn in public across most of texas.s. officialss in texas, florida, ad ararizona say the states' early reopenings helped fuel the

explosion in cases. despite skyrocketing cases, crowds still packed many of the open beaches in coastal cities for the july 4 holiday weekend, sparking further fears of new spikes. on sunday, president trump falsely claimed 99% % of cororonavirus cases in the u.s.. are "harmless." this comes as more people close to the trump administration test positive for covid-19. former republican presidential candidatate and trump ally hermn cain is being treated in the hospital for the disease. he was present at trump's june 20 tulsa rally, where at least eight campaign staffers tested positive for coronavirus. as well as a number now of secret service agents. kimberly guilfoyle also tested positive for covid-19. she is a senior trump campaign official and the partner of donald trump, jr. cases the world where

have topped 11 million with half a million deaths, other countries are reversing lockdowns after recording new spikes in coronavirus cases. australia has closed the border between its two mostst populous states, new south wales and victoria, for the first time in a century. around 3000 people across nine public housing tower blocks in victoria's capital l melbourne have been on strict lockdown since e and have been told they saturday cannot leave their homes until further notice. in spain, the regions of galicia and catalonia have been ordered to lock down. in india, the world's largest temporary hospital to treat coronavirus patients opened in new delhi. the 10,000-bed hospital opened sunday as officials reported a record nearly 25,000 new cases and 600 deaths. mexico topped 30,000 covid-19 deaths this weekend to overtake france as the country with the fifth-highest reported death toll. brazil, second only to the u.s. in cases and death toll, surpassed 1.6 million

coronavirus cases. in the persian gulf, infectionss in the united arab emirates and saudi arabia are on the rise after curfews in both nations were lifted last month. meanwhile, around 240 medical experts from around the world are asking the world health organization to revise its official recommendations based on evidence the coronavirus is airborne and can be transmitted through tiny droplets that linger in the air in closed spaces. at l least 15 indigenous a actis and allies were arrested in south dakota friday after blocking a highway leading to mount rushmore where president trump gaveve a divisive speech attacking what he called "far-left fascism." pres. trump: make no mistake, this left-wing cultural revolution is designed to overthrow the american

revolution. to make this possible, they are determined to tear down every ourue, symbol, and memory national heritage. amy: during his mount rushmore address, trump made only a passing reference to the pandemic. public health officials criticized the white house for not requiring social distancing or masks at the event. trump gave another divisive speech on july 4 at a white house event where he compared the "radical left" to nazis. we will have more on the indigenous protests after headlines with historian nickk estes. a warning to viewers, this story contntains graraphic footagege. in s seattle,, washington, 24-year-old anti-racist activist summer taylor r was killed saturday evening when a driver rammed a crowd of protesters on a a closed section of interstate 5. a second protester was hospitalized in serious

condition. the driver fled the scene but was chased down by another protester and arrerested. investigators say they don't have a motive in the killing. summer taylor was an animal lover who worked full-time at a seattle veterinary clinic. in washington, d.c., protesters marched along the national mall saturday to lafayette park near the white house ahead of president trump's fourth o of jy fireworks event. this is 18-year-old cherish >> what have they given as? they gave us new law that just enslaves us under a different name. i'm tired of coming out here to scream. i want to see change. do you know where that starts? >> with us. >> it starts with us. amy: in baltimore, maryland, protesters toppled a statue of christopher columbus saturday nighght and threw it in ththe harbor. the statue stood since 1984 when it was dedicated by then-president ronald reagan.

in georgia, heavily armed protesters, most of them african american, marched on stone mountain park onon the fourth of july demanding the removal of a massive carving of c confederate leaderers from the side of the mountain. in des moines,s, iowa, hundredsf people rallied at the state capital demanding the removal of monuments glorifying white suprpremacy, including a statuee depicting an indigenous person seated below a white pioneer. in portland, oregon, police declared a protest a riot and fourth of july fired tear gas to clear demonstrators, some of whom fired commercial-grade fireworks at a federal courthouse and a downtown jail. at least 13 people were arrested. meanwhile, in colorado, three officers with the aurora police department were fired and a fourth resign after they staged a photo mocking the killing of elijah mcclain, an african

american man who died after an officer put him in a chokehold as he attempted to walk home from a store last august. aurora's interim police chief vanessa wilson called the photo a "crime against humanity and decency." no officers have been arrested in the death of elijah mcclain. in sports news, pressure is growing on the washington redskins to change its racist name. on thursday, fedex, which holds the naming rights for the team's football stadium, called on the team to come up with a new name. nike has also pulled gear for the team from its store. the team has announced it is undergoing a "thorough review" of the team's name. meanwhile in baseball news, cleveland indians manager terry francona has backed changing the team's name. on sunday he said, "i think it's time to move forward." in ethiopia, over 160 people hahave been killed during unrest

following the murder of popular singer and activist hachalu hundessa last monday. he was a member of the ethnic oromo group and had once served five years behind bars as a political prisoner. his music became the soundtrack to anti-government protests that swept ethiopia and led to the resignation of its prime minister in 2018 and the appointment of abiy ahmed, the country's first oromo leader. at least five people have been arrested in connection with hundessa's killing. china continues its crackdown on hong kong days after it enacted its national security law last tuesday. books from pro-democracy activists have been removed from hong kong libraries so that they can be reviewed for possible violations of the law, which criminalizes what it calls acts of secession, subversion, terrorism, and collulusion with foreign forces." on friday, a 23-year-old man

became the first person to be charged under the new law after he rode a motorcycle into police while carrying a sign that read, "liberate hong kong, rerevolution of our times" -- a slogan which is now banned. at a protest mondaday, hong kong residents held up blblank pieces of paper to prototest the new lw and censorship. >> these slogans will always be in my heart and these words will always take on white paper, which will never disappear. taken silence as, create white terror, but our heart will never die. amy: prominent hong kong pro-democracy y figure and formr lawmaker nathan law said he fled hong kong to an undisclosed location following the signing of the law. testifieded before the u.s. hou l last week a and told supporters he would continue the struggle from outstside hong ko. philippine president rodrigo duterte has signed a so-called anti-terror bill into law,

further consolidating his authoritarian power. critics say the law could be used to silence all forms of dissent and threaten civil liberties. human rights watch said the law "pushes philippine democracy into an abyss." opponents say they will challenge the law in the courts. rescue operations continued in burma over the weekend following a deadly landslide at a jade mine that killed over 170 people. the tragic incident is shining a spotlight on the secretive, often illegal practices of the jade industry, which human rights group global witness says fuels armed conflict between government troops and rebel fighters seeking self-rule in northern burma. back in the united states, the family of vanessa guillen, the 20-year-old fort hood soldier who has been missing since april, says military investigators have positively identified her remains. the remains were found last week in a shallow grave near the texas army base. army investigators told the

family guillen was beaten to death with a hammer before being removed from the base. the main suspect in her killing, specialist aaron david robinson, died by suicide last week. according to her family, guillen had been planning on reporting robinson for sexual harassment. to see our interview with the guillen family's lawyer natalie khawam, go to democracynow.org. the killings of 17-year-r-old teen braylander stone and 22-year-old black trans woman merci mack mark at least the 17th and 18th violent deaths of transgender people in the u.s. so far this year. brayla stone's body was found in a car in a suburb of little rock, arkansas, on june 25. her death is now being investigated as a homicide after a man reportedly claimed on social media he had been paid $5000 to kill her. an 18-year-old suspect was arrested last week.

merci mack was found june 30 in dallas, texas, with a gunshot wound to the head. reported onently cash posted on facebook that she was excited to return to her job at a restaurant that had been closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. the fbi has arrested ghee lane maxwell british socialite who is , a accused of luring girls to be sexually abused by convicted predator and sex trafficker jeffrey epstein. maxwell is scheduled to appear in a new york court this week and could face up to 35 years behind bars. maxwell was believed to be in hiding following epstein's death last august from an apparent suicide in his jail cell. maxwell has also previously been accused of sexually assaulting girls with epstein. in related news, "the e new york times" is reporting lawyers for prince andrew spoke with a washington lobbyist who has ties to the trump administration about assisting prince andrew with the fallout from his relationship witith jeffrey epstein. the lobbyist, robert strykyk, reportedly did not feel comfortable representing the

prince and no deal was made. prince andrew was a close friend of epstein's and has been accused of being involved in epstein's sex trafficking crimes and having sex with one of epstein's survivors when she was 17 years old. prince andrew is the son of queen elizabeth. prior to trump firing him last month, former u.s. attorney geoffrey berman had been heading up investigations into epstein's co-conspirators. trump had been a longtimeme frid of j jeffrey epstein. duke energy and dominion energy have canceled plans to build the atlantic coast pipeline, in a major victory for indigenous and environmental activists who have opposed the project since it was announced in 2014. the 600-mile pipeline would have carried fracked gas from west virginia to north carolina, passing under the appalachian trail in virginia's george washington national forest. and those are some of the headlines. this is demomocracy now!,, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman.

as many mark this fourth of july weekend by staying homee to stop the growing spread of covid-19 president donald trump hosted two back-to-back events in south dakota and at the white house over the weekend, where he stoked racial divisions, attacked black lives matter protesters, defended statues of colonizers and white supremacacists, and f falsely claiaimed that 99%9% of cocorons cases in the uniteted statates e "harmlesess." despite the warnings of public health officicials and a u.s. death toll o of nearly 13030,00, few worere masks at the trump events. at mount rushmore, a crowd of thouousands did nonot socially distancece. at least 15 inindigenous activis and allies were arrested after blocking a highway headingo the rally. mount rushmore is a monument carved into the sacred black hills on unceded lakota

territory. it was designed by a sculptor with ties to the ku klux klan. the president of the oglala sioux tribe had ordered trump to cancel friday's event. this is president trump addressing the crowd of thousands in front of not rushmore on friday. pres. trump: make no mistake, this left-wing cultural revolution is designed to overthrow the american revolution. to make this possible, there determined to tear down every statue, symbol, and memory y of ouour national heritage. amy: and this is president trump speaking in washington, d.c., saturdayay were he compapared "e to nazis.radical left" pres. trump: the radicical left, the marxist''s, the l looters ce

and people who in many instances have absolutely no clue e what they are doing. in every age, there have always been those who seek to lie about the past in order to gain power in the present. those that are lying about our history, those who want us to be ashamed of who we are are not interested in justice or in healing, their goal is demolition. our goal is not to destroy the ,reatest structure on earth what we have built. amy: the same day of trump's white house address, protesters baltimore, maryland, pulled down a statue of christopher columbus. they then dragged the statue several blocks and dumped it into the city's harbor. for more, we go to albuquerque, new mexico, where we're joined by nick estes.

he is a citizen of the lower brule sioux tribe and is an assistant professor of american studies at the university of new mexico. welcome back to democracy now! professor, it is great to have you with us. let's talk about the significance of this moment that president trump chose to seize on. july 3, in honor of independence day, he goes to not rushmore -- gold speculator, new york attorney, designed by a supporter of the ku klux klan. even as leaders of indigenous nations in the united states demanded he not come to the black hills. talk about the significance of mount rushmore for indigegenous people and that whole area. >> good morning, amy. yes, this is a very kind of important history to talk about because as you mentioned in the news brief, the black hills, or what we know as --, the cultural

center of our universee.. more than 50 different indigenous natations actually he origin stories or ties or spiritual connections to the black hillsls. and the lakota people as well as the cheyenne a and arapahoe people, , when they signed the fort lemii treaty became the caretakekers of that t land. backn 1980, there was a supreme court decision that ruled the black hills itself had been illegally taken from the lakota nation and that the supreme court itself could only reward a monetary compmpensation becaususe the court can't actuay get the leaead back to the e tr. since 191980, the lands s have n just the tribes have been refusing to o acceptpt money. they can't put a price on the black hills, so they have b been refusing money. at the same time, the black hills have become a hot but of the kind of cultural war that

trtrump is trying toto stir up across the nation. for example, there are e about 2 mimillion visitors s per year wo go2net rushmore. -- go to mount rushmore. with the guidedelines about s sl diststancing, we can see this is only further exacerbating the covid-19 pandemic and tribes responses s to it. when trumpmp announced h he was coming t to this particular are, he wasn'n't invited d by the tr. the tribes ask him to seek an invitation to respect our sovereignty. if you listen to the audio clip, not once does he m mention the fact the tribes opposed his visitt there. this is a very contagious issue for lakota people. amy: all of the protesters who were arrested in south dakota friday have been released except for nick tilsen, who interviewed friday. president of the ndn collective and a cicitizen of the oglala lakokota nation on pine ridgee

reservatation in south dakota, currenently being held without bond. this is whatat he had to say onn our broadcast. >> this is an act of violelence and aggression against us and also pushing this falsehood narrative about american democrcracy when we actually really should be uplifting the truths of what happened throughout history and how those truths a are directly connectedo the disparities that exist today in society amongst indigenous people. amy: that is nick tilsen from an illustrious family. his family deeply active in indigenous rights activism. his parents leading a march that was one of the largest in the black hills region in the early 1980's only larger was the ku klux klan march there in the 1920's. do you have the latest news on nick tilsen and what he alone is continuing to be held, nick estes? arrests of all, the

that have an o of those 50 peope at the blockade, they were treaty defenders. so when trump is talking about erasing history,e is actually suppressing history. the people who were arrested at this particularr blockade were arrested becausese they were representing the true history. nick tilsen was charged with several things. one of them is a serious charge, the second-degree robbery charge -- which in the state of south dakota come as a class 4 felony, punishable up to 10 years in prison. at abouts this morning 10:00 a.m. nonstandard time before a judge. hass yet to be seen whether or not he himself will be charged with a new right boosting law that kristi noem signed into law earlier this year. something that nick himself has successfully sued the state over

in the past. the courts have sided with him saying it is a violation of first amendment rights. the state went back and rewrote the laws, but nowow it is a quesestion about whether orr noe will be charged with these new right boosting laws that were created and drafted in preparation for the construction of the keystone xl pipeline, something that indian collective and nick himself have beeeen att really opposed to because it violates the 1868 fort laramie treaty because it trespasses through the heart of our treaty lands and skirts around two major reservations of cheyenne to river as well as the road but sioux tribe. it is important to know the state of south dakota has one of the highest rates of incarceration of native people. about 10% of the states population. but we make up about 30% of the jail population. in a place likike where nick is beining held right now, , i thit 7 75% jailto

populalation are native right n. this is more than just his arrest at mounrushmore. it is about a long-standing treaty claim. i think nick would agree with me on this that this is about treaty rights. he is a treaty defender. it is unclear why all 15 other protesters were released but not nick himself. amy: i want to go back to this history because a number of by theseem surprised whole history of not rushmore. sculpted heads of presidents washington, jefferson, lincoln, and theodore roosevelt blasted out of the ancient granite between 1927-1941 by 400 workers, directed by goodson borglum.

earlier, he was recruited by the daughters of the confederacy to carve the huge stone memorial to confederate leaders in georgia. he left that project in a dispute, but that allowed him to hone his mounting carving skills, enabling the rushmore monument, working close to the kkk and may have even been a member of the kkkk. this week in the march on stone mountain by leaders demanding it be taken down. the connection between stone mountain and not rushmore and who is carved into the ancient granite, nick estes, and what he means "indigenous history" what they mean? >> it is important to remember that stone mouountain was a meeting place fofor the ku kluxx klan. it reformed d and constituteted

itself in a particular time. that site was chosen because of that particular r significance. so while therere speculation abt whether or n not goodson borglum was a member of the kloa is not as important as the mann -- fact he is creating the symbols at a timef jim crow segregation laws. when he comes to a place like the black hills, , this is p paf a larger kind of effort t to intimidate and also to lay claim on the blackck hills in spite of these treatyty claims.s. if we look at the more recent june 25th,for example, dusty johnsnson -- who is a republblican congressman -- inintroduced a bill to prevent e destruction of not rushmore, the renaming of the mountain or the monument is out but in the bill, it says s nothing of the fort lararamie treaty.. the very document that was signed in 1868 to protect the

black hills for the lakota people in perpetuity. and why would dusty johnson -- i'm a historian. there is no coincidences and dates. why would dusty johnson choose junene 25 as the date introduces this bill to protect thehe symbl of whitete supremacy? cheyenne, pepeople, arapaho peoplple, we celebrate junene 25 as victory day because in 1876, a c confederate -- - an alliance of lakota, dakota, cheyenne, and arapahoe defeated custster at t the battle of lite big horn, the battle of greasy grass. that was a a victory that was kinda mounted against the uninid states right before h he tried o celebrate its 1 100 year anniversary of signing of the declaratation of independence. a document that was written by thomas jefferson, who is one of the figures who w wrote in the document "merciless indian savages" to descriribe indigiges pepeople. it is important to o note on tht

date that trump right hihis speh at not rushmore, said "our nation is witnessing a merciless campaign to wipe o out our histy , defame our heroes, erase our valueses, and indoctrinate our children." we don't think it is good since he used that languagee come the same language that thomas jefferson used. it is important toto n note geoe wawashington was named town destroyer by the confederaracy r his scorched campaigign against the iroquois nation prior to the dururing thet also revolutionary war itself. abraham lincoln was responsible for multiple things such as the passage of the morale act that created modern and great -- flame great universities as well as the 1862 homemestead act, which created - carved out 270 millilion acres f indigenous territoryry and basically gave it away f for fre

to whitete familiess andnd categorirically excluded ingenous andnd black folks a well. it alslso he oversaw the 1862 hanging of 38 dakota patrioiots in the state of minnesota as well as the navajo longng block which imprisoned navajo people as welll as apache people. and it o oversaw also the commander-in-chief when ththe colorado militias massacred the cheyenne people in 1864. lastly, the bust of teteddy rooseveltt i is incredibly important because he is kind off the modern conservation movement in the creatation of national parks. well, for r the settttler natioo enjoy nature, i indigenous peope had to be removed from it. so he carved out millions of acres in what we now know as the national monuments, the natural national monuments or natural

wonders of the west, the iconic kind o of vistas of ththe grand canyon or yeyeowstone nanational park. those were created under teddy it waslt's watch but also u under his watch that they removed indidigenous peoples frm these lands so that white sesettlers c could enjoy them in peace. amy: nick estes, we're going to go to break and then come back. i want to ask abouout a number f issues -- covid in south dakota and other places, for example where you are in new mexico, the standoff with the governor of governoroem, n going after indigenous leaders for setting up checkpoints to check for covid, and about the renaming off the sports teams from the redskins to the cleveland inindians. stay with us. thisis is nick estes, professort univerersity of new mexixico. ♪ [music break]

amy: this isis democracy now!, i'm amy goodman. the quarantine report. as we talked about tom's visit to mount rushmore and his visit -- and his white house event,

the rushmore event came months as escalating coronavirus infections in native communities. there was no social distancing. the e governor proudly announced 7500 people packed into the area under mount rusushmore. and nono one was reqequired to r masks. nick eststes i is our guest, a citizen of the lower brule sioux tribe assistant professor of , american studies at the university of f new mexico.. in the last months, there's been a showdown between indigenous leaders in south dakota and trump ally south dakota governor noem around the issue of covid. talk about how hard hit indian country is by the cororonavirus, nick. >> right, so krisisti noem, like many of her cocounterparts in te republican party, has taken a hallucination-based approach to the covid-19 pandemic, belelievg

if they just stick to the conservative right wing v values and blame e somebody else such s china or whatever, that this will be -- this will just be like a headache andd it will go away after a while. but tribes, ironically enough, have taken a science-based approach. theyey understand indian health service's or ihs, federal responsibilities by the federal governmento o provide indian health service is because of treaties or other kinds of agreements, are chronically unrfunded.d. in f ft, on may 20 of this yeae, there were five tribal organizationons that signed a letter to o david bernrnhardt, e secretary y of interior, calling for the resisignation of current assistant secretary of indian affafairs terrace sweeney over several things, are primarily what they view as the mishandling of the $8 million that were allocated under the

cares act money for travel coronavirus relief. claims kind of set ouout is the federal govevernmet has u used this particular momet as an opportunity to facilitate landgrab's. on one hand, the court denied the right to restore their own home with -- thahat has since bn reversed. at that was the process set in motion by sweeney herself back in 2018. her office failed to protect other nations were burial sites were being destroyed by explosives to build trump's border w wall. the e construction of which as e know has continued unabated despite the pandemic. meanwhile, the interior department also allowed for profit alaska native corprporations, many off which e investments in oil and gas industries, to r receive payouts from the covid-19 relilief money forr travel governments.

it is mineral that the courts that they will receive tribal money but at the same time the governor of south dakota kristi the tc pushing for energy pipeline come the keystone xl pipeline, to be constructed through tribal reservation lands. meanwhile, the tribes themselves have set up help checkpoints. it is important to note they're not turnrning people away. they are not armed checkpoints. they're just doing health and safety c checkpoints for people coming on and d off the reservation. it is an attemempt to basicallyy implement safety protocols that the ststate itself and trumump himself refufuses to implement. this is all leading up to the constructionon o of the keystonl pipepeline. while it has been repeported, rirightfully so, thihis pipelels bringingng in thousands of outse workers, out-of-state workers into these very precarious tribal communities and there is

concern about man camps in the high rates of sexual viololence, but now the threat has been doubled with thehe threatt of spreading coronavirus in these already hard-hit -- dylan amy: after enormous pressure, demeaning and duke have announced their r ending the alanna who pipeline. i went to quickly before we end, to the pressure on the washington redskins to change the racist name. i'm sorry i even used the word on air. i want to ask you about what that means. it is often talked about a change of heart. this is the one fedex is pushing for, they on the stadium. in the cleveland indians, the fact that the manager is now talking about changing that name. again, coursrse, is all coming from enormous pressure from below for y years. >> we e really owe it to activis who as suzanne and amanda have been at the forefront of this, facing not just racial

discrimination from billionaire team owners s like dan s snydero owns the washington football team, but also sexist attacks they'rethem becausese native americacan women. we see this s tied into the e gr violenence that native american womemen face on a dailily basis. whether it is susan or amanda black course, they're not just advocacating for the changing of the e names. we can s see this in the land le butter made -- there was a j joe goin around indian country like, well, they removeve the inindian but they kept the land. we are talking about land back. we are talking about uphololding treaty rigights for indigenous people. this is what these activist primarily indigenous women have been advocating all along. it is incredibly important step in the right direction. amy: very quickly, professor, in baltimore come that taking down of the christopher columbus statue and throwing him into the harbor.

if you can in a mininute tell us whwho christopher columbus was somebodys funny because like trump says s that christopr columbus represents the american dream come the beginning of the american dream. christopheher columbus landed ia caribbbbean island that he thout was india. he thought it was his dying breath. he never stepped foot on the continent that later became the united states of america thomas a why he is celelebrated as the figure has to do with the fact he enslaved, raped, tortured indigenous people. he himself was a genocidor. that is a legacy that someday like trump wantsts to uphohold n he is creating these monument statues or issuing executive orders for the protection of the so-called heritage of this country. conquest heheritage of and theft. amy: nick estes, thank you for being with us citizen of the , a lower brule sioux tribe, is an assistant professor of american studies a at the university of new mexico. we come back, go to egypt for an

exclusive interview. stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: ennio morricone's "theme of ali" from the battle of algiers. morricone passed away today at the age of 91. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

we turn now to egypt where coronavirus infections are continuing to rise, threatening to overwhelm the health care system. as the president grapples with the pandemic, its crackdown arresting doctors and journalists and lawyers who dared to speak out. today we take a look at one family who has been particularly targeted, arguably the most prominent activist family in egypt. at first, we go to cairo to speak with democracy now! correspondent sharif abdel kouddous about the coronavirus crackdown. it being used as a pretext for arrests to talk about the interview that he did. talk ababout what is happening right now in egypt. >> a as you mentioned over the past few month as the coronavirus has spread in egypt, the state has b been trying even more vicioiously than ususual to control the e message and clampd down any real or even peperceivd oppositition most up you menentioned, dozens of people he been arbitrarily arrested, ng doctors, l lawyers, so

on. as the country when it a partial locked in march, thehe ministryf prisosoners have largely bebeen cut off from ther families f for the last four months. unlike nearly every other country, egypt has not released thousands of p prisoners as a precaution against t the coronavirus. it is arrested more people and cut off communication. among the leading voices for prisoner rights is theseif family. the eldest son alaa abdel fattah was a leading figure of the revolution and release from prison last or after serving a five-year sentence on trumped up charges. during his brief trying out he had additional five years of probation were yet to submit himself to a police station for 12 hours every day from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. and was rearrested in september and remains behind bars in pretrial detention. laila soueif and his two sisters have been tireless advocates for

alaa. that conststantly challenged prisison authorities, challelend the judicial system to f fight r the rights of alaa and other prisoners. have g gone on hunger strikes. they're constantly speaking out. l have b been ararrested at differerent times for their activism. sanaa werere and imprisoned at the same time. their father d died of a a heart condition while they were inside. a anddhis past march,, lail anaa were arrerested. communication cut off and they stepped up t their actions and this came to a a head two weeks laila wereanaa and assaulted after spinning the night outside prison. in partiticular, one wasas badly beaten. when they y went to thee public

prosecutor's offificehe next day, sanaa w was tak by plaincnclothes secururity forced prprosecutorors later ordered ho be imprisoned for r 15 days in pretrial detention, in order that can be rerenewed for months or even years. sanaa has already spent over a year and havee impmprisoned into sepaparate cases. asat down with laila soueif couple of days ago. amy: let's go to thiss intervie, this first broadcast exclusive interview that you did with her sincher daugerer san's rest. >> thank y for joing us, laila ueif, ur daughr saa was arrested nearly t weekagago anthee prosetion ordered r r to b hd in etrial detenti for 15 days. do you expect hetoto be getting t anytime soon? > youan neverell. onis possible they will holding her. it i is also possible because of

circumstances around her breast that -- her arrest, including -- just go into the renewing i think it really depends on how much of a headache we can create for the prosetor. [laughr]r] maybe if we can cree a larg enou headachabout thfact this ia cover-up for a kidnapped,aybe sheill be released. i am not se. your three children are in prison. this h h happened before in 2014. whatat is it like for you now tt they are both once again locked up? [indiscernibl i have to remember t walk her do feed her dogs.

i suose it igood to be li befo excep ok, t f first time waserery toh bause my husbd was ve sick. ca and died while they we in priso i sa about saa that e managein priso but what really h her was ling her father wle she w in pris. that hither. at has lt scars day, ijust allomes t.

hopelly, let's hopehis time won'be such traumatic experience. >> ws the la time yo spoke to alaa? just a week before the lockdown. the first or second of march. >> about four months ago. is that the longest time you have not heard your sons voice? >> yes absolutely. even when he was working in south africa, wtalked on the phone once a week somethi.. i used to get these horribl bill >>ow is that experiencehahat you u c't t ar his vce, that there is just communicatn to a leletternce e in whilele with alaa in particular, is

is theugh because alaa person i talk with. the person i talked with about [indiscernible] people whoty of don't understand the probability. [laughter] dangerous. alaa is the person i tkeked withth. so four months without tking a alaa? >> you and your family havbebeen tryiying to t pressure on authorieies. you u ha been n rested. you have been physically saulted. do y ever r t afraid of the repercussions? what gives you strength? >> i'm always afraid the repercussions. p partilarlrly repeussisionon othth people. i'm notfraid. and 64.

it doe''matttterhatappens to me anymore ywyway. wt is going to hahappeno my dautersrs. afraidor -- but we can't give up because alaa is in prin. how can i stop, alaa is in prison? i was out of prison anhehe was spend everyle - nit t in the police station. you don't ve a an tionon. the optionf not doing anything is not there. thisss not a regegime which wiwl allow -- leaea you alone if you are quiet. life,ve learneduring my

something where you don't have an option, you just do the best way you can. you translate things to actual actions. you don't think ---- you don't t down and think about the consequences. you don't sit down n and think about the y years t that are e g by. thinkow, you just try to in practic t tasksnd y you finini the tasks. --e i have to finish >> your family has had ng and didiffict extrem with presidents in ypypt and n to their arinin prison. how has is all affected ur fami? >> ok, it is -- it h put all

of our careersnn hold when by now should have done a phd and hasn't. i haven't managed to do research for years. you sort of are forced into full-time human rights activist, which we actually are not. the only one was a human rights husband.s my i'm professor of mathematics alaa is a software devopoper, sasana is a film editor. up doing this all around your otr r thin. >> what are yocalling for now? >> oh,k.

mainly, i'm still caining fo what i call for when s stood outside -- arrested. because ofovid-19, there should be massiveeleases of proners. this iththe on way to ma any hundreds not --prisoners who will be sick thousands, actually. meantime, while this is not happening in prisons should not be locked down. they should either be opened orr at least there should be phone calls or stuff like that. d finally, i'm domain the release of alaa and sanaa because they'rere boton pretrial detention. we need the authoritie to take

covid-19 serususly. we need to spend mon o on hospitals and docts,s, -- to stop arresting docts. many this. said she lost hope for chgege. what gives you he?e? me, even what i , it is change. i have lived a ve l long me. i keep sayg a veryig fference between being part of a popular movement that is in retreat and has been vanquished and been part of a very small movement, which is how things

the 1980's to 2011. for me, even this nightmarish situation has changed. get thousands of people talking about alaa, the the fact this is -- that when even when we talk about the great controversial orue like homophobia whatever, we get thousands of this -- i -- none of compare to the past. i compare this to the first time about tk up a ce sexual's.

nobody -- he had a fight wit humuman rigs lawyer now none wouldayay no. would t touchobody it. almost nobody. ok, i sincerely believe that part of the viciousness of this feels is the fact that it outstripped d by e events. >> what you mean? -- so many people are making jokes about them, so many people -- so many young people are doing things that nobody imagine before. they're trying to curb -- look

at the doctors. they arrest a doctor because he talks about corona. the next day there is another doctor talking about the condition. they are being very vicious, but actually they are not managing to control things. parts of the viciousness is that. ok? there is a difference. i can see i it in young people. they are angry. they are put upon, but they are nonot accepting it lyg g down for me, a chae has haened. in this cnge -- as some point. >> but many people are disheartened and fll deraralizeby what hapappeng now, but in egyptptnd some plac abroad as well.

yoseem to strike a me hofuful tone. all of these authorities were --eatening us, like ccn, anyone can see they're not going to get a stable system, ok? system have an unstable the goes on for a long time, but anyo canee it is unstable an always chances in unstlele sysm. you mighte able tmake use of themyou mighnonot. following theasass protest movement again p polic violce i in e u.s., and how does it resonate -- resatate fo you? sinincealways thoug

2011 what we have with international movement against authoritarianism, against this kind of thing. difference, but it is only a difference in quantity, not quality between police in the states and police in egypt and, i don't know, in england. inin france. these are the countries that i know. i'm glad that people are rising. every time i see people rising against authoritariani,, against police anyerere inhe world, this gives me hope because to me and -- for me, this is a movement that has to happen all over the world. amy: that is laila soueif, athletics professor, mother of sanaa alaa and. interviewed by democracy now! she was correspondent sharif

abdel kouddous in cairo. an online petition has been launched at change.org calling on the attorney general of egypt to release of prisoners being held in pretrial detention, to allow alaa and other prisoners to communicate with their families, and for the release of sanaa. that does it for today's broadcast. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

. last week the news that had been kept secret for nearly three months finally for. israeli is highest ranking catholic the man who rose to be the best you can the most powerful cleric had been convicted sexuall crimes against two thirteen year old