04/19/22 04/19/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> we can now say russian forces have started the battle over donbas, of which they ve long prepared. not focused on this offensive. amy: russia has launched amazed her -- a major offensive while launching missile strikes across

ukraine including the western city of lviv where seven civilians died monday. we will go to ukraine for the latest. then we look at egypt's sweeping crackdown on dissidents and human rights activists. >>alaa and sanaa are in jail and i need to keep going until i get them out. amy: egyptian activist laila soueif talking about her imprisoned children last fall. her son alaa abd el-fattah is now on day 18th of a hunger strike. his sister sanaa was recently released from prison and will join us today after arriving in the united states to campaign for her brother's freedom and talk about his new book, collection of his interviews, talk and writing titled "you have not yet been defeated."

we'll also hear from alaa in his own words. >> they broke into my house and the shattered the door and walked into the house and beat my wife, fortunately, my son was sleeping and they did not touch him. amy: that was alaa abd el-fattah speaking in 2014 with democracy now! correspondent sharif del kouddous. he will also join us today. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. russia has begun a large-scale military operation to seize the donbas region and other parts of eastern ukraine. earlier today, ukraine's military withdrew from the city of kreminna, which was home to abou18,000 people before russia's invasion. a regional governor said

fighting has largely flattened the city and killed more than 200 civilians. elsewhere, ukrainian soldiers in the besieged city of mariupol holed up in a vast steel plant and were staging a last stand against russian forces. drone video shows thick clouds of smoke rising from the factory complex, which has been heavily daged by russian bombs. mariupol city officials said over 1000 civilians were hiding in undergroundhelters below the steel plant. other mariupol residents say russian troops won't allow them to evacuate despite weeks-long shortages of food, water and medicine. >> to be honest, we not well. i have mental problems after airstrikes. i am really scared. when i hear a plane, i just run away. we can't do the laundry because we don't have water. we don't have electricity.

now we have to carry water from far away. i do not have the health to carry it. amy: russia continues to carry out strikes across ukraine. the russian defense ministry says missile and artillery forces struck over 1200 targets overnight. in the western city of lviv, seven cilians were killed and 12 others injured monday in russian missile attacks. after headlines, we'll go to ukraine for the latest. a federal judge in texas has struck down the biden administration's mask mandate for airports, transit hubs, and passengers on public transportation. u.s. district court judge kathryn kimball mizelle ruled from florida on monday that the cdc exceeded its legal authority in ordering the mask mandate. judge mizelle was nominated by donald trump and confirmed by republican senators in 2020 to a lifetime appointment on the federal court, at the age of just 33, even though the american bar association gave her a rating of "not qualified." her ruling came as u.s. coronavirus cases continue to rise, particularly in northeastern states, with the

official u.s. death toll from covid-19 approaching 1 million. later on monday, the biden administration said the transportation security administration will no longer enforce the mask mandate at airports. this is white house press secretary jen psaki. >> the cdc recommended continuing the order for additional time, two weeks, to be able to assess the latest science in keeping with its responsibility to protect the american people. so this is a disappointing decision. the cdc continues recommending wearing a mask on public transit. amy: psaki said the white house is reviewing the court ruling and that the justice department will decide whether to appeal. israeli warplanes launched overnight air raids on the gaza strip after israel's military said it shot down a rocket fired from the besieged palestinian territory towards southern israeli. israeli officials said the airstrikes hit a hamas weapons manufacturing site.

the palestinian health ministry did not report any deaths or injuries from the attack. the escalating violence came after a bloody weekend in occupied east jerusalem, where israeli police repeatedly used rubber bullets, stun grenades, and tear gas to clear unarmed palestinian worshippers from the al aqsa mosque. those assaults left 158 people injured as israeli police arrested over 300 palestinians. -- 450 palestinians. in afghanistan, at least six people were killed and 11 others injured after two bombs explod at a boys' high school in western kabul earlier today. the attack came as students were leaving morning classes. it targeted a part of the afghan capital that's mainly inhabited by members of the minority hazara shia community, whi has suffered numerous attacks by the militant sunni group isis. in sweden, dozens of people were arrested in protests that broke out over the weekend in response to plans by a far-right group to burn copies of the quran.

a series of rallies were organized by the danish-swedish extremist far-right politician rasmus paludan, who is also the founder of the white supremacist stram kurs, or hard line, movement. last week, the group live-streamed a video on social media of paludan burning the quran in various swedish cities triggering counter protests across southern sweden. in 2020, paludan was sentenced to three months in jail charged wi racism and defation. in egypt, tiktok influencer haneen hossam has been sentenced to three years in prison on human afficking arges. she itially fad a decade behind bars. hossam was first arrested in 2020 afterhe posted a video on instagram explaining how women could earnoney by sharing deos on a platform called cash videos online. but egyptian authorities accused her of exploiting girls fo money. human rights advocates have condemned hossam's prosecution

ansay it's part of gornment cradown on won fluencers social mea. we'll have more on egypt's targeting of journalists, human rights defenders, and others later in the broadcast. vice president kamala harris toured the vandenberg space force base in california on monday ahead of a democratic national committee fundraiser. harris, who chairs the national space council, pledged in a speech to space force soldiers that the u.s. will no longer conduct destructive tests of satellites, and she called on other nations to end their development of satellite-killing weapons. vice pres. harris: these weapons are intended to deny the united states our ability to use our space capabilities by destructing, destroying our satellites. satellites which are critical to our national security. amy: last november, russia tested an anti-satellite missi that created more than 1600 pieces of orbital debris large enough to track, posing a risk

to satellites and astronauts. the u.s. carried out a similar test in 2008. at the time the u.s. test prompted protests from russia, which had just proposed a draft treaty to ban space weapons. u.s. attorney's office in illinois said monday it will not bring federal charges against the former chicago police officer who killed black teenager laquan mcdonald in 2014. jason van dyke, who is white, was released from prison in february for good behavior, serving just 40 months -- less than half his nearly seven-year prison sentence for murdering mcdonald. dash cam video shows van dyke shot mcdonald 16 times. the chicago police department attempted to cover up the events with the help of then-mayor rahm emanuel. chicago gun violence prevention advocate and democratic congressional candidate kina collins said in a statement -- "once again, our words have been ignored. and once again, our nation's criminal justice system is

proving to be more criminal and less just. it's once again telling black chicagoans that our lives -- and our deaths -- do not matter." florida's department of education has banned 54 mathematics text books from classroom instruction, saying they include prohibited topics including critical race theory. that is more than 40% of all text books submitted to florida for review. republican governor ron desantis praised the move, accusing publishers of seeking to indoctrinate students. in response, the head of florida's largest teachers' union demanded transparency into who ordered the book bans and for examples of "objectionable" content. a report published recently by pen america found that in the past eight months alone, 86 school districts in 26 states banned more than 1100 titles in classrooms and libraries. books about black and lgbtq+ people were heavily targeted,

and the most banned book of the year was "gender queer: a memoir" by maia kobabe, who is a nonbinary author and illustrator. in other book news, the historian heather ann thompson is suing new york state prison authorities for banning her book about the deadly 1971 attica prison rebellion. thompson's book "blood in the water" won the pulitzer prize in 2017. the book is now banned inside attica and almost a dozen other new york state prisons. and a new study by oxfam america finds the wealthiest u.s. billionaires are worth a combined $4.7 trillion, a 62% increase over the past two years. oxfam released its report on tax day, noting that taxing the wealth and income of the nation's 735 billionaires and enacting a global minimum corporate tax would drastically reduce widening wealth

inequality in the u.s. this follows a recent propublica investigation that found the 25 richest u.s. billionaires paid a true tax rate of just 3.4% between 2014 and 2018. meanwhile, over the past decade, a typical american household paid more in taxes than it accumulated in wealth. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. when we come back, we go to ukraine for an update as russia launches a major offensive to seize the donbas region. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman in new york, joined by democracy now! co-host juan gonzález in new brunswick, new jersey. hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: russia has launched a major offensive to seize the donbas region of eastern ukraine with ukrainian officials saying russia is attacking its positions along a 300-mile front line. this is ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy speaking on monday. >> we can now say russian forces have started the battle of the donbas for which they he long prepared. a very large part is now focused on this offensive. amy: the russian defense ministry says missile and ultra literary forces struck over 1200 targets overnight across ukraine.

in the western city of lviv, seven civilians died and 12 were injured monday after russian missile strikes hit the city where thousands of displaced ukrainians are living after fleeing fighting in other parts of the country. one missile strike shattered windows of a hotel housing evacuees. russia has maintained its attacks are targeting military installations, including command posts and weapons storage depots. in other developments, the united nations says the official civilian death toll from the war has surpassed 2000, but ukrainian officials say it is far higher. in the besieged city of mariupol, ukrainian forces are continuing to reject an ultimatum from russia to lay down their arms. while russia has seized most of the port city, ukrainian forces and civilians remain holed up in a massive steel plant. earlier today, a commander with ukraine's far-right azov regiment accused russia of dropping bunker-bustg bombs on

the stl plant. earlier today, russian defense minister sergei shoigu criticized the united states and its allies for funneling arms to ukraine. he said this "clearly demonstrates their intentions to provoke the kyiv regime to fight to the last ukrainian standing." this comes as reuters reports the pentagon is planning to start training ukrainians on how to use howitzer artillery systems. last week, the biden administration announced plans to send an additional $800 million in arms to ukraine including humvees, coastal defense drones, and howitzers. to talk more about the war in ukraine, we are joined by peter zalmayev, director of the eurasia democracy initiative. peter, welcome back to democracy now! in the u.s. media, it is a redefinition of general news, right? news from the generals on

all of the literary tactics. but we want to talk to you about diplomacy. what do you think it is possible path to peace at this point? do you think there is one? >> at this point, i don't think so. the russians are between a rock and a hard place. this new offensive. the sacred day of may 9 is coming up on the calendar, the day of the victory of the soviet union over the nazi germany, the day went the military parade takes place in moscow and let mark putin is going to have to show -- vladimir putin is going to have to show some victories for all of the tragedy he has expended in ukraine. his generals are following orders do or die and give him some victory. that could be the capture of the final capture of mariupol. there is no more city standing there, essentially. all of it will have to be essentially not down because

very few buildings remain livable. if they could put together some military parade on the main drag of mariupol to show to the viewers at home, that would be something that would be construed as a temporary, limited victory. once again, make no mistake, vladimir putin, whatever his intentions are in donbas, if he can achieve some victory there or not and at that point there will be talk about that sega cease-fire, i very much doubt there will be full peace talks but cease-fire. his goal remains controlling all of ukraine or at least making a failed state, getting rid of the current government. juan: peter, you mention the situation in mariupol. there is not only a significant

force still left there, few thousands of the asov battalion, but it is reported there are about 800 foreign fighters in the city as well. do you think that will have any impact on the ultimate ctics of the russian military in trying to stamp out the remaining opposition? >> well, i'm not sure we can corroborate that number. it seems to be to me a bit high and exaggerated, but there probably are foreign fighters similar to what we saw in the spanish war in 1936. ukraine has garnered a lot of worldwide sympathy as the underdog in this fight, so there has been a lot of interest to come and fight for ukraine. the efficacy of that is questionable, obviously. not all are able fighters. when it comes to russia's response, nothing will stop vladimir putin. ther already and corroborated reports, limited chemical

weapons were used in mariupol. i cannot confirm or deny that. the russians are already using very heavy bombs, striking that steel plant where the remaining defenses holed up, along with 2000 civilians just in the steel plant. they are willing to obliterate the steel plant, the whole town, and declare it a victory. it is truly a scorched-earth tactic. juan: in terms of the change in strategy of the russians, obviously, from first trying to encircle the capital to now concentrating on the east and the south of ukraine, is it your sense that there still is the hope of putin to be able to conquer all of ukraine, given the fact there is really not sufficient number of russian troops to be able to do anything ar that? >> that is a very good question.

it has been kind of a sight to behold from the beginning of the campaign. american generals and military experts and european experts the world over have asked themselves this question, how do you expect to achieve any military goals when you go in to a country of 40 fort lee people helping to invade -- 40 million people hoping to invade with fewer than 500,000 troops? the size of czechoslovakia, there is no comparison to ukraine. [indiscernible] putin has been stripped of the

information he wanted to hear and he grossly overestimated the readiness and the capability of kyiv's military, his weapons systems. and he underestimated ukraine's willingness to fight. what you're saying, juan, to come back to the battles we are seeing now in the east and obviously continuing battle in the south, a part of putin's original plan to try to cut off ukraine from access to the black sea and maybe allowing for the creation of some sort of a ukrainian state that would be essentially landlocked. amy: peter zalmayev, let me ask you about the whole world's reaction to what is taking placace. we definitely know about the u.s. and europe and of course where the director of the eurasia democracy initiative. 30 countries have sanctioned

russia. it is mainly the united states and russia. they represent 15% of the worlds population. 94 countries voted to throw russia off the u.n. human rights council. they represent 24%, a quarter of the world's population. the developing world has a different reaction to this, saying this is not our war. what do you say to them and how do you think this can be resolved and bring china into this picture? >> you hit the nail on the head when you mentioned china. the sheer size of india and china, which are somewhat sitting on the fence. china is at least officially an ally of vladimir putin. india as soviet era ties with the soviet

union and russia so it has a mixture of pragmatic military interest in economic interest and some nostalgia as well. you ta these countries, combined population of 2 billion people, you arrive at those numbers you say 24% of the world's voting to kick russia off the account. it is a little misleading because we're only talking about two players but they have a humongous in size. cha thinks -- having second thoughts. they have not been able to say from the beginning because they signed a pact with putin and would damage the reputation to be walking away from an ally. but i think they're having second thoughts about this new world order that russia was so eager to proclaim with their attempt -- ukraine. all of a sudden, china is having

second thoughts. it is not going according to plan. india is having second thoughts as well but they are still buying russian oil. both countries need to understand this is leading to disasters in every country. famine throughout the developing world, including lebanon, libya, and yemen because the two countries combined, russia and ukraine, produce the bulk of the world's grain. no one has benefited, specifically, china and india, which are so globally interlinked, globally -- for them to be really aiding russia at this point and helping russia means disasters economically because some of these sanctions that have been slapped on russia will be affecting them as well. so why the government there officially are neutral for supporting russia, sympathetic,

businesses in china and india increasingly agitate to be more reasonle and to try to bring -- try to use their countries might to strive in the countries. amy: back to juan's question in the beginning, you have this war in eastern ukraine where putin is focusing but then you have the bombing of libya in the west , --lviv in the west, were so many refugees have fled to. the significance of that it? >> the significance is clear, it is tit-for-tat as you probably mentioned in your program, the moscow cruiser sinking was a huge blow to russia's prestige and vladimir putin's prestige. that cruiser was supposed to be -- amy: this is a flagship worship.

>> the first such sinking and several decades in recent history. vladimir putin is venting his anger on ukraine. coupled with that, i would mention a recent article in a state run media publication which essentially said ukraine must be deuknianiz. we're seeing hitleresque strategy been played out. putin -- president biden is said come he was clear, this smacks of a genocidal policy. if anyone needed any evidence that this was a crazy obsessed man's war, this is it. striking lviv, the city that is removed from russia as any --

leastiz russianed. sending a message that no matter where you are, you're not going to be safe amy: peter zalmayev, thank you for being with us, director of the eurasia democracy initiative. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. as we turn now to egypt, it sweeping crackdown on dissidents and human rights activists and urgent calls to release the imprisoned egyptian activist and blogger, alaa abdel fattah, who -- egypt's highest profile political prisoner. he has been on hunger strike since april 2 to protest his harsh conditions, including long-term solitary confinement. this month his family obtained british citizenship in an attempt to pressure the egyptian government to release him from his "impossible ordeal."

meanwhile "the washington post" , editorial board called for alaa abdel fattah's release in a piece headlined "the voice of the arab spring is being wrongfully detained." his sister is in the united states to call for his freedom from the notorious tour prison in cairo and be reunited with his family. she herself was just released from prison in december after being arrested for calling attention to his conditions during the pandemic, almost completely cut off. in a minute, she is going to join us here in new york where she has just arrived to begin a tour of the united states with alaa's new book "you have not yet been defeated." we first interviewed alaa on democracy now! february 2011 during our special coverage of the egyptian uprising and the arab spring.

i have just been told that we do have someone on the phone right now, so we're going to go right to that person. can you tell us who you are and where you are? >> this is alaa abd el fattah. i'm an activist in this revolution. i'm standing in front of the tv building in cairo. amy: ok. tell us, alaa -- it's great to have you with this, a prominent egyptian blogger, democracy activist -- what is happening in front of the presidential palace, one of a number of new places that are being occupied by protesters, like egyptian state tv, as well, and the parliament. clubs in front of the tv building, it is a big crowd. we cannot shut down the tv building because it is shape and it's heavily barricaded by the army. and what we're trying to do is put pressure on the employees working inside to join us, to revolt and refuse to spread state propaganda. amy: that was egyptian activist and blogger alaa abd el-fattah speaking to democracy now! in february 2011 before he was

arrested and ordered jailed by a military court, then briefly released before being imprisoned again. later that year in december 2011, alaa returned to democracy now! and described the inhumane conditions he faced in prison. >> i was in complete darkness for five days. it was very filthy and very crowded. it was nine of us in a two-by-three-meter cell, having no access to water or toilet except 10 minutes per day. you know, so, basically, they knew they could not torture me because of the solidarity and the media attention, so they just made sure to try and use every other measure to, you know, put me at discomfort or at a psychological pressure. now, every other person who was arrested in the maspero incident were tortured severely.

and torture is still very systematic in -- you know, in police stations and in prisons and so on. but they knew that they couldn't torture me. amy: in 2013, was arrested and briefly released on bail in 2014 before he was imprisoned again for five years. in march 2019, he was released but was then rearrested. in december, he was sentenced by one of egypt's so-called emergency courts to another five years in prison on a charge of "broadcasting false news on social media." it was in 2014 that democracy now! sharif abdel kouddous interviewed alaa while he was free. >> you said the word feet a couple of times. do you think the revolution is over? >> i don't know if the revolution is over or not.

you can really only -- when we talk about the revolution, we are talking about a green, something try to create. while looking back. when i say defeat, ieet in the sensef a battle. but we'll continue to exist, and since we'll continue to exist, there will continue to be other struggles and so on. it's not like you have a choice. i mean, an individual might have a choice if they have a way out. but most peop don't have a choice. you know, we cannot all emigrate and it's not like migrant labor

gets a good deal anywhere in the world. so, i mean, if what you're trying to do is to achieve a life of dignity and safe and prosperity for yourself and for your loved ones, then you have no choice. amy: imprisoned egyptian human rights activist and blogger alaa abd el-fattah speaking to sharif abdel kouddous who will be joining us in a moment. for more, we're joined by alaa's sister sanaa seif, writer, film maker, and activist. she has also been imprisoned three times, has served more than three years in jail. the last time was about a year and a half and she was released in december. she is joining us now from new york where she is beginning a tour of the united states to call for alaa's freedom and also

to talk about his new book which collects his essays and interviews, speeches. the book has just been published in the u.s. by seven stories press titled "you have not yet been defeated." sanaa, welcome to democracy now! it is so good to see you free right now. in fact, your arrest and your brother alaa's arrests have been so intimately connected in the last year and a you served in prison, served that time because you were outside with your mother and your sister is prison, protesting the covid conditions that were imposed which cut him off totally, not even able to receive mail. can you explain what happened to you when you were protesting? >> hi. during covid, the beginning of

the pandemic, there was no other way to communicate with alaa other than letters. all of they decided to ban letters and we were hearing rumors that prisoners were suffering from covid and that there were many cases in prison. of course, because i was in prison before, i know how unhygienic it is. they also banned sanitary, so no alcohol, no disinfectant. we filed a few complaints to the prosecution, but nobody replied to us. so my mother decided to sit in front of the prison gate and she would not leave without getting a letter from alaa.

so i joined and my sister joined. a number of female guards came to the prison gates and started attacking us. they beat us up pretty badly while the officers and the security forces were securing the prison were watching. so we had to leave. they forced us to leave, removed us from the place. the next day we went to the prosecutor general's office to file a complaint for what had happened to us. at the prosecutor general's office, they told me to come in and they took me to stay secured prosecution and i was faced with charges of fake news and insulting public officials, two

errors in charges. they did not defined by said committing a terrorist crime. juan: what happened subsequently after those charges? >> i stayed in prison a couple of months later when we went to court, the terrorism charges kind of -- they did not go to court. they were left on hold. they still exist until today but on a different case file number, which they can use anytime. but it is, like, on hold. we went to court with the other charges, fake news and insulting public official. i was sentenced to 1.5 years. juan: sanaa, can you talk about the decision of your family to

seek a british citizenship for your brother? how did that, about? did the british government cooperate in that and why did you make that choice? >> my mother was born in london. she had british citizenship by birth. we always knew that. i think at some point she thought when we were kids that she had to take us there and lived in england for a year before we become 18 of age, so she never attempted doing that because we lived in egypt. but when things started getting really harsh and when we figured it looks like there is no way out -- at least for alaa -- out of this blackhole, we decided to start exploring if we were

eligible for british citizenship. it turned out we were. the process, like, it was a pretty bureaucratic process but did not need cooperation from the british government because we were eligible so we just have to do the paperwork and so we got it. amy: talk about the significance of him getting at, why this was so important sanaa to you sanaa , -- important to you, sanaa, to have a country, britain, behind him as he fights his political imprisonment. >> before the british citizenship, unfortunately, as any egyptian citizen, the only government that kinda protects your rights is the egyptian regime. and if for some reason they choose to make you one of their

very high-profile enemies, that it is quite impossible to get out of this because -- i am not sure exactly why alaa's case is so hard and why they are very stubborn about alaa. it was expressed to me and to us very clearly many times and each time after my release, i am always told that "you can travel, you can live your life, just forget about your brother." so we know very well that they are very stubborn about this. i think it also has to do with the fact it has been building up for years, making him an example to a generation come to anybody who participated in the uprising. because they have made him such an example now, they have to break that example. by getting the british

citizenship, now you have a more democratic government that you can talk to, that you can put pressure on, and that you can -- they should then advocate for his release. so that is why i think now is a critical time where it finally might be possible for alaa to be free. amy: we are showing images as you speak, sanaa, of alaa holding his little boy, the time a baby, now 10 years old. i mean, your whole family -- her father died in 2014, veteran egyptian lawyer, activist, also a former political prisoner, arrested and tortured in 1983 for his political activism, served five years in prison, went on to found a law center

that provided key legal assistance to protesters, arrested also at the height of the 2011 egyptian uprising. and then last october, we spoke with your mother laila soueif. she told us -- he is a mathematician, you know, she sees it as her duty as a mother to persevere to the difficulty of having her children jailed. this is what she said while you and your brother were in prison. >> both alaa and sanaa are in jail and i need to keep going, at least until i get them out. i don't have a choice. for quite a long time, i have not had a choice because for the past 10 years, alaa and sanaa have been in and out of jail so many times. when they were not in jail,

there out on bail or whatever. of coursi have other reasons for going on, but even if i wanted to stop, i cannot. i don't have a choice. it is not me being strong or brave, it is just me being a mother. amy: sanaa, if you can talk about your mother's support for your family and also the fact your brother now is on this hunger strike, something you know well because you went on hunger strike in prison recently for over 70 days? having only water and salt? >> yeah, i feel what mama is saying. i think that is how we all feel. starting in 2014, especially

after my father's death when me and alaa were in prison, even the media attack was no longer -- it seemed her personalized, like in a attack on our family. now it is like a matter of survival, really. it is no longer a political cause. what moves me, what keeps us going is we as a family what to survive and what to unite in peace. so i don't think they are giving us any choice but resistance. about the hunger strike, i went on strike in back in 2014 when my father died while we were both inside. i understand how it feels physically. it is not easy. it is very painful, especially

the first two weeks. and somehow the body adapts and kind of understands it is no longer going to get food so it is going to rely on its own calories. but there is another phase when it depends on your body but when you're done with the extra calories and so the body has to kind of break the muscles and get energy from that. it is quite a painful process. although i am sad for alaa having to go through this, i am actually very proud of him for choosing to be resilient and for fighting back. and i really think this time we have a chance so i think he chose the right time to do that. i think this time will be different. i don't think alaa will break

from that strike and thus is actually out. -- unless he's actually out. i agree with him because this is a way for him to get out of this deadlock. amy: we're going to go to break and come back to this discussion. sanaa seif is a writer, filmic maker, activist, sister of alaa abd el-fattah, egypt's highest profile political prisoner who rose to international prominence during the revolution of 2011. his book has just been published in the united states titled "you have not yet been defeated." sanaa is just out of prison herself. overall, having served more than three years in prison. she is 28 years old. we will be back with sanaa as well as democracy now! correspondent sharif abdel kouddous. they both have come to the u.s. and will travel the country talking about alaa, his imprisonment, and his freedom.

stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. as we continue to look at egypt's sweeping crackdown on dissidents and human rights activists, urgent calls to release the imprisoned activist and blogger alaa abd el-fattah coming egypt's highest profile political prisoner -- who rose -- has been on hunger strike, demanding his freedom. he is just become a british citizenship -- british innocent, which is extremely significant.

we are joined by his sister sanaa seif as well as sharif abdel kouddous. sharif is a democracy now! correspondent. they're both here in the u.s. taking a journey across the country, also talking about the book, alaa's book that has just been released called "you have not yet been defeated." juan: i would like to ask both sharif and sanaa, it has been more than a decade since the arab spring raised so much inspiration and hope in not only the people of egypt, but throughout the arab world. i am wondering if you could both reflect on how egypt has changed and what life is like now in this country after so many of the hopes were dashed by the new military dictatorship? >> it feels like a lifetime ago.

>> well, life has changed significantly in many aspects. it seems prison is the government's answer to any problem with the citizen. with that, over the past 10 years, something like over two dozen new prisons have been established. they're building these massive new prison complexes in the desert and said nine that can hold tens of thousands of prisoners. there's this kind of ballooning of the prison population because the government, the regime does not really deal with any of the deep social economic and political problems that are in the country except through incarceration or other forms of oppression. so it has been difficult and also the economic situation has really become quite bad. there has been very near

economic with tax heights and spiraling levels of domestic and foreign debt with very high levels of interest rates that has put the economy in the country in a very precarious situation. food security is now at risk because of the russians invasion of ukraine. egypt is the largest importer of wheat in the world and russia and ukraine are two of the largest exporters of wheat in the world. life has become -- is difficult. it is a far cry -- a lifetime ago with 2011 with a sense of hope and since a possibility for change. something alaa often talks about and writes about and a lot of it is in the book, how do we confront this defeat? how do we learn from it? how do we move forward? and how

do not look back just nostalgia but as political actors think and communicate with each other and know how to cash think about how to move forward and heal? juan: sanaa? >> the main chant in the revolution back in 2011 was "press, freedom, dignity." freedom, most of us are in prison or forcibly disappeared. dignity was -- committee is being crushed. it is fair to say we have been defeated but we do hope like how the arab spring was inspiring to others, given in our defeat, that we can learn from that and inspire others who have not yet been defeated.

this is exactly the point of the book. juan: sanaa, spent -- you have been in prison three different times now. the particular condition that women face in prison in egypt, if you can talk about that? not only your own experiences, but what you saw among other fellow women prisoners? >> generally speaking, women's conditions -- political prisoners, will we talk about political prisoners, relatively better than men. but after that, it is very, very bad compared to human rights standards. when i noticed with the criminal charges mostly because there is a sexism violence.

i saw you were covering the tiktok case. i saw these people, girls like this a lot in prison who were arrested from the café organ the street just for wearing revealing clothing and put on prostitution charg .s i thinbecause was in a out many tes, i notic the numbers are pretty high. it is as if the prosecution has started take an attack, gender attack kind of thing, but i'm not here talking about the political prisoners. also, political prisoners -- deterioration happens. like in my condition in 2013, were much better than 2021.

we are catching up with the deterioration. just one step before the men because when it comes to political prisoners, somehow sexism works in your favor because it is not as acceptable torturing a woman than torturing a man. it is not as acceptable torturing a woman who is not from an islamist background rather than one who is from an islamist background. that is how the differences. of the whole situation is very, very bad. amy: just showing the images of the tiktok influencer haneen who has just been sentenced to three years in prison on human trafficking charges. she faced 10 years for posting video -- well, in 2020, she posted a video on instagram explaining how women could earn money by sharing these videos online. before we end, sharif, if you

could be our tour guide through your tour of the united states now? i know you're speaking at colonial law school, the two of you, today at noon. where you go from there? what are you hoping to accomplish with this -- you have not yet been defeated tour -- of the release of alaa's book? >> were hoping to raise awareness about alaa's here in the united states, both with people so they can understand where the taxpayer dollars are going -- egypt is one of the main allies of the united states. alaa is arguably the most famous political prisoner being held there. and also for lawmakers and officials in washington to understand as well what exactly alaa's case is. more important, to bring alaa's voice to people. this is a collection of 10 years of his writings, this

communications from prison, of his social media posts. it really is worth reading for anyone who is interested in ideas of justice, experimental writer and thinker who is very vulnerable when he writes and reopened. i think it is an important book for anyone to read but we are going to d.c. tomorrow and will be speaking at georgetown and the national press club and after that to chicago, seattle, to san francisco bay area, l.a., houston, and back. amy: if people want to get information about the tour and if you're coming to their city, where can they go? >> there is -- we have a link with all of the sites, the events. amy: we will link to it at democracynow.org. i want to thank you both for being with us, sharif abdel

kouddous, democracy now! correspondent, reporter in egypt and sanaa seif writer, , filmmaker, and activist and present herself for more than three years, sister of alaa abd el-fattah. his book is just out "you have , not yet been def

♪ hello there and welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in new york. russian soldiers have trained their guns on ukrainian targets week after week, but they have been repelled on several fronts, so they've refocused their weapons for an offensive on areas to the east. they say the war is entering a new phase. separatist fighters have been pushing for years for the