thank you for joining our team at half past the hour and here's a pic recap of your headlines shelling and shooting in the syrian city of homs as the death toll continues to rise that's as iraq's foreign minister kind of firms all caught of militants are flowing from his country into syria to stage terrorist attacks. meanwhile we can weeks promise to shed new light on the syrian conflict as the group begins to release millions of e-mails from the country's politicians agencies and associated companies like you exclaims the materials will expose the west's hypocrisy in dealing with damascus. and washington reportedly plans to invest millions to upgrade the military base at the torus kuantan i'm obey that's

despite barack obama repeatedly promising to shut down the detention facility that's based on the site. thanks we discuss all the controversy behind the notorious prison camp with british lawyer and university professor philip sands. today i'm joined by philip sands professor international law university college london and author of torture team and investigation into what's going on behind the closed doors of kuantan i'm obey mr vance thanks for speaking to r.t. so what torture techniques or interrogation techniques have actually been used at one time well it's pretty well established. what what emerged they adopted in the autumn of two thousand and two in the u.s. department of defense a series of eighteen techniques of interrogation arranged in three groups and the

first group was. shouting and screaming. the second group upped the ante so to speak and included sleep deprivation the use of dogs to induce fear. and then category three the worst of all included waterboarding and the use of water to induce misperceptions of suffocation that document emerged after the abu ghraib images emerged and i was interested to find out how a country which has turned its back against torture could have moved to adopt these techniques of interrogation so i began. roots of two thousand and five to begin to look more closely through a series of interviews of course united states on what had happened and what had been done by the administration was to spin a story which effectively said it started down at guantanamo there were a group of individuals down at one time over and it did then work its way up the

system what i stablish was that that's not accurate what had happened was that it had started the top and then worked its way down with significant pressure from the pentagon in particular people around the white house so the tone was very different from the one which the administration had spahn how easy was it to uncover that truth i began by knowing that i had to speak to people who had not previously spoken down at guantanamo and i focused on the law as. i began to approach a number of lawyers and once i had found one lawyer who was willing to speak with me who was a staff judge advocate. who was involved at the time back in two thousand and two once she had given me an account of what had happened i could then go to the next person and say well publicly it says this but i've now been told by this person who

worked underneath you that this is in fact what happened would you care to comment on it and to do. or could then begin to open what are the implications of your findings meaning you are doing a book that some of these techniques equate to war crimes that well i mean i focused on the interrogation of one individual a detained number sixty three alleged to be the twentieth. september eleventh hijacker. mohamed al khatami the saudi national and i focused in particular on what had happened to him in the period november two thousand and two to january two thousand and three i reached the conclusion without any real difficulty that he had been subject to techniques that amount to torture torture is an international crime whether called a crime against humanity or a war crime it's prohibited under international more the united states a party to an international convention that outlaws it and the bottom line of it is if you engage in torture as a state you are responsible and you are responsible to do

a number of things and one of the things you have to do is you have to investigate and you have to investigate what happened and that has never fully occurred. even the administration of president obama has if you like turned its back on the possibility of a proper investigation to ascertain who authorized what when precisely wasn't a few bad eggs it was people right up the top and in fact the namely where president bush ultimately said he signed off on waterboarding and the that that happened in the summer of two thousand and two we now know it's pretty well established by a group of individuals with the president at the top don rumsfeld called him mr rice was involved in the process and various lawyers you know in the national security council and in the department of justice who signed off on waterboarding approved waterboarding gave their support to waterboarding and that to me was shocking so what i want to know was how could in particular lawyers who'd been to

the for. this law school in the world you know to harvard to do you draw terrific law schools how had they got themselves into a state that they were willing to sign off on techniques that amounted to them or their answer i think there was a sense of intense pressure that the united states was under an unparalleled i don't think that's a justification or an excuse or a reason but there was a tremendous sense of pressure coupled with the fact that a number of the lawyers involved at very senior level had no real background in the subject of international or the protection of the right individual and were very ideological in their approach basically they saw their function as lawyers not as being to give independent legal advice but to give the president the tools to do what he want to do that's not the function of a lawyer in any society in any democratic society but surely waterboarding rings

alarm bells with any lawyer it should have rung in our bells and it did ring alarm bells in many parts what i established was that two of the major organs of government in the united states were cut out of the process the military the upper echelons of the military were cut out of the process by don rumsfeld general counsel jim haynes. and the state department was cut out of the process and the lawyers at the state department and the lawyers and the department of defense the military lawyers the career military lawyers know better than anyone that it's in the united states' interest not to engage in this kind of activity so they were caught over the process and instead you've got a group of ideologues brought in to give the president the tools to do what he wanted to do irrespective of whether there was a reasonable argument that was still for them not which individual moment and the investigation when you say shocking most when i was speaking with the folks who

were down acquired tam and. i discovered and. my book actually broke the story that one of the influences in the autumn of two thousand and two was a television programme called twenty four which is a t.v. programme about the use of torture which promotes the idea really that torture works it produces results it's a sensible way to proceed and one of the people that are interviewed on beaver confirmed to me actually unexpectedly because i hadn't really asked a question. she just said that twenty four was a big influence and it created an environment and so you began to see that. the connection between popular cultural t.v. programs and what people do that was shocking so is there any chance those responsible for what went on at guantanamo bay well actually be held to account there's already some degree of accountability i mean there's a group who are known as the bush six the six main lawyers at the top of the bush

administration the former attorney general alberto gonzales the former department defense lawyer jim haynes some of the public justice lawyers john yoo jay bybee it's very difficult to know set foot outside the united states now there's every possibility that they could be subject to questioning if they were to set foot outside the united states are there some degree of accountability but my position is this is a breach of law this is potentially a crime and you need a criminal investigation and that has not happened and there's no indication that it will but what about former president bush is there a chance he could actually be charged with war crimes i mean president bush has rather brazenly given the series of interviews in which you know he says waterboarding is right why did i do it again dick cheney said the same thing and has taken responsibility for it and that's had certain consequences in the sense that some of his international travel has been limited he was due to go last year to switzerland that didn't happen he said because there were questions there from

big protests when he's gone to canada. who knows what will happen over time you know one of the things that i was involved with many years ago was the case of pinochet. that was of course a different time a different scale but it took twenty five years for the wheels of justice to sort of creak into motion and one day visiting london he was arrested and so these things take time you don't know when these things are going to produce results or what's going to happen and you know hangs question of responsibility hangs in the hearing on the other. matters now saif gadhafi trial libya's recently announced that the trial will go ahead in libya under their laws but given what happened to his father surely there are concerns over libya's ability to actually hold a fair trial i mean i think there are concerns about. liberation of a country which over the past four decades has come to be associated with the high

standards of criminal justice so i think it's reasonable to conclude that there are problems. he has been indicted internationally i think there are good arguments on trying him in libya or trying him at the international criminal court but if he's tried in libya the proceedings have to meet minimum international standards that can be done in a variety of ways but you can't have summary justice but since the arrest warrant was actually issued by the international criminal court then surely there isn't any actual legal framework for libya to hold the trial international criminal court works on a basis of a principle called complementarity. the i.c.c. the international court in the hague steps in if justice is not done locally so if justice is not done locally the been there has to be an international trial the libyans can demonstrate to the international criminal court that they can meet minimum international burma's they're free to try domestically but i think they're

going to have to show to the international criminal court judges that they meet those international standards and i suspect saif gadhafi himself would be rather happy of being tried in the hague where he knows he's going to get the right and of course he's not going to get death penalty you've also written extensively about the iraq war the legal issues surrounding that now do you see any similarities between the run up to what happened then and what's happening now in the standoff between iran and the way just iraq went very wrong i think we know it went very wrong and there are very few people in this country in the united kingdom who now really want to stand up for iraq on policy grounds and. even fuel on legal grounds i focused on it as a legal matter was not in my view authorized by the security council he did not meet international legal requirements and it was therefore i am in the eagle. war but i think lessons have been learnt from that experience we saw some of that in relation to libya we saw that the security council did adopt

a resolution russia and china did not return a resolution permitting some use of force question as to whether they exceeded the mandate. but there was a security council resolution iran is working its way through the security council . who knows which way it will but i suspect the lesson of iraq is such that it will be very difficult to imagine the kind of coordinated military response with a large number of countries involved a lot iraq in the case of iran in the absence of proper security council authorization for that sounds thank you thank you very much.

as the idea of multicultural society. sharing the motherland r.t. .

shelling and shooting in the syrian city of homs as the death toll continues to rise as iraq's foreign minister confirms al qaida militants are flowing from his country into syria to stage terrorist attacks. meanwhile we queue weeks promise to shed new light on the syrian conflict as the group begins to release millions of e-mails from the country's politicians agencies and associated companies but the leaks claims the materials will expose the west's hypocrisy and dealing with damascus. and washington reportedly plans to invest millions to upgrade the military base in a tourist spot all day that's despite barack obama repeatedly promising to shut down the detention facility that's based at the site. follow a distraction from the world of sport is next with paul.

thank you very much care and welcome to the world of sports here's what's coming up the final countdown to serina williams secures a place in her seventh wimbledon final question now faces the number three seed at nascar advance. italian job reports suggest fabio capello is in moscow for talks over the vacant post as manager of the russian national team. and to win a rival germany's on the right dr paul clinch is back to back stage wins at the top of france although it's still probably in country lara who leads the overall standings. but first tennis and this year's women's singles final wimbledon will be between four time for much am pm serina williams and world number three at nascar advance scott williams reaching her seventh final at the all england club courtesy

of a six three seven six women over victoria azarenka an early break in the first set but are firmly in control of the american service gang proving to be faulty good for the australian open champion williams delivering a record twenty four aces during the match over the second set was a closer affair with eriksson time grand slam winner came through the tie break for straight sets victory on a shot a title number five. who's the little final i don't know any other way to come out except for my best chance has been playing well she won miami. and she's been consistent this year and more consistent than i have so that ari tells me even beginning i really need to go out there in and be radiate a lot of shots and be ready to play hard she has great hands and she does everything so well so if i come out flat i want i want to win well williams opponent in saturday's final will be agnostic or advance guy has become poland's far east grand slam finest in seventy three years she overcame german and jimmy.

six three six four actually got the first break of the match in the first set however the number three seed consistency shone through after that securing the win in just one hour and ninety minute. meeting. and of course she's playing so i think doesn't. think. well later on friday it's the turn of the man semifinals first up is defending champion novak djokovic she takes on six time former winner roger federer it's the sixth time in the last eight grand slams in the past have met at the semifinal stage having won four of those previous meetings while the second match is home favorite only murray take on frenchman joe wilford tsonga murray is aiming to become the first british men's final since one thousand nine hundred thirty eight he's reached this stage of the tournament three

times before losing the last two semi's to rafael nadal so in the meanwhile is entering his second ever grand slam final. now to football where fabio capello is believed to be in moscow for talks over the vacant post as russian national team manager however the country's football union have refused to confirm that that's the reason the italian is in russia russian media stating the sixty six year old touched down at the city's private newco vote three airports sparking speculation that he was to succeed their manager dick advocaat the ex england boss was linked to a job russian club f.c. angie last year was seen in moscow but said he was in the capital to watch a ballet at the bolshoi theatre capello quizzing the manager two months before the start of euro two thousand and twelve. meanwhile to mystically the russian or premier league could soon see an influx of foreign players the r.f.u. making what some see as a controversial decision to increase the limits on overseas players from six to seven on the field at any one time. heavy spending on j.

and sas car moscow the maintains lobbying for the new rules they say that the move will increase competition between domestic and overseas players forcing local talent to up their game opponents of the world however say rising russian stars will miss out on valuable game experience when on the bench or teams will tourism and sports minister to tell you. everything in his power to reverse the decision. and while angie may be able to sign more foreign players with the latest ruling that fans may not have the chance to watch those stars at home in continental competition he wafer recently banned europa league matches from being held in dhaka star on a course of protest now for the faithful the dagestani president also saying he fully supports the fans' plans to hold a protest at the team's home ground on saturday themselves they train at facilities which belong to the now defunct saturn club in the moscow region commuting to moscow for their home games. to cycling we're under

a great deal of germany has clinched his second consecutive stage of this year's total france thanks in part to a perfectly timed sprint finish the german became the first rider to win more than one stage at this the one thousand nine hundred eighteen of the race just a day after finishing first in stage four greipel produce another high class performance the lottery palace old man was the quickest at the sprint finish placing matthew dawson kwan jose into second respectively to sky's mark cavendish settle for faith while swiss star foreign country retained the leader's yellow jersey and stays top of the overall standings russian denis menchov is currently sitting six thirteen seconds behind. now to go where v.j. saying has taken an early lead at the greenbrier classic some big names vying for the million dollar prize multiple major win is tell you words in phil mickelson already eight shots off the pace woods carting four birdies including this on the eleventh mickelson saw his three birdies. wiped out by

a double bogey on the faith singh meanwhile has a one shot lead heading into round. now with just over three weeks to go until the start of the olympic games one of russia's top swimming hopes you have gagne carter to skin he was on the verge of quitting the sport four years ago has been speaking to artie's constantine the top of about the past present and hopefully a successful future. it's hard to imagine that one of russia's best swimmers of the buzz the key and its biggest hope for a medal at the london games you know again you kurdish kim was almost at the point of quitting the sport four years ago after the moscow i feel to qualify for the finals in his favorite one hundred metres butterfly at the beijing olympics but help came in the poor and of a serbian olympic silver medalist i was desperate and i wanted to quit but luckily miller a challenge and now invited me to train with his coach on to dinner in italy but i would have so we could progress together i wasn't really interested in swimming as

such i just wanted to see new methods of training from a coach but i would learn in the us i said to myself a new language a new country it's a good experience even if i don't improve so i jumped in with both the since then karate skin has learned to enjoy swimming again and here's the results have certainly improved. he has said world records in short courses under a new coach demeanor and won gold silver and bronze at the european championships in twenty eight am. and he won the moscow stage of the world cup in twenty eleven beating fourteen time olympic champion michael phelps and his training partner china beach motif but i feel i have truly become a swimmer and learned a lot in russia i've become a hard worker i was ok but sometimes i regret that i didn't leave to train a broader earlier the training sessions are almost the same but the surrounding atmosphere is completely different you don't get bored of the routine and for me

it's easy to focus on training when i'm away from home but getting phelps in the olympics keep cool where kurdish his mother took him to swim gave the most provide a boost of confidence however it's not his opponents that own the mind of the two time world record holder ahead of this summer's olympics where you could hear i want gold at the european and world championships and i set the world records of course but nothing can be compared with the olympic games. the psychological pressure is extremely high and you start hesitating and wondering if you'd ready for that of course i'm ready i've been preparing for this my whole life it will be the third and probably last olympic games for twenty nine year old cord to get in russia is surely ready to make a big splash in london. now finally eating sixty eight hot dogs in ten minutes is something that most doctors would probably advise against but for one speed eating athlete titles are more important than i settle

digestive system meat joey chestnut the twenty eight year old time his personal best in the national hot dog eating contest in new york it was the san jose native sixth straight victory in the competition takes place every independence day they c.h.s. now finished a massive sixteen dogs ahead of his main rival that's ten janice in new york who managed only fifteen to ten thousand dollars for his troubles while in the women's section sonya thomas betrayed her relatively small stature dominate down in forty five hot dogs in all. from regret remorse for the first. night it. you're one of many great the seventy but there's always next year next year when we go by seven straight when. exactly a good number when one is old from the world of sports a lot more for you though later here on r.t. the world weather is next. cool.

wealthy british style holds. on to the right of. markets why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy cars a report. more news today violence is once again flared up the film these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. today. the mood.

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