says the u.s. must stop prosecuting whistle blower. on the crimes of the. hundreds of. his statement hundreds of police officers who were. to arrest him coming up in just a moment. the verdict. two years behind bars. both in support and against the women outside the courthouse. human rights activist. jailed for three years equal rights movement all across the gulf state. and the u.n. observers mandate for syria later on sunday with

a new peace envoy already confirmed reports suggest u.k. intelligence is helping the rebels attack the regime. a very warm welcome to you from all of us here at the moscow. julian assange has called for the u.s. to stop its witch hunt against whistleblowers and also thank ecuador for granting him political asylum and he made his long awaited statement just about less than an hour ago right now we. made the speech from the balcony of the latin american countries london embassy surrounded by british police who were very ready to sweep him up into custody if he set foot outside the building once cross live now to watch his laura smith outside that embassy in london so lower you were as we both know it was greeted by an extremely. through just

a crowd today for i don't think the same could be said for the police in attendance how do you tell us all the world's number one whistleblower. but i mean what's happened to this afternoon has been nothing left in a rally there were several speakers who came on before julian assange and sort of whom are packed to his longtime supporters including tara cali the renowned station list and also craig murray the former ambassador to is back in stone who's of course a whistleblower himself but of course there was a serious message behind all this that they're all out to support you in essence and he really wanted to speak to the people to thank them he thanked particularly the supporters who are out here today in their hundreds and he thanked them from have for having been here on wednesday night as well when he says that when he was in bed he heard swarms of police coming up the fire escape inside the door an embassy building here in london but that they backed off at the last minute and presumably that is in response to the perceived threats by the foreign office here

that they would not hesitate to break into the embassy try to revoke kids diplomatic status and break in there to to arrest him but he said he knew that there would be witnesses thanks to the supporters and so he knew that everything would be ok he also thanked ecuador as you say for

territory. well died and and on a on a case where there are still no charges of bin laden and my concept of british justice is now so far from william hague's but this week for the first time ever i've been moved to write to a foreign secretary and i let him know just what i feel and my feeling is that if if nobody in the british government has has the courage to stand up against you know this this european arrest warrant then the best thing we can do. is pass it on to a nation which clearly has found some courage to stand up against this sort of oppression and it's quite right what a song says this is all about wounded american pride this is all about the

americans having been discovered doing something wrong and instead of going in fixing a base throw bradley in jail for coming up on two years and then they go after the person who who made the information public and the attitude of the foreign office is evidently that this is changed nothing and that they've even you know they've they've started almost a war of words with that could tell who are who are responding very much in kind and how do you view this this attitude of the foreign office i think it's. i just beggars belief that suddenly we move from a nation that protects the freedom of speech you know it's one of the founding principles on which great britain is based and we suddenly move into the role that's been traditionally associated with the south american jungle you know of of don't don't fix the problems that anyone points out instead you know catch the people who are speaking of and throw them in jail and in so you know i mean one of

the things the songes quite rightly worried about is that that he could be facing the death penalty in america this is not the be the normal behavior of the english speaking nations we were always the champions of liberty and for us to be needing a lesson from plucky little ecuador on how to treat you know people who stand up. the freedom of speech is quite quite frightening that it's gone this far really and briefly we haven't seen any change to date innocent still stuck in this embassy we don't know how it's going to get out what do you think happens next well your guess is as good as mine i mean if william hague carries on this saber rattling talk you know and i hope not i mean that was the subject of my letter is if you won't stand up for julian the songs against the you know illegally filled out european arrest warrant from sweden then please alone to go to someone who will and at least do what conscious pilot did and wash your hands of him but don't start becoming the bully boy that you know exacerbates the problem ok i'm going to sleep thank you

very much as pull said there is still be no change in my son still in the embassy behind me and in fact this could be the beginning of something new his spanish lawyer said earlier that if he's not allowed to leave with that. he will be looking a little seats with the u.n. international calls her lawyer and among the other comments made he described possibly a psychological war games being inflicted on him by describing lying in bed late at night inside the ecuadorian embassy and hearing a london police or the equivalent of swat teams of breaking into the internal fire escape corridors and then at the last second disappearing into thin air from right outside his bedroom door it just makes you wonder what other kind of games could already be play artie's or laura smith there right outside the ecuadorian embassy thank you. all ecuador's decision to grant a songe political asylum is being closely monitored in america washington has not admitted its planning to request a songes extradition for the number of u.s.

politicians are not holding back some going so far as to demand be tried and executed reporting from new york artie's marina puerto. julian saunders mother is calling this a victory for her son many see this as a small defeat for the u.s. and that is because many believe the u.s. was hoping that julian assange would be extradited to sweden so that sweden would subsequently be able to extradite julian assange to the united states we have heard in recent years it's no secret former and current u.s. government officials equally even julian a songe two are terrorists and that was in the aftermath of releasing cables and memos that were classified that belonged to the u.s. government as a result the integrity of the u.s. government was compromised a lot of secrets were revealed and it painted the u.s. foreign policy in a dark light it's no secret that the administration of u.s.

president barack obama has been earning a reputation for waging a war on whistleblowers fiercer reputation then any of his predecessors many journalists scholars and activists in the u.s. have signed a letter of support for julian the songe one is including naomi wolf she's a journalist and author first of all this is a white house now to wait houses obama's and bush's which is systematically overclassifying everything especially wrong doing it specially anything related to what whistleblowers want to release specially you know torture that even gauged in methods of torture like mafia tactics it's come to this the government same to journalists everywhere in america. we're going to do you and we're going to threaten you and we're we're threatening you with with serious legal penalties like prison time if you do your job when i was speaking with naomi wolf what she wanted

to clarify for me and her position is that she sees julia sanji many do as the publisher similar to the new york times chilliness songes the publisher the one that made the information available he is not the leaker she noted why isn't the u.s. government going after the new york times for publishing what wiki leaks published instead the u.s. government it is it presumed is all to me hoping to go after julian assigns either way she said that this is this would be a dark day for all journalists in the u.s. if he would be in the custody of america prosecuted held indefinitely or possibly even face capital punishment while under house arrest in london the world's top whistleblower invited prominent activists thinkers and news makers to voice their opinions on things that matter i wanted them was ecuador's president rafael correa some had never previously even appeared on international television you can watch every episode of julian assange exclusive program on our website at sanjay. dot

com. or with the top stories of today and off the week this is the weekly on friday three women from the russian punk group pussy riot would jailed for two years each for the putin stunt in the country's main orthodox cathedral the woman's performance was ruled to be hooliganism motivated by religious hatred that the decision certainly drew crowds of people outside the courthouse are rallying both in support and against the band. of reports. but you've already please that you move the finish line you possibly have another edge the end of any division if one would assume that one doesn't bring him because i knew if i recently caught on you tube it is a. chance to their trial hit headlines around the world a global audience who is watching as madea. and he counted in as some would say of each found out their fate for their performance the punk rock prayer in russia's main to phaedra outside the courts a large group gathered with both those supporting the women and those opposed to

them turning up to voice their opinion was was amongst the crowd were prominent members of the anti-government protest movement who had aligned the pussy riot cause with their own as the throngs massed tempers flared and police announcements to keep calm were ignored as over fifty people from both sides were detained the public order offenses calm damned by some celebrated by others their performance in this cathedral lasted for a little more than a minute and a half but it's perhaps made pussy riot the most recognizable russian music act in the world. but where did they come from under various guises the three women who were jailed on friday have been no stranger to controversy in the past pussy riot grew out of a performance art group which had staged an orgy in a museum filmed

a woman performing a sex act on a chicken in a supermarket and kissed on g.g. female police officers because the job performance though took things to another level church groups burned images of the women and of madonna who had spoken out on the side of pussy riot i think they belong to some sectors which conducts the tanach rituals they use elsewhere a church in russia was daubed with the slogan down with religious fanatics and in ukraine a topless member of the creek. could down a cross with a chain saw and also from playboy for a photo shoot pussy riot merchandise do a lot has led some to even question was this all an elaborate quest the thing they achieved their goal of being becoming really world famous by doing what they did when they are released they were in fact travel the world to become famous they were achieved their goal after the two year sentence is a motivated by religious hatred was handed down the online response heated with

many shocked by the length of the jail term my personal opinion is to be honest usually for the thing they call hooliganism you get fifteen days from what i've heard so i really wish they would have gotten fifteen days the more standard punishment but the court in a groove my position with lawyers for the jailed women said to appeal the verdict don't expect the debates between supporters of pussy riot in those opposed to fade away any time soon. it's good to have you with us here on are to you today coming your way in just a few minutes egypt's new president could be facing a military coup he made a fresh move to push the army from power that's one opinion we'll be hearing from shortly. also as muslims around the world mark the end of the holy month of ramadan we look at how celebrations are going on here in russia. a prominent human rights activist has been jailed for three years in bahrain and i feel that our job

was found guilty of inciting anti-government protests through his speeches and online posts for eighteen months protesters in the gulf state have been calling for democratic reform and an end to what they claim is religious discrimination bahrain's royal family has been accused of brutally suppressing their bradleys with police reportedly using tear gas and rubber bullets on allegedly unarmed protesters and the lack of criticism of the crackdown from the u.s. and its european allies exposes their fear of genuine democratic movements well that's according to journalist and author afshin retards. a response is indicative of a policy that is from some way to argue dying powers because the united states and nato countries deliberately try to see the arab spring and try and put it through their prism the arab spring when it when they don't like it as we all know they will do everything they can to snuff out any type of democracy the united states

wanted to extort fifty million fifty eight million dollars worth of weapons some of them presumably will be used and some weapons also from european countries used against men women and children in bahrain the nation with the highest number of political prisoners but kept around the world meanwhile they're being groomed in the. rain and the queen of britain personally as some people have said it invited the king of bahrain this ruthless dictator as i said thousands of people hundreds of people out of a tree arrest twenty physicians sentence for trying to heal people who were injured and killed by these teenagers. well our team is working twenty four hours a day seven days a week to provide you with the best stories and of course pictures from all around the world they're all waiting for you right now at r.t. dot com let's have a quick look and see what else is done in by for you there oh dear big brother not only has his eye on you but he's listening to this legal american police are now

allowed to track mobile phones and gather uses g.p.s. private data without any need for a court order. and the online witch hunt cursing an enemy with a head saw finding a charm to make your lover forever faithful has just become a bit harder online auction has banned the sale of all forms of much. alright nearly twenty minutes past the hour moscow time the new un envoy for syria confirmed earlier this week has admitted he has a tough job ahead with the first task overcoming divisions inside the security council of the current u.n. observer mission mandate for syria expires later on sunday president assad has made their way rare public appearance at a damascus mosque seen before me i.e. the elf prayers his outing comes amid reports quoting opposition officials that british intelligence is aiding rebels attack the regime forces apparently the turks

are being used to pass information and moscow is strongly opposing the u.s. calls for a no fly zone over syria saying it could lead to a catastrophe this as the rebels claim responsibility for this week's blast near the hotel where u.n. observers were stationed. oksana boyko says the ongoing violence in the country has provided al qaeda with yet another stage for its attacks blasts and gunfire daily occurrences here in damascus but once the explosion right next to the u.n. headquarters was something ordinary it took place at a heavily guarded army garage and you can probably see a fuel tanker on which the explosive device was planted still. standing over there in terms of the damage that was relatively minor a few shattered windows in this hotel and in the building next to us but this explosion definitely attracted a lot of media attention because of the proximity to the borders now the free

syrian army already claimed responsibility for this blast even though they said that they never intended to target to you in observers and they were aiming for the syrian army personnel in any case these explosions are really underscores how easily available and how widely used explosives have become these days in syria in the beginning of the syrian uprising the rebels primarily on small arms but over months they have become and precisely more sophisticated in bomb making in many experts attribute that to an influx of foreign fighters in particular iraqi insurgents who bring a lot of bomb making expertise the iraqi government even went on record to say that they have solid information that al qaida was crossing from iraq into syria to carry out those attacks on the top of the reuters news agency published a story a few days ago in. an f.s.a. filled with saying that thanks to you and the expertise of iraqi insurgents they've

been able to increase the debt to nation. to seven kilometers also the use of mobile phones to sad those bombs off something that is very common in iraq and that was extremely rare in syria is now becoming more and more widely used what many in the west fail to recognize is that terrorism is not necessarily a derogative term it's a descriptive term to denote a guerrilla warfare a tactic that justifies the use of terror the use of violence for achieving political goals and that's the same group. that must tary that tara tactics and bomb making skills on iraqi civilians on the u.s. soldiers in iraq and now applying this same expertise here in syria it's not going to r.t. reporting from damascus in syria. reports suggest the u.s.

and some of its western allies are seeking to build more direct links with the rebels trying to distance themselves from the syrian national council middle east committed a culture that so far no alternative to the current regime has emerged what we have is a center of sorry to regime that effectively has collapsed and lost its concert all over the country but don't turn into it hasn't been born yet and there's lots of interference and meddling by outside forces trying to shave what this alternative is going to be and things like the libyan fighters the fighters from the last years conflict in libya are moving into syria are one expression of external factors now taking part in this syrian conflict but ultimately the story remains the same if you want something good for syria it has to be determined by the syrian people themselves not by external agents trying to orchestrate what the outcome is going to be that would be a really catastrophic decision to try to set up their no fly zone bit with

affectively will lead to an escalation that quickly would become a kind of military confrontation full scale military confrontation and many critics within the state says that. our turning our attention from syria now to egypt where the new president mohamed morsi has made a fresh move to push the army further from power by dismissing two top military officials one of them is the defense minister who was it defacto head of state in the period between hosni mubarak's ousting and most seize in order ration the announcement came during a major offensive that's underway in the country's restive sinai region that's right along the israeli border morsi who is embroiled in a power struggle with the military council evolved to restore security there but the region's only seen more lawlessness often mubarak's fall with al-qaeda groups targeting security forces and arms being smuggled from libya investigative journalist pepe escobar says morsi could provoke a backlash from the military at the could possibly end up in a coup. we should expect some say to happen not immediately in terms of

a counter cool by scott because digital they still there even if they are prerogatives in terms of that constitutional amendment which transfer of powers from the presidents to them no more civil why did that completely damie have some cards to play in those for a get very good relationship with the pentagon i'm sure a lot of people in washington are horrified about the morsi move and they really are these are areas are really freaking out with the morsi move because now they say that he just has become an islamic dictatorship so there could be some counter coupes from foreign actors as well basically from the muslim brotherhood point of view de don't want any more frictions between skaf and the president so we can see that for the moment this score is muslim brotherhood one skaf zero the problem is the military even if the jury is reliant now or rearrange the control most forty

percent of the egyptian economy egypt has no money i am betting in the long run that date will last egypt cool apps in terms of being practically defaulting and game maybe later do rearrange another egyptian military court and go back to power . part is the time for the r.t. while the update now will start in the libyan capital of tripoli where two people have been killed several injured by a twin car bomb and there comes just a year since the fall of the city to rebel forces. former leader moammar gadhafi are being blamed meanwhile in libya as a general national congress declared a topples leader's son saif gadhafi he will stand trial next month on charges of ordering the killing of dissenters. thousands of protesters rallied in china and hong kong against japan's claim to a contested island protesters shouted anti japanese slogans they'd. and. japanese

restaurants are. the demonstration was sparked after japanese activists raised their flag on the disputed tokyo controlled territory which china claims. and muslims all around the world are celebrating the end of ramadan it's a day to break their fast go to mosques to visit and congratulate their relatives and give to charity for the past month has been a time of spiritual reflection and improvement achieved through fasting and devoting more time to prayers and reciting the qur'an. but of course it's also a big day for millions of muslims here in russia where they're also celebrating as well the end of ramadan. this report. millions of muslims around russia have been waking up very early indeed before sunrise put some of their best clothes as is tradition on this holy day also the flocking to nearby mosques and the graces mosque in moscow is the one just behind me which is currently being

referred hens of thousands of people nonetheless aligning the surrounding streets to listen servants it also be giving praise to god this is coming on the end on the back of the holy month of ramadan no fasting and this specialist day shelf theater now actually translates as the breaking of the fast so we can expect many peace to be taking place in moscow and around russia with friends and family now days of the somewhat marred by what transpired late saturday evening in the russian republic of dagestan their two masked gunman stormed a local mosque they shot and injured eight people in total also there was a bomb this is found containing forty kilograms of t.n.t. of explosives it took some time but the moment is have managed to fuse that bomb threats. well a criminal case has been opened in the nearby republic of here where a suicide bomber carried out an attack killing at least seven policeman and the

blast struck a group of officers arrived at the funeral of their colleague who was shot dead in an assault on saturday and they were offering their condolences when an attacker entered the courtyard of a private home and exploded over a dozen locals were wounded in the blast. it is good to have you with us here on r.t. today i'm sure you and i will be back with a recap of the week's top stories in just a moment. thank .

you.