join the song says the u.s. must stop persecuting whistleblowers aiming to shed light on. his statement hundreds of police this is. coming up in just a moment some. three members of the feminist punk band pussy riot in jail for two years for their main cathedral the verdict resonated across the world and sparked demonstrations for and against the women in russia. prominent human rights activist. jailed for three years while the movement gains momentum in the gulf state. united nations observer mission wraps up its four month long presence

in syria citing increasing violence reports suggest british intelligence is helping rebels find the regime. from moscow this is r t certainly glad to have you with us recapping the week's top stories and today's headlines julian assange has called for the u.s. to stop its witch hunt against whistleblowers and also thanked ecuador for granting him political asylum he made his long awaited statement on the balcony of the latin american countries london embassy surrounded by british police who are ready to sweep him into custody if he set foot outside the building are reports from outside that embassy in london. what's happened to the softening has been nothing left in a rally that was several speakers who came on to fujian in a sound sort of whom are packed his longtime supporters including tara cali the

renowned station list but of course there was a serious message behind all this that the old out to support innocence and he really wanted to speak to the people she thanked them he thanked particularly the supporters who are out here today in the 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 and guns and but that they backed off at the last minute and presumably that is in response to the perceived threats by the foreign office head that they would not hesitate to break into the embassy try to refer you case diplomatic status and break in that to to arrest him but he said he knew that there would be witnesses times to the supporters and say he knew that everything would be ok he also thanked that could do it for holding the constitution of you know that constitution which includes universal citizenship he thanked the staff at this very

cramped embassy which he's been staying for the last two months presumably getting in their way quite a bit and he also one of the most important things he said was he called upon the u.s. to still put he called the persecution of whistleblowers let's just hear a bit about the united states must renounce its witch hunt against wiki leaks. the united states must assume its investigation. the united states must know that it will not seek to prosecute. or else the court of. the united states must wage before the world that it will look as you journalists are shining shining a light on the secret crimes of the powerful. i'm very lucky to be joined now by one of those with craig murray who is the film bush's ambassador to as bad as

pakistan and a whistleblower himself he blew the whistle on government abuses. craig thanks very much for talking to us now if what you think julian assange case tells us about the treatment of whistleblowers well i think of course in play there's a long history of whistleblowers being smeared and charged with crimes under later today was blowing because obviously it's quite difficult for states to convict people of telling the truth about state's misdemeanors so what you do is truth. with the charges very often sexual charges because we had destroyed for personal reputation the foreign office now insists that it didn't mean to say that it would storm the embassy to go in and arrest julian assange what do you make of of william hague's comments and if the foreign office attitude in general but upon the officers law and in its attempts to back down because it's found to sell so diplomatically isolated it most certainly did say about both in person and in writing to the government of ecuador. the very moment it was saying about fifty

policemen moved into the building but not into the actual plant containing the ecuadorian embassy there's no doubt whatsoever that this was a deliberate attempt to ditch the vienna convention on behalf of the british foreign office and what do you say to william hague. william hague nearly as major pulled himself it's not the first time he wants media interview in which he said that as a student who used to drink fourteen pints of beer a day i think he must have done twenty eight pints of beer before coming up with a threat to storm because dorian embassy. decision to grant a political asylum is being closely monitored in the us washington has not admitted it is planning to request us on his extradition but a number of american politicians are holding back some going as far as to demand songs be tried and executed artie's miniport i reports from new york. while julia 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 a quavering julian a songe to are terrorists and that was in the aftermath of him 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 than any of his predecessors many journalists scholars and activists in the u.s. have signed a letter of support for julie 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 they've engaged in methods of torture like mafia tactics it's come to this the government is 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 chilliness 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 a presumed is all to me hoping to go after julian i saw much 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 which is more important reporting for us there now while under house arrest in london of the world's top whistleblower invited prominent activists thinkers and news makers to voice their opinion on things that matter one of the guests was at the door president rafael correa well some of the others had never appeared on international television before catch every episode of joining us live interview show on our website at the song dot com. on friday three members of russian punk group pussy riot were jailed for two years each for their performance in the country's main orthodox cathedral the court's verdict stated that the band committed an act of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred the decision drew crowds of people outside the court rallying both in

support of and against the women artie's peter oliver has the details. did he give any reason that you move the finish line you possibly have another edge the end of any division if one would want to find him because i knew that everything we would usually. have to their trial hit headlines around the world a global audience was watching as madea. tolokonnikova and you cutting as some would say a bitch found out their fate for their performance in 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 the was amongst the crowd were prominent members of the anti-government protest movement who had allying 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 for public order offenses common 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 strangers 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 duty female police officers to cathedral performance though took things to another level church groups burned images of the women and of madonna who had spoken out on the site of pussy riot i think they belong to some sect which conducts a tannic rituals and elsewhere

a church in russia was daubed with the slogan down with religious fanatics and in ukraine a topless member of. the group mean could down a cross with a chain saw and offer from playboy for a photo shoot and pussy riot merchandise deal law has led some to even question was this all an elaborate quest but fame they achieved their goal of. becoming really world famous by doing what they did and when they are released they were in fact travel the world to become famous they have achieved their goal after the two year sentence for hooliganism motivated by religious hatred was handed down the online response heated up with many shocked by the length of the jail term my personal opinion is to be honest usually for the thing the cogon is on you get fifteen days from what i've heard so i really wish they would have gotten fifteen days more standard punishment but they are courtin a group of my possession 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 peter all of moscow. the pussy riot sentence sparked a massive international reaction drawing attention to the case from all over the world foreign government officials including those of the u.k. germany france sweden and the u.s. expressed their disagreement with the court's decision in addition a number of the other ngs backing the band were staged across the globe their hard minded professor of political science at innsbruck university believes that suddenly they are using the pussy riot scandal to support their own stereotypes. of pussy riot women. according to my highly inappropriate behavior it was wild i mean or if you want to protest your leadership if you want to protest even a party out you can do is outside the church but should not. play it live just so here to russian version of this and that leads to me because you're right it's an

extremely good selling story here you have three young women it's considered pretty they have small children and they are now fighting the beast and mr putin who has a very very bad reputation among the west so that's a story he can sell pretty well for many of the media it's it's simple to sell because you're right secondly for many europeans and even more still for people in the west still they're all stereotype of russian being the enemy and they only in society at that their interest so by by addressing the the the problem. is the political leadership and these women you're always referred to this tradition. a prominent human rights activist has been jailed for three years and bahrain not be able rajab 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 reforms and an end to what they claim is

religious discrimination bahrain's while family has been accused of brutally suppressing the rallies but police reportedly using tear gas and rubber bullets on unarmed protesters in the west and author afshin rattansi says western support for the bahraini monarchy exposes their fear of genuine government pratik movements in the country. responses indicative of a policy that is from somewhere are you 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 explore fifty million fifty eight million dollars worth of weapons some of them presumably will be used in 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 breeze 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 arbitrary arrest twenty physicians sentence for trying to heal the people injured and killed by this bahraini looked into. working twenty four hours a day seven days a week to provide you with the best stories and pictures from around the world by them on our website at r.t. dot com here is a look at what's going through their right. big brother not only has his eye on you but he's listening and as well it seems to be legal american police are now allowed to track mobile phones and gather users' g.p.s. private data were found. in the online which. enemy with text or finding and trying to make your lover for ever faithful has just

become a little bit harder online auctioneer today has banned the sale of all forms of magic. and drug addicts to death in the u.k. from an anthrax infection sparks fears of a europe wide epidemic. united nation observer mission in syria has ended three hundred u.n. personnel are said to leave the country after four months of work that bore little fruit this as the new un envoy for syria has admitted his top priority now is overcoming divisions within the security council that undermined the efforts of his predecessor meanwhile president assad has made a rare public appearance at the mosque where he performed. prayers. comes amid reports from opposition officials that british intelligence is aiding them to attack regime forces this as the rebels have claimed responsibility for this week's blast near the hotel where you want to observers were stationed despite numerous

reports of violent attacks by the opposition the u.s. has persisted in libya style no fly zone over the country is needed moscow however insists this could be a recipe for disaster results on a boat that has been following developments in syria for us and she says don't bring violence has provided with yet another arena. blasts and gunfire daily occurrences here in damascus but once the explosion right next to the u.n. headquarters was something out of ordinary it took place at a heavily guarded army garage and you can probably see a fuel tanker on the reach the explosive device was planted still standing over there in terms of the damage it 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 u.n. have borders now the free syrian army already claimed responsibility for this blast

even though they said that they never intended to target the u.n. observers and that they were aiming for the syrian army personnel in any case this explosion of 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 personally more sophisticated in bomb making and many experts attribute that to an influx of foreign fighters in particular iraqi insurgents who bring with them 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 that reuters news agency published a story a few days ago in retreat quoted an f.s.a. commander who was saying that thanks to you and the expertise of iraqi insurgents

they've been able to increase the debt to nation range of their bombs up 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. 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 at the same groups that. tara tactics and bomb making skills on iraqi civilians on the us soldiers in iraq and now applying the same expertise here in syria it's not what the 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 while trying to distance themselves from the syrian national council dr ibrahim from the zeitoun university in amman says that by backing the opposition washington is only adding to the violence in syria. the rebels as you have seen are made up of the front bands there are laws smugglers there are muslim brothers there are other supporters and the from places they cooperate or they compete against one another sometimes using guns so the purpose here is to destroy the country and many syrians and arabs have come to see that for what it there is as syria is supposed to fall into chaos and fragmentation as has happened in somalia before and so the united states has been engaged and implementing that this sign of creation of chaos in syria so what we have here is

an armed rebellion that is being supported financed and politically covered why these people the dollars mainly money earned from selling oil in the service of imperialism and these people have been raising and waving the flags of freedom and democracy but we have seen some of their these they have committed in syria i would say at least more than half the population are solidly behind. the regime now and these people may have grievances and they may have things that they want to change about that regime but they are definitely against the fragmentation of syria and filling syria's streets with blood as has been happening recently as you have seen. on to libya now where two people have been killed and several injured in a twin car bombing in the capital tripoli one blast a targeted a military academy another detonated near the interior ministry security forces

have managed to defuse two more car bombs the attack comes on one year after the fall of the city to rebel forces thought he's claiming the lists of former leader moammar gadhafi are behind the violence. and international affairs analyst says armed is almost may be the real force behind the attacks. and we can see that there is uncertainty there is a date you're coming from forces. both recognizing these political process that they're taking this could be a set. fee. that there are going to cause trouble. of course there might be or there at least to the east let me see that. they can. show that the red cross it because see for instance it's supposed to. be. nice to. be urged if

a war. if this is that the so-called fight this is keeping their grades. the west is. by they say shows success sort of. like what there are so these rebel fighters eventually would return to leave you know i have followers. they don't like a western style system search but they are going to challenge it so could be that his followers it could be there is let me just as well. now time to take a look at some other stories making headlines around the world for you this hour demonstrations that shook cities across china and hong kong as tensions flare up over disputed territories in the east china sea thousands took to the streets after the. but he's nationalists who raise their country's flag over the contest with violence protesters shouting slogans calling on tokyo to back down on its claims burned flags and attacks japanese restaurants and cars. muslims across the world

are celebrating the first day of a year the festival which marks the end of the fasting month of ramadan it's a day to go to mosques pray visit and congratulate relatives and friends and give to charity as well the past month has been a time of spiritual improvement which is believed to be achieved through fasting and to devote more time to prayers and reciting the koran. in russia millions of muslims are also celebrating the end of ramadan parties jacob grieves takes a look at how this holiday is marked here 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 be flocking to nearby mosques and the graces mosque in moscow is the one just behind me which is currently being referred christine tens of thousands of people know melissa lining the surrounding streets

to listen serve and it also be giving praise to god this is coming on the end on the back of the holy month of ramadan known for fasting and this special this 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 for friends and family now those have been somewhat marred by what transpired late saturday evening in the russian republic of dagestan there to mass government 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. also in the caucasus region a criminal case has been opened into another terror attack in the republic of english idea there a suicide bomber walked into a funeral of a local policeman and set off his device killing seven officers and injuring ten

others the blast struck as a group of policemen arrived at the ceremony of their colleagues shot dead in an assault on saturday the attacker has been identified as a thirty four year old who was on a wanted list as a member of a local gang. egypt's 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 de facto head of state in the period between hosni mubarak's ousting and more seasoned argue ration the announcement came during a major offensive that is underway in the country's restive sinai region along the israeli border morsi who is embroiled in a power struggle with the military council vowed to restore security there but the region has only seen more lawlessness after mubarak's fall with al-qaeda groups targeting security forces and arms being smuggled in from libya investigative journalist pepe escobar says morsi could provoke a backlash from the military that could potentially end up in

a coup. we should expect some say to happen not immediately in terms of a counter-coup by scott because digital they're still there even if they are prerogatives in terms of that constitutional amendment which transferred powers from the presidents to no more civil war i did that completely de may 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 elites are really freaking out with a more civil 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 muesli brotherhood going to if you don't want any more frictions between scaf and the press that so we can say that for the moment this koreas muslim brotherhood won skaf zero the problem is the military even if the juice is reliant now or

rearrange they control most forty percent of the egyptian economy egypt has no money i'm betting in the long run that date will last egypt cool apps in terms of being practically default a game maybe later to rearrange another egyptian military coup and go back to power . and you're with r t thanks for being with us if you've missed anything don't worry i'll recap the headlines coming up in about a minute. you

know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm charging welcome to the big picture.