doing the u.s. must stop persecuting whistleblowers aiming to shed light on the crimes of the powerful. hundreds. hundreds of police. coming up in just. three members of the feminist punk band pussy riot in jail for two years before their. verdict resonated across the world sparked demonstrations for and against the women in russia. prominent human rights activist. jailed for three years while the equal rights movement gains momentum in the gulf states. and the united nations observer mission wraps up its four month long presence in syria citing increasing violence reports british intelligence. regime.

and broadcasting live from our studios in central moscow this is r t glad to have you with us julian 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 a london embassy surrounded by british police who are ready to sweep him into custody if he set foot outside the building. reports from outside london. what's happened to the soft news be nothing left in a rally that was several speakers who came on the floor today 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 you in essence 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 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 rip the you kids diplomatic status and break in that 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 that could do it for holding the constitution of you know that constitution which includes a universal citizenship he thanked the stall for 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 that's just terrible if that 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 quit before the world that it will not pursue journalists for shining shining a light on the secret crimes of the powerful. i'm very lucky to be joined now by one of those whistle players craig murray who has the full bush's ambassador to as pakistan and a whistleblower himself he blew the whistle on government abuses and involvement in torture craig thanks very much for talking to us now what do you think julian

assange case tells us about the treatment of whistleblowers. i think of course and leave there's a long history of whistleblowers being smeared and charged with crimes under later today it was all blowing because obviously it's quite difficult for states to convict people of telling the truth about states' misdemeanors so what you do is ruth a member. of a charter school you often sexual charges because were 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 of the foreign office attitude in general while upon officers law and in its attempts to back down because it's found to solve so diplomatically isolated it most certainly did say about both in person and in writing to the government of ecuador. at 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 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 he. first time he wants media interview in which he said that as a student who used to drink fourteen points of beer a day i think he must have done twenty eight pints of beer before coming up with a threat to stormy or could or an embassy. it would your decision to grant political asylum is being closely monitored in the us washington has not admitted it's planning to request a soldier's extradition but a number of american politicians are holding back some going so far as to demand assad be tried and executed or to report my 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 equating julian assange 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 a fearsome reputation than any of his predecessors many journalists scholars and activists in the u.s. have signed a letter of support for julie to 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 even gauged 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 anja many do as the publisher similar to the new york times chilliness and is 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 owed to me hoping to go after julian songs 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 or teasin reporting from new york now while under house arrest in london 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 doors of president rafael correa while some of the others had never appeared on international television before you can catch every episode of julian assange interview show on our website and our song star team 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 in if they're saying you basically have enough energy and if i have any delusion if i would just open that one this morning because i knew that everything she would usually. have to their trial hit headlines around the world a global audience who is watching as madea. tolokonnikova and you cut it in a somewhat sea of each found out their fate for their performance in a 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 because the drill 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 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. fannin 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 they achieved their goal of. becoming really world famous by doing what they did and when they are released they will in fact travel the world to become famous they have achieved their goal after the two years sentence for hooliganism motivated by religious hatred was handed down the on line response heated up 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. moscow the pussy riot sentence has 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 gatherings backing the band were staged across the globe manget a professor of political science at innsbruck university believes some media are using the course he writes scandal to support their own stereotypes. of course you write them and it was according to my view of inappropriate behavior it was well i mean or if you want to protest your leadership or want to produce even a party out you can use are also the church that should know in a place which is still here to russian version of this and believes what to me because you're right it's an extremely good selling story here you have three young women fifty eight considered pretty small children and they are now fighting the

beast and mr putin who has a very very bad for education i'm on the west public so that's a story you can sell pretty well for many of the media it's it's simple to sell the right secondly for many europeans and even more still for people in the west are still there all stereotype of russian being the enemy and he only in society but their interests aren't so by by addressing the the the problem between religious and political leadership and these women you always refer to this tradition. a prominent human rights activist has been jailed for three years in bahrain nabila 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 reform and an end to what they call religious discrimination reigns voile family has been accused of brutality and suppressing of

the rallies with police reportedly using a tear gas and rubber bullets on armed protesters journalist and author afshin rattansi says ago western support for the bahraini monarchy exposes their fear of genuine democratic movements in the country. a responses indicative of a policy that is from someone argued 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 export 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 capital of the world meanwhile they're being grown pre's 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 arrests twenty physicians sentence for trying to heal the people injured and killed by this bahraini leapt into. well as always our team is working twenty four hours a day seven days a week to provide you with the best stories and pictures from around the world find them on our website our team has a pretty look at what's going to be there right now. big brother not only has his eye on you but he's listening in as well and it's legal american police are now allowed to track mobile phones and gather users g.p.s. private data without court warrants. cursing an enemy with a hacksaw or finding a charm to make your lover forever faithful has just become a little harder. has banned the sale of all forms of magic.

a drug addict's death in the u.k. from the anthrax infection sparks fears of a europe wide epidemic. the united nation observer mission in syria has ended three hundred un personnel are set 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 is now overcoming divisions within the security council that undermined the efforts of his predecessor meanwhile president assad has made a rare public appearance at a damascus mosque where he performed. prayers his outing 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 a no fly zone over the country is needed however insists this could be a recipe for disaster on a boycott has been following developments in syria for us and she says that the ongoing 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 tank or under which 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 precisely 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 quoted an f.s.a.

monger 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 of 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 that the same groups that must terror tactics and bomb making skills on iraqi civilians on the u.s. soldiers in iraq and now applying the same expertise here in syria it's not going to r.t. reporting from damascus in syria. reports that suggested the us and some of its

western allies are seeking to build a more direct links with the rebels while trying to distance themselves from the syrian national council dr ibrahim from the 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 outlaws smugglers there are muslim brothers there are 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 cross at 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. thirty two people have been arrested in libya in connection with recent bombing attacks in

tripoli officials claim those arrested were part of an organized network of gadhafi loyalists the group is believed to be responsible for the twin blasts that targeted the military academy and of the interior ministry in the libyan capital security forces managed to defuse two more car bombs comes one year after the fall of the city. the rebel forces. in an international affairs analyst says armed as lists may be the real force behind the text. we can see that there is uncertainty there is the thing that you're coming from forces that are part of the both recognizing these political process that they're taking this could be a step progress report there so. that there is still that there are going to cause trouble. of course there might be or there are at least two days let me see the fair bit it will reveal i think they killed it their second state of the red cross it because see for instance. the east. is used

to european souldiers if a war a type of group would be this is something will fight this is. a great. western. grow up he also recruited by all that they say shows success sort of type of cop but these are the type of like what there are so these rebel fighters maybe truly with regard to leave you know i have followers. they don't like a western style system they certainly are going to challenge it so it could be that his followers it could be there is let me just as well. now to some other stories making headlines around the world this hour. demonstrations 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 japanese nationalists raised their country's flag over the contested islands protesters shouted slogans calling on

tokyo to back down on its claims burned flags and attacks japanese restaurants and cars. a court in china has sentenced the wife of former high ranking politician to fourteen years in jail for killing a british businessman during the trial of a group that lasted just seven hours to poisoning her former long term business partner last november after he allegedly threatened her son husband boasts eli who's under investigation on separate charges was being considered as a possible candidate for the chinese leadership the case came to light when a former police chief fled to a u.s. consulate and expose the cover up of the murder. muslims across the world are celebrating the first day of the festival which marks the end of the fasting month of ramadan it's a day to go to mosques pray visit and to congratulate relatives and friends and give to charity the past month has been

a time of spiritual improvement for muslims which is believed to be achieved through fasting and devoting more time to prayers and reciting the koran. in russia millions of muslims are also celebrating the end of ramadan or to jacob grieve take a look at how this holiday was 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 to hens of thousands of people normal less aligning the surrounding streets in the listening service 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 dish day shelf theater now actually translates as the breaking of the fast so we can expect many thieves to be taking place in moscow and around russia with friends and family now

those have been somewhat marred by watch transpired late saturday evening in the russian republic of dagestan there 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 so is have managed to fuse that bomb threats. artistical groups reporting for us there thanks for being with us we'll be back with the headlines in just a moment we're watching arctic. magine

as a match that the devil watches show every single. and waiting for you to stumble. i saw a man with a video camera so i moved over and he followed me with you know we realized there were following everyone from early in the morning. the only chance to get rid of him. is to reveal him.

me devil operation on our chief. goal for the future science technology innovation all the latest developments from around russia we've got the future. covered. my name is richard davis i'm an architectural photographer from london and i've been traveling in russia for the last ten years on a project fed rough wooden chair choose obviously i fell in love with the trenches

they are extraordinary ok it's a beautiful opiates and the church is is a religious monumental obviously but it's also an object of wonder you know it's something that people can look around and it opens their eyes it. can be achieved by using your imagination. starting here. or going global and now pulling fire. log and. looking. choose your place take your stand. to. make your statement. split the lawyers.