the declaration of war that is how syrian officials have described the latest israeli air strike at a military research center near damascus was pummeled with rockets early sunday morning the arab league has condemned the strike demanding action from the u.n. calls for an end to the arms embargo on the opposition think peace in the region is now under threat. court has sentenced thirty one protesters to fifteen years in jail for throwing fire bombs during the jima riots last year. and live from our studios in moscow this is r.t.m.

sean thomas glad to have you with us. now syria says israel has effectively declared war after its planes bombed targets in damascus the second airstrike in as many days syrian officials say missile batteries have been pointed at israel and according to unconfirmed reports it will be launched in case israel strikes again syria's state media says israeli rockets targeted a military research center on the outskirts of the capital video footage and i witness accounts suggest of the attacks hit weapons dumps triggering a large explosions syria says a number of people were killed and wounded amid widespread destruction the arab league has condemned the strikes and demanded u.n. security council act to stop any further attacks meanwhile a t.v. station run by a lebanon's hezbollah militant group showed images of what it claims was the site of an israeli air strike in syria this unverified footage was reportedly taken at the site of a military research facility in after the attack but the center itself appears not

to have been hit a strike apparently left a major road filled with debris and shell casings artie's middle east correspondent paula slayer has more. tension on the ground is increasing and increasing by the hour the syrian information minister. said after a special cabinet meeting that syria will not accept a breach of its sovereignty all of its security and that all options were on the table syrian officials say that they've turned syrian artillery also to face towards israel the syrian deputy foreign minister finds allowed mcduck said the alleged israeli attack on syria is addictive ration of war now make that has said that syria will retaliate against israel in its own time and in its own way meanwhile iran which has a defense agreement with syria says it will respond to alleged israeli airstrikes on sunday morning and it's also urging neighboring countries to stand up to its

radius mission we haven't heard anything so far from the israeli government the israeli military also continues to refuse to either confirm or deny the reports that are detect syria in the early hours of sunday morning israel however has declared the north of this country a no fly zone to the civilian flights this is a precaution that's also a way of defusing the situation and for allowing it to be allowing for the iron dome defense missile system to be put into place the iron dome is being deployed in the north of israel it's aimed at protecting northern israeli cities from short range missiles that could be fired from either levanon all syria or both the mayor of haifa which is israel's largest city in the north is also taking steps to potentially increase the level of readiness of the city's citizens meanwhile the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu held an emergency security cabinet meeting that meeting adjourned without any statements in fact the only statement we've heard from the israeli prime minister was after his weekly cabinet meeting on

sunday morning and he did not comment on the strikes the only thing he said was reiterating his commitment to israel's security they were earlier the force that a senior and named israeli official conversion confirmed that tel aviv was responsible for sunday's strikes that would be the third strike inside syria that israel has carried out since january this year. egypt has condemned the israeli air strikes on syria with the arab league also demanding action from the un security council the league says that there has been a dangerous a violation of an arab state sovereignty article two of the united nations charter bans of the use of force against the territorial integrity of any state and u.s. white house spokesman meanwhile said that obama feels israel is justified in its concerns over the threat from hezbollah or he's going to change a can in washington and probably boyko in london told us more about the reaction coming from the u.k. and the united states. the u.k.

foreign secretary has said that this latest israeli air strike is making the case stronger for lifting the e.u. arms embargo on the syrian opposition according to william hague this recent escalation of the conflict shows that there's a real risk that the violence could spread outside of syria and into the wider middle east of course this isn't the first time that the u.k. has called for an end to this e.u. arms embargo in fact it's become somewhat of a regular occurrence this is just the latest reason that they're citing for providing extra assistance to the syrian opposition and we know that germany has to provide extra weapons to provide weapons to the syrian opposition we also know that yes the united nations have big reservations about it they say that flooding the region can only create more violence underscores many international observers have been keen to point out that arming the syrian rebels could have some very

dangerous consequences for the wider region and for israel of course as well a lot of people are still very wary of what took place in libya the libyan scenario when weapons flooded out from gadhafi is army and into mali and algeria into neighboring countries there's still a lot of problems to do with that so it's a lot of countries are very fearful about making that mistake again guyon so you know are there any indicators that the you are about israel's attacks in advance the u.s. and israel according to both governments work very closely in terms of intelligence gathering so it is difficult to believe that washington didn't know anything about israel's plans to bomb damascus the question that is very much unclear at this point is whether the strikes were really about has a lot whether it was an intervention into the civil war in syria the sources in the u.s. government on the officially call for him to strike just as they did. days ago and

said they were targeting weapons headed for hezbollah in lebanon sees it differently they see the strikes is an attempt to boost the morale as they say of the rebels whether or not the strikes were actually intended as an intervention into the syrian civil war they may affect it anyway there is another concern the strikes are based on some sequence information and also so what is heading somewhere you can tell will be if not washington have officially confirmed anything and many worry that we're stepping into the spirit gray area worse right against another country can be carried out in absolute secrecy the strikes come days after the u.s. defense secretary said washington is rethinking its position on or mean the rebels for defense secretary gates also say he personally has not decided whether he would be wise to provide weapons to the rebels he said the administration is looking at a range of options at the moment as you can see there is nothing definitive in the administration's remarks at this stage but put together the events of this week

which now include the israeli strikes may have created a certain momentum and this kind of momentum could actually bolster the forces on the ground and result in more violence in a country where it's already devastating israel has closed part of its airspace to civilian aircraft following those air strikes on syria but as asia times correspondent. escobar told my colleague bill dodd earlier the attacks are merely plan b. after the u.s. and other nations failed to accomplish their missions in syria. if anybody believes that any saying israel does in the middle east it does not go so the americans later you know group back to play in the garden go back to kindergarten it doesn't work like this in the real world they did it because they were concerted with the obama administration which is in a bind at the moment they cannot intervene directly in syria they know that the support for the so-called rebels all the different strands of the rebs is going

nowhere because their elected retreating instead of advent sing so israel with this provocation they're willing for a response either from syria either from hezbollah all or better yet from the point of view of the obama administration and israel from iran so if iran and syria don't do anything for them and they just wait you don't this will be seen as it is just a provocation but if there is you know the slightest bit of a response from either syria or iran that's the perfect prick text for what you need shock and awe against syria just how dangerous is the situation now is this really a sign of what everybody be worried about is the sparking of a regional conflict just briefly. yes absolutely and in fact this proves among other things how desperate this so-called coalition of the willi us brits friends saudi arabia qatar and turkey are with what's going on inside syria they were

expecting a government to collapse in a few months it's over two years it's still in place there are no major defections you know they still control the business classes in damascus in aleppo it's still there it could fight for a long time and they want a quick resolution so they use israel as a proxy it's the perfect foil you know and they can blame israel in fact the arabs the arab league which nowadays is a manics of the other blaming israel saudi arabia is into it as well because the u.s. the saudis and israelis they are actually arming the rebels as well they see that it's going nowhere ok let's activate plan b. let's start bombing syria and see if they respond earlier my colleague rory spoke to a mirror or in a correspondent for israel's newspaper he believes the airstrike is justified as a preemptive attack to ensure security. this is part of the israeli policy which you can describe as pounce but do not announce don't let the syrian regime transfer

its surface to surface missiles and surface to air missiles to cause vala but don't brag about it so while the reason the official confirmation you can take it almost as face value when you hear the us side confirm it officially what about the legality of israel bombing syria like this without even a un mandate i mean how do you expect the international community to react to this well be israeli and syrian governments have been paying a fragile cease fire for the last forty years however next door in lebanon the lebanese government does not control because of all of and because of all i want to take these arms from syria and position them with eleven and while you may say that flying over space is not exactly according to international law this is nick beaking and while there are

many reasons on other aspects to be critical of israeli policy it does seem that this time around it is quite balanced and is only trying to prevent and preamp further conflict so i'm sure you talk about the israeli airstrike passive explosions you call this a balanced reaction to unconfirmed reports that the syrian officials are moving surface to air missiles to hezbollah which they are denying at the time you call it balanced ok let me clarify first of all the reason of course and regrettably so a massacre going on in syria has gone on for the last two years with many thousands of people being killed others perhaps in the hundreds of thousands being uprooted and now being refused use across the border and what israelis trying to prevent. not to mention on war this is perhaps a minor price to pay. in order not to pay the bigger prize.

to kill e. and b. have a which will be wreaked by another lebanon war. but i now see what you have to say about the recent israeli air strikes on syria and you can make sure that you can log on to r.t. dot com to let us know what you think about what's going on the figures have been changing and through the course of the night let's take a look at the latest results here about forty four percent the largest group in blue carrying out western plans that's what israel is doing this clearly purple pink area here thirty three percent say that it's undeclared it war on syria now next level down orange sending a message to iran that's what israel is doing and then the smallest group in green this little seven percent group here says that israel is actually just defending itself against hezbollah. expert in middle east politics activist and head of the humanities department at philadelphia university tuffy maher says that any

retaliation from the syrian side to israel's actions will it lead to a war which will draw the entire region into it. i think that there is some kind of . some kind of correlation between the. fundamentalist. and the west the netto against the syrian regime and i think that what's happening is exactly in support of the spread and in support of the terrorists that. fighting against the syrian regime i think the state is getting into a situation where they want it war. at all prices with the big guns less of what's happening if it will be. a wall or anything else but if. by that the collaboration of the c.d.n. that this is announcing before and if syria have retaliated in any way i think.

vision that war is imminent as always our team in the newsroom is closely monitoring the developments in the region online at r.t. dot com and to later find out why dozens of bahraini protesters got a fifteen year jail terms and how europe marked may day with tear gas and water cannons all this and more after a short break. i am free to. every piece of metal. and every one of those who will step on red square on the ninth of may are ready. for the victory day parade. want the live coverage on our t.v.

. do we speak your language was anybody will or not a day in. your program seems documentaries in spanish what matters to you. a little turn to angle this story. here. spanish find out more visit actuality. and live from moscow this is our. court in bahrain has sentenced thirty one

protesters to fifteen years of imprisonment each they are all between sixteen and thirty four years of age and have been charged for carrying out fire bomb attacks during anti-government protests which engulfed the kingdom last year one of the lawyers claims his client was tortured to give a false confession the monarchy has been widely criticized for its own violent suppression of protests rallies parties those who cast off as more this group of thirty one protesters as you said is aged roughly between sixteen and thirty four so you can imagine for the sixteen year olds this is an incredibly have to sentence they all come from island in the northwest part of the country which has been the hotbed of protests that have rocked bahrain since early twenty nine eleven now these protesters have been sentenced on a range of charges including for example setting a car on fire protesting possession of petrol bombs and also attempted murder this is according to the lawyers but the protesters denied these charges to say that they're innocent and they in fact claim that they were coerced into confessing in

order to get these charges now the background to all of this is these. escalating protests that we've seen in bahrain that as i mentioned began in two thousand and eleven basically what you have is ongoing unrest with the majority of shiites in the country demonstrating and demanding a greater voice in the political system that has been ruled by the sunni monarchy ruled in many ways with an iron fist as protesters allege and so what began as peaceful gatherings people taking to the streets to protest has really transformed into what we've seen in many cases a brutal crackdowns by the police with tear gas being used mass arrests of protesters in fact one of the most best known cases of people when the regime essentially cracking down on some of the protesters was the case of the builder of job who was actually interviewed here in our t.v. by julian assange and in august twenty twelve he was actually sentenced to three years in jail for participating in one of these protests so a lot of human rights activists say that this is untenable situation that these these people are really stepping out to demand democracy but they've really been

met with an iron fist so of course continue to wash see how this situation develops but it's quite possible that these this sentence sentencing of these thirty one protesters could spark fresh arrest in that country geo political analyst eric draitser says bahrain has had ties with the u.s. give the kingdom's rulers freedom to deal with the way they see fit. but the people of bahrain have been ruled by one single family of a minority in the country so you're talking about the vast majority of the country having lived in a state of disenfranchisement for their entire lives and they see and remember that bahrain was in many ways the the kernel at the very beginning of the arab spring and the struggle that has continued in bahrain since that early part of two thousand and eleven gets no attention in the western media primarily because as i and many people listening already know bahrain is

a client of saudi arabia which is a client of the united states bahrain houses the u.s. fifth fleet bahrain is central to the u.s. imperial plans for the region and for that reason the democracy upsurge in bahrain has been marginalized while the fraudulent uprising in syria has been glorified this illustrates the hypocrisy of the united states and the hypocrisy of its policy in the region and we've got more news for you online including the mystery of an antonov a n two plane which disappeared off radar as last june has been solved the debris of the crash the aircraft was found in the urals tyga forest authority dot com for the full story. plus more sports woman from saudi arabia could soon reach the olympic podium as the ultra conservative kingdom approves a progressive reform which will allow female students to take sports classes more details on our website. is week workers around the world are joined

a day of protests against unemployment poor salaries and violations of their rights a number of may day rallies in particular made the headlines first we go to turkey where you can see the video here there is much violence with police resorting to tear gas and water cannons against angry crowds at least twenty eight people there were injured and dozens were arrested. and then these pictures here in spain from barcelona where the rally was also marred by clashes with police thousands took to the streets in spain protesting austerity and unemployment which is at record highs may day protesters marched in athens as well all part of a twenty four hour walkout following the recent cutback of fifteen thousand public sector jobs and it comes as the e.u. faces a prospect of another year of a recession and job losses according to the latest forecasts let's take a look at those right now these are the three countries with the highest

unemployment rates in the euro zone in greece over twenty seven percent of the workforce is out of a job while in spain one in every four is unemployed sport portugal's rate not far behind at seventeen point five percent artie's ties are silly it has a looked into how people across europe are dealing with skyrocketing unemployment and found out that leaving their country is a popular choice. the unemployment rate in the years old has recently reached a record twelve percent and for those twenty five and below in countries like spain and greece that number is as high as more than fifty percent with very little signs of any economic improvement now for those who are looking for a job that search is no longer just about trying to find work many are now trying to leave their home countries. like need. a biology graduate from italy now working in a shelter in brussels and the situation in italy was actually. because the only thing it was able to get is

a really short contract for like three months or six months with absolutely no possibility of growing out in an industry or in the laboratory anything most most of them were totally hate and you can't really think of your future he says it wasn't a walk in the park in beijing either as many companies for the. while working knowledge of both french and dutch a barrier that may be hard to overcome but perhaps still more attractive for some the going back home i read. in two thousand and twelve. in the person the person of young people who emigrated from italy and grew up by thirty forty percent in two thousand and twelve and read john know what will be into towns in africa and it's not just e.u. citizens feeling the pinch foreigners would come to europe to seek new

opportunities starting their will businesses and building their lives have now we're also changed their minds fred's iana this meant leaving greece and going all the way back to their native ecuador and while homesickness was the initial reason for the move she has no regrets about making that decision is expected also many foreigners decided to leave grace and move to countries like germany and switzerland but the greeks who stayed behind are saying that the situation is really difficult there for instance servicemen he used to get one and a half thousand euros are now paid just one hundred m. out place has been open for two years even though still new i believe we have very good prospects for the future and this is something she says just isn't possible in europe right now to trend if you look at the figures in countries like ardent some people argue that a whole generation has left and perhaps for good you're not going to i don't think

so i believe rather stay here for one time does so sylvia our team brussels the face of british politics appears to be changing with some unexpected results coming out of the local elections this week the anti e.u. anti establishment u.k. independence party picked up a quarter of the votes propelling it from the margins into a real force let's take a closer look ukip. gained one hundred thirty nine seats in local elections that's up from just eight previously the labor party finished two hundred ninety one seats up the two coalition parties were badly hit with the liberal democrats losing one hundred twenty four seats and the conservatives are down three hundred thirty five seats and they're left to contemplate how to get their frustrated voters back from ukip prime minister david cameron is now planning to focus on the main issues of ukip program e.u. membership and immigration in his speech outlining the government's

a legislative plants r.t. asked of the deputy leader of the u.k. independence party paul not all if he felt the conservative party was about to wrestle the initiative away from them. david cameron is committed to the european union we know that because he said if that is it that friends and he will campaign to stay in and if you're members of the european union you can't control your own borders so we have a problem in this country where we have twenty two percent youth unemployment a million kids in britain who are going to weigh every day and what about to open our borders all to twenty nine million remaining in a bulgarians when restrictions for all on january first income earners are permitted that is not a good can do about that so quite frankly we're not worried that he's going to park his tank on are because he simply can't we will take a seat in the house of commons if not two seats before the general election in two thousand and fifteen if we continue on our opera trajectory and by elections i mean we are finishing second and a lot of by elections now particularly in the north of england and i think that we

can eventually take a seat in a byelection but let's not forget that a big elections next year the european elections take place in june two thousand and fifteen these are the elections that we will win i genuinely believe we will send more any peace back to brussels than any other party and then in two thousand and fifteen ukip will be standing in every single constituency and we will be putting up a good fight if we enter the election on double digits ahead of the liberal democrats we have leadership debates in this country and nigel farage will be on those leadership debates and he will wipe the floor with clegg cameron banns mania will start. coming up later on our t.v. christ is risen risen indeed that's the chant that rang out in churches orthodox churches saturday night as easter kicked off with baking cakes and decorated eggs our special report from the midnight service is coming up after a break. download

the official publication. choose your language stream quality and enjoy your favorite. if you're away from your television just doesn't matter now with your mobile device you can watch on t.v. anytime anywhere. you. should. feel.

welcome back here with our team while u.s. president barack obama is pushing for tighter gun control laws those opposing the idea are pledging to never surrender at their annual meeting the national rifle association said the fight against the proposed legislation on extended background checks is far from over and as our reports from texas they are not short of support. the national debate over gun control may be among the most divisive issues in the united states but it's also proving to be a p.r. success for america's largest and strongest kind of rights organization

approximately seventy thousand people have turned out for the national rifle association's annual meeting taking place here in houston texas those in attendance are not allowed to fly any of the weapons or admonition but they certainly are allowed to pick up the guns hold them in their hands aim them and get a good deal of what these weapons are all about for the kids there are air guns that the kids are allowed to shoot also virtual gods to play with and recent weeks u.s. president barack obama's first furthering gone control legislation failed in the senate that effort of course was for strengthening the background checks but when you hear from the people that turned out they say that they will stand behind the n.r.a. to continue to fight any efforts washington makes on furthering gun control legislation make it shows americans feel. free to second amendment. most in this show

are supporting the n.r.a. because they are a backbone for believing in fighting for our rights former vice presidential candidate sarah palin and texas governor rick perry are among the long list of names of pro-gun conservatives that addressed crowds throughout this three day of that all those that spoke accuse president obama of leading a vicious attack against the second amendment now the n.r.a. is c.e.o. wayne la pierre referenced last month's boston terrorist attacks asking the audience how many bostonians wish they had gone two weeks ago as an unprecedented manhunt for the bombing suspects was underway now ironically as the u.s. leader has been making his efforts to strengthen gun. laws sales have been a creep increasing and membership to the n.r.a. has been expanding so while the issue of guns for means very divisive for the

nation so far in this ongoing political battle of the n.r.a. he's clearly proving itself to be strong enough to go up against and defeat the president of the united states reporting from houston. r.t. on to some more international news in brief for you this hour at least nine people have been killed and dozens injured in a series of attacks in and around baghdad the first attack occurred when a bomb went off near a mosque in the western suburbs of the iraqi capital leaving one person dead six people were killed after another blast near an internet cafe in a sunni neighborhood and south of baghdad the mayor of mahmudiyah and his son were killed in their house by an unknown gunman the attacks come amid heightened sectarian tensions the left forty people dead last week. in paris tens of thousands of protesters marched against economic austerity to mark the end of president francois hollande first year in office the france on the edge of

recession and unemployment at an all time high alond has also suffered a sharp fall in popularity for his support of gay marriage thousands also staged a protest against a gay marriage bill that was recently passed by the french parliament. at least four people have been killed and dozens injured after a hardline islamist clashed with police in bangladesh's capital. and traders are blocking roads and stones at police officers as they called for strict anti-drug laws. were the forces fired rubber bullets. to disperse protesters were demanded because the bloggers that caused public uproar earlier this year. thousands took to the streets of tripoli to support a new a bill banning gadhafi era officials from a government post soon after it was passed by the libyan parliament the move could unseated the prime minister and other top officials despite their role in toppling the dictator politicians debated the bill for months but it came to

a head after heavily armed groups took control of two ministries and stormed other institutions including the state broadcaster earlier this week. six people have reportedly been injured in the city of east palo alto in california by an unknown gunman who fired several times from inside a car passing by a mcdonald's restaurant a child around the age of six is among the victims one of whom was taken to a hospital with serious injuries medics say he is in stable condition orthodox easter has begun vigils held saturday night kicked off a week of celebration. and here's how sunday school students in one town outside of moscow marked. by joining in a religious procession of the tradition was launched more than

a decade ago children prepared for their easter parade during the fast of the fast constructing handmade symbolic banners but the most exciting part of the celebration was the traditional might service at moscow's main cathedral and. christ is friesen the phrase our two dogs read each other with the celebration continues early on saturday. in the church of the holy sample in jerusalem and the fly is described to our two dogs believers as a miracle that happens alfre year on the eve of the easter celebration later that fire is distributed to the r.v. docks countries including. russia serbia drew and many others and it was also brought to russia. in moscow. and was later delivered to the christ deceivers which is read more our two dogs cathedral in the country and that's where the main

easter service was taking place this service to begin shortly before midnight on saturday chris and believers holding candles and carrying around the cathedral. glory following the resurrection of jesus christ and service lasted for several hours and well into the early hours of sunday it was also a time to buy the russian president vladimir putin plan was to meet me and really despite what about one of those today as it was pouring with rain throughout saturday still hundreds of people he was here to turn this special night service easter is a pretty city. why quite a long period of beavis abstain from meat ax fish and products for eight days the state and stunting grain on this night so this is done by the easter

sunday that's one b. this give each other holy the period and special russian easter bread which is cool to each it is really a very special moment on this special day for millions of our two dogs to believe recent around the globe as they celebrate the most important day in the arctic docs calendar. this week the united nations human rights office a branded the treatment of detainees at guantanamo bay as torture it says indefinite detention and force feeding constitute inhumane treatment and violate international law the un experts called on the us to either charge or release the prisoners this comes as more inmates join the grueling three month hunger strike at the american facility in cuba the plight of the prisoners there as up to the pressure on washington to shut down what president obama called a legal no man's land american military admits the total number of protesters is now more than one hundred but lawyers for the captive say the actual figure is even higher. represents one of the guantanamo inmates she believes the u.s.

could end the crisis just by showing some basic respect for religious beliefs. the prisoners are all right in the heart of been on strike since february sixth he has chosen not to eat. from the car impertinence of going to terms and forcing someone to do what they don't want to do or else now strapping armed groups here and sticking to that there are no errors. in europe it was for their own. counsel yesterday we are hoping for and richardson. next week and he remains committed to you. continuing to protest not so hard. at the base but now also force feeding the prisoners and his indefinite detention without any sort of record this problem could be resolved with something as simple

as. meeting with and talking to the prisoners as discussing with them what it is it's going to take and the hunger strike and it's as simple as allowing them to return their qur'an or to not have their current search that they haven't been hearing that for many years we finally heard from president obama he had been silent for many months many years now since he committed to close the prison we finally heard a renewed effort and your condemnation of the prisoner. with the ongoing mass hunger strike pressure is rising on president obama to deliver on his long running pledge to close guantanamo bay up next he's going to church again sits down with a member of a key u.s. think tank which has slammed washington's treatment of the detainees there.

and yet another step along the pointless anti gender crusade activists in sweden are pushing to promote a new gender neutral pronoun these activists want the term hen to replace the pronouns han and han which mean he and she respectively i think the logic of these bizarre gender neutral movements in the e.u. is that they really feel that it's awful to force someone into a role that doesn't fit them you know i can kind of see this i remember back to when i was a boy in school and with me there was a kid what kind of only female friends and i certainly wasn't the sports a toy trucks kind of kid if you understand what i mean you know i could see this guy having all those male stereotypes shoved down his throat you know made his life at school really unpleasant but the wacko liberal answer to some tiny amount of people being pushed into gender roles they don't like is to force everyone else into a genderless world they don't like fan asked stick i guess gender neutrality advocates can speak swedish how they like and they're free to use this word hen but don't force everyone in the country to do things your way the overwhelming majority of

the world is very happy with its gender thank you very much but that's just my opinion. wealthy british style suck. market why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max cons or a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines cons a report on our.

a legal research and advocacy group called the constitution project has produced a sweeping six hundred page report on u.s. interrogation and detention practices in the years after nine eleven the task force concluded that quote it is indisputable that the u.s. engages the in the practice of torture and that the nation's highest officials bore ultimate responsibility for that they also found no quote no for more persuasive evidence that these interrogation method it's produced valuable information that could not have been obtained by other beings present and former u.s. government officials who are part of the task force with me today is ambassador james jones who co-chaired the group who's also

a former pastor to mexico sir thank you so much for coming good to be with you thank you president obama at the very beginning of his presidency signed an executive order to stop torture but human rights organizations say indefinite detention itself is torture is it fair to say that the obama administration is engaged in torture now i don't think so i think he made a lot of good moves when he came into office and arks our situation our conclusion is doing things by executive order can be changed by the next president very easily and so the kinds of protections human rights protections that we're talking about should be done by the congress and should be part of the statutory. part of the you know laws of the united states not just executive order but yes it's much better than it was we still have some concerns about policy on the drones for example but the kinds of abuses that we've found over the years since the nine eleven do not

seem to be practiced these days what about indefinite detention without is this one where the were the our task force was unanimous we. just do not believe that it fits into the laws and the ethics and the values of. to have indefinite detention and to not allow a court of law and adjudication of charges against a person to be to go through an orderly process more than half of those detainees in guantanamo currently have already been cleared by the u.s. government that means all the intelligence the military the law enforcement and all the agencies involved have said there's no reason to hold these people and they still are indefinitely being detained in guantanamo we feel very strongly that they ought to be released and they are and that should be done immediately and the president we've called on the president to tell his secretary of defense to issue

that exact that order to release the defense lawyers argue that even with the transfer restrictions in place the law even now allows for the administration to use waivers to lease some of these men and get those waivers are not being used why probably politics comes into that. everything that. the loyal opposition wants to criticize the administration for being soft on terrorism or things like that so i think all those things go into the decision i don't know personally about being soft on the rule of law no i agree with it and that's our position that we should we should meticulously follow the rule of law that's what we preach all over the world we preach our values and we've actually prosecuted similar cases. against other countries who have not followed what we say we ought to do.