the saudi prince who defected from the royal family slams the gulf war nikifor widespread human rights abuses and a violent crackdown on the opposition in an exclusive interview with. saudi arabia's oppression of anti regime activists has intensified with the rest of the long jail sentences leaving the number of political prisoners in the country well over forty thousand. the latest leaks reveal only the likes of russia china and iran are ahead of america's allies on the n.s.a. spying list.

i welcome it's good to have your company you're watching r.t. coming to you live from moscow now in recent weeks saudi arabia has launched an offensive against anti regime activists arresting many and sentencing some years in jail the total number of political prisoners is now surpassed forty thousand according to some reports the crackdown is even forced a member of the ruling family to defect r.t. arabic spoke exclusively to saudi prince khaled bin. who accuses the morning of corruption and silencing all voices of dissent. the government is obviously scared of the arab revolutions and they responded as they usually do by resorting to oppression violence arbitrary law and arrest the easiest thing they can do is deprive you of your salary or fire you altogether so the ruling regime is not guarded by justice and this is especially true of the ministry of interior

there is no independent judiciary that has both police and the prosecutor's office are countable to the interior ministry the ministries officials investigate crimes they call them crimes related to freedom of speech so they fabricate evidence don't allow people to have attorneys things like that happen all over the place they even put people under arrest for an indefinite amount of time even if a court rules to release such a criminal or the ministry of interior keeps him in prison even though there is a court order to release him there have even been killings killings and as for the external opposition saudi intelligence forces by means people abroad there is no safety inside or outside the country could you describe these people who oppose the royal family and what are their goals opposition used to demand wider peoples representation in governing bodies more rights and freedom but the authorities

reacted with violence and persecution instead of a dialogue and now the opposition wants this regime gone but we both know that despite numerous human rights violations and saudi arabia your country seldom faced a straight decision from the west and from the united states in particular when senior u.s. officials meet with their saudi counterparts this think they can be any critical comments from washington visibly riyadh what the white house certainly does maintain a longstanding alliance with the leaders of saudi arabia cemented by common interests in the middle east to that end there are classified contacts between area the. the u.s. administration in recent time they've been employed to step up the government administered reforms but those reforms are not driven by the elites desire to empower the people of the kingdom of the instead they are merely urged by reforms that the regime might fall unless it reforms itself and oppression is widespread in saudi arabia there is no free speech no freedom of expression corruption is rampant in all areas

from the live a bureaucrat still hiring officials every civil servant is very skillful in using bribes in their operations. while the saudi regime's crank down remains largely ignored by the international community leaving it free to advise other regional powers and to move towards democracy or seize linsey friends takes a look at the country's own direct code of dealing with its internal democrats as saudi arabia violently squashes the voice of any opposition and we see it sitting front and center in discussions of the democratic transition of power within other countries such as syria on the one hand it reportedly ships arms to the opposition in syria on the other hand peaceful opposition in saudi arabia is answered with prison sentences torture even death for people who have voiced their own opinion in fact in october two thousand and twelve amnesty international called on the saudi authorities to stop using excessive force against pro-democracy protesters here are just a few examples from this year alone on june seventeenth me cliff mari was convicted

of sowing discord and other offenses through writings and exposure of human rights abuses he got five years in prison june twenty fourth seven men were convicted of inciting protests illegal gatherings and breaking allegiance with the king mostly by joining facebook pages and posting messages they each got between five and ten years in prison then we've got on the same day web site editor rafe badawi convicted of insulting islam and authorities through his website and during television interviews he was sentenced to seven years in prison and six hundred lashes in these conditions anyone with something substantial to say. a about the government society or religion would be blamed for keeping a low profile and this is where the man being called the saudi of songe comes in no one knows who he is what he looks like or where he lives his prolific tweets denouncing the ruling family as corrupt and enriching themselves from government coffers have earned him over a million followers he is known only as much to heat i spoke with him over google

chat to find out why he stays in hiding because it's not for safety i asked him why you remains anonymous he said ironically anonymity boost his credibility and courage of people to follow him and talk about his stories without worrying i asked if this meant that people could pay less attention to his biography and more attention to his message he pointed out there were can destroy your credibility easily and deter people from dealing with you if your identity is public. to heat is forced underground a new monarchie backed religious diversity center has launched its own charm offensive in vienna according to its mission statement it encourages dialogue among followers of different religions and cultures king abdullah has also announced a donation of one hundred million to set up a united nations center for fighting terrorism one of its four pillars is to prevent conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism and ensuring respect for human rights so while the king's clerics preach

a hardline form of islam that often becomes a breeding ground for extremism saudi arabia is assuming a moral high ground in advising other nations in transitional democracy a little escobar who's a correspondent for the asia times explained to me how he thinks society ruse of trying to extinguish the flame of the arab spring. basically it's carrot and stick carrots in the form of a sixty billion dollar handout program by king abdullah at the beginning of the arab spring in two thousand and one the saudis were horrified by the beginning of the arab spring in neighboring bahrain so they bribe their own subjects number one number two this stick is against the shiite minority roughly ten percent of saudi arabia who lives in the eastern province that's where most of the oil is by the way they don't want to bring down the house of sal that essentially they want more participation of the judiciary not answering to religious powers in basically more

democratic freedoms this is not going to happen in saudi arabia period nor in the other g.c.c. go for cooperation council petro monarchies as well so it's an enormous a paw kristie they say to the americans and they sell the war that they are intervening in syria for a more democratic syria post assad and inside saudi arabia it's the sunni shiite divide and they go against ten percent of their own population. well germany has come under fierce criticism over its arms sales to saudi arabia and other gulf countries with poor human rights records billions weapons exports to the gulf monarchies have almost tripled in just two years as these figures show from five hundred seventy million euros in twenty eleven to almost a billion and a half in twenty twelve an angler merkel's government has approved weapons exports of more than eight hundred million euros in the first half of the shia suggesting

the level will continue to grow the six countries in the region berlin sells weapons to are saudi arabia bahrain catarrh kuwait oh man and the united arab emirates several of which have seen government crackdowns on anti regime protesters since the arab spring saudi arabia is the biggest buyer security hardware worth one point two four billion euros was sold there last year or so in two thousand and twelve amnesty international claimed that german made small firearms ammunition and military vehicles were commonly used by middle east in a north african regimes to suppress peaceful demonstrations. within the last hour i spoke to our. executive director of the burden based transform group which studies conflicts and political developments and he told me there are other dangers to increasing arms sales to the gulf besides their possible use against protesters with also buying clothes from the worst so birth of ensuring the maintenance of

the legitimacy and standing rule spending massive amounts of money or even worse than the commons and here we are now. just through the movie you will remember false or small arms arms. weapons of mass destruction there is absolutely you know we feel that the weapons being shipped legally countries like saudi arabia or even you do not fall into the hands of the. so williams will end up going down to the third or. fourth samplings from durham we. assure. you we did go to egypt next also in libya during a good living in a room that had been all along for the i'm good absolutely always of knowing how these were things going up there. is still plenty to come over the next twenty

minutes including yanking democracy washington's program to broadcast its values directly to keep ins goes off air is vital budget cuts grand the plane helping to transmit a signal heard by no one plus hungary's ready to push his international credit is out after settling instead and the sheer financial stability on it saying these stories coming up in a few minutes. as the media leave us so we leave the media. by the scene motions to the play your

part of the physical. issues that no one is asking with the guests that you deserve answers from it's all politics. are today. right to see. her struggle. and i think. on our reporters. it's coming up to quarter past twelve hey in moscow here with a supporters of egypt's toppled president mohamed morsi are waiting for security

forces to raid their protest camps in cairo the army has warned it is ready to disperse the crowds taking part in cities raising the specter of more violence in the egyptian capital police is said to be about so you cordon off protest sites to stop anyone else entering morsy supporters have built barriers in the parent me prepared gas masks to protect themselves against a gas violence has been common since a military coup on july the third with up to three hundred killed in clashes involving the police and army. all reportable true is by one of the protest camps at the moment in one of her latest tweet she says volunteers have been holding drills to guard the crowds from any kind of intervention or to stay up to date with the very latest in cairo you can head online to follow bell on twitter. right to see. her street. and i would think that your.

on a reporter's twitter. and instagram. keeping an eye on washington's own allies including the e.u. is a key priority for the u.s. national security agency just behind the likes of russia china and iran that's been revealed by german magazine der spiegel which has seen documents leaked by fugitive u.s. whistleblower edward snowden peter all of a look at who ranks where on the n.s.a.'s watch list. well the latest information to come out about the n.s.a. spying scandal is being published in news magazine here in germany now the. documents that were leaked by edward snowden and dated from april of this year now

those documents outlining just the extent of how the united states was spying on e.u. countries now the twenty eight member states it says were looked at in terms of foreign policy international trade and economic stability apparently security related but those were the the areas in which the n.s.a. pursued the hardest now there was also spying taking place and information being gathered with regards to technology and energy as well now also revealed in these documents that have been put forward in news magazine show a breakdown of the countries which the n.s.a. targeted the most now they split into a couple of key is of importance now in the in the top to have countries like china russia iran pakistan and north korea but just underneath that you have countries like germany france and japan all nations that consider themselves allies and close allies of that of the united states now these revelations as they continue to come

out from those huge bundles and bundles and bundles of information that edward snowden brought with them when he when he fled from the national security agency from the contractors that he was working with continued to turn up a a treasure trove of information about just what was going on in these most recent documents seem to back up previous leaked documents that showed that the n.s.a. was spying on the e.u. e.u. offices both in brussels as well as around the world now when those when that information was released in magazine a few months ago well that caused outrage across europe and we're seeing more of that now as these latest revelations come out that the e.u. was seen as a. the target for spying by the united states. the n.s.a. spying tentacles could be reaching out from the u.s. embassy in moscow according to sources from inside russian intelligence online we've got the full story of the system known as x.

keyscore which can watch everything internet users in moscow are sending or looking at going head to r.t. dot com for more on the story and also on our web site you can go to that to find out when long snowden plans to visit his son in russia where he's been granted temporary political asylum. hungary is about to pay off its debt to the international monetary fund and then wants the creditor gone the country was saved by the washington based drink with a twenty five billion dollar loan five years ago but isn't renewing the aid in order to avoid closer scrutiny of its policies alexy. pest is cutting legs. and family can now enjoy picking a pram for their soon to be born child when the global recession reached the country they struggled to repay their mortgage but thanks to a government support program there are now belongs to them and they've saved at least ten thousand euro. to the island and they're

a critical situation. is now quite strong so. there are lots of steps but look at hungary's economy of late and you'll be hard pressed to find much to be optimistic about the economy is now failing better than during the recession but still most of the important development figures are in their goods of territory while inflation is even higher than in the crisis years the country's opposition firmly believes hungary would stagnate without a good reason that the recipient of you funds and this is very important ninety seven percent. of order new developments today finance from e.u. money however seeing what's happening in greece and spain budapest is not keen on grabbing the hands of the international lenders and in this case it goes beyond merely the bravado rhetoric often voiced by the country's prime minister. thirty

steps between the building of the national bank of hungary and the head office of the international monetary fund in budapest but that is as close as they get a letter from one building to another at the end of july said that hungary no longer required the services of the i.m.f. and that its employees must leave the country as soon as possible the country's deputy economics minister is tight lipped on any kind of openness still if he towards brussels or the knowledge is that it was the e.u. bureaucrats are offering this not the past his message is we can handle it on our own but a greece that. according to g.d.p. after two hundred structuring and averaging is hundred sixty percent in hungary eighty percent the european average is know about eighty five per cent we are able to finance the public that on the market will have to introduce the reference which make a country more competitive and that is what we have done in the last couple of years and i think they are good basis to have an independent economic policy next

year hungary will host parliamentary elections and some say the hardline stance with the e.u. may be part of a political campaign by the right wing leadership but analysts are not ruling out that should government be reelected the prime minister may take his standoff with brussels to a completely new level by initiating a referendum on leaving the european union altogether. auntie reporting from budapest in hungary. in the syrian province of aleppo rebels have reportedly kidnapped a group of thirteen and given them to militants who are already holding around two hundred fifty of the hostage most of those being held were apparently captured last month by al-qaeda linked fighters because minority has become a frequent target for radicals fighting to bring down the government of bashar al assad one al qaeda group pledged to turn northern syria which is densely populated

by kurds into an islamic state in response the president of a kiddish semi autonomous region in iraq has bagged to intervene to protect those affected hundreds of kurds have allegedly been slaughtered in recent weeks will there be exact number is hard to verify due to the chaos inside syria. some of the world news now al qaeda front group the islamic state of iraq has claimed responsibility for a string of saturday's blasts and here parts of the iraqi capital baghdad the explosions claimed a bath eighty lives in less two hundred fifty injured militants said the attacks were a response to this acuity forces operations the holy month of ramadan often sees a sharp rise in violence and this one has been the deadliest in this. in mali israel has approved a list of twenty six long term palestinian prisoners to be released tomorrow ahead of peace talks which resume this wednesday the move came amid a tough thing stance from both sides after israel announced another one thousand

two hundred certain homes will be built on palestinian land despite settlements being considered illegal under international law israel refuses to hold construction and the massive blaze at one of venezuela's largest state oil refineries has been put out there were no reports of casualties the fire was reportedly sparked by lightning that hit storage tank sending large plumes of black smoke into the sky last year an explosion at an other or refinery claimed fifty five lives. it is a half a billion dollar transmission to nowhere for decades america has been beaming its message of democracy directly into cuba including from a plane broadcasting over the island but the signal has been successfully jammed and washington is being forced to admit no one is listening. and explains.

all habits die hard having spent decades unsuccessfully attempting to undermine the cuban government the u.s. keeps trying washington finds a t.v. channel and a radio station that specifically target a cuban audience with programming that features prominent cuban dissidents what you are doing and i want to know. and projects like toward democracy which the channel's website advertises as a how to guide for transitioning from dictatorship to democracy all done in the hopes that one day the communist leadership in cuba will fall how soon do you think that's going to. world i hope probably three years we need to work really hard maybe the martine media are working very hard but the cuban public remains largely unaware of their efforts which have you ever heard of radio marti. no i know nothing about it. the marquee itself acknowledges the limited reach of its radio

and t.v. programs we'll have for any weight to reach with the information in the general queue of people becoming government jams the martys radio and t.v. signals to circumvent that the us has employed a variety of methods one of them arrow martini a plane that had been flying over cuba to transmit u.s. broadcasts the u.s. broadcasting board of governors that oversees iraq marty has asked congress to discontinue the program two years in a row admitting it has been a failure it's hard to believe we're still wasting millions of taxpayer dollars on beaming a jam t.v. signal that fewer than one percent of cubans can see from an airplane to the oil and i did time when u.s. lawmakers cut funding on social programs for a low workers at a time when we hear calls to defund u.s. public radio and television washington still spends millions of dollars every year on a media operation to overthrow the cuban government in washington i'm going to check

on. it's just gone twenty five past twelve times the sport. 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 is ok if you don't know i'm tom harpur welcome to the big picture. the mission of free cretaceous free in-store judges is free to arrangements free. three stooges free.

download free blogs just plug in video for your media projects a free media our teeth on tom. cut. hello and welcome i'm kate partridge and this is the r.t. weekly sports show half an hour of top sport from russia and all around the globe coming up let's start in the capital. lightning strikes olympic champion you saying bolt regains the one hundred meter world title as he overhauls justin gatlin to win

gold on a rainy night here in moscow. while looking up fabio capello's russia target top spot in group best as they prepare for wednesday's trip to northern ireland in their latest world cup qualifier. and the sky's the limit one hundred two one russian daredevils join together midday in two formations for another world record in the skies above moscow. but first athletics and after a spectacular fireworks display over the luzhniki stadium on to the start of moscow's maiden world championships it was you saying bolt who took center stage as the jamaican lived up to his nickname of the sprint king fighting off the rain to claim a blistering victory in the one hundred meters the heavens open just before the blue ribbon event despite lightning flashes filling the night sky all eyes were on the other bolt as the six time olympic champion powered past america's justin

gatlin to regain his crown with the season's best time of nine point seven seven seconds after full starting in daegu two years ago the twenty six year old was also off the new world record but he was still within move. forward better which is if. it was. you don't do it well but it was their words that win is always what i came here for to remark that for them to do so but . while the host nation claims their first goal courtesy of luca alexander even though of after the twenty year old prevailed in the twenty kilometer event on double olympic champion mo farah out won the men's to. one thousand meters after holding off title holder even him jay land of in on the final lap the thirty year old briton also aims to retain his title in the five thousand meters.

it is great to win here is the medal was missing for me two years ago second just and this year i won just so it makes the most and it is great for the sport but. i don't know what congress. well me while america took an early lead in the medal table after ashton eaton won the men's to castle and fellow olympic champion brittney reese dominated the women's long jump with a leap of seven meters and one centimeter and croatia's sundra perkovic won the women's discus do also repeat and london success. but before proceedings have got underway a group of athletes including defending a women's high jump champion and a cheater about visited the capital's iconic red square for a ceremonial start to the championships for what pole vault great set go booker was also on hand to on the men's world record holder back his female counterparts elaine is in by over to claim third world.