breaking news this. private bradley manning has been sentenced to thirty five years in prison after he was found guilty of handing america's secrets to wiki leaks. former egyptian president hosni mubarak will be set free after a court ordered his release despite a pending retrial over his involvement in mass killings during the two thousand and eleven revolution. a massacre or mass hysteria rebel claims that syria's government wants a major chemical attack near damascus denied by officials and locals accusations coincide with the arrival of u.n. investigators the top story this hour.

international news and comments live from. moscow it's just eight pm this is so to our breaking news that bradley manning has been sentenced to thirty five years behind bars the former private who leaked thousands of classified u.s. documents to wiki leaks we'll also be dishonorably discharged producer andrew blake was in the courtroom. colonel denise lynn just handed down a sentence of only thirty five years and i say only because private manning came into this case looking at potentially a life a life sentence he would have faced life had he been found guilty of aiding the enemy and then when the conviction was finally handed down a few weeks ago he was downgraded to a potential maximum sentence of only ninety years so thirty five years is really much less than a lot of people had expected and even the prosecution asked the court for a minimum of sixty three years ago that he was first picked up outside of baghdad iraq he was deployed as an intelligence analyst at the u.s.

army and he was arrested and charged with a number of crowds related to his admitted role with the anti-secrecy website wiki leaks manning earlier this year actually admitted yes over the course of a couple of months i uploaded and shared all sorts of files that were diplomatic state department cables guantanamo bay detainee assessment briefs documents from the afghan war the iraq war manning did all this he said because he wanted to lift the fog of war he wanted people to actually see how the u.s. people is behaving overseas and his revelations really did spark a lot of debate which is exactly what he wanted. regionally he said that he made these disclosures so that people can make informed decisions recently he also said you know maybe i took the wrong route he made a statement in court last week and said i there were other ways i could have done this perhaps you know who am i to think that a junior intelligence analyst could really change the world later on in the defense will begin the appeals process they plan on petitioning president obama to pardon p.f.c. manning and we'll have a little bit more details on that later in the day following a press conference this afternoon. when manning's cases sparked intense debate

within the u.s. as well as internationally he's going to come reports on whether americans see the whistleblower as the enemy or hero. bradley manning supporters we hear outrage on the one site i mean thirty five years murderers get more leniency and some sort of a relief on the other side he will not spend his whole life in prison but he certainly will be robbed of this youth as his lawyer put it many people support bradley manning because they support the public's right to know they don't necessarily support the fact that he broke the law but they realize that there are things that would have never been exposed to debate it had it not been for bradley manning now generally speaking americans don't care that much when it's about their government's wrongdoings abroad they care a bit more about domestic policies possibly that's why you don't see a huge percentage of support for manning in opinion polls but bradley manning may have actually gained more support in the wake of edward snowden's revelations more

and more people are starting to realize that the government will always be trying to sweep controversial issues under the rug u.s. troops may have never left iraq had the iraqi government granted them immunity from prosecution something that the obama administration was trying to negotiate around the same time bradley manning leaked all those eye opening files we wouldn't be having this conversation if it weren't for the leaks. well former. joins me live from disorder or to discuss manning sentence so thirty five years on me as a former agent do you think that. manning was justified to leak these documents bearing in mind he was of course a serving member of the military. well i think we go back to new in the principles here which is do you just follow orders even if they are crimes or do you stand by your conscience and i think all the international law that followed world war two shows that you are breaking the law if you just follow orders and do

illegal things so i think the stand he took the fact that he wanted to try and make a difference and he said this explicitly both privately and publicly he wanted to make a. he wanted to inform the world's people about the war crimes being committed he wanted to stop future illegal wars it was a noble thing to do i think he knew the risks he did a very brave thing to really make any difference though will be u.s. and other countries continue to pursue their foreign policy and military campaigns despite what has been revealed. while i think you already have made a difference not just in sparking a debate about some of these issues but also in accelerating the us withdrawal from some of the countries in the middle east militarily which will of course have saved further u.s. military lives as well as the lives of the people in those countries so i think he has already made a difference the fact that we are debating these sort of issues and we know that war crimes being committed particularly the revelation of the collateral murder

video which showed that innocent iraqi's and journalists were being shot up in some sort of sick snuff type video and also that the pentagon had lied about it for years has exposed the fact that we cannot trust our governments our military and our intelligence not to lie to us and not to commit war crimes i think that's very important i have to say though that thirty five years in prison for exposing war crimes of others is an incredibly high and vindictive sentence to give to a young man who acted on his conscience but he should be charged very should we not on people whistleblowers like bradley manning aren't above the law he did break for the ordinary. he does and he knew what he was doing but i think the response has been disproportionate so for example in the u.k. if you blow the whistle on the military and the intelligence agencies you face two years in prison even if you betray your country to a foreign and hostile power you face fourteen years in prison and yet he's facing thirty five years in prison for exposing the crimes of others which have yet to be investigated by the way so it's the disproportionality that is troubling i have to

say as well that i think there is a crying need as our countries get more and more involved militarily and with drone strikes and with extraordinary and dition and with torture and with cia kill lists there is a crying need now for some sort of avenue to be provided for young men and young women of conscience to come forward and say we are troubled by this we would like an investigation have to risk that the rest of their lives being locked up in a maximum security prison by doing that because they are actually providing a service to our democracies but you really believe that you mentioned the crimes of others but those who have been exposed as seemingly doing very bad wrong things will be held to account will there be any judicial process because after all these are authorities from government. well yes that is always the problem and they have been many many whistleblowers coming out of both the u.k. and the u.s. intelligence agencies over the last two decades and nothing much ever seems to

change and that is a problem i think for our democracies however it seems that new whistleblowers are learning from the mistakes of the others so for example with edward snowden his view was that the more draconian the pushback against whistleblowers the smarter the whistle blowers will get the more tactical it gets the more careful they will get about how they expose wrongdoing by our government and that's precisely what edward snowden started so i think you'll be seeing looked at the bradley manning case and you know the absolutely torture inhuman and unhuman and degrading treatment was meted out to him and he had his fish accordingly. facing him very obviously snowden is facing a very uncertain fate in the along with that sound and of course we've seen what happened to bradley manning you don't think that this sort of thing is a message to whistle blows it will not put them off or will actually encourage them . of course it's supposed to be a message whistleblowers to stop them from doing this in future however i think it will make them more determined i mean i'm sure there are young men and young women

sitting behind desks in intelligence agencies and the military in our country is now thinking well this is terrible what am i going to do about it and how do i survive the process and that is why it's so important there's a songe and snowden survive their processes and i think in the cases. the. jury that has been convened in virginia over the last two years the basis for trying to prosecute sondra ricky explores that bradley manning was aiding the enemy not bradley manning was acquitted of aiding the enemy which means that the publisher of his material cannot now be surely accused of aiding the enemy and being charged under the espionage act so i think this is a very interesting time for the attempts to try and prosecute the wiki leaks case in america as well only really interested here of course and thanks very much indeed an emotional live in the civil thank you what r.t.d. has been following bradley manning's trial very closely our web site r.t. dot com is keeping you up to date there you'll find the latest analysis and opinion on the case. former egyptian president hosni mubarak alstad from

power in the revolution of two thousand and eleven could be freed from prison as early as tomorrow the court has ordered his release as part of a case into allegations of corruption but mubarak still faces a retrial over claims he ordered the killing of protesters two years ago well for more we can now cross live to fill true she is joining us from cora so well how come the man who's been accused of ordering killing will now be free and just what sort of reaction are you seeing now amongst the egyptian people over this development. well this is actually a legal decision grounded on proper law even though it seems quite ironic that two and a half years after this revolution people are calling for. ouster and wanted him to be in jail he could be seen walking on the streets in the next forty eight hours basically hosni mubarak has been in detention in prison now for the next month the time someone can be detained without charge now because we're seeing

a retrial that means essentially the clock is being turned right back to two thousand and eleven before he started any of these trials so it's almost like he'd never been sentenced in the first place because he's already been in detention for several years now can't keep him in before he's actually sentenced now he has been in jail obviously because there been other charges against him you had charges in regards to corruption now that he's been acquitted of there's no reason to keep him jailed however he still have forty eight hours left for the prosecutor to basically appeal the decision to release him if they decide that he should be released and he will remain in jail almost see you know how long they'll keep him as that goes forward the reaction on the streets has been right largely mixed people here are kind of reeling from the situation in the last few days basically in the bloodiest weeks in egyptian modern history in the fighting between morsi supporters and security forces who will buy that the fun of hosni mubarak could be. quitted at the same time going to criticize i could be free to the same time is almost too much

for some revolutionaries here who speaking to me have told me that what was the point of coming out the streets two years ago what has been the point of fighting for justice and freedom and bread in the last two and a half years is the very person they started fighting against is to be walking free we will see what happens as his trial is set to restart again on the twenty fifth of august at the same time as many other leading muslim brotherhood figures will also stand trial and some i want to make that these two figures it because it basically to be facing trial at the same time but largely on the streets people are pretty upset that this much hated figure could be seen to be walking home in twenty forty hours but as you say it is quite extraordinary to me whether it is a lot of speculation that mubarak could be released at the same time we're seeing many of those with the brotherhood leaders being arrested now. i'm silly we're seeing what is essentially a crackdown on the muslim brotherhood leadership certainly the figures that are used to be in touch with have gone silent in the last few days ever since their ideological leader the supreme guide mohamed vidia was picked up in addition we've

also had somewhat because he's also going to be taken into prison a number of these leading figures that are nice are basically going to be facing trial on the twenty fifth of august for various different charges including essentially inciting violence against protesters on the gene thirtieth meanwhile they are determined to come to the streets were still receiving messages saying they will come out and protest against the current interim government and the military how that's going to happen for their leadership has basically been chased across the country and detained and of course the security forces are using heavy handed tactics against their citizens or their tented citizens in the process we'll have to see because if the situation here is still very very tense the most above the heads and its allies don't want to back down however the leadership are of course facing trial so we'll have to see how this goes on wednesday which is a traditional protest thing here in egypt will see how that you know with hosni mubarak possibly walking free the leadership in jail for security forces using heavy handed. tactics we'll see how things go on friday truly live in carter thanks

very much indeed for the update. this is all to come to you live from the russian capital come up to forty minutes past the hour no more news after this short break . but all told you my language as well but i will only react to situations i have read the reports so i'm likely to push the no i will leave that to the state department to comment on your latter point of the month to say to mr kerry you have a car as i'm going to talk you know it's going to. take you know more weasel words when you need a direct question and be prepared for a change when you punch be ready for a battle freedom of speech and a little bit on the freedom to crush. right

to see. first street. and i would think that you're. on our reporters would. be in the. news continues here on our t.v. russia has suggested on a geisha is that the syrian government launched a massive chemical attack near damascus could be a deliberate provocation there are conflicting reports about the alleged assault some say dozens maybe even hundreds of people were killed while syrian officials deny any involvement with let's get the latest on all of this from going to who is reporting live from central moscow i mean a tell us about moscow suspicions about what allegedly happened then outside

damascus well moscow has raised their concerns regarding the timing and the nature of the statement made by the syrian opposition in fact a russian or the spokesman for their russian for russia's ministry of foreign affairs said that russia itself has launched a certain action in origin investigate these claims further they have also mentioned the fact that the timing again is a somewhat puzzling as it is not the first time that such statements in regards to the use of chemical weapons in syria from the opposition happen to coincide with the u.n. mission in the region in the country by the same time of course the united kingdom up has already called on u.n. security council in order to investigate these statements up further as well as of course to russia saying that a thorough investigation of the claims is needed but it's important to note at this point that the head of the u.n. mission which has just arrived in syria have also. said that these statements sound somewhat suspicious again in regards to their timing and the nature of their claims

the russian minister of foreign affairs has also said that on wednesday in the morning iraq it's very similar to the one which was fired to earlier from by the rebels. but someone known chemical agents again a similar rocket was fired on wednesday morning from the territory controlled by the extremists operating in syria so several interesting developments in this case . thanks very much indeed for that. reporting that well allegations or via text came shortly after u.n. inspectors arrived in syria to look at earlier claims of chemical weapons used by both sides in the region to exit the loop current and previous accusations media reports are citing the syrian revolutionary command council which says that government forces loyal to the syrian president bashar assad will find of the area off to the bombardment using chemical agents now this is

a test happened in the rebel held area of eastern damascus in a place called east and good to the area has witnessed heavy fighting between opposition fighters and the army what we are hearing is reports that the front which are fighters that are affiliated with al qaida also operating there now some of forty two suggest that more than a thousand people were killed in this latest attack but other reports talk about dozens dying graphic images have flooded the internet showing and victims choking foaming at the mouth and displaying of the possible symptoms of the attacks in syria the origin of this footage however is i'm very fond of that point. was filmed all who filmed it we are trying to get more details at this stage from the area we have been speaking with local residents who complain that there was fighting there earlier but they insist that there have been absolutely no signs of any kind of

chemical attacks the first to break this news was the saudi arabia network or bia now suddenly arabia has its own agenda inside syria its and the syrian president assad and therefore any kind of reports of the use of chemical weapons we must take this into consideration reports have been vehemently demarc denied by the syrian government while they have caused a huge storm elsewhere in the world the u.k. is demanding an immediate action by the united nations security council the arab league says that the incident should be investigated at once and all of this comes at a time when u.n. inspectors are inside of the country conducting a chemical probe the situation with chemical attacks is far from clear we need to make the point that the first reports of chemical weapons was that they were used in the field back in march the nineteenth by the tech fieri terrorist groups when they launched a rocket attack in kabul. now that did cause widespread destruction in syria

immediately demanded an investigation from the united nations the syrian government also has said that it is aware that sara and projectile are being manufactured. in the suburbs of damascus and this has been confirmed by fighters who've been arrested by the syrian army the united nations for its size has said that it has received up to thirteen reports of chemical weapons used in syria the one from the damascus government of the rest mainly from the united kingdom france and the united states both sides of the conflict and here we're talking about the rebels in the government have however denied using chemical weapons the inmate. the united nations independent investigator carla del ponte said that there was strong support suspicions that the rebels had used the eaglet thousand gas issue has become part of political manipulations in terms of what is happening inside syria the american

president barack obama has declared that any kind of chemical attack would be of weird line that could ultimately trigger american intervention inside syria but as i say what actually happened today at the moment far from care. over the course of the civil war the syrian opposition has repeatedly accused the regime of mass atrocities and chemical attacks many such claims coincided with major political events and diplomatic efforts and in most cases the number of victims proved to be exaggerated now here are just a few examples for you in july two thousand and twelve as the un discussed the possible intervention in syria the rebels announced a civilian massacre intrinsic carried out by the government well that later proved to be false by a u.n. observer mission to the town in august just days before a un security council meeting the massacre once more assad was blamed but it was later found that the rebels will most likely the perpetrators in december has

russia the u.s. and the u.n. met to discuss a peace plan the west accused of arming chemical weapons for imminent use alot of arsenal was not used and later in december as u.n. peace envoy lakhdar brahimi met with assad in damascus the rebels lead another civilian massacre after an airstrike on a bakery well after an initial media frenzy it was later reported that all the people were opposition fighters killed in battle and in april this year the rebels reportedly provided the u.s. and britain with proof that assad had used chemical weapons that was seized upon by the west to funnel arms to the opposition while a u.n. independent investigation found it was most likely the rebels behind the chemical attack. the british newspaper that broke america's mass surveillance was forced to destroy files provided by edward snowden has explained why it gave in to government pressure the guardian editor said authorities threatened legal action to stop the paper from reporting the n.s.a.

leaks all together and chose to destroy documents which had been copied anyway. reports. you've had your fun now it's time to return of the documents said the unnamed government official to the newspaper editor it could be the stuff of movies oh it isn't we were faced effectively with an ultimatum from the british government that if we didn't hand back the material or destroy it they would move to law in recent months the guardian newspaper has come to be known as the paper that's been exposing secret material from a trove of information passed on to web by former contractor of the national security agency edward snowden but in recent days the editor of the newspapers also publicized the what had gone on a behind closed doors here how security officials had ended up in the basement of their offices overseeing the destruction of hard drives and computers which contained the very information the paper's been exposing a bizarre turn of events salaries moochers says that came all the way up from the

prime minister's office once it was obvious that they would be going to law. i would rather destroy the copy than hand it back to them or allow the courts to freeze our reporting and i was happy to destroy it because it was not going to inhibit our reporting we would simply do a problem erica not from london the twenty first century possibility in a highly digital and connected world the revelation by rusbridger came just a day after the detention and david miranda partner of the guardian journalist glenn greenwald the journalist who had broken the story of snowden's lead and the same materials around it was obtained under the new case terrorism act and was held in question for nine hours at heathrow airport it caused an outcry among politicians and journalists and even david anderson the independent reviewer of terrorism laws who demanded an explanation prompting the u.k. home office to go on the offensive the government and the police have a duty to protect the public and our national security those who oppose this sort

of action need to think about what they can do if aid. want to protect the public to tell the public what it is they're protecting them from a generalized statement about terrorism in general doesn't really do the trick you've got to be able to say well the information he's got would endangered the public for the following reasons you've got to have reasons for it no such reasons have been advanced and rand is an attention as well as the destruction of computers and the guardian's basement have one of britain's most respected newspapers in the spotlight the story teller has become this story this is a very damaging moment actually for britain's reputation for free speech being laid bare the way that the british state is very prepared to use terrorism legislation to use accusations of terrorism in order to shut down what looks to be journalistic practice good healthy investigative journalism with some of pointed to be noticeably lackluster response from the country's other newspapers following his

revelations especially considering that the press appears to be at stake the business of reporting securely and having confidential sources is becoming difficult in these documents there is the stated ambition to scoop up everything and store it all to master the internet this is the language that's being used internally does or celia r.t.e. london. i'll be back with a news team of morphine just a half an hour from now the meantime off to the break abby martin takes a look at the protests against the u.s. government over the indefinite detention of americans that's on breaking the set next. to the future. dungeons drills in georgia texas on this one show we found out why

security state may soon be a girl's best friend already can you truly machine make sure its workers saw it left a design classic still has room for improvements on wheel and how to dispose of tires and improve roads in one fell swoop. as you update your own. leave the potential for. choose your language. of choice because with no if the materials going to stay still some of us. choose the fumes that concerns you i could choose the opinions that invigorating to. choose the stories that impact the life choose b. access to your office. to

live on one hundred thirty three bucks a month for food i should try it because you know how fabulous bad luck i got so. i may have wait and tell you that i'm still really messed up. in the old story so actually. it's. worse for the little thing the white house or the. minister of the. local are about to produce never seen anything like this i'm told . so long guys yesterday i had the amazing opportunity to take a break in the set on the road to new york city and we set up shop right outside of

the thurgood marshall courthouse downtown were groundbreaking the trial was taking place and what might be one of the most historic civil liberties pieces of our generation and group of activists and journalists are seeking justice in a lawsuit against the federal government it's called hedges versus obama and it's a lawsuit that was filed last year over section ten twenty one b. of the national defense authorization act one that authorizes the military to indefinitely detain american citizens without due process while the lawyers lawsuits main plaintiffs is journalist chris hedges the case is also being fought by revolution troops founder pandering bolen pentagon papers whistleblower daniel ellsberg author noam chomsky and many others yesterday i heard the second round of oral arguments against the white house and that killed to a decree made by a judge who agreed with the plaintiffs on the n.b.a. is on constitutionality so today you'll see my exclusive interviews with the plaintiffs and more so stay tuned.