world reacts as wiki leaks founder julian assange faces charges both in the u.k. and the united states with many expressing concern that the dangerous precedent that's been set by his arrest predicts editor in chief told us the repercussions. this is a threat to journalism and journalists the freedom of the media. germany approves arms exports saudi arabia despite the current ban that's according to german media reports. the demands of the libyan national army holds its offensive against the internationally back to tripoli government and intervals france blocked the first draft amid its economic interests in the east of the country.

a good evening to you this is r.t. international. says the arrest of the wiki leaks co-founder julian assange at london's ecuadorian embassy on thursday the focus just turned to his potential extradition to the united states that's because for years the silence was at the helm of a website which revealed damaging classified information about washington and its intelligence services. morgan has more on how the rest is being perceived on the other side of the atlantic. there have been a number of voices that have spoken up against the possible extradition of julian assad is warning about the impact it could have on civil liberties now among those voices was a congresswoman from a hole why a name is tossing gabbert and in addition to being a congresswoman she is also a presidential contender and twenty twenty she spoke up saying that the possible

chill effect and impact on american civil liberties from this case would not be small this is a threat to journalists but it's also something that threatens every american because the message that we're getting that the american people are getting by what's happened here today is you know be quiet toed the line otherwise there will be consequences now the american civil liberties union is one of the oldest civil rights and civic freedom organizations in the united states it's taken in many cases to the u.s. supreme court and has represented journalists as well as activists and others you know trying to expand the level of freedom of speech and freedom of the press they have also spoken up regarding the wiki leaks case any prosecution by the united states over to a son's full week he digs publishing operations would be unprecedented and unconstitutional would open the door to criminal investigations of other news organizations prosecuting a foreign publisher of violating u.s.

secrecy tools was it an especially dangerous president the u.s. journalists who routinely violate foreign secrecy laws to deliver information vital to the public's interest. now in addition to these voices that have spoken up in support of a son there has been a large amount of voices speaking up calling for harsh punishment essentially for a songe a number of mainstream political figures have given their two cents essentially saying that they they think julie masonic should be punished and dealt with harshly this is some of what we have heard it would be really good to getting back on united states soil so you know he's our property do we get the facts and the truth from you as they answer for what he. has done has been hard now that last voice that you just heard was hillary clinton the presidential candidate for the democrats in twenty sixteen now at this point. facing charges of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion it's alleged that he worked with chelsea

manning who is now being detained by u.s. officials that he worked with her in order to try and crack the codes to the department of defense in order to get information that was eventually leaked now eventually chelsea manning did hand over information to wiki leaks videos and such showing us atrocities committed in iraq now in addition to that wiki leaks published e-mails from the democratic national committee during the two thousand and sixteen elections they published e-mails from john podesta hillary clinton's aide and it was widely alleged that those e-mails came about and they were received as the result of a hack however at this point wiki leaks has long maintained they received these e-mails as the result of an internal leak or the leaker provided them with these e-mails that was not hacking in order to get these e-mails now many suspect that even though there is simply been a request to extradite julian a songe on charges of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion which only holds a penalty of possibly five years many suspect that when he reaches the united

states he could be facing a much more serious situation at this point we've seen mike pence the u.s. vice president he's come forward and said that wiki leaks and julian assad are working for foreign governments i want to ask you about something that. mike when he was the cia cia director said he called we could leaks nine state house intelligence services often abetted by state actors like russia do you agree with that characterization yes we strongly agree with that and that's why the justice department is now seeking extradition and we're going to bring julian assange to justice now when asked by reporters u.s. president donald trump he seemed to say that he was not familiar with the case he didn't know much about wiki leaks however when people look at what he said on the campaign trail in two thousand and sixteen he seemed quite familiar with the outlet let's take a listen to what u.s. president donald trump said and compare it with what he said on the campaign trail i know nothing about wiki leaks it's not my thing and i know there is something having to do with julian i've been seeing would suffer and with. that

will be a determination i would imagine mostly by the attorney general who's doing an excellent job so he'll be making a determination i know nothing really about him it's not my it's not my deal in life wiki leaks were key leaks wiki leaks but you leaks it's been amazing what's coming out on wiki leaks leaks the wiki leaks should be leaks wiki leaks wiki leaks wiki leaks and wiki leaks documents wiki leaks i love what you like. so now at this point all eyes are on britain julian assange just lawyers have said he could be tortured if he's extradited to the united states people are wondering what will happen next but here in the usa we've heard a number of voices speaking up on a songe we have but also a number of voices calling for his harsh punishment journalist and wiki leaks supporter cassandra banks who was one of the last reporters to visit assault at the

embassy revealed details about his final days the. well at that point things were really bad visited previously and it was friendly and welcoming and it was slowly degrading each time i visit and this time it was pretty openly hostile he got into a huge fight with the ecuadorian baster after they locked me in a room a heavily surveilled room and tried to force us to have a meeting and there they wanted to search him and searches lawyer before they could come eat with me none of these things that ever happened before in to any guest not just me in almost seven years he's been there he wanted to meet with me so that he could report on the illegal treatment that he was being you know met with at the embassy at the hands of the embassy and he is the ambassador of working with the u.s. government and said that they were conspiring with the us against him and these are the people who are supposed to be giving him asylum he is released some keys potentially for

a dead man's switch and. i think that if he's not treated well there could be more shoes to drop i think he is the biggest hero of freedom of press and i think that everybody needs to get on board. to wiki leaks so there's a kristen and jennifer robinson the song about the wider implications of the rest to expect in the days to go. it might possibly have a chilling effect on journalist all over the world if they have to face the possibility of being persecuted thrown into prison plain to be flown to be. put on trial in a country and the other states the. world will read. your words. is involved in this. is so this is a threat to journalism journalists freedom of the media he's concerned obviously

about the prospect of being xstrata the united states and about the president at that sets for the media everywhere we will of course fight any extradition requests made out of states as a provisional warrant for his arrest they have the next month also to provide a full request and we will of course find it this is a massive free speech issue this is a priest and the effect will affect all of the media anywhere in the world effectively means that any journalist or media organization anywhere in the world can be extradited and prosecuted for having published truthful information about the united states and that is as a matter of principle wrong and ought to be resisted and we will be fighting. the supporters of the former police chief had been showing their solidarity with each of us are both in the u.k. and stateside washington they gathered outside the pretty shabby city to try his possible extradition to the united states in london people gathered outside the westminster court where song was charged which is that they've been following the international reaction to the arrest it seems that assad has more people on his

side. well we've seen a flood of global solidarity standing with the sun for all of its past revelations many saying yes i'm just where can courage though is to ask what the most prominent political figures could be hiding on the human rights watch which they say are voice. the justice has been speaking about an investigative journalism worldwide they say that in this now might think twice about publishing news of public importance or government scrutiny now they've also criticized the trumpet ministrations open hostility to mainstream media which the group say creates a dangerous environment now for fellow journalists and fellow whistle blower as they say that this is a dark moments images of record those ambassador inviting the case secret police into the embassy to drag a publisher off like it on the award winning journalism out of the building are going to end up in the history books critics may cheer but this is

a dark moment for press freedom the g.o.g. says part of what a science did to just defy his prosecution beyond allegedly helping manning get the documents is that he encouraged manning to get more documents for him to publish journalists do this with sources constantly is a criminalization of journalism here in the u.k. the prime minister welcomed the songes of arrest but the late believe that jeremy corbett strongly opposed it he says that his son should not be extradited to the united states and this was about exposing u.s. military atrocities in iraq and afghanistan these statements as well have been echoed by international figures across the world we're hearing strong political condemnation saying that they were the arrest is also a shameful act. linen miranda has made a u. turn in ecuador spall attacks the foreign politics of ecuador is far from sovereignty and completely deviated from the original focus with

a conservative agenda i would even use the strong words sold out but not bearing sovereignty in relations to the us it is something that it's absolute if you think that i mean that we are talking about. the war. abuses. by elation of your money and that a far right. there was a drawer of political asylum by ecuador. is a gross violation of international law as well as violations of the right for political asylum and their arrest by british police within the compound of the dorian embassy is a disgrace. now asylum faces an extradition hearing on the second of may so the next challenge is the legal extradition battle but one thing's for sure though that this expulsion and the potential consequences have gone is an outcry worldwide about what free speech really means. follow whistleblower edward snowden was himself forced to seek asylum after leaking classified information but in twenty

fifteen axon a boy from oxys worlds apart show whether he'd prefer to switch places with snowden is what he had to say back that unlike a prisoner. and were able to have. visitors to make telephone calls but i want to make them yes their money yes of course they are monitored but we can develop ways and have developed ways to avoid that want to transfer cases. and. are afraid it is quite unusual that i was able to coordinate. it would snowden's asylum. with myself being in this situation of having your thwarted asylum because i was very highly motivated having being in the situation myself i didn't want to see it as well would you trade places with edward snowden.

right now or yeah you know hard yes certainly to be free in russia. and have some type of freedom of movement internationally is much prefer all to any person. by itself or chelsea manning or many others who are. kept in effectively in confined to one. small space. genocide documentary maker john pilger thinks among all the leaks what really landed the sounds in terrible was the revelation of the true nature of modern war as displayed toys and returns in on our going underground programme you can watch the full interview tomorrow for now here's a preview. there are so many leaks that are related to telling us about the true nature of war of course what really got julian into trouble and

chelsea manning of course was the video of collateral murder and that expressed most graphically what i would describe as the whole homicidal nature of american colonial wars and especially in iraq the three hundred sixty degree view of just kill them all and anybody watching that video. really has to read very little else of the wiki leaks revelations about the nature of american wars because there are it is there is a kind of consensual belief i'm trying to think of a polite term for brainwashing frankly that. we don't do these kind of things we are perpetually but nine on our side and the americans are part of that these things simply do not happen they are only they only happen on

their side they only are they done by totalitarian states. but done by rogue states when in fact clearly the biggest rogue state of all is the united states. germany has allowed arms exports to some countries in the yemeni war including saudi arabia that's according to media who reportedly obtained documents from a government meeting the two olive reports from berlin. germany has a ban on selling weapons to saudi arabia but what we are hearing is that a number of companies have been able to circumvent that ban to various different means if we look at the the based. transport equipment company they specialize in trailer technology and equipment they've been sending their stuff to france france doesn't have

a ban on sending weapons to saudi arabia they've been going from france then on to saudi a similar things been happening with the cobra radar artillery targeting systems they've been sent to the united arab emirates along with software updates for the for that system as well eventually then reaching the the war in yemen and reaching saudi arabian military hands now opposition figures here in germany as you would imagine outraged at this seems like the government can't wait when it comes to producing weapons for the human who were alliance in light of the latest attacks and yemeni schoolchildren this is simply a shameless killing of jamal khashoggi inside the saudi consulate in istanbul prompted berlin to well council weapons sales to saudi arabia in fact the deal making sure that there would be no more deal was extended at the end of

last month by the german government. and it's our flag and we demand that the participating company since this time the export ban to saudi arabia. the united everett and a very serious this period when dealing with their contract practice and the federal government will also commit to not using these jointly produced products in yemen. well there is a lot of pressure on germany from the likes of france and the united kingdom for berlin to start selling arms to saudi arabia again the argument from the british side is that if we stop selling weapons to the kingdom of saudi arabia we would lose influence over twelve perhaps trying to get them to move away from the conflict in yemen it's interesting that they would try and move away from that conflict by selling them more weapons particularly well what we're hearing from the likes of human rights watch is this ban by germany is the right way to go in trying to help the embattled people of yemen what we have at the moment is

a situation where there's thousands perhaps hundreds of thousands of people in dire need of food clean water in aid and not so much in need of billions of dollars worth of weapons being sold to those that are going to use them against them member of the german parliament for the left party and the hooker thinks part of the reason germany made this decision was pressure from france and the u.k. it's a clear breach of this bans extension is outrageous because it. was written in the coalition treaty that there should be no arms exports to those countries who are involved in the yemen of or seems that there is. on the one hand that there are a lot of pressure from of france and britain and that there's a lot of pressure from from the arabs in those three from the companies

because the they gain a lot of money out of these exports the german government is. using the idea of having a close friendship to france for pushing a new arms exports together with france to saudi arabia. the use demanding the libyan national army halt its offensive against the internationally back to tripoli government after really reports the draft had been blocked by france. the military attack launched by the enemy on trip really and the subsequent escalation in and around the capital armed dangerous civilians including migrants and refugees and disrupting the un led political process with the risk of serious consequences for libya and the wider region including the terrorist threat front sound good to be blocked in earlier e.u. statements which are said to directly called on the leader of the libyan national army khalifa haftar to stop his troops paris has oil assets in eastern libya and

the been providing military help to craft up italy which also disagrees with the is position on libya has criticised france for its actions. it would be very serious of france for economical commercial reasons had blocked an e.u. initiative to bring peace to libya and would support a party that is fighting as minister of the interior i would not stand by and watch . some think that the two thousand and eleven nato led military intervention in libya promoted by then french president nicolas sarkozy was triggered more by economic and commercial interests than what humanitarian concerns. expect that a former deputy speaker the belgian parliament load of an ist for getting c. loaded with with outlined some of the claims and counterclaims that what do you think is the actual position of france and italy with regards to libya. well actually you do not have to look that far in this about economic

interests it is about you political a position of france and italy in a less and manner but basically done it what is it you should not forget it was all of the mention i think in your news report brown's was the one country don't start of the war on libya in the first place for the same reason that there were there but they do not supporting the guy that did it in a single protected their interests ironically enough this man is leading this libyan national army is a former gadhafi colleague or eight who were down. disagreed with him and left the country for us and several years man is just as reliable as any other military dictator i mean it just shows that when it goes really comes down to democracy human rights and so on is just irrelevant it was reported that france blocked an e.u. statement on the actions of the libyan national army i mean is that pretty much the

same answer is that the motivation of france just self first of all getting out yeah absolutely you know you know some some sources say a letter sent to the defined to me is not ok so we don't agree but actually that is all diplomatic alene got to say we basically do want to protect our interests and whenever the e.u. or italy want to do. well we just don't care we just want to do it let's not forget that what is called common foreign policy of the e.u. has actually never really existed what is common about this foreign policy is whenever the big countries agree on issues then they call it e.u. foreign policy when they disagree then the foreign policy as a from the e.u. falls apart not really this is a very good example of this but actually if you look over the years for it is ninety's and the two thousand years actually it is even getting worse the

e.u. has especially on the level of foreign policy we basically does integrating. if i was going to be cynical i would say that there are certain countries in the world it seems that the international community likes them to stay in chaos do you think that the world wide major nations are trying to solve the crisis there and can they do it. well that and the thing is you have to define what you mean by solution what you mean by that basically what they want is stability but that is stability for economic interest not stability could a common people who live in that country i mean whatever you might think about the gadhafi regime it was not a democracy for the woodland people as long as you kept quiet it was quite ok but now the people there live in total turmoil and basically the intervention that started with france has demolished whatever is left of the decent society in

that country so do the very idea that the european union would strive for peace or democracy or human rights in libya is preposterous they have never done so when i say day i mean the people in power not of their european people they have never done so and they won't do it right now i mean you cannot say france is the bad guy doing good already you this is a bad positions on all sides where it is just to have your own interests at stake. as i understand it the situation now there are still quite a few militants in the country to separate governments they become competing for control for years. has international intervention made libya a better or worse country to live in for the people. i mean the real aggression is the answer of course not i mean and as you mentioned before you might even say that was the aim of the intervention to disaggregate grown street and do good and to

keep the interesting bits of it we should not forget the rule that libya played before the break in africa when dating and for example french interests in western african countries and so on and they see after as a man to protect their interests there as well by closing of libya to the rest of africa so did just to just say that that peels is an unwalled and an internet consequence that is just rubbish this was always the aim of it no i'm being cynical but after a long eight years that's the only conclusion you can really tell if it was supposed to be a fix is a very slow fix incoming many thanks load of a nice my guest former deputy speaker of the belgian parliament yes. i guess i'm brought in the mood if we can in the final few moments to have a champions league was back in action this week trying to bring out the big

ventures in marina for his latest installment of on the touchline you can watch it in full later on friday here on r.t. . that moment is the moment because probably now we will be speaking about a completely different result is the first big match at that stadium and means some sink means a lot the new stadium is a beautiful seeing is something that people is waiting for for years the people is waiting for that huge huge brides herrick in is going to be out of that match but bottom they also have the quality to heards there is no pressure you look to this competition and. he was there too we need byron was there too we need all the english teams there too we need real madrid barcelona atlético

madrid they're there too we need. nobody sees they are there too we need. but they can i think united at one player that was responsible for that in the total positive sense of of the world it was a mad dog afraid of nobody. i saw immediately even before the replay that was that was all the view was great. because the linesman made them mistake a human mistake but you also have the early good morning sings that you don't did even a replay. it's. a little bit to say because i love the kids and i know yours is very poor i would say city. city but i have many adults. i c c i c c because you want me to say yeah i

know i've thought of every show i know but really really hard because because perfectly. ok from touchline to sideline i'm off i'll be back with the latest news headlines for you in thirty minutes. because survival guide book stacie get to the store and simply. don't get it back. repatriations will get the rest in seven years. though of the kaiser report. and it's just us more than a little. mention that it's one. of

those. to the put you. on the show there's an element of. the you. can use a bit like it's a more efficient use or is it. does look at three i'm going to just. be a distance group so you took the last just so much notice that. this is useful to you to stay with a. little bit when you want to just finished over to move all the journalists. it's almost was sick and of course mr.