days drive from lebanese capital beirut in damascus this is what has been a leader shake the stroller told julian the son john r t just one year into what would become the u.k. war in syria there are no it's worse in syria everybody knows that when the fed. says regime when the free has supported them on the resistance in lebanon supported the resistance in palestine and as it takes knobs back down and the face of his radiant american pressure who are involved in it is a regime which serves the palestinian cause very well my mother oil a few swirly what who are what we call for in serious negotiations dialogue is their reform admirable mr be carried out because the alternative to that no one cause of the diversities are inside syria because of the sensitivity of the situation in syria the alternatives to hysteria into civil war and this is exactly what america and israel want for syria since the hezbollah aerated victory of president assad of syria against washington and tel aviv london is arguably been

shell shocked by it all trumps decision to signal the end of the war could lebanon be an anglo israeli consolation prize state mandated u.k. media just as it did with protests in damascus and 2011 is eagerly covering the protests in lebanon but while the protesters like in syria have legitimate grievances is the coverage a little too eager you can see the sheer size of the protest here in beirut smart a square yesterday on sunday the protests were triggered in part by a plan to attack calls on whatsapp and other messaging services that have turned into a revolt against a weak government ailing services and a looming economic collapse collapse not a word you'll hear on nato nation media in respect of julie xion demonstrations in france after a year of protest and of course protests can be infiltrated here's what president assad told me about protests in lebanon in the past few days after explaining the infiltration of legitimate protest against his government in. back in 2011 of

course no one would believe the spontaneous demonstration to be spontaneous but where will it go that depends on the awareness of the people well some of the awareness of the people in lebanon today will arguably me down to our next guest joining me from beirut is melhem reality former communications minister from the lebanese forces party melhem thanks for coming on the show how bad is it in lebanon parliamentary speaker nabih berri says your country is like a sinking ship and it's going to go under if something isn't done cheers days parliamentary session shut down by protests according to reports across the western world the situation in lebanon is. like a new. birth. in the streets and beirut and all over the country are preparing a new coming for lebanon and the chamber is closed because

they are doing something against the constitution they try to make. without. before forming a new government it is illegal and it is. and to ask for just a new election of the committees in the chamber because you are asking for a new government and you technocratic government. with a new premier to relaunch restart. the work in lebanon. but why is it that lebanon is suffering its worst financial crisis since the civil war we spoke to president assad of syria in one of his 1st interviews for a year and a half he said that what happens in lebanon and the protests depends on the awareness of its people can you see that there is something. strange about the

timing of all the protests in lebanon and the financial crisis it's very different between what's happening now in lebanon and what happened in syria. at least not at the beginning because in syria in the beginning it was a peaceful demonstrations asking for change but they'd transform it into another thing unfortunately what what's happening now in lebanon it's because of. 12 or let's say 15 years after the. end of the syrian edge of money over lebanon and we still without electricity we have around $20000000000.00 deficit because of the electricity those we have many corruption in our administration and our government and we are fighting against this corruption and the people has fed up to move because they need to change because corruption is destroying our country so you don't see it is for

instance as below which runs its own massive social services program in lebanon that economic sanctions from western institutions they have helped create the conditions for these protests economic sanction again lebanon are against some does it need it people in yes but even in the area where hezbollah exists there is the most rationed because the people the whole lebanese people is in. poor a good situation because of the corruption you have the problem of the electricity the problem of. seeking jobs in lebanon the problem of big deficit in the. general situation and especially in what we. because of the public services i'll get to the electricity in

a moment but why do you think britain the united states france perhaps israel why do you think they are supporting the protests in lebanon britain has explicitly said the voice of the protests must be heard i don't know many maybe they have their own reason but we don't care about what others are saying we are are supporting these demonstrations this money says stations because we are early binny's party and our leaders said some days ago that please due to the 1st secretary mr pompey you know that. he's a fair and it will stay a libyan he's a fair we are fighting for freedom sure but we are fighting against corruption we are fighting for a new government at the government from specialists without political figures.

because the people didn't trust those popular political figures anymore we are in a big shift between. times and the new times are coming we are a little bit afraid that some interventions will destroy this. shifting or this or manage it against our purpose do you think us secretary bombero listened to your leader beirut famously historically known for cia agents in the city and in the past 48 hours or so pompei are saying settlements on palestinian land are to be judged illegal by the united states in violation of un resolutions do you think pompei o is on the same page as. your party let me be frank with you.

directly. to. the united states. support. and support the libyan his army but in this case we we want that nobody will interfere in our. most because it is not the demonstration of lebanese forces sparty it is a demonstration of the whole live in these people what is happening in palestine what's happening in palestine is very different and very different in the case very different in the approach the. violation of the united nations. security council resolutions is. against our conviction and what we insist in this case and that the palestinian case will be held by the palestinian people and resolved by your u.n.

security council ok but when it comes to electricity which you mentioned earlier do you not think that it is obvious washington will want to privatized the electricity system fully in your country the world bank is advising your politicians on how to run the lebanese economy why don't look to china instead of washington now it is not a problem between washington and china it is a problem between some companies that we need that the ministry of. electricity work on and bring electricity to our people what is happening about this it is not a problem international problem it is a problem to choose a good. company to work with the good people and to put the push off the corruption because some are saying that britain and the united

states has been trying to overthrow the government of syria for 10 years now britain recognizes hezbollah politicians as terrorists. lebanon could be a consolation prize for these powers that have been trying to destabilize damascus you don't think they could use your financial crisis for game i think if we stay strong in lebanon and unified nobody can use us they will help us because they need. the country and they need a model that lebanon can present to the whole world and this model between communities between unite unified people can make the difference. in the whole word as john paul 2 said one day that deliberate on is a message of truth and the freedom for the whole world and what is happening of the

demonstrations in the cunt in the streets now. muslim christians jews is everybody is demonstrated to find his hand he of of the day well just finally has saved lebanon arguably from israeli bombing a few years back do you think instability in israel benny gantz trying to form a coalition today in israel do you fear that israel could again bomb lebanon during this financial crisis and this political instability. it's a good question but we have to wait is. trying to make his own interest and she will it will continue to make it. an enemy of lebannon but. i don't know what dancer will do if you will be the premier in

israel because the kind of war i think it's not. it's not in the vision because it's there now has another problems to resolve inside the sack. now i'm reacting thank you after the break as sweden drops its investigation into wiki leaks founder julian assange on sizing insufficient evidence activists or national provoke a jerk of a joke or a tells us what he found when he visited the world's most famous publisher detained in britain's belmarsh prison for revealing u.s. war crimes. part 2 of going underground. temperance to impeach and remove donald trump from the presidency have clearly divided the country this should not surprise anyone trump is probably the most

divisive public figure of our time however all this division over a single person is changing and even damaging institutions is impeachment being normal. and finding another one of. sway or both the food. itself. plus we've got to go through hard not to think of the mother disappeared the scene . and i don't know so much and i think. this is the only thing that we do is music because everybody fights his way. i have the floor and you can feel the feet out of his will for somebody in

a round hole you have a look at the. what i think is this is the fund that is accompli. welcome back about one we heard about alleged u.s. backed protests in beirut well a donation backing for so-called color revolution has been a focus of the whistleblower site wiki leaks its founder julian assange has now 70 years of torture at the hands of british authorities according to the u.n. joining me now is activist a national broker turk ovando joe korea who has visited the president 30 miles away from this studio here along with his mother fashion designer vivienne westwood as tirelessly campaigned to raise awareness of his case is now appealing to the wiki leaks founders former lawyer and u.k. special envoy on media freedom amal clooney to pay some attention to assad just case joe welcome back to going underground so no one of this general election in

britain is talking about the most famous publisher in the world what's your understanding of his condition because as i said no political coverage in this country of you know i think that's a picture that's been repeated of the last 7 years where he's been sort of ignored or. sidelined in many cases and vilified and all the rest of it in terms of how he is silent seen in march. a month ago i mean you have to understand the conditions that he's in he's kept in solitary confinement. when he sounds on the wing they clear the wing of any other prisons or anybody else in the way so he never gets to speak to anybody or see anybody if he's he's literally not in one place to the other kept in solitary on going the un special rapporteur on torture has been making allegations against the

british government you think that certainly very were experienced they made sense as his report i think the biggest form of torture he's going through is the isolate. and the persecution and i think it's affecting his mental health more than anything else i mean his physical health is not great he looks palate and those people who know 'd jude in his family and friends know that he has a personality which shows characteristics of being on the edges autistic spectrum. of personality traits where people become obsessive about certain things. or shows in characteristics and i think in my experience i have seen those things because i have other friends other people that have that and i think people that are on that spectrum have this. they have

a real sense of justice what's right and what's wrong and they find it incredibly difficult to deal with things that fall outside of that well he's facing under 35 years in the united states prison coverage here is just well he's there awaiting extradition proceedings to the united states you're appealing to something called the clooney foundation that incident because the wife of george clooney amal clooney used to represent julian assange tell me about that appeal the clooney foundation is set up really to look at miscarriages of justice and this is trial watch trial watch looking at how put it putting a spotlight on the legal systems all over the world where there are causes for concern that there might be miscarriages of justice human rights abuse that type of thing we know that

a lot of that goes on all over the world in lots of different places where perhaps the legal system is not as famous let's say the british system i won't say as robust because i don't think that that's the case because what we've seen so far in terms of his. let's say you know his courts appearances it's become so kind of confusing because he's not really charged with anything. and these are all in the united states and those who now are charged recently in the united states that's why with i mean i don't understand why the united states needs to have these sentences of 175 years 250 years i mean it's an effective death sentence that's what it is in fairness to 2020 presidential contenders really sanders does it go for the democrats are saying that they want to not prosecute for that i did 70 in the espionage act why do you think

then in this country after all is being detained not far from this studio it's outrageous it's absolutely right is this main. is a whistleblower and a publisher is probably the most important case in our lifetimes about press freedom about whistleblowers and about holding the powerful to account through the media that's what wiki leaks does that's what julian ascends does that's what he's even managed some mayor in some respects to continue to do over the last 7 years. but. you know what what this is turned into is something that is essentially like saying it's a crime to expose american war crimes and for that crime we're going to take him and put him in concrete for 175 years the media the public

the judiciary the politicians should be outraged 1st of all i think people need to understand that when he claimed asylum it was against the threats of this very thing that has now been made public with america saying they're going to prosecute for all these crime us all of the media and only the media kept on talking about sexual allegations. i think that now everybody can see that that was just a fabrication in the set up in order to turn public opinion against him and we now have the evidence of the miles from the crown prosecution service. telling sweden don't you dare drop these charges of good far from what you're saying alexander downer the former australian foreign minister himself himself as

allegations against him about spying and working as dole trumper that we've heard of this program voices australia can't intervene because really it's under causes in australia this is just a normal extradition case and should be treated as that and you know this is this is. potentially the biggest crime if we let this poor main who has exposed america more crimes than is now being treated in the most the risk whitey. i mean it's exceptional the crude say that this country is putting on this guy i should say was we gave leaks exposed crimes alleged crimes made by every country whether it be russia so i'm going to it's not a hard is an ever not pardons out there is it about us press freedom this is about information this is about whistle blowing this is about holding the powerful so the can that's what this is always been you know and when he claimed asylum in the ecuadorian embassy that trumped anything about jumping bail you know asylum claims

trump anything but in fairness to him of loony you spoke of the media freedom coverage here which i should say this program was banned from the committee for protect journalists individuals as you're game on our side for that one i won't really did mention julian as i just case very little reporting of the fact that she did so and we had a reply from a male clooney only earlier is that i as yet but we are really asking. and clooney organize asians really watch what's going on here because we are about. potentially commit one of the biggest miscarriages of justice the world is a sane 175 years in concrete for telling the truth i mean it's ridiculous and the fact that elements within the british establishment and government are aiding and abetting this is absolutely shameful and we need to do something about it we need to get people out we need to i don't know i think we need to get as many

people to the call as possible we need to really up the stakes because this is crucial what would it and what did it mean for what it will mean if he is extradited to the united states is he won't be a person anymore he will become a symbol a blob in 175 years of concrete that symbolizes this is what happens to you if you report the truth about america more crimes will resign its way will become a symbol for the and that's it. on this program of a boss former boss headed out the street foundered out the street as ever over the gums all but what if she doesn't say yes to using the trial what your organization to highlight the cause of your research can you understand that she has to fear quite a bit if she talks about. results. i don't think you can play favorites

in miscarriages of justice i don't think you can play favorites with people's freedom and what is potentially a death sentence for this man in the united states and say well it's not popular. we're not going to talk about it because we're not going to get involved because it's the british legal system and they should be untouchable i mean when you see some of the comments that the. magistrate made about julian calling him a narcissist and things i mean this is a joke this is a kangaroo court just finally what about the fact that t.v. journalists the journalists that gave the story to all the crimes alleged crimes were the guardian your terms which bigger others how do you account for their silence relative silence about what you're calling a possible death sentence for julian as arms of regulations well i think it's a bit shameful and i think that some of it's caught up with people's own

personal opinions about whether they think he's been. somebody that's been on their side enough. the point about the whistle blowing organization is that it's nonpartisan ng so. you know some people in america are on the left or on the democratic side for instance can't stand him because of the clinton name people can't stand him on the right because releasing. american military footage i mean this isn't about what you like and what some may do wrong nissim about core principles of whether or not you can have journalistic freedom in the world if the american government can come to the u.k. that supposed to have a very robust legal system to protect rights supposedly

a we going to really be a party to sending this guy to a death sentence for publishing the truth about america more kwanzaa. that's the question that we need. and if that is what we decide to end in my opinion that will be one of the worst crimes of the century joe corey thank you and that's it for the show will be back on saturday in the past 72 hours one of the greatest photographers in the world terry o'neill died here he is talking to going underground the full interview one of his last is up on going on the grounds you tube channel see on saturday there's nobody i want to shoot anymore to be based in the whole world changed. seems they all seem fake you know all the politicians in their life actors playing a role of done about 4 or 5 prime ministers in my time and that access to them

and i still don't. you know there's no. great english politician but you know they couldn't figure out why they. go where they go i just show them how i see them you know that's that's the secret of my photography i think showed people how they really are. play. join me every thursday on the alex simon short and i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics sports business i'm showbusiness i'll see you then. a little.

leg. length. leg. length. play. plenty of flow.

so. it's just slow. play. and a very warm welcome to you watching us in just. was. was.

how is she sent to military police to kill us like animals we're not animals for them to kill us like that the death toll in bolivia protest rises to 27 is the country self-proclaimed leader gives the armed forces impunity when it comes to dealing with the rest. in no way an anti muslim demonstration descends into a brawl offer its leader. for random fire on the head of the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons signed an open letter urging the. whistle blows of power.