but amnesty international researchers brought something very different to light. to prove actually that they were firing into the tensions which then led to the upper new guinea police on the australian government changing their narratives about what happened on the. same dub really manages the digital verification corps in southern england he trains the next generation of digital detectives six universities across three continents work with amnesty international students monitor videos and photos from the internet to determine whether they are real or fake. olivia n.l.e. has been working with the project for a year and a half now her work is like solving a digital puzzle she has to find out when and where videos were made and whether the information given can be verified. i think it's really important. to look for any clues that you can see in the video one second you can see a mosque and it's tiny by. olivia was able to track down the mosque on a digital map she found that it was located in a. syria where cluster bombs were apparently dropped. and. evidence. so

the human rights group amnesty international says the number of reported judicial executions around the world fell to in two thousand and seventeen but the group warns that the true number of people put to death is not known some countries treat execution numbers as a state secret china for example but many others carry out executions in full view of the public. iran responsible for carrying out its more than half of the world's known executions last year that's according to amnesty international's latest figures in dozens of those cases that meant public execution in iran drug trafficking and blasphemy are among those crimes punishable by death. at least five people were executed in iran for acts committed when they were still under eighteen . but. just four countries were responsible for eighty four percent of all recorded executions last year iran saudi arabia iraq and pakistan but the country suspected of being the world's leading executioner is china. it's thought to have put thousands to death last year more than the rest of the world put together the because data on the death pen

that was lucy graham from amnesty international talking to me earlier. to sport now and another remarkable night of football in the quarterfinals of the champions league the big drama came in spain where italy is your ventas managed to come back from three goals down to tie the aggregate score against real madrid extra time was on the cards until the spaniards were awarded a controversial stoppage time penalty you vent diskeeper before i was sent off for his final mass protests because santa over naldo stepped out and made no mistake from the spot sending reales through four three an aggregate. let's have a listen to a very disappointed before and after his dreams of and biggest korea on a major high were dashed. it would be given a choice you could have said anything to the referee and he should have had the sensibility to forgive me and he doesn't because what he did is to commits a crime against sportsmanship and study and that's why i said the words i had to say money. if need be and what are ya gonna do with your group. the mud bind munich have lots

a quarter of the opposition journalists on terrorism charges amnesty international kicks out saying to stop using the phrase cool two thousand and sixteen as an excuse to crackdown on free speech. and jellies. follows president across the white house it's hoped there would be no no handshake moments like this. with drugs in. five minutes tumbles in the crash of the types of coach says his team deserved to win the champions league semifinal match but they've gone by injuries and missed opportunities against defending champions madrid. a historic summit on the korean peninsula the south is preparing to welcome north korean leader kim jong un for talks about peace and new good disarmament he made the first north korean leader to set foot on south korean soil in more than sixty years the band insular has seen some dramatic diplomatic strides in recent weeks and expectations are high that the two sides will come a step closer to easing their tensions pending messages of hope to the fence dividing the two nations it's here in the border village of panmunjom that kim jong un will make history

and for more i'm joined now by two simple who advises amnesty international on the death penalty and welcome to you and thank you so much for joining us thank you very much now i miss the international has made it very clear that the decline of worldwide executions only relates to reported executions why is it so difficult to gather information and data about the death penalty. it's quite difficult to get information about these are the ones who are because many retentionists do not review the release of the death penalty in our research amnesty international are those rights and contact or retention is countries in the world ordering them to provide information on the use of diplomatic join the year of unfortunately will of congress actually respond to two inquiries. because of the front thirteen of the do realize apart that the easily death penalty has been consigned to history and only a minority of countries actually be you know used this horrible. and in some countries in the state secrets about can bill roos. china and china and vietnam so therefore how do you get your ass mitts

washington-based committees and offices by the international league for the rights of men, amnesty international, the usa branch, division of these activists located the united states, its values and power at the center of the international system and such a vision illuminates how these americans conceived of their goal in us foreign policymaking of the role of the united states in the world. now language, the 1960s were appear go in which americans who fought racial discrimination, us support for repressive regimes and against the use of torture came to adopt a mexican of human rights to describe their activism. eldridge commented before the fraser report, this report came out of donald fraser's earrings on human rights, before the fraser report i didn't think of what i was doing as human rights worked in this changed over the time. go i am studying. why is this important? why americans came to care about human rights is important because the reasons for this activism guided the solution is desired and achieved. the human rights violation at the center of my account, torture, racial discriminat

i'm brian thomas great to have you with us the human rights group amnesty international says turkey must stop using its ongoing state of emergency as an excuse for silencing his critics now its report comes a day after an istanbul cord jailed journalist at the leading opposition newspaper from her yet they stand accused of supporting a movement the government says is a terrorist organization and the back failed to fourteen people receive prison terms ranging from three to eight years three were acquitted those convicted will remain free while an appeals pending they are barred from leaving turkey. so can critical journalists still do their job in turkey did abuse istanbul correspondent delia on joins me now in the studio for good morning julia hi good morning you know early one has been arresting journalists for a long time now since the failed two but this sentence escalates the war on the media doesn't it what does it mean for press freedom and freedom in general well first of all drew here it is not just any newspaper it's the oldest newspaper founded in the one nine hundred twenty s.

will live in that chair a son george or from amnesty international thank you. that's tyrant by friday is not only the start of the new year but also national elderly day as in many parts of the world older people are growing proportion of the population so a tie off artists have a national education to help them lead happier and healthier lives. thailand has embarked on something of a new education drive that these new pupils are hardly school age because of the country's rapidly aging population or thora teens are trying out a new initiative which is less about schooling the young and more about educating the old with projects to keep the elderly from being bedridden and combating loneliness opposite. the mayor of a thailand subdistrict explains the scale of the problem he says that in his district almost ten percent of his nine thousand residents are registered for elderly welfare a high figure which is set to rise. so it's back to school for these pensioners where they learn simple english language phrases and body movement exercises. was. the sixty three ye

cording to amnesty international's latest figures in dozens of those cases that meant public execution in iran drug trafficking and blasphemy are among those crimes punishable by death. at least five people were executed in iran for acts committed when they were still under eighteen. just four countries responsible for eighty four percent of all recorded executions last year iran saudi arabia iraq and pakistan but the country suspected of being the world's leading executioner is china. it's thought to have put thousands to death last year more than the rest of the world put together the because data on the death penalty that is a state secrets exactly how many is a matter of speculation. but not counting china twenty seven thousand silva total number of executions worldwide full by four percent from the previous year. m the city international says that reaffirms the global trend towards a pollution of the death penalty last year a further two countries guinea and mongolia joined the one hundred four who have now abolished capital punishment for a second year in a row the us did not fea

from a leading opposition news people on terrorism charges amnesty international kicks out saying turkey should stop using the freight two thousand and sixteen as an excuse to crack down on free speech. a historic summit on the korean peninsula the south is preparing to welcome north korean leader kim jong un for talks about peace and nuclear disarmament he was the first north korean leader to set foot on south korean soil in more than fifty years the bensouda has seen some dramatic diplomatic strides in recent weeks and expectations are high they come a step closer to ending the decades of hostility. pinning messages of hope to the fence dividing the two nations it's here in the border village of panmunjom that kim jong un will make history on friday. when he crosses this border markets with ten b. into korean summit he'll be the first north korean leader to set first on south korean soil since the korean war ended more than sixty years ago it's a significant location inside the demilitarized zone straddling the border to north korea that pyongyang has promised to end nuclear and missil

amnesty international says the global picture is continuing to improve last year they counted at least nine hundred ninety three executions that's four percent fewer than in twenty sixteen and thirty nine percent fewer than in twenty fifteen and there's been a marked drop in death sentences passed at least two thousand five hundred ninety one were recorded in twenty seventeen a yearly fall of seventeen percent but there's a major caveat to these figures don't include china amnesty says it's by far the world's biggest executioner carrying out thousands of death sentences last year but statistics are considered a state secret now eighty four percent of all recorded executions took place in just four countries iran saudi arabia iraq and pakistan iran executed at least five hundred seven people last year more than half the recorded global figure amnesty says courts very often rely on confessions made on the torture when passing death sentences and several countries in the middle east resumed executions in twenty seventeen after years of not doing so one continuing practice that amnesty cal

counted out last year on the once fell compared to the year before that's according to a new amnesty international report on capital punishment. and drama galore in the quarterfinals of the champions league as a litte dread content to leave you venters a really and spare riyadh madrid the fashion for. i don't welcome i'm with that shima us president trump is treated advised warning about possible military action in syria he sent a strike could be very soon on not so soon afterward his administration had earlier said all options are on the table in response to a suspected poison gas attack in syria over the weekend meanwhile russia says a citizen government is in control of the site of that alleged attack off to retaking the last rebel stronghold now to moscow. a rare moment of celebration for syrians at least government supporters they took to the streets of duma after rebels who had controlled the city left yet the victorious military action included a suspected poison gas attack the attack for which u.s. president donald trump has vowed retaliation but the white house later appeared to roll back

and for more i'm joined now by stephen colbert who is amnesty international's deputy regional director for west and central africa thank you so much for being with us and stephen we'd like to ask you because your report found good news overall and especially in sub-saharan africa we heard that gambia has abolished the death penalty altogether and other countries are taking steps toward this that's fueling the trend. so you know we since really good news over the last year we've had abolition free we've had a treaty signed in gambia. to oppose the. constitution of the us so that once it's also abolished the death penalty and we've had judicial rulings for example the supreme court in kenya ruling that the military death is unconstitutional and violates the right tonight so this momentum i think is the first thing you need more and more country see that the world is turning away from the death penalty they will find himself in the right side of history those so executed or are in there and smaller and increasingly small minority and it's a positive way to show respect for human rights th

executions counted around the world failed compared to the before that's according to a new amnesty international report on capital punishment and facebook involved a mock shock a book is. today u.s. investors thought he did giving testimony to congress so they pushed the value of the company's shares but what did social media world think about it you find. glass in the next sixty minutes how the industry is targeting a brand new customer base in india gentleman freddie and make up. and drawn all the quarterfinals of the champions league dread college and the pennant to leave you bent is reeling and spare real madrid is. putting away will most continue i'm. a racial monitor says rebels in syria's eastern huta have surrendered their heavy weapons and their leader has left the enclave this as russia's military says the town is now under the full control of the syrian government if confirmed that has fallen it would mark the end of one of the bloodiest battles in the country's seventy a war dumas has been the last bastion of rebel resistance to syrian government within eastern kuttab an area near th

this master of conscience award is the highest award within the amnesty international until the family so it is very carefully chosen the people look at the civil war so our past boards for example have been nelson mandela i we you know so we've we're very careful of who we pick and really that we picked some of the bravest and most courageous people in the world who are also iconic and have a huge following particularly amongst young people as you know the world to be is facing a lot of challenges in the human rights front and there's a lot of attack on humor defenders so when collin kaepernick decided to kneel to highlight the issue of racism and alarming number of black people being killed retort that he would be a very fitting person to get the support to really challenge the high level of the preseason and rescaling that the united states the scene. and captain a began his protest back in two thousand and sixteen didn't he how would you describe the difference or the impact he has made annie attacks against him. well i think you know the world is seeing the kind of attacks that ca

that is according to amnesty international's latest figures.dozens of those cases, that meant public exit version. in iran, drug trafficking and blasphemy are among those crimes punishable by death. at least five people were executed in iran for -- when they were still under 18. just four countries responsible for 84% of recorded executions last year, iran, saudi arabia, iraq, and pakistan, but the country suspected of being the world's leading executioner is china. it is thought to have put thousands to death last year, more than the rest of the world put together, but because data on the death penalty there is a state secret, exactly how many is a matter of speculation. but not counting china, 2017 saw the total number of executions worldwide fall by 4% from the previous year. amnesty international says that reaffirms a global trends towards abolition of the death penalty. last year a further two countries, guinea and mongolia am adjoined the 104 have abolished capital punishment. for a second year in a row, the u.s. did not feature among the

the sponsors are amnesty international. amnesty was involved in helping obtain the release.the clergy and -- united. in the city of charlottesville. the program is being broadcast on the government access channel, charlotte bill to be ten and streamline on the facebook page at charlotte bill city hall. because this is a recorded event it will be broadcast later on c-span. during the q&a please raise your hand and wait for a volunteer to bring you a microphone before you ask the question. we will try to have a lot of time for questions at the end. >> everybody should have received an evaluation form. it's important to the festival organizers that you fill them out. the authors will be available for a book signing after the program. please support the authors and local booksellers pipe purchasing a book or two today. let's go on. the accessibility or on acceptability of torture as a legitimate technique is in the national news. the nominee for the new cia director oversaw to interrogations involving torture after 9/11 and obeyed orders to destroy the documents to destroy those

leading opposition news people on terrorism charges amnesty international kicks out saying stop using the cool of two thousand and six as an excuse to crackdown on free speech. by unmovic stumbles in the clash of the titans coach says his team deserved to win the champions fighting match undone by injuries and missed. defending champions madrid. south korea's. north korean leader kim jong un for a historic meeting on peace and you could solomon it's taking place on friday in the border village off upon one job kim would become the fullest. since nine hundred fifty three to walk across the military demarcation line once over the border he talks of the peace house with his south korean counterpart. a lot is at stake for both countries they've been rehearsing for three days to ensure the meeting goes off without a hitch. joining me now is correspondent jason strother in the south korean capital so a welcome jason of this is being billed as a high stakes sunlight what is south korea hoping to get out of it. i think just the fact that they've gotten north korea's leader kim jong un to come

and then reach out to amnesty international and to anyone who is interested. as they propose a mission to greece and then to get greater attention for a battle of public opinion in europe and america and to co-author amnesty international for torture in greece that as a deliberate practice is carried out by the military police and had 12 different physical methods to torture prisoners. governmental not and what instrument told to keep attention focus on human rights abuses in greece. as that even extended to james' mother and one of the principal questions why did elise carry so much about human rights? as part of her activism she sent countless letters about human rights violations i kept encountering them weather in idaho members of congress she was just a machine to turn out those letters. in the last person i want to talk about today one of the one of the longtime leaders several years before the 1973 coup. and to begin in segregated tennessee with that growing consciousness and it manifested with the war on vietnam. it was those government influences and

journalists a cork convicts reporters from a leading opposition newspaper on terror charges amnesty international says turkey must stop using the failed coup twenty sixteen as an excuse to restrict free speech also coming up. buddies at the white house but not so friendly in congress french president mccall criticizes his host policies including those on climate change. and nature reclaims the land contaminated by europe's worst ever nuclear disaster three decades after the chernobyl disaster goes into the contamination zone our reporter that is a glimpse of some brand new inhabitants. thomas thanks so much for being with us amnesty international says that turkey must stop using its ongoing state of emergency as an excuse for silencing critics now the report comes a day after and istanbul court jailed journalists of the leading opposition newspaper from her yet not accused of supporting the movement the government says was behind the fellow who in twenty sixteen the country has been under a state of emergency since then. family friends and supporters of the defendants gathered in front of the cou

rights groups like amnesty international say freedom of expression is under attack in spain even tweets and jokes posted online to get you arrested it seems any dissent can be treated as criminal activity. to zero barcelona. you're watching al-jazeera here's a reminder of our top stories the russian president vladimir putin is on a two day trip to turkey where he's been meeting his turkish counterpart retch of type at the un the pair launched at the construction of turkey's first nuclear power plant a twenty billion dollar project that will be built by russia the two leaders are also said to the scots the war in syria those talks will begin in earnest when iran's president arrives on wednesday. because they are the most powerful actors on the ground in syria. and syria. expecting that will be discussed to morrow. come together but you have to remember that. different spectrums different sides of the political divide fighting on the ground inside syria trains have been counseled across france as railway workers a strike against president. planned reforms tuesday's walkout is just one of

american football player calling kappa nick has been announced as the winner of amnesty international's annual ambassador of conscience award two years ago happening started kneeling jury in the u.s. national anthem played for all n.f.l. matches in response to the disproportionate number of black people killed by police captain exactions polarized opinion in the united states i'm a criticized by president donald trump captain it was presented with the award by amnesty international secretary-general saleel shetty who told us why captain eric and the players who supported him deserve this recognition that immense coverage that they're showing which has been a huge inspiration to many other activists who are anti racism activists black people but not just black people but they crossed the entire spectrum of the us population but as you know anything which happened in the us also has a huge impact across the globe so many brave human rights defenders i think seek inspiration her have gained inspiration from the from the very brave decision or gotten kaepernick that we reap proud and we're

i'm brian thomas great to have you with us amnesty international says the turkey must stop using its ongoing state of emergency as an excuse for silencing critics the report comes a day after a court jailed journalists at the leading opposition newspaper her yet they were accused of supporting the movement of the government says was behind the fell through twenty sixteen the country has been under a state of emergency since the. family friends and supporters of the defendants gathered in front of the court in celebrity outside just stumble waiting for the ruling at the end of the nine months to hurry at trial the journalists were charged with helping terrorist organizations. three of them were acquitted but the court sentenced fourteen defendants to prison terms ranging from three to eight years among them as the prominent investigative reporter ahmed chick who got seven and a half years critics condemned the convictions. what we saw today was not justice. this is the stifling of journalism and the right to information is at the hand of the justice system and you. can with this one.

happen it was presented with the war by amnesty international secretary general salil shetty who told us why kappa nick and the players who supported him deserve this recognition of that immense garbage that they're showing which has been a huge inspiration to many other activists who are anti racism activists black people but not just black people but they cross the entire spectrum of the u.s. population but as you know anything which happens in the u.s. also has a huge impact across the globe so many brave human rights defenders i think seek inspiration have success gained inspiration from the from the very brave decision of god in company so that we're ready proud and to be a very happy to have given them the best of conscience award today. the funeral has taken place for former us first lady barbara bush at a private service in houston texas she was remembered as a sharp tongued but caring person who was devoted to her family first lady melania trump bracken michelle obama bill and hillary clinton were all among those attending barbara bush was the wife of the forty first u.s. pre

amnesty international says the global picture is continuing to improve last year they counted at least nine hundred ninety three executions that's four percent fewer than in twenty sixteen and thirty nine percent fewer than in twenty fifteen and there's been a marked drop in death sentences passed at least two thousand five hundred ninety one were recorded in twenty seventeen a yearly fall of seventeen percent but there's a major caveat to these figures don't include china amnesty says it's by far the world's biggest executioner carrying out thousands of death sentences last year but statistics are considered a state secret now eighty four percent of all recorded executions took place in just four countries iran saudi arabia iraq and pakistan iran executed at least five hundred seven people last year more than half the recorded global figure amnesty says courts very often rely on confessions made under torture when passing death sentences and several countries in the middle east resumed executions in twenty seventeen after years of not doing so one continuing practice that amnesty call

amnesty international says the global picture is continuing to improve last year they counted at least nine hundred ninety three executions that's four percent fewer than in twenty sixteen and thirty nine percent fewer than in twenty fifteen and there's been a marked drop in death sentences passed at least two thousand five hundred ninety one were recorded in twenty seventeen a yearly fall of seventeen percent but there's a major caveat to these figures don't include china amnesty says it's by far the world's biggest executioner carrying out thousands of death sentences last year but statistics are considered a state secret now eighty four percent of all recorded executions took place in just four countries iran saudi arabia iraq and pakistan iran executed at least five hundred seven people last year more than half the recorded global figure amnesty says courts very often rely on confessions made under torture when passing death sentences and several countries in the middle east resumed executions in twenty seventeen after years of not doing so one continuing practice that amnesty call

well lucy graham is the head of amnesty international's death penalty team and she joins me now live and lucy very warm welcome to the program thanks for being with us so just tell me more about the report what kind of trends does show more generally there are three key trends that we're seeing this year the first one is definitely a message of hope and that we are witnessing the end of the death penalty there are two of the messages there and one of those is that there is still cause for concern and the third message is absolutely that's why we need to keep on fighting for abolition and that we can't afford to be complacent which other countries that concern you the most in your what are the kind of stories that we don't see in the press or things that we aren't generally witnessing china is definitely one of the biggest causes for concern thousands of people were executed in china last year and the information itself about the exact figures is a state secret having said all of that there is reason for hope this yes if you take the example of south sub-saharan africa we've seen a su

amnesty international has released its annual report on the death penalty.ies in 2017. that's down by 4% from 2016. but this figure excludes the thousands of executions believed to have been carried out in china, which remains the world's top executioner. the true extent of the use of the death penalty there is unknown as this data is classified as a state secret. but excluding china, 84% of all reported executions took place in just four countries, iran, saudi arabia, iraq and pakistan, with iran topping the death penalty table with at least 507 people executed last year. here's bbc persian's kasra naji. this is the amnesty international‘s report about the executions in 2017. it shows that iran tops the list among the countries with the highest number of recorded executions. we know that china, for example, executes thousands every year but they don't declare it, they don't record it, we don't know how many there are, but amongst those that have been recorded around the world, iran tops the list. 507 people were executed last year in a run. that's about 51%