of the syrian civil war they were part of the intelligence and security apparatus of president bashar assad's government and in those capacities they either carried out or were complicit in the carrying out of multiple murders of torture there's one allegation of rape and other serious violent attacks against the syrian people as i say at the start of the syrian civil war what's interesting about this is these individuals came to germany at different times and presented themselves to the authorities as refugees and yet starting today for the course of the next few months they're going to hear claims that they are anything but that they are guilty as i say of the crimes and the offenses which i just outlined outlined of course the presumption of innocence applies here they deny the charges there are other interesting elements about this the german government is choosing to to implement the jurisdiction it claims that it has under the universal janet jurisdiction for serious crimes such as genocide and other serious crimes and that is what's being applied here and many international human right

the older of the 2 defendants defected from president bashar assad's forces in 2012 before coming to germany 2 years later he was subsequently identified by syrian refugees living here he and his co-defendants were arrested in february last year in bringing this case the german authorities are applying the principle of universal jurisdiction of certain of the laws regarding serious criminal offenses affectively allowing them to prosecute individuals who are not german whose alleged offenses did not take place in germany and whose alleged victims on not germany was. the war in syria has now gone on for more than 9 years human rights organizations have left the calls for such trials to take place they believe this is a watershed moment this is a view for some of the stuff in the protests begin percy importance that this child is taking place i think a lot of people including at clients have waited for a very long time that this funny takes off it was a huge challenge for them to step out at the shadow and to speak about these crimes the 1st time ever but at thursday's hearing neither d

systematically tortured the young medical student had spoken up for human rights and called for president bashar assad to step down now 8 years after his death his mother is seeking justice. i want the culprits to be brought to justice from the accomplices all the way up to assad these people are responsible for spilling our children's blood that can be them. more than 26000 pictures of torture victims were smuggled out of the war torn syria by a courageous former police photographer has coated the scenes or the photos could help convict torturers and murderers. human rights lawyer mohsen doubt we survived torture in syria now living in germany he's pressing charges against his former tormentors including anwar as a former senior member of the syrian secret service n y r r is charged with crimes against humanity murder and rape. this is a fit of stone it will be a thought this is the 1st time there is a spoke to them or judge and we have picked a suspect and we saw signs of the state of florida we don't have it and see you. bill wiley is investigating syrian torturers be used to hunt war criminals as

of the syrian civil war they were part of the intelligence and security apparatus of president bashar assad's government and in those capacities they either carried out or were complicit in the carrying out of multiple murders of torture there's one allegation of rape and other serious violent attacks against the syrian people as i say at the start of the syrian civil war what's interesting about this is these individuals came to germany at different times and presented themselves to the authorities as refugees and yet starting today for the course of the next few months they're going to hear claims that they are anything but that they are guilty as i say of the crimes and the offenses which i just outlined outlined of course the presumption of innocence applies here they deny the charges there are other interesting elements about this the german government is choosing to to implement the jurisdiction it claims that it has under the universal genet jurisdiction for serious crimes such as genocide and other serious crimes and that is what's being applied here and many international human right

one was a prominent member of bashar al-assad's forces at the start of the war. first time any official has been brought to court for work crimes from the syrian government. >> they came to germany claiming to be refugees from syria's civil war. now it is claimed they committed crimes against humanity airing it. specifically multiple murder, torture and other serious offenses. ofthe defendants are accused having been members of syria's secret service. the accused is believed to have been head of an investigation unit, which was responsible. he is believed to have been the leader of investigation officers and personnel in prison in which systematic torture occurred. >> the older of the two defendant defected from president bashar al-assad's forces in 2012 before coming to germany two years later. he was subsequently identified by syrian refugees living here. he and his codefendant were arrested in february last year. in bringing this case, the german authorities are applying the principle of universal jurisdiction. certain of their laws regarding serious criminal

on trial in germany accused of crimes against humanity one was a prominent member of president bashar assad's forces at the start of the war and is accused of complicity in acts of torture. reports it's the 1st time any official has been brought to court for war crimes by the syrian government's. they came to germany claiming to be refugees from syria's civil war now it's claimed they committed crimes against humanity jury it specifically multiple murder torture and other serious offenses. pleaded the defendants are accused of having been members of syria's general secret service the accused is believed to have been head of an investigation unit which was responsible for this as head of the units he is believed to have been the leader of investigation officers and personnel in a prison in which systematic torture occurred the older of the 2 defendants defected from president bashar assad's forces in 2012 before coming to germany 2 years later he was subsequently identified by syrian refugees living here he and his co-defendants were arrested in february last year in bringing this case the ger

systematically tortured the young medical student had spoken up for human rights and called for president bashar assad to step down now 8 years after his death his mother is seeking justice. i want the culprits to be brought to justice from the accomplices all the way up to assad these people are responsible for spilling our children's blood could kill me that. more than 26000 pictures of torture victims were smuggled out of war torn syria by a courageous former police photographer his code name caesar the photos could help convict torturers and murderers. human rights lawyer mas and doubt we survived torture in syria now living in germany he's pressing charges against his former tormentors including anwar as a former senior member of the syrian secret service and mark karr is charged with crimes against humanity murder and rape. this is a stone it will be a thought this is the 1st time there is a split the vote or judge and we have picked a suspect and we size. the state of florida we don't have it and see if you. bill wiley is investigating syrian tortures he used to hunt war criminals as he went pr

and iran's foreign minister meets with syria's president bashar al assad in damascus both expressing their displeasure with the u.s. sanctions on their countries we're going to discuss it next and later at sports h.q. regina hamm shares the story of one runner who decided to tackle the boston marathon in his own unique way solo runner check it out will be right back. is you'll be via reflection of reality. in a world transformed. what will make you feel safe. isolation or community. are you going the right way or are you being led. by. what is true what is faith. in the world corrupted you need to descend. to join us in the depths. or remain in the shallowness. this is a story about what happens auster a stray bullet kills a young girl in the streets. what happens to her family and daughters in florida no mother and daughter is buried in a cemetery in meaning this is with your head what happens to the community the public was screaming for a scapegoat the police needed a scapegoat so why not choose a 19 year old black kid with a criminal record who better to pin this on than him and

anti-government protests the 1st court case linked alleged state sponsored torture by president bashar al assad's government has done it came in berlin to take a serious and i think actually what people might be wondering initially dominic is why is this case happening in germany. sorry the line is rather poor in my ear but i think you asked me why people are wondering why this case is happening in germany well the reasons for the german authorities are using universal international jurisdiction in order to prosecute prosecute these defendants the point is the defendants did not commit these offenses in germany german soil obviously the allegation against the medications they deny are that these offenses took place in syria the people concerned the defendants concerned came to germany several years ago and claimed to be refugees and yet today and over the course of the next several months they're going to hear claims from prosecutors that they are responsible for multiple murders for torture and other offenses committed at the start of the syrian civil war one interesting aspect of this is that o

revolution this is the 1st court case linked to alleged state sponsored torture by president bashar al assad's government is dominant came in berlin to tell us more on this so just bring us up to date dominic and also why this is happening in germany. when these individuals these defendants came to this country they presented themselves to the authority claiming to be refugees over the course of the next few months those same supposedly refugees are going to hear claims from prosecutors that they are in fact people who carried out very serious criminal offenses for a relatively long period at the start of the syrian civil war and the point that makes this interesting from the perspective you were alluding to in the introduction is that the laws that are being used to allow this prosecution to be brought under universal jurisdiction not specifically german jurisdiction the german authorities are using powers to allow them to prosecute individuals who didn't commit the offense is concerned within their own jurisdiction that makes it interesting from that perspective but then there's also what yo

on trial in germany accused of crimes against humanity one was a prominent member of president bashar assad's forces at the start of the war and is accused of complicity in acts of torture as dominic cain reports it's the 1st time any official has been brought to court for war crimes by the syrian government . they came to germany claiming to be refugees from syria's civil war now it's claimed they committed crimes against humanity jury it specifically multiple murder torture and all the serious offenses and. that's the last time it needed to be defendants are accused of having been members of syria's general secret service the accused is believed to have been head of an investigation unit which was responsible for. the break out of the report to take you back to the us president donald trump speaking at the coronavirus taskforce briefing let's listen and he goes away very quickly it dies very quickly with the senate. oh you said yesterday you know we're going to start on a suggestion for a while and stand sort of our bankruptcy versus the yeah i will look into it and i have been looking into

youngg mededical student had spn up for human rights and called for bashar al-assad to stetep down. now come eight years after his death, his mother is seeking justice. >> i want the cuculprits to be p to justice, from the accomplishment -- accomplices all the way up to assad. they are responsible for spilling our children's blood. >> more than 26,000 pictures of torture victims were smuggled out of war-torn syria by a courageous former police photographer. his codenename -- caesar. the photos could help convict torturers and murderers. this human rights lawyer survived torture in syria. now living in germany, he is pressing charges against his former tormentors. as a former senior member of the secret service, he is charged with crimes against humanity, murder and rape. >> this is the first time it will be a trial. this is the first time there is a respectable court and judge and we have victim and suspect and we can exercise the law and state of law. we do not have it in syria. >> l wiley is investigating syrian torturers.. he used d to hunt war criminalss a u.n. prosecutor and wo

syria's revolution it's the 1st court case linked to a legit state sponsored torture by president bashar al assad's government. so the south african army is called up its reserve forces to help enforce a national lockdown more than 70000 soldiers almost the entire standing army are being deployed leaders in cities like cape town say they've seen a surge in looting since the restrictions were imposed south africa has $65.00 deaths and over $3600.00 infections it's inside story now. how much of a threat is coronavirus to the world's food supply is there a serious warnings of a global shortage as the pandemic spread so how can the availability of food be safeguarded and can a famine crisis be averted this is inside story. hello welcome to the program i'm bernard. widespread famines of biblical proportions the u.n. is warning covert 900 could cause an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe it says the number of people who can't get enough to eat could double by the end of the year that's more than a quarter of a 1000000000 people 21000 people already die of hunger every day and that number could saw if

what other avenues do you see i mean president bashar al assad has dismissed any prosecutions and courts outside of syria says they're essentially irrelevant and there is little chance that this could go even to the international criminal court so are you worried that this push for justice could just and here. honestly were not worried at all we've seen a lot of creative. mechanisms for justice come out of things like the russian and chinese veto of referral to the i.c.c. we've seen the un investigative mechanism the triple i and be born out of this we've seen a pickup in universal jurisdiction cases that we hadn't seen in the last decade before the syrian conflict came into place and we're seeing a number of sanctions be put in place for human rights violations so i guess the message here really is that it's it's very difficult just to see even when it's traditionally blocked sar what will justice for these victims end up looking like. i mean or hoping that justice for these victims would look like the major perpetrators and the system that put these in place and be held accountable and

sarin that hit heavily congested civilian areas including a hospital report goes on to say that bashar al assad's heavy use of chemicals weapons has been a crucial part of his regime's military strategy and let's bring in our diplomatic editor james bays joining us live from the united nations and james investigators now have come out with more specifics to tell us all about it. well as you know nic it's been a very long and horrific saga the use of chemical weapons in syria it goes back to 2013 and throughout this time lots of people including the obama administration to trumpet ministration so they believe that the assad regime was responsible but getting an international body to actually look at this has been difficult russia in particular a close ally of the assad regime has blocked some of those attempts finally we have this report just released and it looks at this stage we can look at other attacks later but it looks at 3 attacks in march 27th t. in and it finds that in those 3 attacks which were all on the same town in ad lib that 2 of them were sarin being dropped by the syrian air force

sarin that hit heavily congested civilian areas including a hospital report goes on to say that bashar al assad's heavy use of chemical weapons has been a crucial part of his regime's military strategy diplomatic editor james base has been following developments from the united nations. an important report but will it be a game changer clearly the long and horrific saga of the use of chemical weapons goes back to 2013 and you remember that certainly the obama administration thought the assad regime did it they said that it across the red line but then president obama decided not to take any sort of military action at that time well all the while we've not had any technical scientific proof that the assad regime was responsible well we now have it for the 1st time the o.p.c. w that's the international body at deals with chemical weapons has produced this $82.00 page report looking initially at 3 incident incidents that go back to 2017 and they are on a town in italy and there are over a 6 day period now what they have decided and they say that this is based on on them looking at the evidence and l

province including a hospital added says chemical weapons have been a crucial part of president bashar al assad's military strategy. u.s. senator bernie sanders has ended his bid to be the democratic party's presidential nominee the vermont senator had been the front runner in the race to take on donald trump earlier this year sandra's exit clears the way for former vice president joe biden to become the party's candidate sanders told his supporters the crisis was a factor in his decision. i know that there may be some in our movement who disagree with the city who would like us the fight on the last ballot cancer at the democratic convention i understand opposition but as i see the crisis gripping the nation exacerbated by a president unwilling or unable to provide any kind of credible leadership and the work that needs to be done to protect people in this most desperate hour while i cannot in good conscience continue to about the campaign they cannot win and which would interfere with the important work required of all of us in this difficult hour well michael fauntroy is an associate professor

and this could be 19 looms over the war ravaged syria president bashar al assad is accused of holding on to medical supplies so. we've got another round of severe storms making their way across southern parts of the u.s. central plains also seeing some rather wet weather day perrie of low pressure here just tucked in and lot will drive the wet the windy weather and a few tornadoes further a switch as we go through the next few days pushing across the appalachians alabama georgia seeing some very heavy rain through the carolinas right into the middle antic states and that very wet weather with the possibility of some localized flooding will be in place as we go through a good part of thursday dry weather comes in behind so very hot down towards the desert southwest temperatures hit could well get up around the 40 degree mark over towards the west coast some mild pleasant weather but a more pleasant weather coming through here at around 20 celsius a few showers there just tumbling across the rockies on thursday they'll skirt a little further east which is we go on through friday pushing

in the news the head is covered 19 looms over war ravaged syria president bashar al assad is accused of holding on to medical supplies. and there we have it that we're having to live jumping to a degree in the demand dropping warnings of a catastrophe for the dairy industry in the u.k. . hello it's all changing the weather across europe after what's been a very warm and sunny april for much of central and northern europe we've got these massive weather fronts pushing for a lot of cloud lots of wet and windy weather pushing back in across central and northern areas of the continent then so we got cloud and rain is on the cool side as well 13 celsius in london 15 there for paris with that wet weather pushing all the way across into germany berlin about 18 degrees single figures there for still call it 7 degrees celsius basin places a shabby rain over towards the east as well wanted to show was there to turkey for much of southern europe there it is looking fine and again something of a change here and it looks good in spite and portugal for the most part one of 2 showers across norther

bashar al assad's government says there has been just onede h so far linked to covid-19. the country's years long diplomatic isolation may be helping it right now. but aid agencies have been struggling to deal with a humanitarian disaster in the northeast province of idlib for months, where millions fleeing the assad army's advance are crammed into camps. it's not known if the virus has a presence there, but refugees in the camps know the living conditions mean it would surely spread quickly.tr >> ( slated ): if all these big countries have failed in confronting th disease what can we do against it? what can we do whereowerful countries have failed?or >> rr: egypt's ancient pyramids lit up with social- distancing messages on tuesday night. cairo is a city of 20 million peopleand known for its nightlife; but it's been under night time curfew for over a week. >> ( a translated ): this disease. it's no joke. people must stay at home and noi leave homes after curfew hours. >> reporter: egypt's dictatorship expelled a british journalist for reportit the number of cases in the

province including a hospital and he says chemical weapons have been a crucial part of president bashar al assad's military strategy. a british law to drivers pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of 39 people who were found dead in the back of his truck last year the bodies of 31 men and 8 women were found in southeast england in a tobar the result of an alleged people smuggling operation 4 other suspects have been charged over the deaths and those are the headlines the news continues here on al-jazeera after al-jazeera world cup i. 'd from to time that i start understanding the ward surrounding me and questioning the life and asking the same question that everybody's i was who am i where am i coming from why i am here and what i'm going to add sheen to now it has been always a spiral i have been true. you know years off that difficulties i have been to to praise in torture exile but i never forgot that i am going to reach a point beyond which is somehow a serving dish manatee. by fighting against injustice is what really my main goal is was and will be i hoped in the future but to reach it. every d

it's civilian areas including a hospital the report goes on to say that bashar al assad's heavy use of chemical weapons has been a crucial part of his regime's military strategy let's cross straightaway to our diplomats at the james base who joins us from the united nations and james it important to report this very important investigators coming out with more specifics about what happened. an important report but will it be a game changer clearly the long and horrific saga of the use of chemical weapons goes back to 2039 you're remember that certainly the obama administration thought the assad regime did it they said that it across the red line but then president obama decided not to take any sort of military action at that time well all the while we've not had any technical scientific proof that the assad regime was responsible well we now have it just over an hour ago for the 1st time the o.p.c. w that's the international body that deals with chemical weapons has produced this $82.00 page report looking initially at 3 incident incidents go back to 2017 they are in a town in it live

sarin that had heavily congested civilian areas including a hospital report goes on to say that bashar al assad's heavy use of chemical weapons has been a crucial part of his regime's military strategy let's bring in our diplomatic editor james bay is joining us live from the united nations and james that we have specifics now in this investigation tell us more. yeah absolutely it's been a long and horrific saga of the use of chemical weapons in syria going back to 2030 and claims that the assad regime responsible go right back then and you remember that the trumpet ministration and the obama administration both blamed the assad regime for carrying out chemical attacks in fact it crossed president obama's red line but then he didn't take military action but what we've never had is a proper international scientific investigation that apportions blame we now have it it's this report took a very long time because various other efforts were blocked at various stages notably by the russians in the security council but the o.p.c. w. set up a new unit the a p c w the part of the international community

certainly in syria, the gross abuse of human rights by bashar al-assad and the inability of the international connecto effectively do anything about that is degrading norms of military conflicts but were also seen this in peacetime. china is engaging and horrific human rights abuses, detaining over 1 million of its citizens and the world is basically silent on this. it's really deeply troubling. we know this is happening, there's plenty of information about it. china successfully on off of the countries. europe is largely silent on this. because a large part we have countries getting money from china. and so there was sort of a view at the late 1990s and early 2000s that there was this history that was turning towards progress. resident obama used to talk about that. that's optimistic but i don't think that is supported by reality. the u.s. engaged closer with china on the assumption that overtime engagement would be to china becoming more liberal lyrically and economically. that is not born yet. we're facing a very serious competitor in china that has a very different view of the world than

state media today released a message that the chairman had allegedly sent the syrian president bashar al-assaddistance from the facts, or from covid. we'll see what happens. back to you. >> sandra: all right, greg palkot, thanks for that. >> ed: we are telling stories of america coming together in this pandemic. how a grocery store based in louisiana is extending a helping hand to his community. we will talk to the chief of that chain, coming up. helps you take advantage refi of some of the lowest mortgage rates we've ever seen. one call to newday can save you $2000 a year. one call can lower your payments by this time next month without verifying your income, without getting your home appraised, and without one dollar out of pocket. it's the quickest and easiest loan newday's ever offered. one call can save you $2000 a year, every year. 450-degree oven, to box, to you, know that from our it's our policy that your pizza is never touched once it comes out of the oven. and we're taking extra steps, like no contact delivery, to ensure it. witpeople at higher riskng, must take extra precautions. y

bashar iran to step down now 8 years after his death his mother. nor i want the culprits to be brought to justice from the accomplice all the way up to assad these people are responsible for killing our children's blood. killing me then no. more than 26000 pictures of torture victims were out of her tour in syria by a courageous photographer. the photos could help convict torture and murder. human rights lawyer martin down we survived torture in syria now living in germany he's pressing charges against his former tormentors including anwar as a former senior member of the syrian. anwar are charged with crimes against humanity murder and rape. of a quarter. and we have to come back and he finds. we don't have it and you. will miley is investigating syrian torturers. war criminals and he went prosecutor and worked on from the former yugoslavia and rwanda genocide. without a peep or trail it's difficult to bring culprits to justice. that's why these documents out of syria are so valuable. what you have in this room arm. materials generated by the security intelligence structures of. the military structures of syria and the party or political structures of