in february a band of prisoners at guantanamo bay began a hunger strike according to u.s. officials eighty four prisoners are on hunger strike currently sixteen of them are being force fed while five already been hospitalized and a recent new york times column one guantanamo detainee who's been there for eleven years without trial gave a harrowing personal account of his experience and says quote i will never forget the first time they passed the feeding tube out my nose i can't describe how painful it is to be force fed this way i wanted to vomit but i couldn't i had never experienced such pain before i would not wish this cruel punishment on anyone for many of the detainees who are starving themselves are of the eighty six prisoners who've already been cleared for release but they haven't been permitted to leave so to break down what hope these prisoners do have of walking free again i'm joined now by colonel morris davis former chief prosecutor at one time in prison thank you so much for coming out pleasure so you were the chief prosecutor for the military tribunals act

do or die i protested guantanamo u.s. military officials admit to hunger strikers tried to commit suicide as part of a desperate act of defiance which has dragged on for over two months. two years and she is britain says farewell to the controversial and lady margaret thatcher a figure who continues to divide the nation even in death we get live comment from london seen here in r.t. i. screen around the world twenty four hours a day this is the live from moscow activists and families of palestinian detainees kept in israeli jails are running across the palestinian territories to mark prisoners day they're calling on the international community to intervene to release some inmates especially those on hunger strike audi's middle east correspondent paula has the latest did witness a large scale protests across the palestinian territories palestinian prisoner day is an annual commemoration and it marks the almost five thousand palestinian prisoners who are currently in israeli jails all that number of the five thousand some t

in february a band of prisoners at guantanamo bay began a hunger strike according to u.s. officials eighty four prisoners are on hunger strike currently sixteen of them are being force fed while five already been hospitalized in a recent new york times column one guantanamo detainee who's been there for eleven years without trial gave a harrowing personal account of his experience and says quote i will never forget the first time they passed the feeding tube out my nose i can't describe how painful it is to be force fed this way i wanted to vomit but i couldn't i had never experienced such pain before i would not wish this cruel punishment on anyone for many of the detainees who are starving themselves are of the eighty six prisoners who've already been cleared for release but they haven't been permitted to leave so to break down what hope these prisoners do have of walking free again i'm joined now by colonel morris davis former chief prosecutor one tunnel prison thank you so much for coming on oh my pleasure so you were the chief prosecutor for the military tribunals act

on this look to think that guantanamo population guantanamo is a distinct and unique population of individuals separate apart from any other person who's been involved in or potentially involved in activity or criminal terrorist is ridiculous of course there are people who have left who want to be on the other and more people left guantanamo more people you're making an argument in absurdum. the fact is that the detainees at guantanamo seven hundred seventy nine at its peak have been through multiple layers of review processes at the bush administration and of course as you point out in the obama administration and i will give you this point the obama administration had a smaller group of people to look at and what they also did is they decided to up the risk quotient that they're willing to take and that's part of the reason that eighty six were cleared for transfer that doesn't mean they were innocent no one even obama's ration didn't say they were in it what you say is they are going to you we are transfer thomas go ahead before we go to the break so but they've cleared their right they've

the reality guantanamo this is a failure of guantanamo. shows it's a terrible place to adjudicate indicate these things. the federal court system is the place where these things need to be tried. you can't hold people with the suspicion they might do things bad in the future, particularly in these cases where individuals what was been cleared through our own process, our own task force and court system have declared it's 56 individuals cleared for transfer, another 30 if certain conditions are met. this is easy. this is not the hard stuff. we need to immediately make sure there's public pressure on our elected representatives to make sure this happens because it is unacceptable for the u.s. i think most of us would agree the u.s. is at its best when we are upholding these values that we hold sacred and we're serving as a model for the rest of the world. guantanamo is a terrible stain not just on our reputation but our legacy and we have to get past this period. >> i think, you know, with that statistic, with that chart doesn't reflect is s

taxpayers of having a facility in guantanamo.t would be 1/30 the cost to house those who need to face charges here in the united states in a supermax facility so i think it's a clear-cut case of being good custodians of tax money, even for those who don't care about the constitutional -- >> can you make that argument to republicans on austerity grounds? >> it hasn't done it on constitutional grounds. where it looks like cutbacks would have to be made and other areas they want to restore military budget cuts, here's an easy way to find $150 million in savings. >> jen, you wrote this op-ed in "the new york times" that made be sit up and notice that you had been opposed to guantanamo and its existence and continued existence. you said now almost four years later i have changed my mind, despite recognizing the many policy imperatives in favor of closure, despite the bipartisan support for this position, despite the fact 166 men still languish there, i now believe it should stay open, at least for the short time. while i've been slow

medication anymore because he doesn't want to get beat not to get it that is he'd never been to guantanamo bay i've seen very little information about what goes on inside that what is it actually like inside the detention camp the scene the breezes will sit in that place well i've spent my whole life representing people on death row so i've been to most of the death row of the southern states of america. kuantan know for all the norms that the military puts out about it is worse than any other. country different but first you go to the physical treatment of the prisoners there's no prisoner prizm nights in states where you could meet a prisoner up and not get sued into the next millennium so it's worse because no one controls the military. but on another level it's fog with and that psychologically. the military go to upset us way back when when we called it the guantanamo do that because they didn't like the echoes of the soviet union in the old days so to take that analogy a bit further which i think is totally fair i don't think it was a given that in soviet russia where fifty two perce

things are considered i'm peter lavelle a promise made a promise not kept the prison facility at guantanamo bay remains open and not to be closed any time soon many of the inmates there have been cleared of any wrongdoing nonetheless they languish what does get most say about obama's integrity and what does get more say about america's commitment to justice and due process. to cross-talk the hunger strike in guantanamo bay i'm joined by thomas wilner in washington he is head of the international trade and investment practice that should remain in sterling also in washington we have charles stimson he is the chief of staff and senior legal fellow at the heritage foundation and in nashville we cross to. he is an assistant professor of law at vanderbilt law school or a german cross-talk rules and i think that means you can jump in anytime you want thomas can you talk us through why did the hunger strike started getting and what's going on there at this moment. the hunger strike started because of some change in conditions actually the people running that camp changed and they changed some of t

the 136 in guantanamo.f course, commissions are ongoing in office for which i have the privilege of serving on has very little to do with military commissions. it is more detainee policy. >> finally, editorialized, do you stand -- what should happen with guantanamo? guest: i think president should have maximum possibility -- the ability to prosecute the with a one. george bush thought guantanamo should be closed. this president clearly thinks it should be closed. therefore, i think we have to give deference to the commander in chief. if he wants it closed, he should do what it takes to close it. are at war, if you and if you pick up detainees, and you will, you have to put them somewhere. if we kept them in afghanistan were the majority were picked up, they would never have access to federal court. if we brought them to the united states, which we had over 400,000 not the germany pow's here during world war ii the laws have changed and they would have had access to the federal court from the very beginning.

we can close guantanamo this is all about president obama as i said the military can force feed them they are playing a game of chicken with an opponent who is ready to die and you can't do that you will lose that game of chicken the military doesn't seem to grasp this logic but let's be clear about this this is about president obama and his administration that's what this discussion should be about but it seems as a conflict of interests that the white house has said that they are committed to closing guantanamo and yet the pentagon now wants to renovate the facility so there's a bomb in the. well again the white house says it's committed to closing guantanamo it said in a briefing and it says it in various places said it when they transferred transferred abu ghaith to new york city but there's nobody in the administration charged with the job so at this point it's premature to even ask that the president close guantanamo we're just asking that he charge somebody with with the responsibility just one person if president obama gives us one person we can talk to and gives that person

and the official number of guantanamo bay hunger strikers reached.

the time off each detainee in guantanamo costs u.s. taxpayers eight hundred thousand dollars a year there one hundred sixty six captives on the island now half of them have been cleared for release so there's absolutely no reason to have them there but the u.s. still spends millions of dollars every year to keep them behind bars many find it even more puzzling in light of ongoing furloughs among public sector workers let's put this number eight hundred thousand dollars in perspective not a lot of people can boast costing the government eight hundred thousand dollars a year a prisoner in the u.s. cost the taxpayers twenty seven thousand dollars thirty times less that is the average salary of a public school teacher here is fifty one thousand dollars one guantanamo detainee cost taxpayers more than the president himself he makes four hundred thousand dollars a year and if you think that the details have a look live fairly you're wrong to quote general john kelly who is in command of one tunnel the facility is falling apart so there he wa

>> there are currently 166 detainees remaining at guantanamo. that's down from 240 when he took office, and about 800 total whom the bush administration brought there. president obama has not brought anyone to guantanamo. >> ifill: and when you mention at the expense and the president mentioned the expense, what are we talk approximating about? >> it's more expensive to build anything there. it's more-- because it is so far away, you have to barge things in around cuba. it's more expensive to operate anything there. and currently the facilities there are sort of falling apart. the south comm which overseas gain tan to-- guantanamo has a pending request for $200 million in new construction to replace deteriorate facilities which it says needs to be done right now. this would effectively build permanent structures to replace what had been temporary guard baracks and camps and so forth set up over ten years ago. >> ifill: the president also made another claim today, assertion. he said that the presence of guantanamo makes if a recruitment tool for

i've kept at guantanamo for. some at guantanamo bay will never be charged.re is no plan to charge them, and there is no plan to release them. that is indefinite detention. that's not what a democracy does. one of the people to blame was cleared president obama. that's interesting. let's bring in an expert to talk about it. we couldn't find a better expert than colonel morris davis. he was the chief at guantanamo bay from 2005 to 2007 and now he's assistant professor at howard law. colonel davis, great to have you here. >> thanks. >> cenk: first of all, let's talk about the situation at guantanamo overall. you were prosecutor there and it seems unbelievable that we have a situation where we're telling the world and we're telling these specific detainees we have no plans whatsoever to charge you. you will never get a trial fair or otherwise yet, we will note release you. we will keep you indefinitely. how do we say that? how do we say that to the detainees? how do we say that to the world? >> it's quite a contrast. in your earlier segment you said that you hop

bay do you want to keep it open doesn't matter that some in congress want to keep guantanamo bay open for. and over irrespective of if these individuals have actually committed a crime or not why can you do how can you do that if two americans were captured would we then argue that they was meant to be held until our war on the physical emotion of terror and would that be the us position i think not and it's time to analyze the situation crowds turned out to say last goodbye to former prime minister margaret thatcher who's been laid to rest in london however alongside the thousands paying their last respects were protesters gathered for what they called maggie's good riddance policy the news of such as death of the age of eighty seven last week was met with both mournful comment and cheerful celebration she's famous for winning the falklands conflict against argentina and helping end the cold war however a number have a hardline policies did not sit well with parts of the public including a stand off with coleman is. the real news network he watched the ceremony in london i spoke to m

and then to guantanamo where all the prisoners were and they were interrogating people that that. they were providing information misinformation some of them checked his case to the americans that was then used to maintain this detention without trial all of this is criminal offense all of this ultimately if i have my way they're going to end up facing the international criminal court which is certainly what i got my sights if the british police don't do it lies that that's the thank you very much for joining us today ok. money skis and maybe a second to be a beanie money in stevia to soup which is both a cultural contemporary i don't take no logic to serve the auditorium so join me to almost say honored see i made the second as we bring you the glitz the glamour and the best of the best in the performing arts right here at marine ski pia to team. choose your language. cool if we could with. some of the. treatments that use the consensus to. choose the opinions that invigorating to. choose the stories but in life truth be accessed often. welcome to teal one i hear you can feel it

and to jamie on hunger strike the guantanamo bay allegedly tries to take his own life as inmates reach a breaking point with the protests now in his third month. and no escape from prying eyes the private investigation industry is thriving in britain as a leg of legal restrictions allows anyone to keep tabs on you at any time. at seven pm here in moscow are you watching r t live with me. the pentagon is sounding the alarm over the french troops withdrawal from mali saying local forces are unfit to take over paris pull the first contingent out of the volatile state on tuesday they plan to withdraw three quarters of their force by the end of the get and keep a thousand strong deployment runs intervened in mali generally to drive islamist rebels out of the country and assess us early reports a lot has changed for paris is since the start of the mission they say though that they still plan on that continuing battle adoption of the four thousand strong military personnel who are at least on the ground and keeping these a one thousand feet as they say will be part of a few sure you when a pe

i continue to believe that we need to close guantanamo. i'm going to reengage with congress to try to make the case that this is not something that is in the best interests of the american people. >> you were saying that isn't going to happen, realistically? >> i think if we look at what has happened in boston, i don't certainly in any way condone did. but something is causing radicalization. we know that guantanamo is one of the top recruiting tools for al qaeda around the world. if you ask generals in the military, should guantanamo be closed. it's not a hard answer for them. i wrote notes, reengage with congress and put a star by it even as it's a good thing to do and why it should be closed. the likelihood that congress lifts the restriction on closing guantanamo bay is just even in a percent fekt world, exceedingly unlikely to happen. >> one thing that the president does exceedingly well among other things is act as a leader on the moral virtues and it really struck me that his voice on jason collins is a unique voice. in saying that

do protest at guantanamo bay u.s. military officials admit to try to commit suicide spot of a desperate act of defiance which is now dragged on for more than two months. tracing terror police in the united states struggle to find even a suspect in the domestic terror attacks since nine eleven monday's boston bombings killed three and injured one hundred eighteen. cheers britain says farewell to the controversial iron lady margaret thatcher figure who continues to divide the nation even in death. thank you very much for joining us here on r.t. today i'm live in moscow with your world wide. but as well as opposition leader has called off a protest march and blame the government for post-election violence that has left seven people dead and the country is on the edge of political chaos after a razor thin majority in sunday's presidential vote essentially split the nation right down the middle of the new president nicolas maduro has accused the opposition of planning a coup. has all the details. this is the sound of a fer

earlier today president obama said that he wants to close down guantanamo bay promise to do this back in two thousand and eight but the prison remains open because republicans blocked him in congress will he be able to overcome republican fears and shutter one of the most shameful symbols of america's turned to the dark side during the so-called war on terror i'll ask our panelists and the night's big picture politics and all in just a model also all we've known for years the fossil fuels are killing our planet our leaders in washington have sat back and watched the world current now one new mexico county has taken matters into its own hands and banned oil extraction within its borders this is the future of the fight against global warming and believe it or not the united states could learn a thing or two about social justice from bangladesh i'll tell you why i feel the. need to know this at a surprise press conference earlier this morning president obama told reporters that he wants to close the guantanamo bay detention center think it is critical for us to understand the guantanamo

coming up on r t the guantanamo bay hunger strike is expanding more detainees have decided to take part in the strike as the u.s. sends extra medical help to the detention facility will look at the situation next . chicago retail and fast food workers go on strike they want higher wages and the right to form a union so what are the odds of those demands being met will question more and it's thursday so that means it's tech news will give you the download on what the government is up to with internet freedoms and privacy that's later in the show. it's thursday april twenty fifth five pm in washington d.c. i'm megan lopez and you are watching r.t. . well the situation at the guantanamo bay detention facility continues to grow more dire by the day for detainees as live on the street lieutenant colonel samuel house has now acknowledged that ninety four of the one hundred sixty six detainees participating in the hunger strike are at the facility seventeen of those ninety four men are now being given liquid nutrients through a nasal tube to prevent weight loss in a recent new york times op ed

and then to guantanamo where all the prisoners were and they were interrogating people that that. they were providing information misinformation sent me his case to the americans that was then used to maintain this detention without trial all of this is criminal offense all of this ultimately if i have my way they're going to end up facing the international criminal court which is certainly what i got my sights if the british police don't do it flies that that's the thinking of it joining us today ok. the movie with the words e z being first zombie which stars brad pitt as one hundred seventy five million dollar budget has been recalled by paramount executives not because this is probably yet another stupid violent zombie movie but because the chinese might get offended according to the wrap dot com china was supposed to take the blame for starting the evil zombie apocalypse this time but china becoming the largest foreign market for american movies made a test of integrity fly out the window to protect the bottom dollar as is tradition and hollywood this is not the first time tha

and the president says it is worth taking another look at closing guantÁnamo down.and could it be the future of money? , we will take a look at a virtual currency, the gbit -- the bitcoin. welcome to our viewers on public television in america and elsewhere around the globe. for a second day, bombings have brought a civil war to the heart of the capital. an explosion in damascus has claimed the lives of at least 14 people. within 17 were injured in the blast, and here in washington, it is the use of chemical weapons that is gaining attention. in a news conference today, president barack obama warned that it confirms" assad government is using weapons, the u.s. would have to rethink its options. >> we have evidence that chemical weapons have been used inside syria, but we do not know how they were used, when they were used, who use them. we do not have a chain of custody that establishes what exactly happened. decisions am making about america's national security and the potential for taking additional action in response to chemical weapons use, i have got to make su

our top story inmates at the guantanamo bay detention center clash with guards during an attempt to enda two month long hunger strike their officers tried to forcibly remove detainees from communal living quarters and put them in individual cells non-lethal rounds were fired at prisoners when they were resisted with improvised weapons guy and he has more from washington. this was apparently a pre-dawn operation that took place hours after the delegates of the international committee of the red cross left the island left guantanamo a statement released by the u.s. military says the guards at guantanamo have fired four rounds at prisoners from non-lethal weapons they say the detainees covered surveillance cameras windows and partitions to prevent the guards from observing them during the ongoing hunger strike the guards allegedly clashed with the detainees which military officials say led them to move the captives from communal to single cells the military says the detainees used improvised weapons to resist the transfer they say that's when the guards started shooting at the captives as

bus as the hunger strike or guantanamo bay enters its third month and the risk of course of prisoners health grows rapidly and we look at why capitol hill and the media continue to ignore the protest that and more after the break. international airport in the very heart of moscow. live from moscow this is our team egypt once again gripped by protests and fighting five people have been killed and at least eight wounded in clashes between christians and muslims in a town near cairo and some of the worst sectarian violence the country's seen in months in the capital itself though an anti government demonstration demanding regime change attended by thousands in scuffles with riot police cairo based journalist tom dale reports. clashes have broken out in downtown cairo metal barricades have put being pulled across the streets tear gas and smoke fills the air and the wail of sirens the familiar green laser cutting through the gas once again clashes have spread to the town of my house which was so important for the birth of the april sixth movement five years ago on that day five years ago p

when you think about the issue of guantanamo bay. let me transition. since the governor did bring up immigration, the president bringing that issue up. the comprehensive reform. let me play what the president said. >> thing are pretty dysfunctional up on capitol hill. despite that, i'm actually confident that there are a range of thing that we can get done. i feel confident that the bipartisan work that has been done on immigration reform will result in a bill that passes the senate, passes the house and gets on my desk. that will be an historic achievement. >> it is interesting. al hundred wrote an article. obama republicans squandered first 100 days and he noted it is a measure for first term presidents, not reelected ones. yet the end of precipitous moment for an early evaluation of how they are meeting the aspirations set out in january. the answer, both are falling short. when it comes to immigration, that is not the case. that may be the glimmer of hope at things can certa get done. obviously, the republicans have a stake in wanting this to get d

i don't think the problem with the thing really is the guantanamo bay i think the problem originates in washington d.c. i've reviewed the cases of my clients and i can tell you that the information in those cases the extremely ploy let's talk about witness the so-called evidence came about it was back in the bush in kenya administration we were talking about imminent attacks and danger color charts and look at the use of in crop dusters an attack forces attacking the united states on wednesday friday that's the same information that they're trying to say today that somehow relevant or valid when in fact if they could find even what i assure you would shut me up they would do that human rights organization that's supposed to be here good something which in fact is doing very little fact that the remaining silent indicate that it can go in kind of a value that they've been wholly irrelevant and that you know if you're a human rights organization and you're supposed to be involved in report on what's happening in a prison officer or that's out of sight out of mind and you fail to do tha

also american protesters avoid their outrage over the mistreatment of prisoners at guantanamo bay and urge their president to follow through on his campaign pledge to close the detention camp. and seven pm here in the russian capital you're watching r t live with me to bond with the will be no more extra cash for cyprus beyond a ten billion euro international bailout to eurozone finance ministers have sent the mood has been grim at a meeting in dublin as it emerged that the island nation needs around six billion euros more than originally thought to avoid bankruptcy the simpler government will now have to raise the extra funds without external help and after the recent rage on bank deposits there are now deep concerns over the president that's being said as archie's tesa reports. it dominated headlines for much of two weeks a year is a nation on the brink of bankruptcy the banks were closed cash rationed and capital controls put in place cyprus of those heavy losses which could rise to up to sixty percent on wealthier depositors in order to quench attend a billion euro e.u. i.m.f. bai

and lawyers of the guantanamo bay detainees on hunger strike claimed their clients are prepared to die rather than give up the almost two month long protests. in broadcasting live from our studios in moscow this is our team recapping the week's top stories i'm sean thomas glad to have you with us cypriots woke up on saturday to some very unpleasant news those with six figure bank accounts will see up to sixty percent of their savings seized by the government to meet the conditions of an e.u. bailout that's on top of the draconian capital controls in the country currently daily cash withdrawals are limited to three hundred euro's per person per bank no checks can be cashed and payments and transfers outside cypriots are cyprus excuse me are limited to five thousand euros a month while those travelling abroad are not permitted to take more than a thousand euros with them the restrictions have been imposed for an indefinite period and as artie's tests are silly reports families are already feeling the pinch. like many in cyprus later need us agreed this is simply stunned at the speed and

guards at guantanamo bay fire rubber bullets at prisoners we can buy a two month long hunger strike as they resist attempts to move them into isolated cells. moscow banning eighteen americans from entering russia for alleged links to torture and human rights abuses the move a sparrow direct response to washington's earlier unilateral sanctioning of eighteen russian officials on the so-called magnitsky list. north korea continuing a verbal barrage against the u.s. and allies by threatening a nuclear strike on tokyo which russia urges all sides against saber rattling that could have serious consequences. for am in moscow i met treasury bring you today's top stories in a look back at the week's news here on r.t. our top story polling stations have closed in venezuela after a crunch presidential election triggered by the death of former leader who go chavez last month two widely contrasting chant candidates for people to choose from on the left nicolas maduro who wishes to continue the chavez era socialism on the right opposition candidate enrique kip relays a free market to vote urging cl

he calls systematic torture forty seven year old soccer all the has been at guantanamo bay for more than eleven years now without trial or charge let's now speak to his lawyer clyde stuff that's miss he's also the director of legal action charity reprieve thank you very much for joining us when was the last time you speak to i spoke to shaq the last week on the telephone i was trying to get another i got a message from one of my clients that one of my other clients that he desperately needs to talk again but they're not letting me have another one till next week would you take in less than. well i'm in the heart and we went on for an hour and it was basically mainly about the hunger strike but i think he was more down he had lost a lot more weight in the days between that call and when i had before and he was really concerned that he was fading it's been more than two months now that that hunger strikes how is his health his health was terrible before he started under strike and. what do you think when you stop eating for two months he's being horribly abused i mean the u.s. unfortu

former guantanamo detainee thank you. where you can find out how the guantanamo hunger strike has been unfolding on our web site r.t. .

and the president says it is worth taking another look at closing guantÁnamo down.and could it be the future of money? , we will take a look at a virtual currency, the gbit -- the bitcoin. welcome to our viewers on public television in america and elsewhere around the globe. for a second day, bombings have brought a civil war to the heart of the capital. an explosion in damascus has claimed the lives of at least 14 people. within 17 were injured in the blast, and here in washington, it is the use of chemical weapons that is gaining attention. in a news conference today, president barack obama warned that it confirms" assad government is using weapons, the u.s. would have to rethink its options. >> we have evidence that chemical weapons have been used inside syria, but we do not know how they were used, when they were used, who use them. we do not have a chain of custody that establishes what exactly happened. decisions am making about america's national security and the potential for taking additional action in response to chemical weapons use, i have got to make su