that was human rights campaign ashanti speaking with us a little earlier they debbie has reached out to the pakistani government for comment when ten people have been killed in floods in sicily and the agency workers say the bodies of the family including three children were found in the house near the capital police at least another twenty people have been killed due to storms in italy over the last week. centuries old forests like this one and the vonetta region destroyed within just a few days storm set battered the whole of eataly since last sunday but the worst hit areas in the north many of the dead were killed by falling trees. in the province of blue no winds reach two hundred ninety kilometers an hour and moves off houses. so the shadow went out here and looked upward and i shouted that the roof was blown away that we were stuck five days without a phone without electricity without anything and without well it's ok because nobody could regency as. residents here were cut off after a landslide damaged a major mountain road. they set up about so nick you know now we're worried

dot com and for more on this we're joined by shanta zia he's a human rights campaigner in pakistan who lives in toronto shum thanks so much for joining us now your father solomon. your father salmond to say it was a former governor of punjab province he was assassinated in twenty eleven off the he demanded a pardon the a baby the supreme court has now finally ruled that she should be set free yet she remains in jail why. the religious parties and baucus on have pulled off what can only be described as a judicial judicial coup by breeding the country to a halt they have expected an agreement from the government of pakistan with a judicial was i centrally handed over to this religious mob from the courts of pakistan giving them the right to do to do or have any verdict overturned and to receive a verdict of that over all of their liking this is perhaps the most humiliating concession ever made bye bye bye bye bye a nation state in the history of democracy and can only be described as a death warrant of democracy so now basically a c. a b. b. faces a shot on trial where after having spent

then criticism of the saudi element in this case one thing to say however there are those human rights campaigners here in germany who say well it's one thing to impose travel bans on the eighteen individuals who have had the bans put on put in place on them by the german authorities why not sanctions is what the human rights campaign is here is saying but so far at least those eighteen people would travel bans but also perhaps more importantly arms embargoes placed by the federal government not just on on plans for future contracts but existing ones right now and that may be more financially painful for the saudi authorities course one of the reasons why the u.s. president is reluctant to impose sanctions is because of the lucrative nature of defense contracts with saudi arabia how is germany's move going to go down with german business. well that is the question isn't it certainly as i said there are some considerable deals there patrol boats several of them several which were ready to be sent to saudi arabia to certainly ready to go to be transported to saudi authorities a third one close to co

they say it was it was in line with the constitution but in an interview with a pakistani human rights campaigner. whose own father was assassinated by radicals criticize the government of caving in to extremists religious thought he's in pakistan have pulled off what can only be described as a judicial judicial coup by breeding the country to a halt they have extracted an agreement from the government of pakistan with a judicial sensually handed over to this religious mob from the courts of pakistan giving them the right to due to anybody overturned and to receive a verdict of the over all of the like and this is perhaps the most humiliating concession ever made bye bye bye bye by a nation state in the history of democracy and can only be described as a death warrant of democracy so now basically a c. a b. b. faces a shot on trial where having spent nine years in jail after having been found innocent by the highest court in the country she is going to be retried by by a court demanded by a religious model essentially. essentially demanded at gunpoint but i just want to say what what is at trial

jeff sessions a friend of progressives hardly jeff sessions that i was a zero rating for the human rights campaign on gay rights a guy who asked the department of the national council of nannies why they were buying so many books on islam the zero tolerance policy means zero humanity and it makes zero sense for his political or motivated voting fraud prosecutions to his indifference toward criminal violations of civil rights laws back in two thousand and sixteen when jeff sessions was first nominated the liberal organization known as move on dot org issued a petition opposing him they accused him of making racist comments opposing equal pay for women immigration and opposing hate crimes legislation this is how jeff sessions confirmation hearings went there and i care. oh mary are rare. but now the very same organizations that protested against his nomination are now protesting his departure they fear that the removal of sessions could pave the way for an end to the bob muller investigation into alleged ties between trump and russia the recent nothing i like about most of the people they found with

a rly was held last night at the metropolitan community church in nort the human rights campaigns of more than 20e transgender peo have been murdered in the u.s. this year. it happens every november 20th. >>> at tradition t started under the late mayor for life maan berry lives on in ward 8. hundreds of turkeys were and ready to go to help residents celebrate thanksging. tron white hosted this da yesty. some 1600 residents signed receive a free turkey this year. >>> cold winter weather usually leads to warm, charitable hearts. >> it's the time of year when several organizations provide meals for peopl need. catholic charities andepco are among those providing thanksgiving dinner. more than 0 people received a full holiday feast last night in chinatown. >> i love the fact that we can help each other. some of us have more, some of us have less. those who have less look to us with more to help them. >> they received gift cards to help them buy daily necessities. i do like that part of it. it's nice to give back. >>> coming up this morning, are heyou ready for other side of this. >> yeah

where human rights organizations are campaigning for the release of activists in chechnya now his name is all you but today he was arrested while documenting human rights abuses in chechnya and overseeing humanitarian projects now he's on trial for drug possession but he says police planted the drugs on. the trial of human rights activist or you have is underway in the town of challis not far from the chechen capital grozny filming witness testimony is forbidden. sixty one year old to have has been in investigative custody for ten months authorities accuse him of drug possession which he denies foreign observers at the trial are skeptical. but i have grave doubts about jew process and this trial have been hence the witnesses have been influenced that marijuana was squarely planted on mr to t.f. by the police and because of all that he doesn't have a fair chance to feel atrocities in full form or you have managed to grozny office of the human rights organization memorial for seven years during that time he challenged constitutional legality and advocated human rights he criticized the a

a veteran of human rights campaigns, a veterans of the national security picture. you work for two democratic presidents. you've been in washington but not as an elected official. i mean, now you o there as congressman elect. it mufbl a disconnect for you to go from the 30,000-foot big all encompassing international issues to focusing on health care at home. and there were veterans who ran and one. cia analysts who ran and won. women who ran and won all in the purpose willy swingy kind of states. give us the big picture how everybody was so disciplined to focus on the sharp pointy edge of that health care debate. >> that's a big issue. it's about the future of this country. it's about an individual person in my congressional district who has a preexisting condition and is worried about whether they're going to be covered in the future. but it's also about whether you are going to bankrupt america with high health care costs. and as somebody who spent a career fighting for my country, for what it stands for and what truly makes it great, that's an important issue to

well joining us now via skype is human rights lawyer and campaigner they that hagar was in self imprisoned in the u.a.e. for fifteen months sir thank you for joining us here on al-jazeera just tell us a little bit more about what happened that led you to being imprisoned in u.a.e. for all that time in my case you know at the time i was much directly tonight's something and i was lourdes to divide by the former owners who wants to settle commit commercial dispute now so they sent me a ticket ironically on a on an emirates first class flight i'm going about twelve hours landing i was on a floor divided prison be beaten and kicked and with the police trying to get me to sign a false confession are much the same way that matthew was also fought for sign a possum version and many other people are. i mean now we've seen that matthew hedges has been pardoned literally days after he was actually sentenced to life in prison i mean in a way it's obviously good news for him i mean he is free presumably he's on his way back to the u.k. right now but it's not an acquittal is it i mean technically has s

come out of this discovery because some people might say well look the new president was a campaigner for human rights before he became president so the country can kind of maybe find closure and move on to a better place. i think this is a very important development for big difference all these abuses and that's what cities and i think it's also very important for him to be us the country if she takes top of what happened and come to terms with that part so some form of reckoning is absolutely important it is true that the region at the moment has been new president a very comical weary credible president who as a campaigner for human rights as you said i'm the center of the problem and is taking some writing that was there was in terms of transforming vehicles going landscape but i think it is important that a common belief or victims or human rights also cottle's this transformation the government because it's really seriously it will oh thank you very much. female politicians from eighty six countries have gathered in the british parliament to mark one hundred years since women won the right to vo

jared genser is interesting because he has represented all sorts of human rights lawyers and campaigners lopez in venezuela. yes. you will know better than me that in venezuela, the opposition to the socialist maduro government has been trying to achieve change, sometimes through popular protest, sometimes through dialogue, and over many years their efforts have failed. is there not a direct parallel between what is happening in venezuela and what is happening in nicaragua today? i would say there are parallels and that is what we are saying, we should not wait for nicaragua to become venezuela. the crisis in venezuela is a humanitarian crisis and the international community could have acted way before. in the case of nicaragua, we still have a window of opportunity and we should not wait for the crisis to escalate. you left nicaragua injuly with a broken nose, a broken hand and a feeling that if you stayed you might well be killed. when do you think you will go home? i hope soon i will go back and i am willing and able to take personal risk when i go back. but i think that nicaragua has

the government is now taking more action against unwelcome views human rights groups call it a campaign of intimidation by the chinese authorities. they're sending a clear signal that the. that the space for civil society to raise sensitive questions about hong kong's future in hong kong is is to treat. the public prosecutor's office refused to speak to doit chevelle about chance upcoming trial john himself is pessimistic more protest events have been canceled and a foreign journalist has also been expelled i don't see any of this in the near future that we could get democracy this is the time to be friends i'll sell to defend our existing freedom and our rights and we need to strengthen our civil society. john kinman expects to be convicted but for now he runs while he's still free. well earlier i spoke to joshua he is an opposition politician and was also jailed for his part in the two thousand and fourteen umbrella revolution and he told a good of you news that he doesn't think beijing is allowing freedom of speech in hong kong i believe if china really on or on the one country two s

human rights groups call it a campaign of intimidation by the chinese authorities. and they're sending a clear signal that the. that the space for civil society to raise sensitive questions about hong kong's future in hong kong is is. shrinking. the public prosecutor's office refused to speak to doit chevelle about chance upcoming trial. john himself is pessimistic more protest events have been canceled and a foreign journalist has also been expelled i don't see any future our lives in the near future that we could get democracy this is the time to defend ourselves to defend our existing freedom and our rights and we need to strengthen our civil society. john kinman expects to be convicted but for now he runs while he is still free. but for how much longer we have with us now tom grundy he's editor in chief of the hong kong free press that was set up in response to the crackdown on press freedom in hong kong tom thanks so much for being with us and now the official charge in this trial is inciting a public nuisance but it's really about far more than that isn't well

critics of progress don's blasphemy laws as well as human rights organizations have campaigned for baby relief since she was jailed in twenty game. they accuse political parties of exploiting the controversy and blasphemy legislation to win support. like a stance prime minister imran khan says he won't allow what he calls religious hardliners to cripple the country damaged property and fight with the police this government has taken a stand and i hope it's sort of eyes that the stand and it takes on and then to takes effective measures to deal with these miscreants and restores laws or because people of pakistan who are peace loving they are really fed up with these people who abuse the lesion for their own small miral livea sense opponents of the blasphemy law believe. lasered should be enough to condemn anyone today and they're calling on political rivals to unite to change legislation described by many as outrageous and abusive. islamabad well in another developing story out of pakistan a senior muslim cleric known as the father of the taliban has been stabbed to death in his house i

human rights groups call it a campaign of intimidation by the chinese authorities. and they're sending a clear signal that the. that the space for civil society to raise sensitive questions about hong kong's future in hong kong is is. shrinking. the public prosecutor's office refused to speak to doj chevelle about chance upcoming trial. john himself is pessimistic more protest events have been canceled and a foreign journalist has also been expelled i don't see any of these in the near future that would could get democracy this is the time to be fair and also to defend our existing freedom and rights and we need to strengthen our civil society . john kinman expects to be convicted but for now he runs while he's still free. but just for how long we have joshua along with us now he's the secretary general of the democratic opposition party joshua was one of the leaders of the so-called umbrella revolution back in twenty fourteen of very warm welcome joshua thanks for joining us you were jailed last year for your role in the occupy central a movement nine other people

dot com for more on this we're joined by sean to zia he's a campaign a fish human rights in pakistan who lives in exile in toronto sean thanks for joining us your father so moms has a was a former governor of punjab province he was assassinated in two thousand and eleven off the heat a mom does a pardon to ozzie a baby of the supreme court has now finally ruled that she should be set free yet she remains in jail why is this. where the big religious parties and baucus on have pulled off what you can only describe as a jew judicial who right by bringing the country to a halt extracted an agreement from the government which essentially in essence hands over all judicial powers away from the courts so far has gone through to these religious groups giving them the power to have verdicts overturned and and and and to to have a verdict of the of their liking essentially at gun point this is perhaps the most humiliating concession ever made by the state to focus on two religious groups so what we're now going to see is you have to be a woman who has spent nine years in prison and has been ha

human rights groups call it a campaign of intimidation by the chinese authorities. >> they are sending g a clear signal that the space for civil society to raise sensitive questions about hong kong's future in hong kong is shrinking. reporter: the public prosecutor's office refused to speak to the development of -- refused to speak to dw about chan's upcoming trial. chan is pessimistic. if for a journalist has also been expelled. >> i don't see any future, at least in the near future, that we could get democracy. this is time to defend ourselves , to defend our existing freedom. and our right. we need to strengthen our civil society. reporter: chan kin-man expects to be convicted, but for now he runs while he is still free. terry: in tennis, germany's alexander zverev has stunned novak djokovic to win the atp finals in london. djokovic was the favorite and had not dropped a set in the entire tournament for the semifinal, but he was no match for zverev, the first german to win the prestigious tournament since for specter in 1995 -- boris becker in 1995. reporter: alexander zverev was hi

satisfied that there was no deliberate targeting of civilians by no two during the bombing campaign but human rights groups disagree with you you disagreed with you six months earlier these agree what to you are saying you are not correct in what you are the fairing that i am speaking about ok let me ask you now that since you disagree with your quote do you believe that nato only made mistakes during its bombing campaign of kosovo and there were no potential war crimes worth investigating what is your position you told me i have one on one investigation i open just one investigation about the responsibility of nato committing crimes but i could not i could not end this investigation and issuing any dire warning because it was not possible to collect. all this they'd use. to cooperate with the tribunal a. lot easier because it is not the only although in in as are the cases that we did not ended our investigation because it was not able to collect enough to be dangerous to issue an indictment that is the task of the procedure so to be clear that they may have committed war crimes is just you were no

satisfied that there was no deliberate targeting of civilians by no two during the bombing campaign but human rights groups disagree with you you disagreed with you six months earlier these agree what to you are saying you are not correct in what you are the fairing that i am speaking about ok let me ask you now that since you disagree with your quote do you believe that nato only made mistakes during its bombing campaign of kosovo and there were no potential war crimes worth investigating what's your position you told me i have one on one investigation i open just one investigation about the responsibility of nato committing crimes but i could not i could not end this investigation and issuing any died because it was not possible to collect. all this they've been using to cooperate with the tribunal. because india is not the only although in in other cases we could not ended our investigation because it was not able to collect enough to be dangerous to issue an indictment that the task of that procedure so to be clear then they may have committed war crimes is just you were not able to investigate

human rights groups call it a campaign of intimidation by the chinese authorities. and they're sending a clear signal that the. that the space for civil society to raise sensitive questions about hong kong's future in hong kong is is. shrinking the public prosecutor's office refused to speak to doit chevelle about chance upcoming trial. john himself is pessimistic. more protest events have been canceled and a foreign journalist has also been expelled i don't see any of this in the near future that we could get democracy this is the time to be friends i'll sell to defend our existing freedom and our rights and we need to strengthen our civil society. john king minix specs to be convicted but for now he runs while he's still free. let's go right to hong kong where our correspondent mathias building is standing by for us him at yes good to see you so as we had the protest leaders are facing seven years in jail for inciting public nuisance tell us what this charge is all about well it is the law that is applied here is the law from the kolo new era that was designed to

shifted in the city the government is now taking more action against unwelcome views human rights groups call it a campaign of intimidation by the chinese authorities. they're sending a clear signal that the. that the space for civil society to raise sensitive questions about hong kong's future in hong kong is is. shrinking the public prosecutor's office refused to speak to dr bell about chance upcoming trial. john himself is pessimistic more protest events have been canceled and a foreign journalist has also been expelled i don't see any of this in the near future that we could get democracy this is a time to be friend to defend our existing freedom and our rights and we need to strengthen our civil society. john kidman expects to be convicted but for now he runs while he's still free. in tennis germany's alexander it's federer has stunned world number one know a joke of its to win the season ending a.t.p. finals in london struck a bitch was the favorite and had not dropped a set in the entire tournament before sunday's final but he was no match for its better of who became the first german to win the pre