now on bbc news, it's time welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur.ountries around the world still impose the ultimate punishment on the most serious criminals, death. what's it like to be in command of the machinery of state—sanctioned execution? navalny. today as part of the bbc‘s special freedom season, i'm going to get a rare insight from allen ault, who spent years running the correction facility in the southern us state of georgia. he organised the killing of criminals until he could stand it no more. now he's an opponent of the death penalty. why? allen ault, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. it's back in the 1990s that you were the commissioner of corrections in the us state of georgia, and you were responsible for running the machinery of capital punishment. is that experience still with you today? it is still here. i still have nightmares, not every night, but on occasion i still have nightmares about it. it's a very hard pill to swallow. it stays in your psyche forever. it's the most premeditated murder possible. the manual is about that thic

welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. freedom of expression is severely curtailed in egypt.ournalists, bloggers, civil society activists and political dissidents have been locked up by the thousand under the sisi regime, which makes the egyptian movie ‘eshteba k‘, or ‘the clash‘ all the more important. the much—lauded film paints a remarkable picture of the tumult in egypt which led to the military takeover in 2013. the director is my guest today, mohamed diab. what has happened to the spirit of the tahrir revolution? mohamed diab, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. your movie—maker. how big, how deep breath do you have to take before making a movie in the day's egypt, particularly a movie that is about politics, society, culture in your country today? i'm going to tell you what everyone around me told me before making that film — don't. everyone told me, even my family, everyone knew this film was going to explode in my face. making a politicalfilm or something that has a political statement, it's almost suicide. notjust because the government or the regime, it's because of ev

i'm stephen sackur.fter three years of fighting, 10,000 dead and hundreds of thousands displaced, is it time for ukraine's leaders to acknowledge they are in a war they cannot win? geopolitics, economics, and public sentiment don't seem to be working in kiev‘s favour. my guest was ukraine's prime minister until a year ago. arseniy yatsenyuk described his own premiership as a kamikaze mission. so how does his nation avoid self—destruction? arseniy yatsenyuk, welcome to hardtalk. thanks for having me, stephen. seems ukraine's crisis has lurched into a new level of urgency in recent days with a blockade, which has been imposed by people who are actually nominally supportive of ukraine's government, a blockade which is restricting all trade between the eastern breakaway regions and the rest of the country. why is this happening? the reason is very clear. under the minsk deal russians had to launch a full—fledged ceasefire on the ground, to pull back its forces, and to pave the way for the political solution.

welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur.

i'm stephen sackur.his citystate is one of the remarkable economic success stories of the last 50 years. if you want to find a place that has ridden the wave of globalization, well, this is it. but storm clouds are gathering over singapore. president trump is challenging assumptions about global free trade, security tensions are rising across east asia. i have an exclusive interview today with the prime minister of singapore, lee hsien loong. is singapore feeling vulnerable? prime minister lee hsien loong, welcome to hardtalk. let's start with the international political climate. donald trump is now president of the united states. he talks about protectionism, he talks about ripping up trade deals that have been bad for america. how dangerous is this new political climate for singapore? we are watching it very carefully. we of all countries depend most heavily on trade, our foreign trade is 3.5 times our gdp — probably the highest in the world. we have free trade agreements with many countries, including

i'm stephen sackur. president robert mugabe of zimbabwe is 93 years old.is wife recently suggested he could win re—election as a corpse. but failing that, zimbabwe needs to grapple with the issue of succession. and will follow mugabe? my guest is his former vice president and one—time heir apparentjoice mujuru. she broke away from the ruling party two years ago and now leads her own opposition party, but how tainted is she by her long association with robert mugabe? joice mujuru, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. how can you persuade the zimbabwean people that you are an agent of change when for most of your adult life you've been one of robert mugabe's most loyal allies and associates? thank you very much. the way how i left zanu pf did not go down well with the rest of the country, because i never replied, i never did anything. but they know me, even during the robert mugabe government, that as much as i was loyal to my party, which i fought for, i was also loyal to zimbabweans because when i ran ministries they know the relationship that i was building wi

i'm stephen sackur.s the job of the journalist to speak truth to power but it can be a lonely place, defying conventional wisdom and the powers that be. my guest today has known that loneliness. irish journalist david walsh was convinced that cycling's untouchable champion lance armstrong was a drugs cheat long before the sport revealed the scale of his deceit. armstrong is now history of course but doping continues to devalue elite sport. maybe it's a problem that no amount of truth telling journalism can fix. david walsh, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. i wonder if you could cast your mind back to starting as a young journalist in ireland, working on sports. you memorably described yourself then as a fan with a typewriter. do you still regard yourself as a fan? in certain respects, yes, but in a general sense, no. i think a journalist has to leave that behind. i think the predominant reason why people want to be sports writers is because they love sport. in my case, i knew from a very early stage i wan

welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur.or years, the israeli—palestinian conflict has been stuck, condemned to repeat itself year in, year out. but now, something has changed. the two protagonists remain deaf to each other‘s demands, but there is a new us president, who seems to care little for washington's long established quest for a two state solution. so what does that mean? well, my guess is husam zomlot, adviser to the palestinian authority leader mahmoud abbas. does the trump era signal the end for the palestinian dream of statehood 7 husam zomlot in ramallah, welcome to hardtalk. thank you, stephen, thank you for having me. mr zomlot, you are relatively young for a senior figure in the palestinian authority. most of your adult life you have lived with the oslo peace process. are you prepared to acknowledge today that for all intents and purposes, that notion of an oslo peace process is dead? first of all, thank you for the compliment, considering me young. i am well in my 40s. believe me, when it comes to the palest

welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur.he trump presidency promises to be a fascinating test of the resilience of the system of government crafted by america's founding fathers. the new president has already slammed the courts for overstepping their authority in blocking his so—called travel ban. a new executive order on the matter is imminent. my guest today is donald verrilli, us solicitor general under barack obama. does the constitution ensure that the white house is always subject to, not above, the law? donald verrilli, welcome to hardtalk. thank you, stephen, it's good to be here. let's start with a personal perspective. having served five years as obama's solicitor general, how painful is it for you to watch donald trump pledging to undo so much of the legislative executive legacy left behind by barack obama, and of course a legacy that you defended? well, had you asked me that question two months ago i probably would have said extremely. but as time has passed, i think the resilience of the achievements of the obam

welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur.ater this month, a new chief executive will be voted into office in hong kong. elected not by the people, but by 1000 or so members of the territory's economic and political elite, tied closely to the beijing government. and that is far short of the universal suffrage demanded by my guest today. joshua wong was a teenage student when he became a leader of the so—called umbrella pro—democracy protests that swept hong kong in 2014. has beijing managed to neutralise hong kong's youthful rebels? joshua wong, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. so thank you. 50 hong thank you. so hong kong is about to get a new chief executive. he will be selected, he will not be elected, by the general population. and that isa sign by the general population. and that is a sign of the failure of your pro—democracy movement, isn't it?” don't pro—democracy movement, isn't it?|j don't think it is in favour of our movement. because our movement is just motivated by the undemocratic system, which means, rather than