Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy 20240704 : comparemela.com

Only official investigation to it happened into this worst massacre in egyptian modern history. Amy in egypt, human rights advocates marked the 10th anniversary of the rabaa massacre when Egyptian Forces opened fire on a sit and where tens of thousands of people had camped out in cairo to protest the ouster of egypts first democratically elected president mohamed morsi. Some 900 protesters were killed. We will go to cairo. Then a secret Pakistan Cable documents u. S. Pressure to remove imran khan as Prime Minister. This document shows for the first time the u. S. Used influence. Amy the intercept has now published the secret cable which reveals how the u. S. Was upset by imran khans position on the russian invasion of ukraine. In the u. N. Security Council Meets to discuss the blockade in nagornokarabakh and calls for the immediate reopening of the latching corridor to allow for humanitarian aid for the roughly 120,000 people suffering severe shortages. A report by the former International Criminal Court Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo finds the blockade amounts to a likely genocide. The crime of genocide could be calculated to bring about the physical destruction of the group for ethnic resources. Thats a genocide and exactly what happened there because the blockade of the corridor has a purpose, to starve its people most of amy all that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The death toll from the devastating maui fires has reached 111 and continues to rise as crews search areas in and around lahaina. About 1000 people remain missing. On wednesday, authorities in hawaii defended not activating emergency sirens during the wildfire. This is maui emergency chief herman andaya. The sirens are used primarily for tsunamis, and that is the reason why many are found almost all are found on the coastline. The public is trained to seek Higher Ground in the event the siren is sounded. If youre in a lowlying area near the coastline, evacuate the high grounds. Amy instead of using the sirens, emergency officials in maui sent out warnings to peoples cell phones but many did not receive the messages because the power and cell service was already down. Meanwhile, hawaiis governor josh green has proposed a moratorium on land transactions in lahaina. He said, my intention from start to finish is to make sure that no one is victimized from a land grab. Hawaiians have been warning about wealthy outsiders attempting to buy up land after the fire. Authorities in canada have ordered all residents of the city of yellowknife to evacuate as a Massive Wildfire approaches. Military aircraft will help evacuate some residents who cannot drive out of the city, which is the capital of canadas Northwest Territories. The city is home to about 20,000 people. Yellowknife mayor rebecca alty spoke wednesday. There is a possibility without rain, the fire reaches the outskirts of the yellowknife by the weekend. It is approaching but there is time to complete the community evacuation. It is being called now so we can offer people the opportunity to drive while the highway is open. The highway is subject to closures at any time but likely it will be open until tomorrow morning. Conditions will be smoking and the residents should be driving with caution and care. Amy a number of other communities in canadas Northwest Territories have already been evacuated due to the fires. So far this year, fires have burned more than 33 million acres in canada, more than double any previous season. Thats an area equivalent to the size of alabama or nine connecticuts. Here in the u. S. Federal appeals , a court upheld restrictions on the Abortion Pill mifepristone, the most widely used method of abortion in the United States. The fifth Circuit Court sided with the rightwing texas judge and plaintiffs, who argued the fda improperly relaxed regulations on the pill to make it more accessible and that it should only be used up to seven weeks into a pregnancy and only issued in person. But due to a previous stay issued by the supreme court, mifepristone will remain available for now under current regulations while the case proceeds. The Justice Department is expected to appeal the ruling to the supreme court. In other abortion news, indiana blocked a doctor who provided an abortion to a 10yearold rape survivor from receiving a prestigious award. Dr. Caitlin bernard performed the abortion for the ohio patient last year and spoke out about it to highlight the cruelty and realworld impact of banning abortion. She was reprimanded and fined 3000. More than 60 Asylum Seekers are feared dead after a boat carrying migrants was found drifting near cape verde in west africa. The boat left senegal over a month ago with 101 people on board. Most of the passengers were from the same senegalese fishing village. Officials believe the boat may have been headed to the canary islands, which is part of spain. According to the Spanish Group walking borders, at least 778 migrants have died this year attempting to reach the canary islands. Defense chiefs from the west African Regional bloc ecowas are meeting today and tomorrow in ghana to discuss a possible military intervention in niger where the military seized power last month. The intercept is reporting u. S. Trained officers have been appointed to head five of nigers eight regions under the new military junta. This comes as the United Nations is warning International Sanctions could worsen a growing humanitarian crisis in niger. In niger, our colleagues are concerned about the potential impact of the ongoing crisis on the Food Security situation. Before the coup, over 3 Million People were already severely food insecure. Some 7. 3 million food insecure people could see the situation worsened due to the unfolding crisis. Humanitarians exemptions to sanctions are border closures are required. Amy in other news from niger, at least 17 soldiers have been killed in an attack near the mali border. In recent years, the region has seen a surge in violence by groups linked to alqaeda and isis. In libya, at least 55 people have been killed in the heaviest fighting between rival armed factions so far this year in tripoli. Over 150 people were injured. Libya has been in a state of crisis for over a decade since the 2011 natobacked operation to topple muammar gaddafi. In sudan, the armys second in command has said a plan to end the deadly conflict needs to be negotiated and a caretaker government must be formed as the fighting between the army and the Paramilitary Rapid support forces rages into its fifth month. The u. N. This week issued a dire warning as the number of refugees who crossed the Sudanese Border topped 1 million. In a joint statement, u. N. Agencies said time is running out for farmers to plant the crops that will feed them and their neighbors. Medical supplies are scarce. The situation is spiraling out of control. Reports of Sexual Violence has increased by 50 since the start of the fighting, though this is likely a significant undercount of the true toll. This is a spokesperson for the u. N. Refugee agency. The conflict in sudan on the fifth of april, over 4. 3 mil have been forced to flee. This includes over 900,000 refugees and Asylum Seekers who fled to neighboring countries. And 195,000 south sudanese forced to return to south sudan. We have seen sudan, over three point fueling people have been internally displaced, including more than 187,000 refugees already residing in the country at the start of the crisis. Amy a high ranking nato official has apologized after publicly suggesting that ukraine could give up some of its land as part of a way to end the war with russia. Stian jenssen, the chief of staff to the nato secretary general, made his initial comment during a recent forum in norway. He said, i think that a solution could be for ukraine to give up territory and get nato membership in return. Officials in ukraine blasted his comment. A woman in texas has been arrested and jailed after threatening to kill federal judge tanya chutkan, who is overseeing the donald trump january 6 case. Security has been increased around chutkan, who is black and was born in jamaica. Meanwhile, supporters of donald trump have posted online the purported names and addresses of the grand jury members in georgia who voted to indict the former president and 18 codefendants. The Fulton County Sheriffs Office has not said if any security precautions have been taken to protect the grand jurors. Meanwhile, Fulton County District Attorney fani willis continues to face an onslaught of racist abuse online instigated by donald trump, who has repeatedly attacked her on the campaign trail, calling her a racist. On wednesday, fani willis, who is the first black woman to serve as Fulton County d. A. , proposed the trump trial begin on march 4. A local prosecutor in kansas has withdrawn the search warrant used by police to raid the Marion County record newspaper. The raid sparked national condemnation. In a statement, the Marion County attorney said there was insufficient evidence for the police to raid and seize material from the newsroom and the home of the papers owner. Items seized included computers and cell phones and hard drives. They will now be returned. On wednesday, the Marion County record published its First Edition since the raid. The banner headline on the paper on the front page read, seized. But not silenced. This comes as the community prepares for the wake and funeral of joan meyer, the papers copublisher. The 98yearold longtime journalist died day after the saturday, one police raid on her home. Her son said she drive died of stress. In North Carolina, republican lawmakers in the state senate and house have voted to override vetoes from democratic governor roy cooper to enact three bills targeting trans youth. One law bans gender affirming care for youth, another bans transgender girls and women from playing on sports teams in middle school, high school, and college. A third law restricts how gender identity is discussed in schools. Its been described as the North Carolina version of floridas dont say gay bill. The Group Equality nc decried the three new laws as a slate of hate. Hundreds of people marched to the school board of Miamidade County in florida on wednesday to protest changes to how black history is taught in floridas schools. The new standards require students be taught about the benefits of slavery. One section of the curriculum states enslaved people developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit. Florida governor and president ial candidate ron desantis has defended the new curriculum changes. Speakers at wednesdays rally included Tennessee State representative Justin Pearson who made National Headlines when he and his colleague justin jones were expelled from the tennessee republicandominated legislative body. They have both since won their seats back in the tennessee legislature. And an Emergency Court hearing is continuing in louisiana over calls for authorities to transfer children being imprisoned at the notorious maximumsecurity Louisiana State penitentiary known as angola, which was built on a former slave plantation. Advocates say children as young as 14 years old are being held in solitary confinement and are being deprived of their education. Most of the children are black. This is alanah odoms, executive director of the aclu of louisiana. Children are currently being locked away in cages at angola. Children. Not youth offenders, not juvenile delinquents, not throw aways, not people without value. Children are children. Children are being deprived of an education. Children are being deprived of humane conditions. Children are being shackled and handcuffed. Amy and those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Nermeen and i nermeen shaikh. Amit is so great to be back in the studio with you after more than three years. Amy amazing to be sitting sidebyside with you. Welcome back. Nermeen welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. We begin todays show in egypt, where human rights advocates are marking the 10th anniversary of the rabaa massacre. It was august 14, 2013 when Egyptian Forces opened fire on a sitin where tens of thousands of people had camped out in cairo to protest the ouster of egypts first democraticallyelected president mohamed morsi. Human rights watch estimates over 900 protesters were killed in what the group has described as the worst singleday killing of protesters in modern history. No one has been held responsible over the past 10 years. The minister of defense at the time was abdel fattah elsisi, who has ruled egypt for nearly a decade and is a close u. S. Ally. Under elsisi, egypt is now jailing about 60,000 political prisoners. This is democracy now correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous in 2013 on our live broadcast the day after the massacre, describing what he saw. Yesterday was a day of violence and chaos and bloodshed, the most violent episode i have witnessed as reporter in egypt for the past 2. 5 years. Walking around in the northwestern neighborhood where the mosque was located. You could hear the crackle of machinegun fire intermittently in the air. There was tear gas on the outskirts mixed with black smoke rising from tires set alight by the protesters. The interior ministry has spoken for a couple of weeks about the plan to disperse the sitin that would go in stages and see it surrounding the protesters and then a gradual escalation but by all accounts, all of the witnesses i spoke to have said the attack started sometime around 6 30 and came in very hard with tear gas and the casualties started pouring in. Most were live ammunition. Very soon after that, the scene in died the main medical facility in rabaa was extremely tragic. People were being brought in, the dead and wounded, every few minutes. The floor was slippery with blood. The windows were closed to prevent tear gas from coming in. It was almost unbearably hot. The dead were everywhere. In one room alone, i counted 24 bodies strewn on the ground, packed so closely you could not even walk in. Another floor, 30. Another floor, eight. Doctors were overwhelmed with the casualties. It was a difficult situation. And one i think will have deeper implications for egypts future for decades to calm. Amy that was democracy now correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous in 2013 on our live broadcast the day after what has come to be known as the rabaa massacre. For more, we go to cairo, now 10 years later, to speak with hossam bahgat, the founder and executive director of the Egyptian Initiative for personal rights, eipr, based in cairo. They have obtained a leaked copy of a government report on the massacre that implicated egyptian authorities in the mass killing. It accused Security Forces of indiscriminate and disproportionate use of live ammunition and concluded the largest number of rabaa victims were innocent civilians who were most likely peaceful demonstrators. Hossam bahgat also worked as an investigative journalist for the independent outlet mada masr. He has been banned from traveling outside egypt and had his personal assets frozen. We interviewed evidence, hearing testimony, analyzing. It did not have the right to appeal evidence. It did not have the authority to refer cases to trial or assign spots. Therefore, concluded there needs to be a full investigation. This is the recommendation that was never made public. It was omitted from the summary that was published nine years ago. And now we know why. The regime had 10 years to hold people to account. Instead, it did not even question a single officer, soldier, or state official. Instead it arrested, prosecuted, convicted over 700 of those protesters that survived the massacre. The vast majority of whom are currently in prison still 10 years later. At least 12 people are on death row having lost her final appeal. Nermeen could you elaborate on the effects of both the crackdown and as you point out this raining culture of impunity whereby no one has been held accountable . Amnesty international has well has that the last 10 years can only be described as a decade of shame. The rabaa massacre was a turning point through which their 30s have relentlessly pursued a zero policy of to send. If you could talk about that, the continuing crackdown on dissent and its intensification after the massacre 10 years ago . Of course. As we last discussed when we were in sharm elsheikh, egypt had been going through the unprecedented human rights crisis. The origins of this crisis can be linked to the massacre. The massacre established a new normal, where it is not just that hundreds of people could be killed within 12 hours, in broad daylight, without a Single Person