after giving his acceptance speech, he raced off to address london's refugees welcome rally. we will go to london to speak with new left review editor tariq ali. he has known jeremy corbyn for years. then is oklahoma about to execute an innocent man? we will look at the case of richard glossip and speak to sister helen prejean it was played by susan sarandon and "dead men walking." clear, i do not want to be a martyr, i want to live, but of the worst happens, i want my death to not be in vain. if my execution ensures no other innocent man is and death chamber, i'm prepared to die for that cause. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. european union officials are holding emergency meetings on the influx of refugees following germany's unprecedented decision to institute temporary controls on its border with austria sunday. germany shut down trains between germany and austria and instituted a spot check on cars after as many as 20,000 people fleeing violence in their home countries arrived in munich over the weekend. other countries have also taken steps, including austria, which has announced it is dispatching more than 2000 troops to its borders in hungary which is expedite criminalizing that the border crossing. german interior minister thomas de maiziere spoke about the temporary border controls sunday. >> this step became necessary. the great willingness to help the germany has shown in recent weeks by full-time employees, especially, by the many thousands of volunteers, must not be overstrained. the measures taken are also a signal to europe -- germany is taking on its you monetary and responsibility, but the burden caused by the huge number of refugees must be distributed with solidarity in europe. amy: the tightening of borders comes as a record 8500 people are said to have entered macedonia between saturday night and sunday morning. at least 34 refugees, nearly half babies and children drowned , when their boat sank off the coast of greece on sunday. meanwhile, conditions at a hungarian refugee camp in roszke have sparked outrage after videos showing officers throwing food to people detained in pens went viral over the weekend. one syrian woman detained at the camp told human rights watch that the camp was "only fit for animals." meanwhile, british prime minister david cameron is visiting refugee camps in lebanon today, where he is pledging an addition $150 million in aid to help syrian refugees hosted in the region. more than one million syrian refugees live in lebanon -- making up a full quarter of lebanon's population. cameron's visit comes as the united nations warns the conditions for refugees in lebanon and jordan are so dire, some are considering returning to syria. ahead of cameron's visit to lebanon, tens of thousand of people marched in london saturday to demand england do more to help refugees. long time and austerity, antiwar lawmaker jeremy corbyn spoke at the rally just after he was elected leader of the opposition labor party. >> we has ordinary, decent people stand up and say to our government, recognize your obligations in law. that would be good. recognize your obligations to help people which you are required to do by law. that would be great. but above all, open your hearts and open your minds and open your attitude towards supporting people who are desperate, who needs somewhere safe to live, want to contribute to society, and are human beings just like all of us. he first announced his candidacy three month ago, odds makers initially put jeremy corbyn's odds at 201 to win. on saturday, corbyn received 59% of the vote to secede ed miliband, who quit after the conservatives retained power. we'll have more on jeremy corbyn 's victory later in the broadcast. meanwhile, tens of thousands more people rallied across europe over the weekend to take part in what organizers were calling a "european day of action for refugees." danish police say as many as 30,000 people had gathered in copenhagen, shouting "refugees are welcome." in italy, hundreds of people gathered at the venice waterfront, removed their shoes, and marched barefoot. as the venice film festival was underway. crowds also rallied in spain, ireland, austria, greece, finland, norway, turkey, france, and iceland. hundreds also gathered in new york city to demand that the united states commit to accepting significantly more refugees from syria and elsewhere. protester linda sarsour spoke out. >> we shouldn't be asking whether we welcome these people and our country, we should be demanding for the u.s. government, one of the world's superpowers -- we have enough resources in this country not , theto help our own here homeless on our streets, but also welcoming and at least 100,000 syrian refugees. and we need to be able to tell the u.s. government how to use our money. i would rather use my money to shelter a syrian family than to kill an iraqi family. amy: in texas, mothers facing deportation after arriving at a health care clinic for her annual gun logical exam. the houston press reports that clinic staffers at the northeast women's health clinic called borrego,es on blanca an undocumented mother. after waiting two hours, she was led into an examination room where she was arrested for allegedly using a false form of identification. at least 107 people were killed on aa crane collapsed shrine. the crane was knocked over by strong winds and heavy rain. in egypt, at least a dozen people visiting from mexico have died after egyptian security forces mistakenly fired on a group of tourists and guides. egypt's interior ministry said security forces were chasing terrorist elements in the western desert when they "accidentally engaged 44-wheel drives belonging to a mexican tourists group." egyptian prime minister and his cabinet resigned over the weekend days after the agricultural minister was arrested over corruption. in yemen, tribal officials say the u.s. drone killed four people when it struck a car in northern yemen on saturday. officials say the dead are suspected members of al qaeda. in afghanistan, taliban militants reportedly stormed a mud hut being used as a prison, freeing more than 400 prisoners, and killing four members of the security forces. officials said 80 prisoners were recaptured but most remain at , large. in barcelona, spain, more than half a million people marched in favor of catalan independence on catalonia's national day. the rally friday also marked the launch of a campaign by separatist leaders to secure a majority in catalonia's regional parliament during elections on september 27. in northern california, rapidly burning wildfires have consumed multiple towns, killing at least one person, destroying hundreds of homes, the fires forcing thousands of people to flee. california governor jerry brown declared a state of emergency for lake and napa counties sunday, two days after declaring a state of emergency for two other counties as fires burn across the state. the fires have spread rapidly amid the worst drought in california's recorded history. this comes as california lawmakers sent a weakened version of a bill to address climate change to california governor jerry brown. the bill requires utilities to provide half of their electricity from renewable sources in 15 years. following industry pressure, lawmakers omitted a key provision to cut oil use in half by 2030. california lawmakers also approved a bill friday to allow doctors to prescribe drugs to help terminally ill patients die. it is unclear whether governor brown will sign the assisted suicide bill, which is modeled on a similar law in oregon. the justice department has dropped charges against a chinese-american professor accused of sharing technology with china after officials misidentified key evidence in the case. in may, fbi agents stormed the home of temple university physics professor xi xiaoxing, an american citizen, and arrested him on accusations of sending protected blueprints for a device called a pocket heater to scientists in china. but after xi had been placed on administrative leave, lost his chairmanship of the physics department at temple and faced , what he described to the "new york times" as a "nightmare," it turned out the blueprints didn't actually show a pocket heater. the case is seen as part of a widening crackdown on u.s. citizens of chinese descent. in new york, police have released security camera footage showing an undercover officer slamming retired tennis star james blake to the ground. the footage shows blake, who is biracial, standing outside his manhattan hotel when officer james frascatore approaches him, wraps an arm around his neck, tackles him to the ground, and digs his his knee into his back, and handcuffs him. police say they mistakenly identified blake as a suspect in a credit card fraud probe. new york city mayor bill de blasio and police chief william bratton have personally apologized to blake. the officer has a pattern of excessive force complaints against him. he has been accused of punching and pummeling a man in his own driveway, punching a man in the face after stopping him for a broken tailight, punching a man outside a bodega and calling him a racial epithet, and manhandling a woman who told the "new york times" -- "he was really rough...it was akin to a kidnapping." james blake has called for officer frascatore to be fired. in news from alabama, prosecutors say they plan to seek a retrial after a jury deadlocked in the trial of madison police officer in a case that left an indian grandfather partially paralyzed. in february, officer eric parker and other officers approached sureshbhai patel as he was taking a walk, after a neighbor called to report a skinny black guy" in the neighborhood. dash camera footage shows police slamming patel from a standing position face into the ground. first on friday, a judge declared a mistrial after a jury deadlocked on a single charge of against the officer of violating patel's civil rights. in news from the campaign trail, former texas governor rick perry has become the first candidate to drop out of the 2016 presidential race. perry suspended his bid for the republican nomination friday, just days before the second republican debate. as he announced his departure, perry took aim at republican candidate donald trump's remarks calling mexican immigrants "rapists," although, perry did not mention trump by name. >> our obligation after loving god with all her heart, with all our mind, with all our soul is to love our neighbors as ourselves. regardless of where they come from. demeaning people of hispanic heritage is not just ignorant, it betrays the example of christ. we can enforce our laws and borders and we can love all who live within our borders without betraying our values. amy: on the campaign for the democratic nomination, a new poll shows vermont senator bernie sanders leading hillary clinton in the key primary and caucus states of new hampshire and iowa. a yougov/cbs news poll shows sanders with 52% support among democratic primary voters in new hampshire, 22 points ahead of clinton. in iowa, sanders leads clinton by 10 points, with 43% support. in puerto rico, thousands of public sector workers protested against an austerity friday plan proposed to address the commonwealth's debt crisis. the plan would raise the tuition at university of puerto rico, contract for-profit companies to run public roads and ports and freezing collective bargaining agreements. in return, the plan calls for debt restructuring that would require hedge funds and other creditors to voluntarily accept reduced payments. in florida, a man has been accused of plotting to detonate a pressure-cooker bomb at a memorial in kansas city, missouri, on the 14th anniversary of september 11. 20-year-old joshua ryne goldberg was arrested on thursday morning after authorities stormed his house. he is charged with distributing information related to explosives, destructive devices, and weapons of mass destruction. the charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. and in kentucky, rowan county clerk kim davis is returning to work today where she will have to decide whether to comply with a court order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. davis had stopped issuing all marriage licenses rather than comply with the supreme court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. she was briefly jailed in early september after a federal judge ruled her in contempt of court. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we begin today's show in britain, where a longtime socialist mp jeremy corbyn has just been elected leader of the labour party after running on an antiwar, anti-austerity platform. when corbyn first announced his candidacy three months ago, odds makers put the odds of winning at 200 to one. but on saturday, corbyn won in a landslide receiving 59% of the , vote. he will succeed ed miliband, who quit after the conservatives retained power in may's election. he addressed supporters at a victory celebration on saturday. >> this week the tories will show what they are really made of. on monday, they have the trade union bill designed to undermine the conventions and shackle democratic unions and destroy another element of democracy within our society. we have to oppose that. they're also pushing the welfare reform bill, which will bring such misery and poverty to so many of the poorest in our society. i want us as a movement to be proud strong and able to stand up and say, we want to live in a society where we don't pass by on the other side of those people rejected by an unfair welfare system, instead, we reach out to end the scourge of homelessness and desperation the so many people face in our society. we're strong enough and big enough and able to do that. that is what we are about. [applause] there are many, many issues we face and many people face respiration and other parts of the world -- desperation in other parts of the world. i think is quite incredible the weeks, of the understanding that people fleeing from wars, they're the victims of wars, the generational victims of war, the intergenerational victims of war and and up and aspiration, terrible places, and of trying to gain safety and and up trying .o exercise the refugee rights they're human beings, just like you, just like me. let's deal with the refugee crisis with humanity, with support, with help, with compassion to try to help people who are trying to get to a place of safety, trying to help people who are stuck in refugee camps that recognize going to war creates a legacy of bitterness and problems. let us be a force of change in the world, a force for humanity in the world, a force for peace in the world, and a force that recognizes we cannot go on like this with grotesque levels of global inequality, grotesque threats to our environment all around the world, without the rich and powerful governments stepping up to the plate to make sure our world becomes safer and better. and those people don't end up in poverty, in refugee camps, wasting their lives away when they could be contributing so much to the good of all of us on this planet. we are one world, let that message go out today from this conference center here in london. amy: after his victory speech, jeremy corbyn went to the welcome rally where he called on more to do more to help the refugees seeking safety in europe. >> their generations of refugees around the world that are victims of various wars. those desperate people in camps in lebanon and jordan, libya and so many other places, desperate people trying to cross into turkey and other places, they are all, in a sense, victims of wars. surely, surely, surely am a our objective ought to be to find peaceful solutions to the problems of this world. amy: jeremy corbyn has been a member of the house of commons since 1983. he has a long history of voting against his labour party, which had moved considerably to the right under tony blair and gordon brown. corbyn's victory presages the prospect of a return to the party's socialist roots, championing the renationalization of public transportation, free university tuition, rent control, and a national maximum wage to cap the salaries of high earners. for more we go to london where , we're joined by tariq ali. he has known corbyn for 40 years. tariq is a british-pakistani political commentator, historian, activist, filmmaker, novelist, and an editor of the new left review. his latest book is, "the extreme centre: a warning." welcome to democracy now! tariq ali, can you talk about this -- what are the odds makers putting it up, 200 to one odds three months ago that jeremy corbyn would win the labour party leadership? amy, i would have agreed with them, actually. i am sort of cursing i did not put 10 or 20 pounds on it. i would be rolling in it if i had. in fact, nobody expected jeremy to win, including jeremy himself. what happened was a political insurrection in britain, that young people poured out after hearing him speak on television and radio, backed his rallies, and what we saw was an english version of the scottish uprising that swept the scottish national party to power earlier this year. so it has been a very exciting campaign, and it has grown and grown and grown. and it was until i think a few weeks ago that we realized that he really was going to win. and even still, we couldn't believe it. but his victory marks a huge .hift in english politics and the big problem here now is the following -- that we have the most left-wing leader in the history of the british labour party and power as leader, and we have a very right-wing parliamentary labour party, which has been effectively created by ending democracy in the party, by parachuting office boys and girls to become members of parliament so that they have no one of note in parliament today. that is the contradiction that jeremy faces. and i think one of the things he will have to do is to restore give the in the party, party once again real meaning, and move forward. but that will happen and it will take some time. in the meantime, we all rejoicing, those of us who have been participating in progressive politics for years, that we have a leader of the opposition. that for often -- that for after many, many decades, england or britain as leader of the opposition, and that is a huge step forward. amy: for the american audience, is jeremy corbyn becoming leader of the labour party with these 200 to one odds about three months ago, equivalent to bernie sanders winning the democratic nomination for president, the socialist senator from vermont? >> well, it is very similar, amy. jeremy is very good on foreign-policy issues. he has been very strong attacking all the imperial wars. he has been very strong on the right of the palestinians cap to self-determination. he is to announced wars. and as we heard earlier, he has linked the refugee crisis to the wars that are creating refugees. and bernie, of course, has been good attacking the corporations and the oligarchsic aspects of american political and social lights, so in that way he is similar, but he has been reluctant on foreign-policy issues. in the less, it would be the equivalent, you're right, that if somehow bernie sanders became the official candidate of the democratic party to take on the republicans, i mean, people squealing with anger, but it would be a step forward and that step has already been taken now in england. amy: we're going to take a break and then come back to this discussion. , back with him in a moment. ♪ [music break] amy: "the red flag." this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as we talk about the shocking election victory of mp jeremy corbyn as head of britain's opposition labour party, let's turn to some voters who supported corbin in saturday's election. >> i grew up to blair. all of myrs old, so contest life was blair -- conscious life was blair and new labor. i think it is incredibly exciting that we have a meaningful alternative and mainstream politics. that is something i think is extraordinary. happym very, very, very that he has won. i feel like it is the start of something new, something much fairer and better for the world. >> he is able to engage with young people. a lot of young people have become is engaged with politics, and i think is someone that young pele can relate to. for think it is a change the labour party, a change for britain, a positive change -- positive politics, which i can identify with. it is not the politics of fear or envy, but politics of hope and someone i think we seriously have a chance with. amy: some of the people who supported jeremy corbyn who got an overwhelming 59% victory in the election that makes him now the leader of the labour party. our guest is tariq ali, the british political commentator, activist, historian, the maker, and his latest book is "the extreme center: a warning." talk about who he beat, who he ran against, and also tony blair and gordon brown and what the labour party had become. he often opposed his own labour party. >> yes, jeremy was a very .onsistent member of parliament as a lawmaker, he voted against all the wars. he voted against any attempt by labor to support yesterday policies of the current conservative government. he did not succeed in winning the party because the bulk of them -- most of them, i would say, agree with austerity. and have not opposed cameron. know,emy has been, you all the time i have known him, and i say this about very few politicians, amy, that he has been one of the most honest politicians i know. he has got integrity. and hebeen consistent, is fond for the causes which large numbers of progressive people all over the world believe him. -- believe it. he has been like this for 40 years. in the causes he has espoused and spoken for him a he has attended meetings where there were only 30 or 40 people present just to make sure that , toe was a lawmaker there explain to them what was actually going on. so he is a very impressive guy, and he is completely different , tutorede spin doctor politicians. at is whct i i ie like about him, that he says it. he gives it to you straight. there is no bowl. he tells people what he believes in. i think he has been amazed himself by the response because he is fairly straightforward. now, can hetion is or can labour under jeremy corbyn win the next election? his enemies are all thing he can't and that this is a disaster, the labour party has committed suicide. i'm not so sure. i believe the campaign he has espoused continues, especially taking back the railways and the public ownership, and some of the utilities, instituting free education so that people with small amounts of money don't have to pay tuition fees for their kids, improves public housing, gets rid of trident -- these are nuclear missiles, part of britain's nato responsibilities. they have created a huge panic because the prime minister david cameron has said that jeremy corbyn's election has made labor and national security risk -- which is outrageous. what is the logic of that? a few weeks ago, british drones killed their own citizens in the air world, so what, we going to have the labour party --? it is bad, and pleasant, irresponsible talk, trying to seal off the debate which is only beginning. the candidates who opposed him were unimaginative people created by a system which didn't believe in politics or democracy anymore. that, in my opinion, who they were. and that is why lots of people rejected them. i mean, the day corbin was elected, 14.5 thousand people just on that day joined or rejoined the labour party. so he has energized labour's base like no one has been able to do for very long time. blair was a warmonger, brown was a neoliberal supporting the banks of the corporations. germany corbin represents a huge break with that. --jeremy corbyn represent the huge brick with that. amy: i want to turn back to january 23 when british mp jeremy corbyn spoke at an antiwar rally here in the united states. we featured a part of his address on democracy now! >> and i have to say is a member of the british parliament from the labour party, that there is overwhelming public opposition to british involvement in bush's war over iraq. because we recognize this war for what it is, it is not about peace. it is not about democracy. it is not about justice. it is a war about oil and it is a war where the main beneficiaries will be the arms manufacturers who have made so much out of so much misery for so long. [cheers]go to london where we're we are in one of the richest countries in the world. if all we can say to the poorest people in the poorest parts of the world suffering water shortage, health shortage, a pandemic of aids, and so many other injustices, all we can offer is weapons of mass destruction and further wars, all we do is's called the future. scored the conflicts of the future. a world of peace can only be achieved if we are a world based on social justice. [cheers] so our message to the capital, to the white house, to downing street in london and all the others, pull back, bring the troops home. bring about peace in the region. no more wars. any code that was jeremy corbyn, a british mp in 2003 and washington, d.c., and a major antiwar protest. it was just a few months before the u.s. attacked iraq. now, well, there are thousands of refugees coming from iraq and afghanistan, joining syrians and nigerians and others. tariq ali, yesterday, or this weekend, saturday, right after jeremy corbyn won, he said he had to go in giving his acceptance speech, because was racing up to the welcome refugees rally where he also spoke. can you talk about his position on refugees right now and what is britain's official position, david cameron's position? >> well, david cameron is limited the number of refugees allowed into britain, compared, for instance, to germany. though, germany, too, we should recall has ended free entry into that country. i think the european union is in a huge crisis on the refugee question. as jeremy's position has -- stated by him, at the rally, is very clear -- you make wars, you bomb other parts of the world, you destroy the social infrastructure, you make life so miserable for them that they have no alternative but to leave their countries. and when they knock on your door, you pat them on the back and say, "not so many of you. why didn't you think about that when you're dropping bombs on them there created the refugees? so he has linked the imperial wars waged by the united states and its european allies, or some of them, to the refugee question, and that is absolutely correct, amy. and he has argued strongly against any new wars or bombing raids on syria or iraq or whoever on whatever pretext because he knows it will make things worse. his position has been very strong on these questions. and, you know, just what you showed on the screen, the newly elected leader of an opposition party in a european country immediately going in joining a huge demonstration, welcoming refugees -- that has not happened for a very long time. not just in britain, but the whole of europe. so the impact jeremy's election has three -- as leader of the labour party in europe will be worth watching how they're going to react to this. amy: your book, tariq ali, is called "the extreme centre: a warning." explain what you mean. >> people have often talked about the extreme left and extreme right or the populist left, the populist right without discussing what has become a politicslem in global jeremy corbyn, but especially in the european union jeremy corbyn and north america and australia. which is that it doesn't matter which party you a light, when it comes down to it, on the fundamentals of the day, waging war, imposing austerity, helping out the big corporations, sucking up to the rich, there is no big difference between them. they might use different language, but their politics are the same. and this is no longer acceptable to large numbers of people, which is why when the young see possibilities of an alternative whether in greece or portugal or spain or ireland and now scotland and england, they do something about it. and jeremy really has broken with extreme center politics. he was never part of that mess. and this is what is so exciting in this country today. amy: i want to go to jeremy corbyn talking about socialism. the election of jeremy corbyn as the new leader of written flavor party has many believing this will mean a return to the party's socialist roots. this is corpsman debating in november 2013 that socialism works. live in awant to decent world, then is it right that the world's economy is dominated by a group of unaccountable multinational corporations? they are the real power in the world today, not the nationstate as the -- it is a global corporations. if you want to look at the ultimate of this free market catastrophe that the world is facing at the moment, go to the shantytowns on the fringes of so many big cities around the world. look at those people -- migrants dying and the mediterranean. why are they there? why are they dying? i will take this, it is when the world bank arrives and tells them to privatize all public services, to sell off state only at, to make inequality paragon of virtue. that is what drives people away into poverty. i will conclude with this thought -- think about the world you want to live in. do you want the dog be the dog or do you want is all to care for each other, supported each other, and eliminate poverty and injustice? a different world is possible. thank you. amy: that was jeremy corbyn. by the way, his argument won. but we have this breaking news, and we would like tariq ali to respond. malcolm turnbull is set to become australia's tim prime minister after beating tony abbott by 54 votes to 44 in a snap liberal party ballot, and promising australia a new respectful slogan-free leadership style. australia is owing to have -- again, breaking news, a new prime minister after tony abbott was ousted as leader of the liberal party by the cabinet minister malcolm turnbull. can you talk about the significance of this? you have just returned from australia. >> i have. i spent a month they're speaking in different parts of the country, amy. and it won't surprise you to know that wherever i went, i'd -- i'ded abbott announced abbott. some of the things abbott has the third reich and hitler were better than isis. i mean, this sort of stuff doesn't go down well anywhere. his allies were shocked and many people in his conservative party were shocked, too. so it was obvious that his time had come. he was extremely unpopular. and all of the opinion polls are showing that he would have been defeated in the next elections. so i think the liberals and conservatives have decided to do the clever thing, and replace them with malcolm turnbull. what is known about turnbull is that he is much better on many questions, whether he will be better on wars, i don't know. and it is doubtful, but he certainly is a republican and was one of the leading politicians in australia who tried to read -- rid our show you of the encumbrance that many austrians resent and say the queen of britain should no longer be the head of state. he lost that battle, but he fought very hard indeed. i don't want to create any allusions, he is just more intelligent, better conservative .eader for the liberal party labor's leader is a classic example to the extreme center. he is very unimpressive, as for a little to say. -- has very little to say. i think the conservatives thought turnbull would be much better place to take him on rather than abbott. in many australians will be celebrity. amy: tariq ali, thank you for being with us, political commentator, historian, activist, filmmaker, novelist, and an editor of the new left review. his latest book is, "the extreme centre: a warning." when we come back, we go to oklahoma. is an innocent man scheduled to die? stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. time is running out for richard glossip. the state of oklahoma is scheduled to execute him wednesday night. his legal team is pushing for a new review of the case saying the state is about to kill innocent man. richard glossip was convicted in a murder for hire case. in 1997, is working as a manager at the best budget and in oklahoma city. on the night of january 6, 1997, his boss was murdered at the motel. there is never been a question about who committed the murder. a maintenance worker admitted killing him. but richard glossip was arrested as well for allegedly hiring sneed to carry out the murder. the case rested almost solely on justin sneed's claims that richard glossip offered him money and job opportunities for the killing. he says sneed implicated him in a deal to receive life in prison instead of the death penalty. no physical evidence tied loss of to the crime. glossip has maintained his innocence. his case has been taken up by many celebrities, including sister helen prejean, who is played by actress susan sarandon in the film "dead man walking." susan sarandon has also taken up richard glossip's cause and read a message from glossip on "dr. phil." >> i've been fighting for my innocence raging years. anderson how important i find is, not just for my side, but for everyone facing the death penalty for something they did not do. i'm not doing this for myself alone. i hope and pray that might event for this eventual exoneration will happen in this country will realize how broken our system is and how easy it is to make mistakes. let me be clear, i do not want to be a martyr. i want to live, but if the worst happens, i want my death not to be in vain. if my execution ensures no other innocent man must suffer the death chamber, i'm prepared to die for that cause. amy: that a susan sarandon reading a message from richard glossip on dr. phil. to talk more, we're joined by three guess. liliana segura is a criminal justice reporter for the intercept. her latest piece is headlined, "time is running out for richard glossip." kim van atta started corresponding with richard glossip 16 years ago and has since become a close friend. he has been advocating on his behalf for the last year and a half. he started the website richardeglossip.com. kim spent the day with richard on sunday. sister helen prejean is one of the world's most well-known anti-death penalty activists. as a catholic nun, she began her prison ministry over 30 years ago. she is the author of the best-selling book, "dead man walking: an eyewitness account of the death penalty." the book's been translated into numerous languages and turned into an opera, a play, and an academy award-winning film starring susan sarandon and sean penn. we welcome you all to democracy now! sister helen prejean, welcome back to democracy now! why are you in oklahoma? talk about why you have taken up richard glossip's case? >> i talked to richard for the first time january 5 and he said youe, sister helen, hope don't mind, i did not ask you or anything, but i put you down to be with me if i am executed. that is all i needed. there is no way am just going to walk with the man for execution who is innocent. looking into it, came to oklahoma, visited him, and we have assembled a team of lawyers. we started reaching out to media to just get the word out this man is really innocent. and in this broken system, the man who killed is in a medium security prison and richard, with no physical evidence against him, solely on this man's word, is about to go to his death. we have been fighting ever since. amy: his name is the case that want to the supreme court. liliana segura, i would like to ask you about this. yet it was in the case about his innocence, it was a case about the drug that would be used to kill him. >> that's right, amy. to be perfectly honest, this case did not commit upon my radar as a journalist who follows these issues pretty closely, until the supreme court took up this issue of lethal injection in oklahoma and that specific drug. and richard glossip was the lead plaintiff challenging this protocol, one of a number of men, and his execution had actually come down to the wire and then halted in january so the supreme court could take up the issue. i was down at oral arguments in washington listening to this rather surreal discussion about the proper way to kill a human being. such an indictment of the death penalty as it stands that the man whose name is synonymous with this rather perverse debate has a very legitimate claim to innocence, and that fact or that question of his guilt was nowhere to be discussed in order to be found in that discussion. so that was really the reason, along with my colleague jordan smith, i decided to look into just the records of this case and the two trials and probe the question of why no one had really brought this up in a major way before. amy: talk about what you see as a major failing. he went to court twice. he had two trials. how is it that with no evidence directly -- no evidence directly tying him to the murder, no one doubts that justin sneed murdered the owner of the motel -- i want to turn to, then recently by former juror in the case who joined 11 others in convicting glossip in the initial trial. in a statement to fox 25, the juror said -- "if the defense would have presented me the case that they are presenting now in the original trial, i would not have given a guilty verdict." the juror goes on to say -- "i feel that this situation needs to be looked at and at the very least given a 60 day stay." what was presented in these trials and what do you know to be the case, liliana segura? >> the case really hinges on the testimony of justin sneed. and that right there is a huge problem, not just in death penalty cases, but throughout the criminal justice system, incentivized witnesses who have every reason to lie in order to save themselves. justin sneed does not face at should fusion. they cut just with the state and prosecutors that are hell-bent on getting these convictions. glossip was tried and convicted twice on what many people seem to see as a lately shoddy incomplete evidence. incentivized testimony, and above cases, really, insufficient legal representation, which was the grounds for the first conviction to be overturned. those were the sort of two prongs. the other thing, and tried to investigate this case as a journalist, the oklahoma city police department would not turn over their records. youone thing we do know, if read the transcript of justin states interrogations, it is very, very clear the police detectives were sort of leading him to implicate richard glossip and save themselves, and that becomes clear as you read through those transcripts. even with incomplete police file, you get it clear picture of what jurors did not see, which was that interrogation take. amy: last year, justin sneed's daughter wrote a letter to the obama pardon and parole board seeking clemency for glossip and asserting his innocence. she also said her father had spoken to her of recanting his testimony. she wrote -- "i strongly believe [glossip] is an innocent man sitting on death row. for a couple of years now, my father has been talking to me about recanting his original testimony. but has been afraid to act upon it, in fear of being charged with the death penalty. his fear of recanting, but guilt about not doing so, makes it obvious that information he is sitting on would exonerate mr. glossip." which brings us to kim van atta. you been corresponding with and meeting with richard glossip for years. you spent, what, sunday with him. can you talk about what he is saying now? we're just a few days away from his execution date. >> yes, thank you. richard is remarkably upbeat. he is handling this whole lot better than i am. that, after sitting in his cell with hundreds of letters from around the world, has probably gotten almost 700, 800 letters, and e-mails, and he says that right now it feels good because people have heard him, people are now believing in his innocence. and he said, my voice has been heard. and i have said to him, that is what we all want in life, our voice to be heard. so he is very strong right now. he is holding the rest of us up in many ways. amy: sister helen prejean, how does this case compare to other cases that you have followed? how many people have you followed on death row to the end? >> i have accompanied six people and two of them were innocent. that is in my second book "the death of innocents." they all had the same ingredients in it, the innocent ones, that richard h have hopely inadequate defense. you have a rabid prosecution anxious to get as many death penalties as they can -- and here in oklahoma, that prosecutor, that da was bob macy. he got 54 death penalty. you have inadequate defense, you have rabid prosecution, and then you have this kind of flimsy confession of someone that that is what they use. so this was justin sneed. and the lawyers for richard have really been looking at all of the testimony in the transcripts and video of sneed. he gave eight different stories and the jury never got to hear this because when you have inadequate defense any of justin sneed up there solely on his word, what you want to do is get all of those contradictions and say, mr. sneed, you said this and here you said this. you show all of the lies and you impeach his credibility in front of the jury so they know not to believe him. and then you actively go after evidence so -- the defense did not do this, the police didot do this. they did not investigate or talk to other probable witnesses full top they did not nail the forensic evidence. evidence goes missing -- the shower curtain that justin's need had richards fingerprints on it. it goes missing. the motel receipts that would show richard had no incentive to steal or to kill his boss because he of instilling shows the motel was doing well. the videotape, surveillance video across the street at a gas station which shows were just in when afterwards, and a mysterious man who ran over there and left town in such a hurry -- this is after the murder -- that he left his luggage in his room. that tape is missing. prosecution is in charge of the evidence. so you have evidence like us missing, you have other people who should have been interviewed the person in the room right next door to where the murder occurred in room 102 -- the man in 103 who talked about all of the voices he heard arguing, multiple voices, that contradict with what sneed said that there was no talking when he killed the man. that is how it always happens. i placed this in the laps of the supreme court of the united states he was given the so-called guidelines that is is supposed to be the worst of the worst, but been given the full discretionary power to da's, whether to go for the death penalty or not. and when you're in a climate like oklahoma, like texas has been where the pockets of the death penalty are strongest, you have video -- you have who want to go for the death penalty all the time. there was a robbery gone bad in a motel for drugs. how did the dac this is the worst of the worst? and the man who did the murder is not even in prison? it has all of the ingredients of a broken system, which is the supreme court would get out of their little marble building and go down on the ground and see the deathual practice penalty is being applied, they could see how broken it is, but they never look at the ground. about thecision drugs, they're basically telling oklahoma, you experiment anyway you won't with killing human beings, we're not going to monitor it. the vet mary and associates volland -- the veterinarian associates monitor more on euthanizing drugs, than we do for the killing of human beings. and richard exemplifies every bit of what is wrong with the death penalty. amy: sister helen prejean, the former senator of oklahoma is conservative, tom coburn, has called for richard glossip not to be executed, joining many others. the pope is coming to the united states, pope francis, this next week. can you talk about the pope'scance of both the visit when it comes to the death penalty and tom coburn, his calling for glossip to be saved? >> that was wonderful. when you have voices that are being raised with credibility in the community like that, you know something significant is happening. and i just personally am convinced there is no way that pope francis is going to come to the united states and not address the death penalty. he already has made strong, strong statements about it. and he knows how broken it is. and other cases i have been in touch with him through contact people, and i know how strongly he feels about it. and so he will directly -- no doubt about it. amy: thank you all for being with us, sister helen prejean and kim van atta, both joining us from oklahoma city. and liliana segura, we will link to your pieces of the intercept on the case of richard glossip who is scheduled to die on wednesday unless that sentence is commuted. that does it for the broadcast. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who feedback from people who appreciate the ♪ - today on america's test kitchen, bridget prepares cornish game hens, adam reviews french presses in the equipment corner, and julia makes the ultimate french apple tart, right here on america's test kitchen. - america's test kitchen is brought to you by dcs. dcs, manufacturers of professionally styled indoor and outdoor kitchen equipment. at dcs, our mission is design that delivers,

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