Al Jazeera Correspondent

Amnesty International has worked to hold governments accountable for human rights violations for nearly 60 years, and it is now giving a critical look at its own organisation. Following the suicide of a staff member, Amnesty commissioned an independent review of its company culture, which found that some of its staff have been victims of bullying, public humiliation, discrimination, and abuses of power, and that these issues threaten the organisation's credibility. The report surveyed hundreds of employees as part of its investigation and found widespread mismanagement and a "toxic" work environment. According to the report, 39 percent of staff had developed mental or physical health issues because of working there, and 65 percent didn't believe their well-being was a priority for Amnesty. "I think this was a problem that was left festering for decades," Kumi Naidoo, Amnesty's secretary-general, told Al Jazeera. "While we are winning battles, we are losing the war. And that contributes to a very stressful environment because all the folks that work at Amnesty are passionate, committed ... and they also understand that while we are winning here and there and important battles, they can see that human rights is slipping away from us." Naidoo, who began his role in August last year, is looking to address these issues quickly. He said these problems, in part, come from the inherently stressful nature of their work, as well as from an outdated management structure and the company's failure to prioritise its staff's well-being. "Our organisation, set up in 1961, has added one layer of complexity after the other as it's evolved, and to be honest we need a complete reorganising because, in fact, the very structure of Amnesty right now is a source of certain conflicts and tensions that we need to fix urgently," he said. He pointed out that Amnesty chose to make the report public, and that all seven members of its senior leadership team have accepted responsibility and offered to resign. To him, this transparency is a good first step. "I am not saying it's going to be easy for us to recalibrate and move forward with a healing approach, if you want, but the commitment is there from myself, the board, and all parts of the organisation and we are focused on acting on it," he said. "One year won't sort everything out. But the term 'toxic' is quite a loaded word. I think within a year, I want that word off the table." Until then, he recognises how the report bears weight on Amnesty's mission. "I take the approach as the leadership of Amnesty at the board level and so on that given our values, given what we stand for, one case or two cases of racism or sexism or bullying are one case too many." - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

On October 2, 2018, Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist working in the US for the Washington Post, entered his country's consulate in Istanbul to process paperwork - and was never seen again. On the same day, a 15-man Saudi hit squad had allegedly flown to Istanbul. All the evidence points to Khashoggi's murder, suggesting that his body was first dismembered and then disposed of. The killing of the well-known journalist and critic of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has resonated around the world, both as an attack on media freedom and as a shocking insight into the workings of a secretive and repressive regime. The horrific story has been well documented in the media but there are still pieces missing and serious questions remaining unanswered: What happened to the body? Why did two weeks pass before Turkish investigators were allowed into the consulate to examine forensic evidence? And who was ultimately responsible for the killing? Al Jazeera Arabic's Tamer Almisshal goes to Istanbul to try and find answers. He has pieced together the chronology of events - and examined the theories as to what may have happened to Khashoggi's body. In mid-March, Saudi Arabia announced it had started court proceedings against those it believes were involved. The Kingdom still refuses to agree to a UN-led investigation, and despite the volume of powerful evidence, we still don't know whether those ultimately responsible for Khashoggi's death will ever be openly held to account. - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

In November 1979, a group of Iranian students took over the United States embassy in Tehran. Fifty-two American diplomats and citizens were held hostage for 444 days, in what became the longest hostage crisis in modern history. The students were part of a revolution that overthrew the Shah and replaced his government with the Islamic Republic just months earlier. Masoumeh Ebtekar, a prominent figure at the time, was both spokeswoman and translator for the students. Asked by Al Jazeera whether she has any regrets about her involvement with the hostage incident, the Iranian vice president for Women and Family Affairs remains resilient about the intention behind the students' actions. "I don't think any of the students have any regrets because they felt that was a natural reaction. Any human being reacts to being subjugated to slavery ... being subjugated to foreign domination. Maybe the only concern or regret that they had was that it could have been resolved quicker," she says. The students had demanded the US government deport the Shah back to Iran to stand trial. The hostages were eventually released in January 1981 and the crisis was over - but not Ebtekar's career. After years in academia, she became Iran's third female member of cabinet in its history, when she was appointed as head of the Department of Environment during former President Mohammad Khatami's government. Ebtekar has also served as Tehran's city councilwoman. In August 2017, President Hassan Rouhani appointed her vice president for Women and Family Affairs. Forty years after the Iranian revolution, Ebtekar remains a strong believer of the principles she fought for. Literacy rates and a younger generation of females encouraged to attend both school and university are badges of improvement and Ebtekar claims that challenges are noted and being systematically addressed. "On the issue of education, the challenge that we have is that we have not addressed life skills properly in our education system," says Ebtekar. "This is something that we are focusing on specifically. For example, in the elementary or secondary stages, with the college and university system, we're working on upgrading communication skills among youth. Upgrading their skills to deal with their citizen rights and critical thought. These are life skills which are very important for the young generation." As Iran suffers an ongoing economic crisis and sanctions, "again, on behalf of the United States government", how long can the Iranian people expect to wait for job creation and a release to the stifling economic pressure? "Supporting entrepreneurship has been a strategy for us. We have a nationwide project implemented to train young women, particularly women with college degrees, on entrepreneurship skills; 18,000 billion tomans have been given in villages," says Ebtekar of the Iranian government's plans to ease economic hardships. "I think that people have learned how to increase their resilience in difficult times," she continues. "This nation has withstood a war in which the whole world was practically against Iran when Saddam [Hussein] attacked. They have learned to be patient and to strengthen their internal capacities." - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

The 2011 Arab Spring had seen the end of President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule and within 18 months, Mohamed Morsi had become Egypt's first democratically elected president. But after one year in office, almost weekly street protests and riots appeared to reach a climax with calls for Morsi to resign and even for the military to intervene. In July 2013, Morsi was overthrown. Al Jazeera's Jamal Elshayyal reported on events in Egypt at the time - and now reveals new exclusive evidence of top-level conspiracy, power-broking and betrayal in the turmoil that led to Morsi's last days in office. Until now, much of what took place in the final days of the Morsi presidency was known only to those who witnessed the events first hand. Of the nine men with Morsi at the time, only one is no longer in jail. In this film, Egypt's former foreign relations assistant, Khaled al-Qazzaz among others, tells the behind-the-scenes story of the Morsi presidency's final hours. Throughout 2012 and into 2013, the streets of Egypt were rocked by almost weekly protests and riots, as well as an anger and frustration that divided the nation. The people who had risen up in 2011 had seen little improvement economically and they felt that the freedom they had gained was being misused by some to create chaos. Continuous power cuts, fuel shortage and petrol queues that later were proven to have been orchestrated by the deep state, lead to a toxic mix of anger and despair among the public. But the crisis in Egypt was not limited to fuel shortages and wages, nor were they limited to the big cities. In Sinai, attacks took place against security forces by groups that few had heard of before. ‎‎"President Morsi complained about interference from a certain Gulf state and told me that they had detected weapons shipments from this country to armed groups in Sinai, as well as money being sent to them," says Khalid al-Attiyah, Qatari minister of defence and former foreign minister. "But he also told me he was able to negotiate with this state." As protests continued and events unfolded, concern was expressed by world leaders. But it seemed Morsi's fate had already been sealed. "‎‎From what I know, senior US government officials by that juncture June 25, 2013, were aware of the possibility of a military coup against Morsi,"‎‎ ‎‎according to Andrew Miller, US National Security Council (2014-2017). Days after Morsi's June 26 speech, in which he attempted to pacify the population and offered several concessions to the opposition, his minister of defence General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi issued him with an ultimatum either to step down or face military intervention. "‎‎By the time that the military issued a 48-hour ultimatum, I think the overwhelming view in the US government was that it was too late. ‎‎That the die had already been cast, and no matter what happened short of Morsi resigning preemptively, that the military was going to forcibly remove him from the position of the presidency," explains Miller.‎‎ President Morsi was overthrown on July 3, 2013, and initially placed under house arrest where he was held incommunicado. Khalid al-Qazzaz, the presidential secretary for foreign affairs, recounts his last meetings with Morsi: "On the morning of July 4, we were allowed to have breakfast with the president. We found him to be surprisingly calm. He said it was the first time he'd been able to sleep for consecutive hours since he'd assumed responsibility." "It was clear he'd done his utmost to preserve the gains of the revolution and protect the Egyptian people. It was now up to the people either to choose to return to a police state or try to restore their revolution." Since the 2013 coup, a police crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood has left hundreds dead and tens of thousands jailed, many under draconian anti-protest and anti-terrorism laws. Morsi has been tried in several different cases. The former president remains in jail, facing a death sentence and charges that range from espionage, leaking intelligence information, collaborating with foreign forces to insulting the judiciary and freeing Islamists from jail in 2011. Amnesty International has described Egypt's judicial system as "horrendously broken" and described death sentences handed out to Morsi and other members of the Muslim Brotherhood in previous trials as a "vengeful march to the gallows." In a report released on March 28, 2018, a panel of British MPs and international lawyers said Morsi's conditions of imprisonment and inadequate medical care would likely lead to his "premature death". - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Browder shares what it's like to live 'rent-free in Putin's head' and how the Magnitsky Act became a 'viral phenomenon'. The turmoil of post-Soviet Russia in the 1990s saw a handful of business people grow rich, while the country itself grew poor. Into the mix of chaotic capitalism and Wild West opportunity stepped a young Stanford business graduate ready to make his fortune: Bill Browder founded what would become the largest foreign investment fund in Russia, Hermitage Capital Management, worth $4.5bn in assets. While pushing his own ventures, he spoke out about a culture of corporate corruption and soon fell foul of Russia's new president, Vladimir Putin. In 2005, Browder was expelled from the country and declared a "threat to national security". His Hermitage investment fund was raided, and, he says, a complex fraud conducted by Russian officials resulted in the theft of some $230m. It was a scheme uncovered by Browder's lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, whose later death in prison - apparently the result of torture - set Browder on a lifelong mission to expose corruption. "They killed him in a horribly sadistic way at the age of 37 and I've been going after them ever since they killed him," Browder said in an interview with Al Jazeera. He lobbied for the Magnitsky Act, which aimed to freeze the assets of those suspected of financial crimes and human rights abuses. It was passed by the United States Congress in 2012. In 2016, it became the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, empowering the executive branch to impose targeted sanctions or visa bans on individuals who committed human rights violations anywhere in the world. Magnitsky-inspired laws have gained traction in the European Union; Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, the United Kingdom along with several other countries have adopted provisions. It has drawn the ire of the Russian president who, in 2018, said that he would grant the US access to 12 indicted Russian intelligence officials in exchange for access to several Americans, singling out US-born Browder and accusing him of not paying taxes while in Russia. In 2016, a Russian lawyer allegedly lobbied for repealing the Magnitsky Act and indicting Browder in a Trump Tower meeting with members of then-candidate Donald Trump's team. "We know for sure that the Russians were there because of me and the Magnitsky Act ... Russia is a country, where a thousand individuals have stolen all the money from the country. Literally, a thousand individuals have stolen a trillion dollars over a 20-year period ... and the other 145 million Russians are in destitute poverty," said Browder. "What the Magnitsky Act does ... is go after those 1,000 people. If they are ready to kill for money there's nothing more painful for them to have their money frozen. And even if you haven't frozen their money, just the idea that their money could be frozen is like a sword of Damocles hanging over their head. And that's why Putin hates the Magnitsky Act so much because he is a kleptocrat first and foremost. Browder has also been investigating what happened to the millions of dollars that disappeared when his investment fund was raided - which has raised the question of whether or not Trump cropped up along the money trail. "We've traced that for nine years and we've found all the money ... through law enforcement investigations, through private investigations, through whistleblowers, and so far there has not been any money that went to Donald Trump," Browder said. "Having said that, there's a lot of money that went to Vladimir Putin." Critics of Browder may argue that he is being hypocritical; like the oligarchs he went after, Browder had taken advantage of the upheaval following the collapse of the Soviet Union to do business. But he says that he did things differently. "The only similarity is that we were both investing in the system at the very same time. The difference was that almost immediately after I started, I started exposing corruption," he said. "I was doing it for money, I wasn't doing it for the goodness of the state. But to invest in companies, expose corruption, and try to stop it, that ... [by definition] is a good thing." Now, he says Magnitsky-inspired laws are catching on quickly. "The Magnitsky Act has now turned into a viral phenomenon. It's jumping from country to country to country. There's Magnitsky proposals all over the world in different parliaments and governments, etcetera, and of course I can help and stir up the pot and make things happen, but without my presence they would happen at the same time," he said. - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

As women in all parts of the world still suffer violence, discrimination, and under-representation, what’s the status of global gender equality? And how can progress be made? Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka is the executive director of UN Women and has overseen its work in addressing gender issues since 2013. Al Jazeera asked Mlambo-Ngcuka whether International Women's Dayon March 8 is an occasion to celebrate, protest, or take up activism. "All of the above," she said. "Because even though we've made progress, and it's important that we celebrate the achievements, but we also haven't come far enough, we have a lot of work that we still need to do. So we still need to be activists. But also some of the gains that we have had are being eroded, so we have to protest and defend, and there is misogyny, and many other harmful and hurtful challenges that women still face. And because of that, protests are also in order." UN Women is working to collect gender statistics, often lacking in countries worldwide, to help provide more focused solutions. For example, collecting data on girls' school attendance and dropouts may help address the issue of girls missing school because of their menstrual cycle. "If we are unable to provide evidence about this phenomena, sometimes when we raise the importance of sanitation in schools as a critical human right, people don't believe that it is this serious, but when we have, then you are able to show this pattern. It means when you build, you build smart. When you innovate, you make sure that you provide the services at school and at home so that this right, which is about dignity ... is respected and taken serious," Mlambo-Ngcuka explained. For her, women's equality benefits everybody. "Feminism is about respecting the rights of people of all sexualities, but more than anything else being active in trying to correct and to address discrimination where it exists. This is not the responsibility of women alone, this is the responsibility of everyone who believes in equality. So feminism is not just about and for women. Feminism is about men and women working together to make the situation better for everybody." One positive trend is the increasing number of women in the political arena; about 23 percent of women were in single or lower houses of national parliaments in 2018, a roughly four-percent increase from 2010, according to the UN. Mlambo-Ngcuka agrees that more women in power will make a difference, but there is still progress to be made. "We have not reached the critical mass across the world that would ensure that you actually swing the pendulum decisively. We are going the right way in some situations. We are going the right way in particular because of activism of ordinary people trying to hold their leaders accountable. But we need people to vote for women when elections come." - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Jair Bolsonaro was elected president of Brazil in October 2018, soon after the worst political scandal in Brazil's history, which saw dozens of businessmen and politicians arrested and accused of corruption. Although he was a member of the National Congress for almost 30 years, Bolsonaro was seen as an outsider who promised to fight corruption and crime, and help Brazil recover from a deep economic crisis. Now his challenge is to do that without angering crucial allies like China and the Arab world with his new foreign policy agenda that is taking his country closer to Israel and the United States. Bolsonaro, who is still recovering after being stabbed in a rally before the elections last year, is hoping to pass crime and pension reforms, but many question his lack of policies to fight inequality and protect minorities. Vice President Hamilton Mourao, one of several former military members appointed to Bolsonaro's cabinet, calls himself the "sword and the shield" of the president. He spoke to Al Jazeera in Brasilia. The political crisis in neighbouring Venezuela is a key issue for Brazil. In January 2019, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself interim president following elections that many saw as fraudulent, while President Nicolas Maduro accused him of staging a coup and ordered his arrest. The political crisis is taking place amid growing frustration over Venezuela's economic collapse, which has seen hyperinflation, food and medicine shortages, and failed public services. Mourao believes the crisis must be addressed. "The Bolivarianism that was born with the later president, Hugo Chavez, proved to be not good for the country. It destroyed the oil industry, it destroyed their internal production. They put people against people. And so today the Venezuelan economy is totally shattered. Their social tissue also is shattered. So, of course, they need a change of government." He does not believe this means Brazil should intervene, and said it will not. He does, however, accept recent moves by the US to put pressure on the Venezuelan government by imposed sanctions and has questioned Maduro's presidency. Recently, the US tried but failed to push the UN Security Council to call for presidential elections in Venezuela and allow unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid. Internally, Brazil's government has promised to combat rising crime rates and crack down on the drug trade. In a televised interview with Brazil's TV Globo in 2018, then-candidate Bolsonaro said that police who kill criminals should be rewarded. Bolsonaro's cabinet contains eight former military members, and some are worried that the military - Brazil was under military rule between 1964 and 1985 - may dominate politics again. "Of course not, our democracy is a very strong one," Mourao said. "Our democracy has the balance of powers very straight. The executive does its job, the legislative does its job, the judiciary system does its job, and the president chose some military people for his cabinet. This is normal, and these guys are here working as civilians, not military. The armed forces are doing their job, nothing more than that. I don't see any threat for democracy in Brazil." Many are concerned that minorities will not be protected under the new government, as Bolsonaro has been accused of making offensive remarks regarding women, black people and the LGBT community. "Our constitution protects everybody here. The problem of human rights and minorities, I don't feel they are unprotected here in Brazil. And the government ... has a very good look for this and nobody is going to be persecuted here in Brazil," Mourao said. In January 2019, a gay legislator left Brazil after receiving death threats. Deaths of LGBT people has more than tripled since 2011, with 420 deaths through homicide and suicide in 2018, according to a report written by gay rights group Grupo Gay da Bahia and summarised by teleSUR English. "I walk in the streets, I don't see anybody fighting the gay people," Mourao said. "They are not killed because they are gays, they are killed because of crimes that happen with all other kinds of people. When 60,000 people are killed here in Brazil, some of them are from the gay community. I don't see a gay persecution in Brazil." - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Filmmaker: Muhammad Salamah Known to some as the "Father of the Palestinians" or "Archbishop of the Arabs", Monsignor Hilarion Capucci was an enigmatic freedom-fighting Christian Archbishop in Jerusalem who was jailed for smuggling arms for the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in the 1970s, but continued battling for the Palestinians until his death. Born in the Syrian city of Aleppo in 1922, Capucci was ordained as a priest of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church in 1947 and was appointed Patriarchal Vicar of Jerusalem and Archbishop of Caesarea in 1965, a time of great turmoil in the Middle East. In 1946, he witnessed the Jerusalem bombing of the King David Hotel by members of the Zionist group Irgun. Deeply affected by this, he wrote: "I was the only student who left the Saint Anne monastery that day. I saw the destruction and the bodies of 90 English and Arab victims ... I felt unbearable pain." On June 5, 1967, Israel declared war on Egypt, Syria and Jordan and defeated the combined Arab armies to occupy the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the Syrian Golan Heights and the West Bank. The Israeli army entered Jerusalem and the city came under Israeli control, a turning point in the life of Archbishop Capucci. We have to work hard, fight and struggle. Hilarion Capucci , Christian Archbishop in Jerusalem "He told me he was badly affected by what happened in 1967," recalls Ali Rafie, lawyer of the Malaabi brothers. "He saw 'martyrs' in the streets and alleyways of Jerusalem. He buried 400 bodies himself. Muslim Sheikhs helped him with the burials. He and the Sheikhs prayed together for those Jerusalem martyrs." Capucci wrote in his memoirs: "Three days after the occupation of Jerusalem, I was driving my car in the streets of Jerusalem, wearing my clerical clothes. An Israeli soldier approached and spat at me. I got out of the car and started beating him until he fell to the ground. I was then convinced that these invaders must be confronted with violence to beat their brutality. I decided to work hard to resist the occupation." Shocked by atrocities of war, he refused to maintain any relationship with Israel and thus began an aggressive underground campaign to provide weapons for Fatah and other Palestinian resistance factions. As a religious leader with diplomatic immunity, the archbishop could travel across the Lebanese-Israeli border without being subject to inspection. But on one fateful day in August 1974, Archbishop Capucci was stopped in Jerusalem and inside his car, the authorities said, was a cache of weapons. The Malaabi brothers were also arrested in conjunction with Capucci for weapons smuggling. During his highly publicised trial, he famously said, "I don't recognise this trial. You're occupiers. Everything I say is addressed to my people and to those who want to know why I did this. I don't care about your verdict," according to Palestinian historian Saqr Abu Fakhr. Archbishop Capucci mediated in a hostage crisis in Iraq in the early 1990s [AP/Broglio] He was sentenced to 12 years in jail, but Archbishop Capucci's time in prison came to an end in 1977, after Pope Paul VI appealed for his release. Capucci remained in the headlines following his release, attempting to mediate in the Iran hostage crisis. In May 1980, he obtained the release of the bodies of American soldiers who had died in a rescue mission. He also mediated in a hostage crisis in Iraq in the early 1990s. But his main preoccupation remained the Palestinian cause and he was a link between the PLO and the Catholic Church in the Vatican. "The Archbishop introduced the significance of the Palestinian cause to the whole of Europe," says Mai Keila, the Palestinian Ambassador to Italy. "All the delegations who came to Rome had to meet the Archbishop." Even with his mobility challenges, Capucci promoted the Palestinian cause wherever he could in the world. "We have to work hard, fight and struggle," he told his followers. In 2010, he was on board the Mavi Marmara when the Turkish-owned ship was intercepted by Israeli commandos as it took part in an aid flotilla attempting to breach the blockade of the Gaza Strip. Ten Turkish activists were killed and dozens wounded after the commandos boarded the ship and opened fire on the activists. Capucci was injured and said the raid was unwarranted. On January 1, 2017, the Vatican announced that Archbishop Hilarion Capucci had died in Rome, aged 94. It was his wish to be buried next to his mother in Lebanon. On hearing of his death, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas described him as a great "freedom fighter". Iraq, Egypt, Libya, Sudan and Syria have all commemorated him on postage stamps. - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Anwar Ibrahim got his start in politics as a student leader in Malaysia in the 1970s and stunned many when he joined the ruling party and teamed up with then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. He rose quickly through ranks to become finance minister in 1991 and deputy prime minister two years later. But Anwar and Mahathir fell out in a spectacular fashion in 1998, as the Asian financial crisis plunged Malaysia's economy into recession and exposed long-rumoured differences at the top of government. Anwar was sacked and charged with sodomy and corruption, triiggering the biggest protests Malaysia had ever seen. Found guilty following an often lurid trial - a stained mattress was dragged in and out of court at one point in the proceedings - Anwar, who said the charges were politically-motivated, was jailed. In 2004, Malaysia's High Court ruled that there had been insufficient evidence and overturned Anwar's conviction. After his release, he reentered politics and ran for a seat in parliament in 2008. But with his political star in the ascendant, and the opposition parties threatening to unseat the coalition that had governed Malaysia since independence, Anwar was once again accused of sodomy. In 2015, after his final appeal was rejected, he was jailed. Anwar maintained the charges were politically motivated and the opposition parties united behind Mahathir, who had retired in 2003 and switched sides amid a deepening scandal involving Prime Minister Najib Razak and billions of dollars of losses at state fund 1MDB. In May 2018, after a shock election victory of the Mahathir-led Pakatan Harapan coalition, Anwar was given a royal pardon. With his release, Anwar returned to political life and Keadilan Rakyat - the People's Justice Party - which had been founded by his wife to campaign for him and reform after he was sacked in 1998. He entered parliament after winning the seat of Port Dickson, a seaside resort about 90 minutes south of Kuala Lumpur, and, in a twist few would have predicted, is once again working alongside Mahathir. The elderly politician - now 93 - has promised to hand over the job of prime minister to Anwar in two years. So after such a bumpy journey, what are Anwar's ambitions for Malaysia? And with Najib's trials on multiple charges of corruption getting under way in Kuala Lumpur, how does he plan to clean up Malaysia's political system? Anwar Ibrahim talks to Al Jazeera. He tells Al Jazeera that nurturing Malaysia's democracy is his primary goal, and to get there he wants to safeguard judicial independence and media freedom. He says he is also determined to tackle corruption, and is confident that "a country can effectively rid itself of corruption." He is also hoping to reclaim the solid economic performance that characterised his time as Malaysia's finance minister by pursuing "an economic policy that propels growth, yet at the same time, will not tolerate poverty in the midst of plenty, and gross inequality". On Saudi Arabia's alleged connection to the 1MDB scandal, Anwar says transparency is key. "The Saudis ... must explain," Anwar says. "They must be held accountable, they must explain, because Najib clearly said the money [$681m discovered in his private bank accounts] comes from Saudi Arabia ... he has admitted, by the way, that the prime minister can receive 2.6 billion ringgit [$638m] into his personal account, which to me is clearly a crime, it is a corrupt practice. But because it involves some personalities or authorities in Saudi Arabia, we must hold that person or that entity into account." With regards to Abu Dhabi's alleged involvement in the fund, Anwar says the investigation is in progress. Commenting on his position in a multiethnic coalition grounded in pluralism in a world where the political mood seems to be shifting towards populism and polarisation, Anwar says justice is his priority. "I am committed to have Malaysia to be just to everyone. This is important. I am a Malay Muslim. I care for my people. I cannot condone any practice that causes injustice to any citizen in our country, irrespective of if they are Muslims or non-Muslims, Malays, Chinese, Indians or from the tribal regions of Sabah and Sarawak." - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Filmmaker: Sibel Karakurt On 11th July 2018, the Munich Regional Court found Beate Zschape of the National Socialist Underground guilty on ten counts of racially-motivated murder and sentenced her to life imprisonment. It also found four other defendants guilty of related crimes. The trial had lasted five years and had been expected finally to draw a line under the murders of eight ethnic Turks and an ethnic Greek, as well as a German policewoman between 2000 and 2007. But lenient sentences for two of the accused rankled among the victims' families. Gamze Kubasik spoke on their behalf. "Beate Zschape has been sentenced for life, I am content with that. I can live with (the verdict for) Carsten Schultze as well, also with the sentence for Holger Gerlach. But (the verdicts for) Andre Eminger and Ralf Wohlleben I found very disappointing and very sad. I first had to contain myself and needed some time to calm down. They got a very mild sentence in my opinion the court passed a very, very mild sentence for them. To me, they were just as guilty, and in one category like the two murderers who are dead now, and like Beate Zschape". There were protests at the lower sentences in a case which had been running in Germany for 18 years. The police investigation had been painfully slow and the only connection it identified was that all the victims had been shot with the same gun, a rare Czech-manufactured Ceska 83 pistol. Rather than looking more closely at a racial motive, the investigation had focused on possible mafia and drug-related connections; while the media stereotyped the serial killings as the 'Kebab' or 'Doner Murders', even though only one of the victims worked in a food outlet. Police investigated the family lives of the victims, their supposed business connections and social backgrounds but did not find anything in common among the victims other than their ethnicity and the murder weapon. The victim's families were disappointed, if not angered, particularly when it eventually emerged – almost by accident, that the far-right wing National Socialist Underground (NSU) had been responsible. The then 36-year-old Beate Zschape gave herself up, but her two alleged accomplices had already been found dead. On 8th November 2012, Beate Zschape was charged with forming a terrorist organisation, the NSU; of murdering eight ethnic Turks, one ethnic Greek and a policewoman; and with fifteen robberies, two bombings and other attacks. A 500 page indictment was prepared by the Federal Prosecution Office and presented to Munich Higher Regional Court - and the hearings began on the 6th of May 2013. It was one of Germany's highest-profile trials since World War Two – and involved five defendants, 600 witnesses, more than 50 lawyers, 488 pages of criminal charges and 280,000 pages of interrogation records. On trial with Zschape were Ralf Wohllebn (charged with helping her to find the Ceska 83 gun), Carsten Sultze, Holger Gerlach and Andrea Emminger, who were charged with providing money, guns, identity cards and cars to the NSU group. "It was particularly atrocious that these criminals were undiscovered for so long because their motives were based on anti-foreigner sentiment and neo-nazi ideology," says Karl Huber, President of the Munich Higher Regional Court. Chancellor Angela Merkel apologised to the families of the victims in 2012, saying "Hardly anyone thought the perpetrators of these murders were right-wing terrorists. Some family members were unfairly suspected. It was really heartbreaking. And for this, I am really sorry." The case raised serious questions about the social conditions in Germany that enabled the NSU to carry out the crimes. The Bundestag instigated a committee of enquiry into the neglect in the investigation of a racist motive for the murders enabling the killers to evade detection for over a decade. The trial also took place as a new right-wing Alternative For Germany (AfD) party gained 94 seats in the Bundestag in the 2017 elections, suggesting that the Ceska Murders reflect a wider shift towards anti-immigration ideologies and far-right politics across Germany as a whole. More from Al Jazeera World on: YouTube - http://aje.io/aljazeeraworldYT Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AlJazeeraWorld Twitter - https://twitter.com/AlJazeera_World Visit our website - http://www.aljazeera.com/aljazeeraworld Subscribe to AJE on YouTube - http://aje.io/YTsubscribe - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin recently announced their intention to withdraw from an arms treaty that banned the two countries from developing short- and medium-range missiles capable of carrying conventional or nuclear warheads. The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty was signed by the United States and the then-Soviet Union in 1987 and had helped ensure the end of the Cold War. It also helped address what was seen as a military imbalance between Europe and the Soviet Union, which had developed medium-range missiles that could reach Western European countries that did not have equivalent capabilities. The US was the first to announce its intent to withdraw early February this year. In an official statement, the US secretary of state said that Russia had developed a missile system that violated the treaty, and had failed to return to compliance. Russia announced its withdrawal the following day. Many analysts and leaders are concerned about the consequences, including the potential for a new arms race. Javier Solana, the former secretary-general of NATO, who also served as an EU foreign policy chief, presided over the first joint meeting between Russia and NATO in 1997, manifesting the end of the Cold War era. While the US's withdrawal came as part of ongoing discontent with Russia, Solana says was the move was concerning and should have only been used as a final measure. "To react with, let me say, the heaviest reaction … is playing with the last cards. I don't think we should play with the last cards on nuclear matters. We have to discuss, debate, talk, until the very, very end," he says. "This tit-for-tat is for kids to play about other things but not for really important politicians playing about serious things ... It's very risky what they do." The INF dispute comes in the middle of political tension between President Trump and some European leaders. In November 2018, French President Emmanuel Macron - followed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel - said it was time for Europe to create its own army, implying American military support could no longer be taken for granted. While Solana does not think that the EU will collectively go to war, he agrees that the EU needs military capabilities to be able to defend itself. "I see very clearly that we have to be much more interoperable and much more integrated [in] our capabilities. And we have the possibility of acting in a strategic manner alone." Solana worries that the demise of the INF treaty will worsen global security as nuclear issues resurface and agreements reopen - a trend that will bring politics into unchartered territory. "I'm worried, to tell you the truth, very worried ... We have big public goods that have to be respected and provided," he says. "But … nuclear weapons, climate change, poverty, other issues ... we cannot make a mistake in the way we approach them." "There are things that we should not touch." - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

It has been 40 years since the overthrow of the Shah of Iran in a revolution that saw his rule replaced with the Islamic Republic. On Talk to Al Jazeera, we speak to Kamal Kharazi, a former foreign minister, ambassador to the United Nations and a leading voice on the principles of the Islamic Republic. He was also a military spokesman during the Iran-Iraq War, with a central role in Iranian state media. Kharazi is now chairman of Iran's Strategic Council for Foreign Relations and foreign policy adviser to the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. So, 40 years on, has the revolution achieved its goals of resisting Western interference and righting social injustices? And how is Iran overcoming the challenges of the US withdrawal from the nuclear disarmament deal, the imposition of tougher sanctions, and heightened tensions in the region? The US's withdrawal from the nuclear deal, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was the cause of much consternation, and a number of European signatory countries have vowed to work to keep it alive without the US. Kharazi says the success of those efforts relies ultimately on European nations and their willingness to act independently of Washington's threats of penalties and sanctions. However, even European partners who want to stay in the nuclear deal have raised concerns about Iran's ballistic missile programme - especially after a number of missile tests and the unveiling of the new Dezful ballistic missile - fears Kharazi says were unfounded. He adds that Iran has every right to enhance its defence strategy and that there was no truth in accusations that it was "destabilising the region". "There are many enemies and they have all kinds of different armaments," says Kharazi. "Those who have developed terrorist groups and have tried to topple existing governments... those are the [some] bodies who have destabilised the region." "We have tried to keep the status quo by fighting against terrorism in Iraq and Syria, which were defended by the help of Iran. Therefore, Iran has been a stabilising factor, not the destabilising factor," he continues. On the current relationship between Iran and the US and whether he sees a potential for improved dealings, Kharazi says this is in the hands of the US policymakers. "There is animosity between Iran and the United States," says Kharazi. "They're using all their instruments to put pressure on Iran." "They have to change their policies. They have to come up with a new policy. Unfortunately, the United States is trying to materialise financial imperialism. If, in the past, imperialism was dependent on arms and wars, today Americans are dependent on financial instruments," Kharazi said. Closer to home, regional tensions were discussed. On the GCC blockade and how it affects his country, Kharazi said Iran is unhappy with the way the political impasse has progressed. "We are not happy that disputes are developing in the region," he said. "That does not help the development of security and peace in the region. We are ready to talk to everyone in the region, even Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates... all other parties. And we believe, eventually, that is the final solution. Out of intervention of foreign countries. If we sit together and talk to each other for the benefit of the region, I believe something will come out of that." Asked if Iran had been able to reach the goals set forth by the Iranian Revolution 40 years ago, Kharazi says that, although not everything may have been achieved, great improvements have been made. "I don't think that all the aims of the revolution have been achieved, but there has been a great development in Iran," he said. "What is most important is that all of these [developments] have happened without the support of foreigners. It has been based on self-reliance, by the resources that we have internally. That is why Iran is inspiring."

Filmmaker: Odai Alslaiti In 1962, Algeria proclaimed independence from France following eight years of war and over a century of colonial rule. Unlike the neighbouring protectorates of Tunisia or Morocco, Algeria was considered inalienable French territory, an extension of the mainland. By the mid-20th century, over a million European settlers had the privileges of French citizenship in Algeria, while the Arab Muslim majority enjoyed few benefits from the French presence. Larbi Ben Mhidi was a prominent revolutionary leader during the War of Independence. One of the six founding members of the National Liberation Front (FLN), Ben Mhidi expressed his desire to end the occupation through his writing, a stage production and ultimately military action - and bringing it to the wider world. "Larbi said the moment of truth had arrived and that they had to take action," recalls war veteran Abdelkader Lamoudi. So at midnight on November 1, 1954, the FLN declared an all-out war against the French. Its armed wing, the Algerian National Army (ALN) had very few troops. But through underground networks and strategically targeted guerilla operations against French military installations and economic interests, Ben Mhidi helped rally support across the country, demanding a free Algeria. "Throw the revolution into the street", he famously declared, "and the people will embrace it." Throw the revolution into the street, and the people will embrace it. Larbi Ben Mhidi, Algerian revolutionary fighter By 1956, Ben Mhidi had been made revolutionary commander in the capital, Algiers. He declared: "For each FLN soldier guillotined, a hundred Frenchmen will be cut down" - and began the Battle of Algiers. Based in the old city, the Casbah, Ben Mhidi continued successfully to evade the French and oversee an urban bombing campaign - until he was tracked down to an apartment in the European quarter on February 23, 1957, by a unit led by the Commander of the Third Colonial Parachute Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Marcel Bigeard. According to journalist Montasser Oubetroune, when he was arrested, "his facial expression showed a determination that no one could destroy." He lectured his captors with "a lesson in military ethics and international laws", presenting himself as a military leader of the Algerian state. Ben Mhidi was questioned by Bigeard for two weeks - but his refusal to crack under pressure earned him the respect of his interrogators. He was then handed over to Major Paul Aussaresses who took him to an isolated location outside Algiers where he was tortured and executed on the night of March 3, 1957. At the time, the French claimed Ben Mhidi's death was suicide - but Aussaresses (by then a retired general) revealed the true story of his death several decades later. In an interview with Le Monde in December 2000, Aussaresse said he'd acted with the tacit approval of the French government. The following year he expanded on his account in his book, "Special Services: Algeria 1955-57." The book detailed his death squad's beating of prisoners, use of electric shock on the genitals and waterboarding. He said he usually executed a prisoner whether they talked or not, often doing the job himself. He recalled rounding up 1,500 unarmed prisoners, almost all of them Muslims, then selecting "the die-hards" and having them shot, covering it up as suicide. Aussaresses' lack of remorse triggered a furore in both Algeria and France. The then president, Jacques Chirac, said he was "horrified" and "the full truth must come out about these unjustifiable acts," he said. "Nothing can justify them." Aussaresses was eventually stripped of his rank. The 1954-1962 War of Independence saw a death toll of 1.5 million Algerians. In the 1950s, the French deployed over half-a-million troops to Algeria - and, with the army left more or less to its own devices, torture and other abuses were common. On September 13, 2018, French President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged France's role in the systematic torture of Algerian detainees and other atrocities during the Algerian War of Independence, as reported by Al Jazeera. Larbi Ben Mhidi is still revered in Algeria today for his bravery and role in the resistance against French colonial rule, which resulted in independence five years after his murder. More from Al Jazeera World on: YouTube - http://aje.io/aljazeeraworldYT Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AlJazeeraWorld Twitter - https://twitter.com/AlJazeera_World Visit our website - http://www.aljazeera.com/aljazeeraworld Subscribe to AJE on YouTube - http://aje.io/YTsubscribe - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

More from Al Jazeera World on: YouTube - http://aje.io/aljazeeraworldYT Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AlJazeeraWorld Twitter - https://twitter.com/AlJazeera_World Visit our website - http://www.aljazeera.com/aljazeeraworld Subscribe to AJE on YouTube - http://aje.io/YTsubscribe - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/

Venezuela has plunged further into political crisis amid growing tension over President Nicolas Maduro's future as the country's leader. The oil-rich South American country has been in a downward spiral for years with increasing political discontent, hyperinflation, power cuts and shortages of food and medicine. More than three million Venezuelans have fled the country in recent years. On January 23, Juan Guaido, the leader of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, declared himself interim president and said he would assume the powers of the executive branch from there onwards. This was a direct attack on the presidency of Maduro, who had been sworn in to a second six-year term in office on January 10, following elections deemed fraudulent by his opponents and much of the international community. The United States, Canada, 14 Latin American countries and the European Union have recognised Guaido as president, and hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets to show their support for the 35-year-old engineer. But Maduro is backed by Russia and China and maintains the loyalty of the military. He remains firm that he will not step down or hold new internationally supervised elections. Meanwhile, Washington has tightened the noose, imposing brutal economic sanctions on the impoverished nation meant to hasten the president's downfall. In an exclusive interview, Guaido told Al Jazeera that he will do everything in his power to overcome the crisis Venezuela is facing and to build a democracy. "Governability, stability, the lowest social impact possible, attend to the current humanitarian emergency, reactivate the economy to create jobs for citizens and steer Venezuela towards democracy," Guaido said. Guaido refused to rule out backing a possible US military intervention in the country. "We will do everything possible, everything there is to achieve freedom in Venezuela." Even though the US has intervened in Latin America to bring about regime change more often in the past, Guaido believes that the outcome in Venezuela will be different. "The Venezuelan process has been totally conducted by Venezuelans. The building of a majority, the building of social pressure, having won a majority in parliament, resisting the crisis. That is the work of Venezuelans," he said. He has rejected offers from Mexico, Uruguay, Russia and the EU to bring both sides to the negotiating table, arguing that the standoff was not between two equal sides. "What we have here is an entire country that wants change and a very tiny group that sustains itself with weapons, has stolen from the republic and with constant threats against the republic that sustains them and a citizenship that is massacred," Guaido said. "The opposition has been willing to negotiate. We have tried everything. We have voted, we have abstained. We have gone on hunger strikes. We have protested and they have killed us." According to Guaido a "massacre" is already happening: "There are 70 murdered minors, all under 25 years old, after peacefully protesting. Killed by a special arm of the military, or by armed paramilitary groups." He's convinced that the majority of the Venezuelan people wants change. "Nobody is going to take a risk for Maduro. At this moment in Venezuela, there is no loyalty for Maduro. No one is willing to sacrifice himself for Nicolas Maduro because he has no capacity to protect anyone, or the ability to address the crisis that they have created." "Maduro is absolutely responsible for the corruption, current crisis, the mismanagement of public funds, to have been convinced by his advisors or whoever that their 'model' was workable. He is responsible that Venezuelans today depend on food subsidies when Venezuela was once self-sufficient in food. Today, 80 percent of the food must be imported despite having 5 million hectares of productive land," Guaido said. Even if Maduro would agree to hold new elections, the self-declared interim president takes a clear position on the political future of Venezuela. "The cessation of the regime, a transition government and free elections, everything within that framework can be discussed." - Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/