:00:10. > :00:14.This year, the Arab world erupted as a generation of young people, no
:00:14. > :00:23.longer prepared to suffer in silence, rose up against the hated
:00:23. > :00:27.despots are ruled their country. By the end of February, it was
:00:28. > :00:31.beginning to look as if revolution was easy. A generation of young
:00:31. > :00:36.bloggers and tweeters were giving voice to democratic movements
:00:36. > :00:41.across the Arab world. People were starting to speak optimistically of
:00:41. > :00:46.a Arab Spring that events were now about to take a darker turn. Using
:00:46. > :00:51.the unique film record captured by protesters and their mobile phones,
:00:51. > :00:56.I will piece together the next chapter of the story. When we went
:00:56. > :01:06.out onto the street, we were expecting never to come back. It
:01:06. > :01:09.
:01:09. > :01:13.would be death or a long prison I will meet the activists who risk
:01:13. > :01:17.their lives to expose the barbarity of their governments. The most
:01:17. > :01:21.important thing for them is to take this and put it on YouTube say
:01:21. > :01:25.people will see it. Eventually these are the last moment of
:01:25. > :01:30.somebody's life. I will show how the Facebook
:01:30. > :01:35.generation took their fight to the streets.
:01:35. > :01:41.TRANSLATION: Even those who were filming would hold a camera in one
:01:41. > :01:49.hand and a rocket in the other. kick-started a war that would rip
:01:49. > :01:53.the Arab world of its most notorious dictators. Gaddafi is
:01:53. > :02:03.destroying our country and now we can get freedom and build our
:02:03. > :02:11.
:02:11. > :02:20.Cairo, February 2011. For the first -- second time in the space of one
:02:20. > :02:27.month, people in the Arab world had driven out hated despot. Four weeks
:02:27. > :02:37.earlier, Zine Abedine Ben Ali had fled from Tunisia. Now it was the
:02:37. > :02:38.
:02:38. > :02:45.turn of Egypt's Hosni Mubarak. The question was where with the
:02:45. > :02:48.revolutionary fervour spread next. After the dramatic fall of Hosni
:02:48. > :02:54.Mubarak in Egypt came the first stirrings of dissent across the
:02:54. > :02:57.Egyptian border in Libya. This was one of the most tightly controlled
:02:57. > :03:02.autocratic systems in the entire region and yet even here, the
:03:02. > :03:07.regime would soon become vulnerable. Sandwiched between Egypt and
:03:07. > :03:17.Tunisia, and Libya of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi could not insulate
:03:17. > :03:18.
:03:18. > :03:21.itself from the democratic What was about to happen here would
:03:21. > :03:26.galvanise the entire international community and show that in the age
:03:26. > :03:34.of the internet, despots could no longer hide their outrages behind
:03:34. > :03:42.closed doors. For 42 years, Gaddafi had run the country as a personal
:03:42. > :03:45.fiefdom, lining his pockets and those of his relatives with oil
:03:45. > :03:51.revenue, while running down institutions and failing to invest
:03:51. > :03:55.in economic growth. He operated a divide and rule policy, exploiting
:03:55. > :04:00.the tribal differences in his largely desert country. He was
:04:00. > :04:10.notoriously paranoid about his people meeting to share ideas and
:04:10. > :04:15.
:04:15. > :04:20.discouraged any form of public But as in Tunisia and Egypt, the
:04:20. > :04:24.internet had become a place where young people could meet and talk.
:04:24. > :04:30.People like Aya, a medical student, whose mother had been imprisoned by
:04:30. > :04:36.Gaddafi, and Mimi, whose political activist father had been killed in
:04:36. > :04:42.a Tripoli jail. We entered face but because we thought it is a way that
:04:42. > :04:47.you can express your opinions, feelings, in a very freely way.
:04:47. > :04:52.TRANSLATION: I started reading articles, browsing Facebook and
:04:52. > :05:00.finding out what might be possible, how there could be a revolution. I
:05:00. > :05:04.started to join some Facebook groups blogging about freedom.
:05:04. > :05:08.we saw the people making those groups and just talking and they
:05:08. > :05:14.just listen to you and it feels the same as you, we just feel that we
:05:14. > :05:18.can do a lot through Facebook. Unlike neighbouring Tunisia, Libya
:05:18. > :05:27.had poor communications and only 5% of people had access to the
:05:27. > :05:33.internet. Gaddafi did not see it as a threat. What he failed to realise
:05:33. > :05:38.is that divide and rule didn't work in the age of the internet. Social
:05:38. > :05:42.media at the power to unite young people against him. -- had the
:05:43. > :05:46.power. I had had enough. Things were so that so I started to
:05:46. > :05:53.encourage young people to stand up for themselves and I used online
:05:54. > :05:58.chat rooms in Libya. I was hopeful because I came across so many aware
:05:58. > :06:08.and well-informed young people. The usual excuses of, we are fed up,
:06:08. > :06:09.
:06:09. > :06:13.and, it is hopeless, were not there on Facebook. An invisible army of
:06:13. > :06:19.young Libyans was waiting in the wings. Unemployed graduates like
:06:19. > :06:25.Mohammed, Salim and Mohammed, who saw no prospect for themselves in
:06:25. > :06:29.Gaddafi's Libya. TRANSLATION: Everybody was just
:06:29. > :06:35.waiting for the first spark, especially after the revolutions in
:06:35. > :06:39.Egypt and Tunisia. Everybody was waiting to be part of something big.
:06:39. > :06:44.We were all waiting for someone to make the first sacrifice. This was
:06:44. > :06:51.the problem, waiting for the first person to break the barrier of fear
:06:51. > :06:55.and call for the regime to be toppled. It was no coincidence that
:06:55. > :07:03.the first spark of revolution in Libya was ignited in the eastern
:07:03. > :07:10.city of Benghazi. With Iddesleigh Conservative, the region had a long
:07:10. > :07:14.history of rebellion against Gaddafi's dictatorship --
:07:14. > :07:19.religiously Conservative. He had routinely rounded up political
:07:19. > :07:26.Islamists from here, imprisoning and torturing them. One incident in
:07:26. > :07:32.particular had left deep scars on the community. In 1996, over 1,000
:07:32. > :07:42.prisoners had been gunned down in cold blood while being held at the
:07:42. > :07:42.
:07:42. > :07:46.Abu Salim prison in Tripoli. Benghazi never forgot its dead.
:07:47. > :07:56.TRANSLATION: My son was killed in Abu Salim and his father became ill
:07:56. > :08:03.with grief and he cried so much, he lost his sight. He was 18 years old.
:08:03. > :08:09.He was imprisoned for three-and-a- half-year so. Why was he a vested?
:08:09. > :08:15.-- arrested? Just for praying in the mosque. For no reason? He was
:08:15. > :08:21.arrested for nothing. As revolution spread across Tunisia and Egypt,
:08:21. > :08:26.the Abu Salim family is now became a focal point for dissent in Libya.
:08:26. > :08:31.Anxious to stamp out the budding protest, on February 15th, Gaddafi
:08:31. > :08:40.arrested the family's lawyer, Fathi Terbil, who had lost his brother
:08:40. > :08:47.and two relatives in the massacre. TRANSLATION: there were 23 or 22
:08:47. > :08:51.security men. They came in six cars. They said, you must come with us.
:08:51. > :08:59.Before they left, they searched the house. They took my laptop, my
:08:59. > :09:09.mobile and some private documents. They took me to the headquarters of
:09:09. > :09:13.
:09:13. > :09:18.News leaked out of the arrest of Fathi Terbil. The Abu Salim
:09:18. > :09:21.families reacted furiously, gathering outside the building, the
:09:21. > :09:28.headquarters of the national security. They wanted the release
:09:28. > :09:32.of their lawyer. A delegation was allowed inside to meet Gaddafi's
:09:32. > :09:40.right hand man in Benghazi, his brother-in-law, Abdullah Al-
:09:41. > :09:44.Senoussi. TRANSLATION: He said if you go out
:09:44. > :09:49.and demonstrate, even peacefully, even with your hands behind your
:09:49. > :09:53.back, we will still shoot you. At the very least you will be arrested.
:09:53. > :10:03.He was very firm, he was hard fought in the way he spoke to us.
:10:03. > :10:09.
:10:09. > :10:16.He was not negotiating. He said, I But outside the National Security
:10:16. > :10:19.building, the crowd was growing. The word had spread further and
:10:19. > :10:29.there were hundreds of people on the streets of Benghazi. They were
:10:29. > :10:30.
:10:31. > :10:34.now calling for the fall of the The face but activists could now
:10:34. > :10:42.see that their anger was shared across the city. -- the Facebook
:10:42. > :10:48.activists. TRANSLATION: The response was
:10:48. > :10:53.amazing. Young people, poor people, lawyers, teachers, doctors. It
:10:53. > :11:02.wasn't just one section of society. It was everybody. It was
:11:02. > :11:06.extraordinary. Anger was now growing across Libya.
:11:06. > :11:11.On 17th February, a huge crowd gathered in this square in the
:11:11. > :11:16.eastern port city of Tobruk. Their focus was a monument honouring
:11:16. > :11:21.Gaddafi's famous Green Books, which detailed his bizarre political
:11:21. > :11:25.philosophy. He the activists had learned from Egypt and Tunisia that
:11:25. > :11:29.for their revolution to succeed, they had to let the world be on
:11:29. > :11:39.Libya know what was happening. A young chemical engineers took
:11:39. > :11:44.action. I just tried, I take my phone, I am filming, I am forming.
:11:44. > :11:54.So you thought, I need to capture this moment? Yes. I think it would
:11:54. > :12:01.
:12:01. > :12:09.I see my brother here and he told me, go back to the house and upload
:12:09. > :12:16.it quickly. He told me internet will cut soon. That night, Tawfik
:12:16. > :12:21.knocked himself inside an internet cafe and a bloated his video fitted.
:12:21. > :12:25.-- and uploaded his video footage. I was uploading the sections one
:12:25. > :12:30.after the other, maybe five different videos. The internet
:12:30. > :12:35.signal was very weak. I was praying for the upload to be complete
:12:35. > :12:43.before they cut it off. Perfection about the Green Book of took me
:12:43. > :12:47.about 30 minutes to upload on to YouTube. The next day, the internet
:12:47. > :12:53.was shut down a cross Libya. Gaddafi had finally realised that
:12:53. > :12:57.in the World Wide Web, Libyans had a powerful weapon. All of the
:12:57. > :13:01.country's internet connections were routed through one company in
:13:01. > :13:09.Tripoli and could be instantly disabled. Mobile phone networks
:13:09. > :13:14.were also shut down. But Tawfik's crucial video had made it to the
:13:14. > :13:19.outside world. TRANSLATION: two hours after I
:13:19. > :13:22.uploaded the video, my sister called me to say the fall of the
:13:22. > :13:28.Green Book statute was being broadcast by Al-Jazeera.
:13:28. > :13:33.important do you think the pictures you filmed were to the revolution?
:13:33. > :13:38.TRANSLATION: It was very important because when revolutionaries from
:13:38. > :13:43.other cities saw it, they knew that Tobruk had fallen. The pictures had
:13:43. > :13:53.a great psychological impact on the protesters because the Green Book
:13:53. > :13:53.
:13:53. > :14:00.was the most hated thing in the People all over the world could now
:14:00. > :14:03.see that the Arab Spring had not stopped in Egypt. In Benghazi, the
:14:03. > :14:07.demonstration step -- turned into the street war, when men wearing
:14:07. > :14:17.yellow helmets, believed to be Gaddafi henchman, descended onto
:14:17. > :14:25.
:14:25. > :14:32.the streets and attacked the What weapons did you have? Stones,
:14:32. > :14:38.just stones. You were just throwing stones at the police? Yes, stones
:14:38. > :14:43.for staff TRANSLATION: Some young people were in charge of filming.
:14:43. > :14:53.Even those who were filming would hold a camera in one hand and a
:14:53. > :14:58.
:14:58. > :15:02.GUNSHOTS. With the internet now cut off, it
:15:02. > :15:06.was much more difficult to get pictures out of Libya. But thanks
:15:06. > :15:10.to old technology, it was still possible. Over the next few days,
:15:10. > :15:15.Libyans drove here to the Egyptian border in all kinds of cars and
:15:15. > :15:21.battered taxes, with memory cards that they handed over to friends
:15:21. > :15:27.and supporters. They then upload it stemmed from Egypt. On 19th
:15:27. > :15:32.February, a funeral march for those killed in the fighting past
:15:33. > :15:39.directly in front of the Katiba, the military barracks in Benghazi,
:15:39. > :15:42.and the seat of Gaddafi's power. TRANSLATION: We all walked down
:15:42. > :15:47.Jamal Street and knew that once we got close to the military base,
:15:47. > :15:56.something was going to happen. Every single a young man in
:15:56. > :15:59.Benghazi was marching in this funeral. As the funeral march
:16:00. > :16:08.approached the kitty but, snipers started firing from the rooftops. -
:16:08. > :16:12.- at the Katiba. TRANSLATION: Of the snipers were charging --
:16:12. > :16:15.targeting people who were active in the revolution. They knew exactly
:16:16. > :16:23.who to shoot. These were professionals. They were not
:16:23. > :16:33.ordinary people with guns. Mohammed and his friend were
:16:33. > :16:38.TRANSLATION: A friend of mine was killed. My friend and I were
:16:38. > :16:48.shooting a video of what was going on, with this mobile I am holding
:16:48. > :17:01.
:17:01. > :17:06.Scores of protesters were killed, including Mohammed's friend.
:17:06. > :17:11.TRANSLATION: What they did shocked all of Benghazi and Libya. The
:17:11. > :17:16.regime was taking it revenge, even against a funeral. They had no
:17:16. > :17:23.respect for the dead. The regime's attack on the furore would be
:17:23. > :17:28.decisive. -- on the funeral. Faced with orders to fire on the mourners,
:17:28. > :17:38.some local army and police units switched sides, joining the
:17:38. > :17:45.
:17:45. > :17:47.The goal of the rebels was to take the Katiba. For TRANSLATION: I
:17:47. > :17:51.remember a young men heading towards the military base without
:17:51. > :17:57.weapons. But they were burying their chests and shouting at,
:17:57. > :18:07.shooters. -- bearing. With a few weapons, they used whatever they
:18:07. > :18:10.
:18:10. > :18:16.TRANSLATION: What I really loved that -- was that why we a Ba'ath
:18:16. > :18:20.while we attacked the front, other people attacked the rear. It was a
:18:20. > :18:24.massive invasion. Thanks to the power of our faith and our will to
:18:24. > :18:34.live, it looked as though we were working to a plan, but there was no
:18:34. > :19:03.
:19:03. > :19:13.Within hours, the protesters had stormed through these gates and
:19:13. > :19:14.
:19:14. > :19:20.Gaddafi's rule over Benghazi had I was in the hospital that day. We
:19:21. > :19:26.were under stress because we were trying to nurse the injured people.
:19:26. > :19:31.We just heard screaming outside, screaming and gunshots, and so we
:19:31. > :19:41.went out. We left everything that went out to see what is going on.
:19:41. > :20:05.
:20:05. > :20:11.We saw people were really happy. We When the protesters finally got in
:20:11. > :20:17.here, I think they must have been consumed by absolute fury, because
:20:17. > :20:21.what they have done to this place is nothing short of brittle. They
:20:21. > :20:24.have packed everything that they could do pieces -- brittle. You
:20:25. > :20:34.feel that they really took their opportunity to have their revenge
:20:35. > :20:39.
:20:39. > :20:43.in what are the way they could. -- in whatever way they could.
:20:44. > :20:49.Gaddafi's ruled in eastern Libya was now over. But unlike Ben Ali in
:20:49. > :20:59.Tunisia and Mubarak in Egypt, he refused to go quietly. Instead, he
:20:59. > :21:09.
:21:09. > :21:17.buried his revenge. -- he asserted But his so-called "zenga zenga"
:21:17. > :21:25.speech backfired. This parody went via role in Libya and around the
:21:25. > :21:29.world. -- viral. The protest movement that had started in online
:21:29. > :21:34.chat rooms would become a full- scale civil war. Over the coming
:21:34. > :21:39.weeks, Western governments would have to decide whose side they were
:21:39. > :21:44.on. Like Mubarak in Egypt, the West had courted the bat -- Gaddafi.
:21:44. > :21:48.They wanted his oil and his intelligence on Al-Qaeda. But the
:21:48. > :21:52.triumph of democracy in Tunisia and Egypt had taught the leaders in the
:21:52. > :21:57.United States and Europe that it could be a mistake to hang on to
:21:57. > :22:04.their former friends. Protests were now breaking out in other Arab
:22:04. > :22:09.countries. Morocco, Algeria, Jordan, Yemen and the tiny island state of
:22:09. > :22:14.Bahrain in the Persian Gulf. At first sight, Bahrain seemed an
:22:14. > :22:19.unlikely candidate for revolt. As an oil-rich Gulf state, the small
:22:19. > :22:24.monarchy was a playground for the rich and famous and hosted prestige
:22:24. > :22:34.international events like the Formula One Grand Prix. Yet
:22:34. > :22:34.
:22:34. > :22:41.underneath the glitz and glamour, The majority Shia population had
:22:41. > :22:45.long harboured grudges against Bahrain's corrupt Sunni leadership.
:22:45. > :22:52.Sheas were discriminated against and the country's claim to be a
:22:52. > :22:58.democracy were a sham. -- this year. Situated between the Sunni kingdom
:22:58. > :23:03.of Saudi Arabia and this year Republic of Iran, Bahrain was
:23:03. > :23:06.pivotal. It provided a strategic outpost for the United States and
:23:06. > :23:12.hosted its Fifth Fleet. Developments here would have
:23:12. > :23:21.repercussions far beyond the tiny island. Inspired by the uprisings
:23:21. > :23:30.in Tunisia and Egypt, a young Shia activist used Facebook to organise
:23:30. > :23:35.a protest in Bahrain. On 14th February, Ali Abdulhadi Mushaima
:23:35. > :23:44.and thousands of Bahrainis took to the Street to demand reforms from
:23:44. > :23:49.the ruling Al-Khalifa family and its head, King Hamad. Later that
:23:49. > :23:55.same day, armed police waited for a Ali Abdulhadi Mushaima outside his
:23:55. > :24:01.home. TRANSLATION: We heard screams and gunshots. We ran and from the
:24:01. > :24:07.doorway, I saw him lying at the end of the street. I didn't understand
:24:07. > :24:11.why he was lying there. I started shouting, come back, come back. He
:24:11. > :24:16.got up and started running towards me. He was running in a very odd
:24:17. > :24:21.way, like somebody who is very sick. I couldn't understand why. As soon
:24:21. > :24:27.as he was inside, I closed the door and he fell down on to the floor
:24:27. > :24:35.and started vomiting blood. father picked his son up to take
:24:35. > :24:42.him to hospital. TRANSLATION: The police were standing at the end of
:24:43. > :24:49.the alleyway. They had followed him and shot him. I put Ali in the car
:24:49. > :24:55.and I saw that the police were proud that they had hit him. They
:24:55. > :25:05.were holding their weapons high. As if to say, victory. They were
:25:05. > :25:05.
:25:05. > :25:10.celebrating. TRANSLATION: When my brother went into the intensive
:25:10. > :25:20.care room, I heard screams and then I heard my father scream. And then
:25:20. > :25:24.
:25:24. > :25:28.Within hours, that news of my shaver -- Ali Abdulhadi Mushaima's
:25:28. > :25:38.killing had spread across the island. 10,000 angry Bahrainis
:25:38. > :25:46.
:25:46. > :25:53.CHANTING. That night, King Hamad made a rare
:25:53. > :26:03.TV appearance. He expressed his regret for the death of ballet and
:26:03. > :26:17.
:26:17. > :26:24.But his speech did not appeal the enraged Bahrainis, he now took
:26:24. > :26:28.their demonstration into the heart of the capital. -- who now. The
:26:28. > :26:33.protesters were looking for their equivalent of Cairo's Tahrir Square,
:26:33. > :26:38.and they came here to what was then known as Pearl Roundabout. Teachers,
:26:38. > :26:45.lawyers, religious elders, men, women and children. They pitched
:26:46. > :26:50.their tents here and vowed not to leave until their demands were met.
:26:50. > :27:00.They demanded political reform and equal rights for all citizens, but
:27:00. > :27:09.
:27:09. > :27:18.Shia and Sunni. -- both. Human rights activist saw that something
:27:18. > :27:25.unique was happening. This was a frightening moment for them. Belle
:27:25. > :27:30.Khalifah had prospered by playing one section of the people off
:27:30. > :27:40.against each other. But now people were looking for political freedom
:27:40. > :27:40.
:27:40. > :27:48.and civil rights. Today's later, government security forces took up
:27:48. > :27:58.position on the bridge overlooking the roundabout -- two days later.
:27:58. > :28:26.
:28:26. > :28:31.What happened next was captured on Everyone is sleeping early morning,
:28:31. > :28:41.and suddenly they were attacked. Their tents were set on fire and
:28:41. > :28:47.
:28:47. > :28:51.burnt and many were killed. Men and women were running here and there.
:28:51. > :29:01.They didn't even -- even give them a chance to clear the place. They
:29:01. > :29:06.
:29:06. > :29:11.As the clashes turned deadly, the wounded were brought here to
:29:11. > :29:16.Bahrain's made it past -- hospital. In the car-park, there were crowds
:29:16. > :29:24.of protesters, some of them using loudspeakers to leave the chance
:29:25. > :29:28.for the Al-Khalifa family to go. -- lead the chanting. Inside, the
:29:28. > :29:33.medical staff were shocked at the nature of the injuries, including a
:29:33. > :29:38.gunshot wounds to the head. Some of the doctors gave emotional
:29:38. > :29:42.interviews to the foreign media. is a massacre, by all means,
:29:42. > :29:47.because they are innocent. They haven't done anything, they were
:29:47. > :29:51.just protesting. What is this? We are that we do first century. We
:29:51. > :30:00.are civilised people, they were only demonstrating and they were
:30:00. > :30:10.Outrage medical staff joined the protesters and the police began to
:30:10. > :30:19.
:30:19. > :30:27.see the hospital as a hub of anti- But the crackdown did not stop the
:30:27. > :30:33.protests. The protesters tip to the streets and someone was filming,
:30:33. > :30:43.unaware that security forces were lying in wait.
:30:43. > :30:55.
:30:55. > :31:04.The images were uploaded onto YouTube and went around the world.
:31:05. > :31:14.One man's blood-soaked shirt became symbolic of the terror that had
:31:15. > :31:23.
:31:23. > :31:30.Caught in the international spotlight, the government called
:31:30. > :31:38.off its offensive and lifted its ban on demonstrations. But the
:31:38. > :31:48.concession came too late. Many Shia protesters would not be satisfied
:31:48. > :31:49.
:31:49. > :31:59.as long as the hated dynasty was in power. Within hours, they reclaimed
:31:59. > :31:59.
:31:59. > :32:40.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 40 seconds
:32:40. > :32:44.The regime was fighting for its life and it fought back with
:32:44. > :32:48.calculated menace. The Government now acted to exploit the religious
:32:48. > :32:54.differences of the people. Checkpoints were set up to identify
:32:54. > :32:59.and target Shia protesters and overnight, bulldozers appeared,
:33:00. > :33:09.destroying Shia mosques like this one. It was it clear provocation to
:33:10. > :33:12.
:33:12. > :33:22.Age-old hostilities between Sunni and Shia reignited. Disorder on the
:33:22. > :33:27.
:33:27. > :33:31.streets was dealt with it The chaos that followed was the
:33:31. > :33:41.excuse the regime needed to crack down on the uprising once and for
:33:41. > :33:55.
:33:55. > :33:58.all. Claiming that the unrest was
:33:58. > :34:04.fuelled by the show macro government in Iran, Bahrain
:34:04. > :34:10.enlisted the support of Sunni Saudi Arabia -- the Shia government. On
:34:10. > :34:20.14th March, Saudi troops rolled across the border and the next day,
:34:20. > :34:27.
:34:27. > :34:36.On March 18th, troops fired in centuries into the heart of the
:34:36. > :34:41.roundabout and shock the protesters as they fled. This time, when the
:34:41. > :34:51.injured and dying arrived at a hospital, the security forces were
:34:51. > :34:55.
:34:55. > :35:00.Military vehicles had barricaded every entrance and uniformed
:35:00. > :35:06.soldiers in masks were patrolling this car park. No one was allowed
:35:06. > :35:11.in or out. Even by their standard of recent events, what happened
:35:11. > :35:14.next was shocking. This hospital was turned into a military prison
:35:14. > :35:21.and doctors and nurses who treated the protesters were arrested and
:35:21. > :35:27.tortured. I secured an interview with a senior member of the ruling
:35:27. > :35:34.family to see how he would justify such deadly violence. We waited for
:35:34. > :35:40.a month and at the end of that month we saw total anarchy, we saw
:35:40. > :35:45.violence spread, we saw fear installed, so we had to take the
:35:45. > :35:49.necessary measures to restore order. Wasn't the Bath majority of the
:35:49. > :35:54.force employed by the security forces here -- was under the vast
:35:54. > :36:00.majority? YouTube has many clips showing your security forces in
:36:00. > :36:05.Bahrain shooting at unarmed people. I do not deny that, mistakes were
:36:05. > :36:10.made from both sides. There is no denying that. But the bottom line
:36:10. > :36:19.is we had to restore law and order. Why is it necessary to put doctors
:36:19. > :36:23.and nurses on trial? They say they were going about their job, that
:36:23. > :36:27.their only crime was to bear witness to the injuries of those
:36:27. > :36:33.protesters. Nurses and doctors that have been charged broke the
:36:33. > :36:38.sanctity of going about their profession, no one is above the law.
:36:38. > :36:43.Doctors, politicians, member of the ruling family or any man on the
:36:43. > :36:51.street. The law must be a buyer did and enforced. The Saudi back
:36:51. > :36:54.clampdown could not have come at a worse time for Western governments
:36:54. > :37:02.as they struggled to find their feet in the constantly shifting
:37:02. > :37:07.landscape of the Malath -- of the Arab Spring. In Libya, time was
:37:07. > :37:11.running out for the revolutionaries as Colonel Gaddafi forces rapidly
:37:11. > :37:18.advanced on rebel-held territory. Western governments are hotly
:37:18. > :37:22.debated intervention. On 17th March, a UN resolution was passed,
:37:22. > :37:32.authorising the use of military force against Colonel Gaddafi in
:37:32. > :37:37.
:37:37. > :37:42.But in Bahrain, strategic interests and the price of oil carried the
:37:42. > :37:47.day. As the Bahrainian regime pulverised what remained of its
:37:47. > :37:54.people's bid for democracy, the United States and Europe looked the
:37:54. > :38:00.other way. It was now three months since the death of a young fruit
:38:00. > :38:06.seller in Tunisia had sparked revolt across the Arab world.
:38:06. > :38:11.Tunisia and Egypt had overthrown dictators. Libya was embroiled in
:38:11. > :38:15.civil war and in Yemen, protests threatened the President's 30 year
:38:15. > :38:23.rule. But there was one country that appeared to be immune to the
:38:23. > :38:31.turmoil. Syria. The hardline regime in Syria, just across the border
:38:31. > :38:36.behind me, had been in the vice- like grip of the Assad family for
:38:36. > :38:41.over 40 years. In Syria, the control of the army, security
:38:41. > :38:46.forces and emergency laws made political opposition impossible.
:38:47. > :38:51.With journalists banned from Syria, I headed to Beirut. Just two hours
:38:51. > :38:56.drive from Damascus, it had become a relatively safe haven for Syrian
:38:57. > :39:06.dissidents who had less across the border -- who had fled across the
:39:07. > :39:11.
:39:11. > :39:16.I was here to meet Syrian exiles and cyber activist who had created
:39:16. > :39:22.a face put paid to hold the regime to account two years earlier. To
:39:22. > :39:24.disguise his real identity, he had used a composite photo of faces to
:39:25. > :39:28.create an Everyman called Malath Aumran. Early this year he had
:39:28. > :39:33.received warnings that the authorities warn his trail so he
:39:33. > :39:40.had fled to Beirut, where he set up a network to help protesters inside
:39:40. > :39:45.Syria get their message out. I was thinking we have 20 years of really
:39:45. > :39:50.hard work before anything changes in Syria. We were preparing
:39:50. > :39:54.ourselves in the long term. The problem is we have no hope. We were
:39:54. > :39:59.thinking even the political activists, human rights activists,
:39:59. > :40:05.what is the solution? And there was no solution. It was completely
:40:05. > :40:09.black. There was no light at the end of the tunnel. President Bashar
:40:09. > :40:14.Al-Assad came from a dynasty it with a notorious vet -- reputation
:40:14. > :40:18.for political repression. His father, Hafez Assad, had been
:40:18. > :40:26.responsible for the massacre of more than 10,000 people in the City
:40:26. > :40:30.of Hama in 1982. Bashar Al-Assad appeared to be a reformer. He made
:40:30. > :40:34.moves to liberalise the economy and opened up political dialogue with
:40:34. > :40:38.the West and he introduced the internet. Roughly 20% of the
:40:38. > :40:43.population now had access to the internet but unlike other Arab
:40:43. > :40:47.dictators, Assad understood its power and had blocked Facebook and
:40:47. > :40:55.YouTube. The battle for control of Syria would take place not just on
:40:55. > :41:00.the streets but also in cyberspace. TRANSLATION: Anyone going into an
:41:00. > :41:03.internet cafe in Syria must handover their passport. All of
:41:03. > :41:07.their online searches will be monitored. The country is
:41:07. > :41:11.completely in the iron grip of the security services. I was completely
:41:11. > :41:18.certain about the sadistic way in which the regime would respond and
:41:18. > :41:21.the sadistic techniques they would used if anyone rebelled. Throughout
:41:21. > :41:25.February, while other Arab countries were in open revolt,
:41:26. > :41:31.there was no sign that Damascus would get caught up in the turmoil.
:41:31. > :41:36.In spite of the repressive nature of the regime, the Bath party
:41:36. > :41:42.commanded significant support in Syria for its stance against Israel
:41:42. > :41:50.and the United States. Assad confidently declared that the Arab
:41:50. > :41:54.uprising would never have reached his country. In February, he and
:41:54. > :42:00.blocked Facebook but would appear to be a magnanimous gesture was
:42:00. > :42:05.understood by insiders to be a ploy. The website could now be used to
:42:05. > :42:10.gather information about his opponents.
:42:10. > :42:14.TRANSLATION: there were those who advised Assad to use filtered
:42:14. > :42:17.monitoring, which means that their lives of anyone suspected of having
:42:17. > :42:26.any political activity and anyone who has any communication with
:42:27. > :42:32.opposition figures abroad. strategy backfired. That was, I
:42:32. > :42:37.would say, the worst mistake for the Syrian government. Mistake for
:42:37. > :42:42.them. They opened Facebook. Instead of hundreds joining Facebook, we
:42:42. > :42:47.started to have thousands and thousands. It was like a platform
:42:47. > :42:53.for a national brainstorming. face become blocked, the internet
:42:53. > :42:57.bars with covert chat about revolution and uprising. Then
:42:57. > :43:07.something happened which tapped into the deepest anger of the
:43:07. > :43:11.arrested in the southern town of Fort -- town of Deraa. They were
:43:11. > :43:16.caught spray-painting the walls of their school but what enraged the
:43:16. > :43:21.authorities was the choice of words. Their graffiti was the now iconic
:43:21. > :43:27.slogan of the Arab revolutions: "the people want the regime to
:43:27. > :43:31.fall". Nothing was heard of the children for 10 days. Simeon
:43:31. > :43:37.dissident Omar was in Damascus when the children disappeared. He and
:43:37. > :43:45.other dedicated regime opponents organised a demonstration.
:43:45. > :43:48.TRANSLATION: I had an overwhelming desire to protest but this was
:43:49. > :43:52.blocked by intense fear. When we went out onto the street we were
:43:53. > :43:57.expecting never to come back. It would be death or a long prison
:43:57. > :44:01.sentence. That really is what it was like. I remember how I embraced
:44:01. > :44:07.my son with a lot of love thinking that I would probably never see him
:44:07. > :44:11.again. On the day of the protest, Omar and a small band of activists
:44:11. > :44:21.marched openly through the streets of Damascus, pushing their way
:44:21. > :44:24.
:44:24. > :44:27.TRANSLATION: One of the slogans we shouted was for the release of the
:44:27. > :44:37.children in Deraa and the people on the Street responded with a lot of
:44:37. > :44:39.
:44:39. > :44:45.emotion. To be honest, the Syrian people took little notice. What it
:44:45. > :44:48.was that moved them was the arrest of the younger children. When news
:44:48. > :44:55.leaked out that the schoolchildren had been tortured by the
:44:55. > :45:02.authorities, the citizens of Deraa rose up in open rebellion. Syria
:45:02. > :45:12.had joined the Arab Spring. Over the next few days, 3,000 to up to
:45:12. > :45:17.
:45:17. > :45:23.The authorities sealed off the city and said plainclothes police
:45:23. > :45:28.amongst the crowd. -- cent. Many protesters were beaten up and
:45:28. > :45:32.arrested, but they were undeterred. On the 5th day, the police sent a
:45:32. > :45:42.clear message that there would be zero tolerance for a Syrian
:45:42. > :45:43.
:45:43. > :45:52.GUNSHOTS. They opened fire, killing five
:45:53. > :45:59.people. Enraged by this response, the people there wanted more than
:45:59. > :46:03.the release of their children. They wanted to topple the regime. For
:46:03. > :46:13.the Syrian activists, at the challenge was how to harness the
:46:13. > :46:19.protests in Deraa into a full-scale national uprising. TRANSLATION: We
:46:19. > :46:23.had to think from the start about how to transmit our voice abroad.
:46:23. > :46:28.We thought about a variety of ways. The YouTube was the most obvious
:46:28. > :46:33.choice, because YouTube is a popular media our kit which had
:46:33. > :46:36.spread across the whole world in minutes. -- outlet. We had to use a
:46:37. > :46:43.method which didn't draw the attention of the security units,
:46:43. > :46:48.and that was the mobile phone. that the genie was out of the
:46:48. > :46:57.bottle, the protest quickly spread to the cities of Baniyas, let
:46:57. > :47:01.tackier, Homs and Hama. -- that tackier. Distributing the up --
:47:01. > :47:06.uploaded video clips to use all the negotiations around the world was
:47:06. > :47:16.critical. Bashir to news organisations around the world was
:47:16. > :47:18.
:47:18. > :47:28.This is the last thing we received, the first martyr. A so somebody has
:47:28. > :47:54.
:47:54. > :48:01.been killed in a Hama? -- so So in that particular video, some
:48:01. > :48:05.people are trying to save the man of's life, and that least number --
:48:05. > :48:11.at least two people are recording it will stop the most important
:48:11. > :48:16.thing for them is to take this and put it on YouTube. So people can
:48:16. > :48:20.see it. As soon as possible. thought I would be prepared,
:48:20. > :48:24.actually, because we have been hearing about these protests for
:48:24. > :48:34.such a long time, but it is quite incredible and essentially, these
:48:34. > :48:41.
:48:41. > :48:44.are the last moments of somebody's Syria's security services were
:48:44. > :48:51.closely tied to the regime for through family, tribal and
:48:51. > :48:59.religious links. Assad's paramilitary thugs did the regime's
:48:59. > :49:03.dirty work on the ground. TRANSLATION: This video shows
:49:03. > :49:08.without any doubt that they behaved like animals. They don't know how
:49:08. > :49:14.to behave like human beings. They have no ethics, they treat people
:49:14. > :49:18.in a horrendous way. Just as they used to treat people secretly in
:49:19. > :49:25.presence. But now they use these methods openly in the streets in
:49:25. > :49:29.front of everyone. The regime justified its crackdown public
:49:30. > :49:34.insisting it was the work of Islamic terrorists. But mobile
:49:34. > :49:43.phones allowed the man in the street to speak directly to the
:49:43. > :49:51.wild and refute the propaganda. -- Could the world. They say we are
:49:51. > :49:57.terrorists. It is a big live. -- it is a lie. We want freedom. They
:49:57. > :50:07.want the rights, they want justice in Syria. On 16th April, Assad
:50:07. > :50:19.
:50:19. > :50:25.When I was hearing Assad's speech, it was for me, overwhelming.
:50:25. > :50:29.Because you can tell that he is lying and he is lying in front of
:50:29. > :50:36.the cameras, and he knows that many people out there know he is lying
:50:36. > :50:40.and he doesn't care. Yes, I am lying, but because I have the
:50:40. > :50:50.strength, the power, the army, and the secret police, you cannot do
:50:50. > :50:52.
:50:52. > :50:56.anything. Then on 25th April, at the regime showed its true colours.
:50:56. > :51:06.Tanks were sent into the cities of Deraa, Homs and Baniyas, to crush
:51:06. > :51:15.
:51:15. > :51:19.TRANSLATION: This video is from the city of Baniyas. It shows one of
:51:19. > :51:22.the most courageous acts of peaceful resistance against the
:51:22. > :51:27.army's invasion to crush the demonstrators. The young men came
:51:27. > :51:30.out with naked chests and ran across the sea -- streets to
:51:30. > :51:35.prevent the tangs coming into the city. They waved their hands into
:51:35. > :51:39.the air to give the side of victory to make sure that everybody knew
:51:39. > :51:46.the demonstration was entirely peaceful. We don't know what
:51:46. > :51:51.happened to these protesters. The pictures relayed by Rami Nakhle and
:51:51. > :51:54.from Beirut were sent around the world, providing outrage. But there
:51:54. > :52:02.was no appetite from Western leaders to to get involved in yet
:52:02. > :52:07.another Arab conflict. The Syrian authorities now took steps to stop
:52:07. > :52:12.any more images of the uprising from reaching the outside world.
:52:12. > :52:19.They arrested anyone filming with a mobile phone. They posted
:52:19. > :52:23.surveillance teams and snipers on rooftops. In turn, the activists
:52:23. > :52:27.became more sophisticated in their techniques, avoiding the danger of
:52:27. > :52:37.uploading mobile phone footage by using Skype to broadcast their
:52:37. > :52:41.message live. They are calling it now? Yes. This
:52:41. > :52:49.is an old friend from Baniyas. He has just given us this picture from
:52:49. > :52:54.his laptop. This is from his home? No. He is here and the spider is on
:52:54. > :52:59.the other route. He is hiding his head and just showing them. -- the
:52:59. > :53:06.sniper is on the other roof. He is crouching down with the laptop over
:53:06. > :53:12.his head? Just to see what is going on. It is a big risk. Every Friday
:53:12. > :53:16.across Syria, there was warfare on the streets. By the middle of May,
:53:16. > :53:26.the number of people killed by the security forces was estimated to
:53:26. > :53:28.
:53:28. > :53:33.have reached 1,000. As more and more demonstrators were
:53:33. > :53:38.arrested or killed for filming, the activists outside the country
:53:38. > :53:43.devised way to smuggle in secret filming devices. -- ways.
:53:43. > :53:50.TRANSLATION: We were able to get hold of cameras which could be
:53:50. > :53:56.hidden in a shirt pocket or race leave or a button. -- asleep.
:53:56. > :54:00.inside Syria, activists created their own makeshift devices, harp -
:54:01. > :54:06.- hiding their phones so they could keep filming what was happening on
:54:06. > :54:11.their street. The regime responded by intermittently shouting down the
:54:11. > :54:17.internet in volatile parts of the country. -- shouting. But the side
:54:17. > :54:21.operation had done his job. Syrian exile's around the world now
:54:21. > :54:25.rallied in support of the uprising, supplying satellite phones to the
:54:25. > :54:29.dissidents. They are not cheap, they cost over �1,000 each and are
:54:29. > :54:35.being paid for by wealthy Syrian exile's the one to make sure that
:54:35. > :54:40.the message continues to get out of Syria -- who want to. Of firms like
:54:40. > :54:43.this are incredibly difficult to trace and allow the user to bypass
:54:44. > :54:48.controls of the internet on crucial days like Friday. So if you fill a
:54:48. > :54:55.protest on one of these, you can uploaded directly to the internet
:54:55. > :55:01.that film. A full-scale war broke out between the activists and the
:55:01. > :55:04.Assad regime. TRANSLATION: We know the regime had a dedicated team of
:55:04. > :55:12.computer hackers who specialised in the internet and hacking and
:55:12. > :55:18.electronic warfare. The Syrian police started hacking into the
:55:18. > :55:22.websites of the activists and Facebook page us. They sent them
:55:22. > :55:30.death threats and tampered with websites to make the world believe
:55:30. > :55:36.they were Israeli spies. So this is about a vocation that a
:55:36. > :55:40.harmful side is trying to connect - - a notification. Yes, but by
:55:40. > :55:46.security programme has managed to block this. This didn't used to
:55:46. > :55:50.happen before? No. This week -- to the Syrian government is becoming
:55:50. > :55:54.more sophisticated. Are you worried they will catch up with your
:55:54. > :55:58.security settings? Yes, but we think we are more advanced than
:55:58. > :56:05.them in hacking. But despite that confidence, the
:56:05. > :56:09.regime was closing in on him. At the end of July, the Government
:56:09. > :56:15.sent tanks into Hama, the traditional Islamic stronghold at
:56:15. > :56:22.the heart of opposition to the Assad dynasty. Three weeks later,
:56:22. > :56:28.Rami Nakhle or and Omar Edilbi received death threats from within
:56:28. > :56:34.the Syria. Rami Nakhle has now left Beirut. -- within Syria. As the
:56:34. > :56:39.summer drew to a close, at Assad's killing machine seemed unstoppable.
:56:39. > :56:49.And despite international condemnation, the Syrian regime
:56:49. > :56:52.
:56:52. > :56:59.The bleak outlook for Syria must not be allowed to overshadow the
:56:59. > :57:04.extraordinary change that has swept the Arab world this year. For the
:57:04. > :57:08.Egyptian President Mubarak is facing trial. -- former. The
:57:08. > :57:11.military hold power and people are frustrated by the pace of reform,
:57:11. > :57:18.but both Egypt and Tunisia are planning to hold their first free
:57:18. > :57:24.elections before the year is out. But the most dramatic change has
:57:24. > :57:31.come in Libya. On August 21st, the news broke that rebel forces had
:57:31. > :57:35.taken Tripoli, driving Colonel Gaddafi from power. Now Tripoli is
:57:35. > :57:40.experiencing the same euphoria that I witnessed in Benghazi after it
:57:40. > :57:46.was liberated. It has been a remarkable at best
:57:46. > :57:50.beer in Benghazi since the revolution. Every night, people
:57:50. > :57:54.gather and listen to speeches. For many of them, it is the first time
:57:54. > :57:58.in their lives they have a really been able to express themselves.
:57:58. > :58:04.None of this would have been possible when Gaddafi was in power,
:58:04. > :58:09.but in a free Libya, they are loving every moment.
:58:09. > :58:13.Only in Libya has the Arab Spring ushered in a true revolution. Now a
:58:13. > :58:18.new country must be constructed from the ashes of Gaddafi's toxic
:58:18. > :58:27.rule. No one has any illusions about the difficulty of what lies