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