Bitter fighting and senseless death dominate the streets of Qusayr. As the UN meets to discuss the hopeless situation in Syria this shocking report displays the vicious reality at the coalface of the deadlock. "Here is where the soldiers of Assad used to be," Abu Arab, a Free Syria Army commander, says as he stands on a deserted street that is now just a pile of rubble. Only a few months ago Qusayr, just outside of Homs, was a busy town with 50,000 inhabitants. Now it looks deserted. As an important gateway for weapons, it has been relentlessly shelled by the army. The FSA has captured many tanks in the area, but many more remain, meaning that there is no end in sight to the bloodshed. The local hospital has no facilities and is full of wounded civilians. "We can't do anything in this hospital," the doctor says with dismay. A man whose back is peppered with shrapnel lives for only a few minutes after being brought in and so does an eight-year-old girl struck by a mortar explosion. The fighting is so close to the hospital that we see the windows blown in from bomb blasts and bullets can be heard whizzing by the windows. And as the civilian deaths mount up the desire for revenge intensifies, entrenching an already bitter conflict. "May God send somebody to shoot the man who shot you," one victim's relatives pray.
Adam Pletts
(Ref: 5633)
Ecuador - Double Standards
- 17' min 32' sec [28 September 2012]
As Julian Assange remains holed up in their embassy, Ecuador appear to be doing everything they can to protect him. But back in Ecuador, journalists just like Assange continue to be persecuted by their leader.
Aliaksandr Barankov - the man dubbed Ecuador's other Julian Assange - was a financial crimes investigator in Belarus and, like Assange, says he uncovered government secrets that put him in danger. He thought he was safe when Ecuador granted him asylum, but was later arrested by police and spent 84 days in a Quito jail."I'm still scared for my life", he says. A charismatic and popular president, Correa basks in public support, but he's gone to war with the country's media and is seen as anything but a supporter of free speech. "If Mr Assange was Ecuadorian he would be in prison by now", says Cesar Ricaurte, the director of Fundamedios, an independent organisation monitoring media freedom in the country. "Freedom of speech in Ecuador is becoming the worst in Latin America", he insists. So if Assange ever does make it to his unlikely choice of sanctuary, what will await him there?
SBS
(Ref: 5632)
Czech Republic - Modern Slavery
- 21 min [24 September 2012]
In Eastern Europe, farm workers have been paying a high price to get asparagus to your table. As a five-year criminal investigation reaches its climax, this report investigates the human cost of "white gold".
Corina Rohaveanu travelled to the Czech Republic in search of a better life. From the moment she arrived, her dream turned into nightmare. "As soon as we arrived our IDs were taken. I thought to myself: we have no chance of escape". Like many other Romanian workers, she had been trapped by a ring of human traffickers, recently convicted for "instilling fear through threat of violence and death, and the use of physical violence". The Dutch company that employed the people smugglers have pleaded ignorance and so far escaped prosecution - but how much did they really know of the conditions on their farms? And how have they been able to profit from human slavery in 21st century Europe?
EO
(Ref: 5637)
Indonesia - Ape Rescue
- 11' min 00' sec [24 September 2012]
As vast swathes of Indonesian land are cleared to make way for palm oil plantations, the native wildlife is under threat. We follow the difficult mission to rescue one of its main inhabitants; the orangutan. "Palm oil is totally destructive. They're cutting down every single tree", complains Lone Droescher-Nieslen from the Orangutan Survival Foundation. On visiting the decimated forests of the Sumatran jungle, the problem she faces is clear to see. Although she hopes to rehabilitate "traumatised" apes back into the wild, if the present rate of deforestation continues, there may be no forests to release them into.
SBS
(Ref: 5631)
Belarus - Europe's Last Dictator
- 54' min 30'' sec [18 June 2012]
Alexander Lukashenko has held office in Belarus for 18 years, keeping power through torture, murder and kidnap. Looking back at the aftermath of the rigged 2010 elections, the regime seems unshakable. "Animals don't behave like that", recalls Irina, wife of the 2010 opposition candidate, Andrei Sannikov. Hundreds of people were brutally beaten and imprisoned in a single evening following the elections: part of Lukashenko's promise to "wring the necks" of the opposition. Since then, "people are isolated from information and 10 million people live in jail". This doc offers a rare and terrifying glimpse into Europe's most repressive regime.
Daffodil Productions
