Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2026-05-26 Tuesday

Episode Date: May 26, 2026

Headlines for May 26, 2026; U.S. Bombs Iran Despite Peace Talks; Israel Strikes Lebanon to “Force Trump’s Hand”: Negar Mortazavi; “Designed to Break You”: Gaza Flotilla Activists Faced Violence, Sexual Abuse in Israeli Detention; “He Was in Agony”: Tennessee Issues 1-Year Stay for Tony Carruthers After Botched Execution Attempt

From New York, this is Democracy Now. It is not the first time we are witnessing these contradictions from the United States. In fact, one of the problems in our negotiations is these inconsistencies and contradictions in their behavior. This is not a new issue. The U.S. attack southern Iran Sunday, sinking two Iranian ships, claiming they were laying mines in the strait of Formuz. Iran, meanwhile, shot down a U.S. report. drone. This comes as negotiations over a potential deal to end the war are ongoing. We'll get the latest. Then an estimated 300 immigrants detained at the for-profit immigration jail, Delaney Hall and

Newark, New Jersey are on hunger strike. Outside the jail over the weekend, protesters were tear gas by ICE as they tried to block a van, transferring Martine Soto, the husband of one of the organizers outside. Everybody in there, they're not eating. They're not eating until they get hurt. And so we do something to freedom, which is why we started this. But they retire. We'll speak to Gabriela Soto and formerly undocumented organizer Leodorno.

Then more than a dozen U.S. activists from the global smooth flotilla released from Israeli custody. Return to the United States Sunday. They're describing what they experienced while in jail. In one of the prison votes, 35 people suffered fracture to their ribs. People said there was at least 12 sexual assaults that took place. People were tased. Me personally, I was kept in cuffs where I can't feel my hands anymore.

I was kicking the ribs multiple times. We'll be joined by Zetae reporter Alex Coles. He just returned to New York on Sunday, and in D.C., Hytham Arafa, Palestinian-American activist who's lost 100 members of his family in Gaza. All that and more coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now. Democracy Now.org, the Warren Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. The U.S. attacked southern Iran on Sunday in what the Pentagon called self-defense strikes. The U.S. sank two Iranian ships, claiming they were attempting to lay mines in the strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it shot down a U.S. Reaper drone that entered Iranian airspace.

This comes as Iranian negotiators travel to Qatar to discuss a potential ceasefire to end the U.S. Israel War on Iran. This is Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson speaking Monday. It is true that we have reached the conclusion regarding a large part of the topics on the discussion. But to say that this means a signing of an agreement is imminent, no one can make such a claim, for the same reasons you mentioned yourself, because policymaking and decision-making in America have become caught in a kind of institutionalized instability. This comes as President Trump warned Iran to hand over its stockpocket. of enriched uranium, posting on social media Monday night, quote, the enriched uranium nuclear dust will either be immediately turned over to the United States to be brought home and destroyed,

or preferably in conjunction and coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran, destroyed in place, or at another acceptable location with the Atomic Energy Commission, unquote. Over the weekend, President Trump also urged countries in the region, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, and Pakistan to normalize relations with Israel by joining the Abraham Accords as part of U.S. negotiations to reach a deal with Iran. On Friday, Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence, announced she's resigning from the Trump administration. In a statement, Gabbard said she's stepping down after her husband was diagnosed with bone cancer.

An Israeli air strike in Lebanon's Bacca Valley killed 12 people Monday, according to Lebanese state media. The strike came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorized intensive military operations against Hezbollah and as Israel called up additional troops to deploy to Lebanon. Despite last month's ceasefire, Israel and Hezbollah have continued to exchange fire on a near daily basis. Since March 2nd, well over a million Lebanese have been forced to flee their homes as Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,100 people. In Gaza, Israeli strikes killed at least five Palestinians at a refugee camp in Central Gaza Tuesday, according to Palestinian health officials. The strike hit a group of residents who had left their own.

homes to confront an Israeli-backed Palestinian militia, attempting to move into an area east of Makazi camp, according to medics and witnesses. It follows another Israeli strike on a tent encampment Monday in the Mawasi area of Kanunis, which killed two people and wounded 17 others, including children. A six-year-old girl, Manatala Abu Libda, was among the dead. This is the girl's grandmother. This little girl, a little bird from the birds of paradise, was playing at the door of her home. God intended that instead like children of the world should be celebrating Eid, preparing for Eid. This is what happens to her, an innocent child who has done nothing wrong. In Spain, activists from the global Samud Flotillo were beaten by police officers at Bilbao airport

on Saturday. After they returned home from being intercepted at sea, abducted and abused by Israeli forces while attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, at least four people were arrested after members of the autonomous police force for Spain's Basque Country, known as Erchancha, used batons to attack activists, family members, and supporters who gathered to pose for pictures. The police violence drew attention to the more than one point. 6,6 million euros, about $1.9 million worth of security contracts between Basque police forces and an Israeli firm run by a former Mossad agent to provide body armor, surveillance technology, and tactical training courses. Meanwhile, 15 U.S. Samud Floatilla activists

held a news conference at JFK Airport on Sunday morning. We'll speak to Alex Colston, a U.S. citizen and flotilla participant who writes for Zateo and was part of that news conference. This comes as Israeli National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gavir, has been barred from entering France. France's foreign ministry cited Ben-Gavir's, quote, incitement of hatred and violence against Palestinians, unquote, as well as video he shared last week showing him taunting dozens of activists from the global smooth flotilla who've been abducted by Israeli forces and pushed to the ground face first with their hands bound behind their backs. We'll have more on this story later in the broadcast. In New Jersey, police arrested 10 activists at a port in the

city of Elizabeth on Friday morning as they attempted to stop a shipment of weapons, components, and ammunition bound for Israel. Officers used power tools to separate protesters who chain themselves together to halt truck traffic along a main road for several hours. In a statement, one of the activists said, quote, we blockaded the terminal to stop the U.S. government from violating its own laws by sending weapons to Israel

to commit war crimes and genocide, unquote. In Newark, New Jersey, about 300 detainees, at the ICE jail known as Delaney Hall have been on hunger strike since Friday to protest inhumane conditions and due process violations. Delaney Hall is operated by the private prison company Geo Group. Tensions escalated on Sunday when ICE removed a hunger strike organizer, Martin Soto, prompting protesters outside the ICE jail to block a van being used to take him. away. Masked ICE agents responded by firing tear gas and pushing people to the ground. New Jersey's Democratic Governor, Mikey Sherrill, joined federal lawmakers outside Delaney Hall, but was denied

entry. Democratic Senator Andy Kim and New Jersey Congress member Rob Menendez, who toured the facility described the filthy bathrooms, abusive guards, inadequate medical care. spoiled food, and said prisoners were being threatened with deportation to Ebola-stricken countries. We'll have more on this story later in the broadcast. A federal judge in Tennessee has dismissed all criminal charges against Kilma Obrigo-Garcia, the Maryland father of three, who was wrongfully sent by the Trump administration to El Salvador's notorious Seqat Megaprism last year. After Obrego Garcia won his deportation case, the Justice Department attempted to bring human smuggling charges against him,

stemming from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee. But on Friday, U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw ruled actions taken by then Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, now Attorney General, had tainted the investigation with a, quote, vindictive motive. unquote. Judge Crenshaw added, quote, the evidence before this court sadly reflects an abuse of prosecuting power, unquote. To see our coverage of Kilmar-Brigo-Garcease case, go to DemocracyNow.org. The Trump administration announced Friday that most immigrants seeking green cards must return to their home countries to apply. U.S. citizenship and immigration services said it would only grant, green cards to people already inside the United States only in, quote, extraordinary circumstances, unquote. Green card applicants will now have to go through consular processing abroad rather than adjusting their status from within the United States. At the White House, a gunman was killed after opening fire on a U.S. Secret Service checkpoint Saturday evening. An NBC news team reported

hearing between 20 and 30 shots as secret service agents directed reporters to take cover inside the press briefing room. Secret service officers returned fire hitting the suspect who later died at a hospital. A bystander was also wounded. According to police, the suspect was identified as 21-year-old Nasir Best of Maryland. President Trump was at the White House during the incident but wasn't impacted according to the Secret Service. Russia's foreign ministry has warned foreigners to leave Ukraine's capital as soon as possible as the Kremlin threatens a new wave of attacks following weekend strikes on Kivv that killed at least four people and injured more than 90 others. Russia used a powerful, hypersonic ballistic missile in the attacks, which struck high-rise apartment

building, schools, a marketplace, and a water supply facility. Among those warned by Russia to leave were diplomatic staff from foreign embassies, including the United States. The head of the European Union mission in Kiev said diplomats from all 27 EU nations would remain, adding, quote, Russia wants fear, panic, isolation of Ukraine, it will not work, unquote. The World Health Organization warns cases of Ebola are spreading faster in the Democratic Republic of the Congo than public health workers can respond. W.H.O. chief, Tedros Adnone Gabriasis, called the neighboring countries to take immediate action, warning the number of suspected deaths from the Ebola outbreak has reached 220. On Sunday, police in the eastern Congolese town of Mongolu fired shots into the air to disperse a

crowd that attempted to reclaim the bodies of loved ones at an Ebola treatment center. It's the same city where last week people set fire to an isolation tent run by doctors without borders, Medicine Solfantier. This man survived. His brother died of an Ebola infection. Apart from God, it is the doctors because they are the ones who understand the human body. So if you argue with the doctor, well, you will see for yourself. very grateful to the doctors because they have helped me a lot. When I arrived, I was even wondering whether I would be buried today or tomorrow. And Pope Leo issued a sweeping declaration Monday on the risks of artificial intelligence in the form of a papal encyclical that runs

more than 42,000 words. Pope Leo presented it alongside Christopher Ola, a co-founder of the AI company Anthropic. The encyclical calls for government. regulation, retraining workers, better education for students, protections for children, and safeguards to ensure that humans and not AI models will make decisions on the use of weapons. This is Pope Leo. Artificial intelligence already touches many areas of our lives and affects decisions that shape human coexistence. It is also dramatically changing how war is waged. And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman back in New York with Democracy Now's Juan Gonzalez

in Chicago. Hi, Juan. Hi, Amy, and welcome to all of our listeners and views across the country and around the world. The U.S. attack southern Iran Sunday and what the Pentagon called self-defense strikes. The U.S. sank two Iranian ships, claiming they were attempting to lay mines in the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it shot down a U.S. Reaper drone that entered Iranian airspace. It comes as Iranian negotiators travel to Qatar to discuss a potential ceasefire deal to end the U.S. Israel war on Iran. This is Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson speaking Monday. It is true that we have reached the conclusion regarding a large part of the topics under discussion. But to say that this means a signing of an agreement is imminent, no one can make such a claim,

for the same reasons you mentioned yourself, because policymaking and decision-making in America have become caught in a kind of institutionalized instability. This comes as President Trump warned Iran to hand over its stockpile of enriched uranium, posting on social media Monday night, quote, the enriched uranium, nuclear dust, exclamation point, will either be immediately turned over to the United States to be brought home and destroyed, or preferably in conjunction and coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran destroyed in place, or at another acceptable location with the Atomic Energy Commission, unquote. Over the weekend, President Trump also urged countries in the region, Saudi Arabia,

Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, and Pakistan to normalize relations with Israel by joining the Abraham Accords as part of U.S. negotiations to reach a deal with Iran. On Friday, Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, announced she's resigning. In a statement, Gabbard said she's stepping down after her husband was diagnosed with bone cancer. We're joined now by Nagar Mortazavi, Iranian-American journalist, host of the Iran podcast, senior fellow at the Center for International Policy. Nagar, thanks so much for being with us. Can you talk about these latest developments? Can you talk about the U.S. bombing southern Iran? And yet they're both saying Iran and the United States that they're in the middle of negotiations. What's happening?

Good morning, Amy Juan. Thanks for having me back. It's great to be with you. So, yes, I mean, the U.S. and Iran are in the middle of ongoing talks for a peace deal, which seems to be as close as it ever was throughout this war. I mean, I'm hearing from sources on both sides. They're very close to the finish line, in fact, as far as trying to be flexible and making concessions on both sides. And there is also a ceasefire and ongoing ceasefire. It's been ongoing for weeks. It has been, murky, it has been chaotic. It has been violated from day one, Israel violated the ceasefire attacking Lebanon, and there have been other sort of back-end forts. And now Iran is accusing the U.S. of violating the ceasefire again. I mean, we have to remember Iran, when we talk about the Strait of Hormuz, this is right off the coast of Iran in the Persian Gulf. And the U.S. has a blockade on top of that straight, very close to the Iranian coast, trying to to block Iranian ports, trying to block Iranian ships. So the U.S. presence there from the viewpoint of the Iranians in itself as hostile is seen as part of sort of this act of war. And the conflict Iranians are definitely seeing it as a violation of sort of that ceasefire and war escalation

from the U.S. side. I don't think it will necessarily unravel that peace process or completely destroyed a ceasefire. But, you know, every step of escalation is definitely going to harm. the final outcome and narrow the path to a final agreement. And, and Nagar, from what you can tell, what do government leaders in Iran make of this alternating, as they say, institutionalized instability on the U.S. part with Trump making constant bombastic threats at the same time, then alternate to say that an agreement is imminent? Well, first of all, confusion, Juan, and then also a lack of trust. trust. I mean, this is a recurring line. I keep hearing from sources in Tehran over and over and over

that they have no trust in this administration. I mean, take a step back. Iran started nuclear negotiations with this very administration a year ago, and then in the middle of those talks came the first war in June of last year. Again, they engaged in nuclear negotiations this year, in the middle of negotiations, as they offered, what seemed like a good deal by the admission of the mediators, all my mediators, in the middle of those negotiations, again, came an even bigger war. This time a regime changed war. So what Tehran is saying is that we have no trust in this administration, and that has made the process even more complicated.

It's not just the president's rhetoric that changes by the day in the middle of this process, but it's also trusting that if the U.S. commits to something, that they would abide by it, that they won't come and sign something or agree on something and then go and change it the day after. So this will also impact that final sort of agreement. And it's one of the reasons that Tehran is not only skeptical, but also wants to do this in stages to make sure they give something, they take something. It gives something they take something with some form of guarantee. That's also why they're looking east to powers like Russia, China. There seems to be something serious happening in China. Maybe China's stepping in to help the peace process because there's just no trust in

Iran for Washington for this administration. Now, if you can talk about a little further about the connection between Israel bombing southern Lebanon, you know, you had this back and forth last week where President Trump said when he's done with the presidency, he could be prime minister of Israel, that Netanyahu does what he wants him to. Clearly, Netanyahu doesn't want this war with Iran to end, but can't control what the U.S. does, but can continue to attack southern Lebanon. That exacerbating Iran's response, because they're saying what happens in Lebanon also affects whether they reach an agreement with the United States. Can you talk more about that with this intensification of the Israeli

attacks on southern Lebanon? Do you think that... Netanyahu's doing this to force Trump's hand on Iran? Absolutely, Amy, and it's not the first time. I mean, Nathaniel has done this before. First of all, look at the big picture. Benjamin Nathaniel has wanted a war, an ongoing war on Iran by the U.S. for decades. I mean, he has put this war plan in front of various U.S. presidents from Bush to Obama to Biden. And then finally, the quote-unquote, president of peace took the plan and did it.

And he wants the war to continue to expand. He has only expanded the war since the day after October 7th in Gaza, in Lebanon, now in Iran, even in Syria and other countries. He just wants it expanded. Now, Iran's proposal, what they are looking after is a regional end to the war. So the way they call it is a non-aggression pact, meaning Iran and its allies in a pact versus U.S. and its allies, which very much includes Israel. And, I mean, frankly, I think this is better for regional peace and stability if you have sort of everyone on board on one side and the other side. So Iran is very much trying to fold Hezbollah into this process. This is Lebanon militias in Iraq that are allied with Iran.

This is more than just within Iran's borders, especially on Hezbollah because Hezbollah entered this war with Iran. They worked within coordination for the first time as close allies and Tehran doesn't want to drop them. And so for Benjamin Netanyahu, this has really been a tactic from the first day the ceasefire was announced. Just hours later, he did that massive attack with a massacre of over 350 people in Beirut to try to torpedo the process. And now I think I'm expecting to see more and more of this. Like you said, he can't control what the U.S. does as far as the U.S. trying to make a deal with Iran. And it seems like President Trump is not very much including him in every little step and detail. But he can, he definitely has means.

And others also in the region have means to torpedo the process and try to unravel it. And from the Iranian perspective, they want Lebanon very much as part of this. And if that's not included, then this, you know, final deal will not stand for them. So they want a permanent end to the war, not just for themselves, but also for their allies. And they want to commit that this will be a non-aggression pact between them and their allies and the U.S. and its allies, meaning Iran's allies will also not. attack the U.S. or Israel after this pact. And Nagar, talking about a regional agreement, what are you seeing in terms of the other Gulf states of Qatar, UAE, and Oman, in terms of whether they've gotten closer or further

away from their alliance with the United States as a result of all of this war? Well, it's a very dynamic situation. First of all, I want to say the GCC countries, these. Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf are not very similar. I mean, you have a country like Oman who has kept itself as far away from the war, almost outside the war as possible, and didn't get a lot of attacks or engagements from Iran. And then you have a country like UAE who chose from day one to be part of the war and is very much and publicly part of the war and is also getting attacked and is engaged with Iran. And then there you have countries sort of in

between, like you mentioned, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and others. I think Qatar, Oman and Saudi if I put them sort of in the same basket, have been trying very hard, well, before the war to push against the war, really warning the administration that this will be catastrophic, this will become regional, and this will not stay inside Iran's borders. And this also came from Turkey, Egypt, you know, other countries in the region, but all of them together didn't have the same weight as Benjamin Netanyahu who pushed and convinced President Trump that Iran is a paper tiger and they can attack and finish it, which didn't happen. But now throughout the course, I mean, it's very dynamic.

These countries are sort of stuck between a powerful ally, which is the United States. They obviously can end this alliance. And a powerful neighbor, Iran, who has been there for thousands of years and will continue to be there. So I think there is a rethinking happening in the GCC, each country in a different way of how to manage these two relationships. You can't rely on one side or the other. You can't pretend like you're hosting U.S. bases that are being used in a war against you. your neighbor and you have no role in this war and get surprised if you get retaliation from that said neighbor. And so that dynamic, I think, is something that will play out in the short

term and also long term. And for some of these states to rethink how peace in the region would not only be for them, but also has to involve their neighbor, basically the Iranian messages. If war comes to us, it will not stay inside our borders. And if it comes back, they will make sure that they'll do it again and again. That's the Iranian message. messaging and the new doctrine. Negar Murtazavi, we thank you so much for being with us, Iranian-American journalist, host of the Iran podcast, Senior Fellow at the Center for International Policy. Coming up, more than a dozen U.S. activists from the global Samud flotilla have been released

from Israeli custody and returned to the United States on Sunday. We'll speak with two of them. Stay with us. He plays us with his hate, turns man against man, but it's really not a game. And I pray to the ancestors' love, do not be fooled by this man's foolish talk. The serpent woke again in different times and places. There's a burning cross leading the mob people in chains. He's a quack, circus sack, creeping from the past.

He's the symbol of the monster we no longer want to be what we used to be. The earth trembles with his names. Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, Pinochit, no respect for woman, no respect for race, no respect for anything that lives, the human race. Denmark, performed by Lila Downs in Democracy Now Studios. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez. Israel's deported hundreds of activists who they abducted from the global smooth flotilla

as the convoy of humanitarian aid ships sailed toward Gaza, attempting to break Israel's siege. The activists who were imprisoned for days have described torture and sexual violence by Israeli soldiers during their time in custody. Many reported broken ribs and other injuries. This is Australian activist Juliet Lamont, speaking from Sydney after being deported from Israel. I was dragged into a darkened container ship on a prison boat. I was sexually assaulted. I was beaten.

And that was just the beginning of four days of absolute hell. I've looked into the eyes of the most soulless people. in the universe and nothing came back. These people need to be stopped. Meanwhile in Spain, activists from the Global Samud Flotilla were beaten by police officers, Basque police officers at Bilbao Airport Saturday,

after they returned home from being intercepted at sea and abducted by Israeli forces while attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. At least four people arrested after members of the autonomous police force for Spain's Basque country known as the Echancho used batons to attack activists, family members, and supporters who gathered to pose for pictures. The police violence drew attention to 1.66 million euros worth of security contracts. It's about $1.9 million between Basque police forces and an Israeli firm run by a former Mossad agent

to provide body armor, surveillance technology, and tactical training courses to the Basque Police. This comes as Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gavir has been barred from entering France. France's foreign ministry cited his incitement of hatred and violence against Palestinians, unquote, as well as video he shared last week showing him taunting dozens of activists from the global Samud Flotilla who have been abducted by the Israeli forces, pushed to the ground face first with their hands bound behind their backs. For more, we're joined by two guests. Here in New York, Alex Colston, U.S. citizen, Flotilla participant,

just returned home Sunday after three days in Israeli custody. He was covering the Flotilla for Zateo. This is his second time participating on a Gaza humanitarian flotilla. In Washington, D.C., we're joined by Haithamarrafat, Palestinian-American activist, flotilla participant, but his head slammed into the ground when Israeli forces detained him. Heitam was born in Gaza. Over 100 members of his family have been killed in Israeli strikes

since October 7, 2023. Alex, let's begin with you. I just described what Ben-Gavir did, and now he's been barred from entering France. You were there. can you talk about first what happened to you on the high seas and then what happened when you were brought to Israel. Thanks for having me, Amy. On the high seas, I mean, we were intercepted about 250 nautical miles from the shores of Gaza. It took them, I think, about a day to get all the

boats. How many? How many boats? 52 boats. And around 400, 500 participants, all told. And And as we, when the Israelis board the ships, they typically do so in a violent fashion. They shoot immediately with verbal bullets if we do not stop the ships. They tend to, in my case, they tie my zip tied my hands behind my back. And they put us in stress positions on the boat. A stress position as well. Meaning that they make us sit on our knees with their heads on the ground, or foreheads on the ground, can't move. And they often give these kinds of contradictory orders,

but let's say you sit, sit up, go down, sit up, go down. If we do the opposite of either, they'll beat you in some way or another. But the way that they board the vessels is they typically board, they typically board, they abduct us, they commandeer the ship, and they take us to, in this case, a prison boat. And this happened previously in the mission as well, west of Crete, but there are, I think, two prison boats this time. and when they're on the prison ships,

it's kind of like a shanty town or like a strange, like, containerized area to traffic us back to Israel. And on those prison ships, and then within Kitsia prison in Ashdod Port, they take, they go out of their, the Israelis have gone out of their way to beat and abuse the flotilla participants.

In the case of Ben-Givir's appearance, he did this the previous time too when we were in Ashton. God. One thing I find kind of ironic is that when the Israeli foreign minister, ministry, or any of Israeli officials talk about us, they call us provocateurs or they say, we're terrorists, or, you know, we're committed a provocation. And yet, whenever Ben Gavir shows up to these things, he's the one provoking us. He's there saying we're terrorists. He's saying that, you know, we're, you know, challenged. He brings a camera crew with him?

Yes, he tends to bring a camera crew with him. And in fact, the previous time I saw him do this, there's one person sort of just shooting film of him, and he's talking to the camera. And it might as well be that we're not even there in some respects, because he's doing it for Israeli consumption. He's filming these antics and these smears of the flotill participants for the Israeli public.

And, you know, in this time we were in this tent, and I would say that my experience in the tent was, was quite harrowing. A person flew away from me had clearly had broken ribs, was hoiling and was moaning. And I tried to go,

I tried to go help him. And every time I would move, they would kick me or they'd take me, pull me back, and they would set me back down on my knees and head. And I could hear screaming the whole time we were in the tent. You know, they, they indiscriminately brutalized people in that tent.

Meanwhile, as Ben Guvier shows up, and the thing is that I could not see Ben-Givir, but I'm sitting forward, and I can hear someone talking behind me. You mean with your head on the ground? Yes, so I couldn't turn. And your hands behind you, zip-dye? Yes, and I couldn't turn around and see, but, you know, I'm in a clump of bodies, a row of bodies. I'm just hearing, like, one-by-one saying, Bingavir is here, bin-A-vier's here, yada, yada.

And, you know, I think in that instant this time around, I realize, like, they are just being way more severe this time, and I didn't know what was in store when we went onwards to Kitsia. And Alex, there was another boat that some of the activists named the torture boat. You were not on that one, but what have you heard about what happened there? So the first people I talked to you when I got on the Turkish plane back to Istanbul or to Istanbul, is I listened to accounts from people on the torture boat. And I was told immediately that up to 35 people's ribs were fractured. I heard that at least 12, if not 15 people have been sexually assaulted.

People told me that some had been ejected with syringes of unknown substances. We don't know what those were. We were told that people were made to lie down into like puddles of water and told not to move, and they were afraid they might suffocate in that position. They dropped flashbangs, they shot rubber bullets. And as I've described it in previous interviews, these container ships, you know, we're in a courtyard. We can't go anywhere. You can't run away from Israeli guards who are shooting at you.

You can take refuge maybe in the container ship, but then the Israelis would call out the participants to go into the courtyard with their guns drawn. So there was a certain kind of like, yeah, just like not. only sadism, but trying to, like, torture us with, like, not being sure what they were going to do to us, like, drawing us out, giving us contradictory orders, like, finding any pretense and pretext to brutalize us, and to keep us fearful of what they might do to us. We're also joined by Haitham Arafat, a Palestinian-American who has lost over a hundred members of his family in Gaza since October 7th. Hytham, welcome to democracy now.

you were on the flotilla. What happened with you? I mean, Alex pretty much explained a lot of the things that happened. But I would like to add one thing is that when Benikfir came to our cell, I looked at him, I looked at him at the eyes. And you can tell that this guy has pleasure at us in these positions. They put us in cages. These cages were three meters by six meters.

And I counted at one point, we had, more than 80 people. They keep adding more people and there was no place for us to sit. At one point we decided to stand because there is no space and they came and they start beating us and we had to sit down. There is no space so we start sitting on each other, on the top of each other. There was a guy behind me when we were after the tent, the guards from the port. And he was, I mean, he did not speak Arabic. I do speak Arabic, so I do know some of the words.

And they asked him, where are you from? And he was from Southeast Asia. And then they asked him to repeat, I am a fag. I am a fag. And they made him repeat that so many times. And when he stops, they come and beat him. And they tell him, continue. And then he called his friends and they started actually taking pictures with that guy.

This is a system that is not, I mean, it's built, it's a sick system. And when we talk about Benikvir, as if it's an isolated incident, it's not. This is, the Palestinians have been slaughtered and killed for over 80 years. And each administration comes and increases, they brag about killing Palestinians. This is, our blood is becoming an election material for them. Who kills more Palestinians gets elected. So what we have seen there in the prison, I'm not going to repeat a lot of what Alex said. But I can add one thing is that this is a system that was carefully designed, not to humiliate, not to deter, not to insult.

this system, the process that they have there in the jail, was designed to break you as a human. It's designed to make you a human animal. And I think, and I think based on I've seen, and I've seen the reaction of some of the people who were with us in these cages in the concentration camps. It's not a jail, it's a concentration camp. I think they, I mean, I've seen the reaction of some people.

I don't think people can go through that process for us. long time and that was what they have there in place now what I'm the one thing I'm discussed with that France banned Benivir now why because there is a picture about him but we know about this he's been doing this for years why now why that guy is still free walking and and and nobody he's not on the sanction list of the US why the people who are defending the Palestinians are on the sanction list. And these terrorists, these war criminals are walking free and protected. Not only that are protected, they are protected by our tax dollars.

Can I ask you, Haitham, you showed them your U.S. passport? Yes, I did. They slammed your head against the ground? Yes. They do not care. I mean, they were trying, my name is Middle Eastern. So they were trying to find my background. And I did not volunteer any information. They were trying to speak to me in some in Arabic languages with insults and cussing words.

And I would just ignore them as much as possible because I did not want to escalate the situation. Even though I tried to do that, but every time I have a ruptured disc, so I cannot be in these stress positions for a long time. The minute I try to raise my head, they come and start hitting me. They do not care whether you are young, old woman. We have grandfathers, grandmothers, mothers. You were born in Gaza and have lost over 100 members of your family. Can you talk about some of them?

I mean, the first time I remember that I was in Gaza one year before October 7, and I was on my way to Gaza during October 7. The first incident, which was actually I was on my way to the airport in Egypt when my uncle called me and he said, your aunt was killed. Because I was with my aunt at that time. I stayed with her, and we had beautiful time with her. She was like a second mom to me.

They were, she was with her daughter, and they bombed that house. And I remember I was in Egypt, and they called us. They said they just bombed our house, but it was, I think, a tank shell. So the second floor was destroyed. And they decided to move to the second house, and they called us. They said,

we do. We told them, hey, guys, the best place is to find a good shelter and just stay there, do not move. But that house was bombed, so they had to move to my aunt's house. Waited for the morning. While they waited, it was my, it was a grandmother, daughters, grandkids, babies. They walked together to the second house, which is about 15 minutes. There was a tank at the end of the road. This tank, once they saw them, they saw a family walking of innocent civilians, they just turned at them and what they did, they pressed the button and they bombed them. Three of them killed immediately.

Few of them bled to death for two weeks because they were unable to go to the hospital and ambulances were unable to come to them. The mother of the babies were killed at that time and she was breastfeeding. They did have milk for the babies. it's I mean this is this is what we are going through and now we are putting Benigvir a band from France

and he still can come to the US how many more Palestinians needs to be killed before we do something I wanted to ask Alex Colston the news out of Spain when some of the flotilla participants arrived in Bilbao airport the riot police

in the Basque area of the country attacked the supporters that were at the airport. Your response, especially given the fact that Spain, the national government, has been so outspoken and its criticism of what Israel is doing. Well, as was mentioned at the top of the segment, the Basque police trains with the IDF, the trains with the trains, they train with Israeli forces. So maybe perhaps on one level, I'm not all that surprised. and yet, of course, these are activists who had just been detained and tortured in Israeli custody,

and then the moment they're coming back home to see their friends and their family, they are again brutalized by the police. The way this incident apparently started, as far as I understand it, is that one of the families, one of the family members and friends were trying to go to the activists, and the police stood in their way, and so the activist walked up to try to see the family member and to get the police to move away, and then there was an awful. altercation. You know, the thing is that many, many police forces across the world train with Israeli forces, the same forces that tortured us in Kitsia prison and on the prison boat, including

the NYPD. There has been well-documented, cooperative mutual collaboration between the NYPD and Israeli forces. So there's a global police force that is in many ways trained by the Israelis, and the Israelis use the tactics that they have invented on the Palestinians, and yet then they train police forces across the world to inflict the same kinds of violence on other civilians. And so when I saw this video, I thought to myself, well, this is actually the same kinds of police violence that use with the same kinds of tactics then used in the Basque region. Well, we're going to link to your work at Sotka. Alex Colston, Zetao reporter, U.S. citizen and flotilla participant who just returned home to the United States on Sunday.

And we thank Haithamarrafat, a Palestinian-American activist, also Flotilla participant born in Gaza, who's lost 100 members of his family since October 7, 2023. To see all our coverage of the flotilla, you can go to DemocracyNow.org. Up next, we go to Tennessee, where the execution of Tony Carruthers was called off after prison officials struggled to kill him with a lethal injection, but it didn't work. We'll talk to Stephen Hale, criminal justice reporter at the Nashville Banner, author of Death Row, welcomes you, visiting hours in the shadow of the execution chamber. Stay with us. Kiss me once or kiss me twice. Give me a taste of paradise. I don't need the blues always on my shoulder.

Give me a cold year as I get older. Oh, my stars how you are. Oh, my star, oh, my star, you. Sun's going down in the sky, different colors. Baby Ron C. All the different hues. I feel all right. But these times are my stars by Michael Hurley. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org.

I'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez. We end today's show in Tennessee, where the execution of Tony Carruthers was called off after prison officials struggled to find a vein to administer lethal injection drugs. Last week, the Republican Governor, Bill Lee, issued a one-year reprieve to Carruthers over the botched execution, which came despite Carruthers' claims of innocence and demands for a new trial. We're joined now by Stephen Hale, criminal justice reporter at the Nashville Banner, author of the book, Death Row welcomes you, visiting hours in the shadow of the execution chamber. Stephen, thanks so much for being with us. You were a media witness for this botched execution.

If you can tell us what happened and tell us the story of Tony Carruthers. That's right. Thanks for having me, Amy. So last week, I was one of several the media witnesses for this planned execution. One of the frustrating things is it's, I can't tell you what we saw because we didn't end up seeing anything in Tennessee. As of right now, the process where the person who's being executed is prepared for the execution in this case, where the IV lines are placed for a lethal injection, happens behind a curtain. And so me and the other media witnesses were literally in the dark, in a dark viewing room with the curtain that looks into the execution. chamber drawn, and that curtain would have opened if they had successfully placed these IV lines in Mr. Carruthers, but that never happened. So what we ended up doing was sitting in the dark for more than an hour and trying to listen to what was happening in the execution chamber,

not all of which we understood at the time. A lot of it we found out later. But that turned out to be the sound of them struggling to place the IV lines in Mr. Crothers. We were told later by his attorney that they tried to, after getting a primary line in his, in one of his arms, they tried the other arm. They tried a hand, his feet, ultimately tried his jugular vein in his neck, and before trying a place a central line in his chest. And when that was unsuccessful, after more than an hour, they called off the execution. So, yeah, it was, it was quite an ordeal. And obviously, his attorney later would tell us that he was in agony, and we could hear him groaning in pain from the viewing room, but like I said, we didn't end up ever seeing him or what was going on.

Go to Carruth's attorney, Maria Deliberado of the ACLU. Ivy line in his shoulder was filled with blood, like back filled towards his chest area, and he said that his chest really hurt. This was a tortured, botched execution. I mean, there's no question about it. I mean, I guess it's not an execution because thankfully, by the grace of God, he's still alive. But they tortured him trying to find a vein. I'm so grateful that we are going to have a chance to prove what we've been saying and what Tony has been saying for 30 years that he didn't commit this crime.

I know that he believes that this happened, that this botched attempt to take his life happened for a reason, and it will strengthen his resolve to fight even more. And Steve, could you talk about this? that case that was originally filed by the ACLU seeking DNA testing about crucial physical evidence? Why hasn't this DNA testing happened in over 30 years? Yeah, well, that's a good question, but you're right. The ACLU filed earlier this year asking for crime scene evidence to be tested, both for DNA analysis and fingerprint analysis. Mr. Crothers was convicted along with a co-defendant in 1996 for a triple murder

in Shelby County, Memphis here in Tennessee. And he's always maintained his innocence, but his case has, you know, I was saying someone the other days, pretty much every issue that you see come up in death penalty cases is present in this case in one way or another. Mr. Kreathers has maintained his innocence. His attorneys have long said that he's profoundly mentally ill. He was forced to represent himself at his trial. Six defense attorneys were appointed to be his attorney.

and then ended up leaving the case, and the judge eventually refused to appoint a seventh. And so he represented himself at this Capitol murder trial. And so his representation, you know, we often see in capital cases that people later will talk about how they had poor representation. He basically had none. He represented himself. He did not have an attorney. And so he's always maintained that he was innocent, and there was no physical evidence in

this case brought by prosecutors. what there was was the testimony of a man who later turned out to be a paid informant and who later recanted his testimony. And so there's basically just questionable circumstantial evidence against Mr. Carruth. And so all these years later, his attorneys at the ACLU have been pushing for that crime scene evidence to be tested. They said that this evidence, if it were tested, it could potentially exonerate him. We don't know because the courts so far had blocked those efforts. And the governor, right before this, failed execution had announced that he was not going to intervene to hold off the execution so that testing could take place.

So I can't answer really for you why it hasn't been. But now that Mr. Crothers has a one-year reprieve, I imagine his attorneys will be trying to get that done in whatever way they can. And what does this case raise about mental illness issues in relation to death row prisoners as well? Yeah, I mean, so Mr. Cruthers, according to, to his attorneys in court filings for years now, they say that he has had delusions about his case, basically that he didn't even believe he was going to be executed, that he thought he would be released any time. And because he was, as I said, convinced of his innocence and had started to believe that his attorneys and other people involved in his case were actually plotting against

him. And, you know, sadly, this is not unusual. Every, of all the death, penalty cases I've covered and all the ones that I have read about. Some of ones I've watched you all cover on democracy now. Mental illness is often a factor in one way or another, and whether that's affecting a person's ability to kind of help their attorneys represent them at trial, whether it's a factor in the crime that they committed if they were indeed guilty, or in their understanding of the case later. And so his attorneys did go to court and argue that he was not mentally competent to be executed, that he was too mentally ill to be constitutional. executed, the courts rejected that argument. But this is a situation in one form or another

that we see in lots of death penalty cases around the country, and certainly in Tennessee. Stephen Hale, as we wrap up, you have been covering this case in other death penalty cases. You're not only a criminal justice reporter at the Nashville banner. You wrote Death Row welcomes you. You decided not to be a witness to these executions after being a witness to them, a number of times. Why did you decide to witness Carruthers' execution that didn't actually happen? Yeah, that's a good question. I mean, as you said, I witnessed three executions a few years back in 2018 and 2019.

And I, you know, it's not a pleasant assignment. And my other colleagues and reporters who have done so as well, I think would agree. and so I was I was pretty well burnt out on that and exhausted and not in a good place to do it again. I decided to do it again now years later because a colleague of mine at the banner has done a couple of these. My editor Steve Kavanaugh has witnessed a couple that have happened recently. Other reporters that I work with here in Tennessee have been witnessing them. And I think it's vitally important that if the state is going to execute its citizens, that someone who can, you know, I guess you'd say represent the citizens,

can be there in the room to watch them do it and report what happens. And so I did think it was important that I volunteered to do it again. I certainly don't want to go to everyone, and I'm not eager to watch any of them, but I do think it's really important that people be able to see clearly or as clearly as we can tell them what an execution looks like. and, you know, that's part of a lawsuit that we have the banner and some other media outlets here in Tennessee are part of is to expand the transparency of this process so that media witnesses could see the IV lines being placed,

could see more of this process, because I think if people are going to live in a state that has a death penalty, they deserve to see as much of it as as as possible so that they can judge it for what it is. Stephen Hale, we thank you so much for being with us. We'll link to your articles in the Nashville banner. author of Death Row welcomes you, visiting hours in the shadow of the execution chamber. Speaking to us from Nashville, Tennessee, that does it for our show. On Wednesday night, I'll be at the IFC Center, the theater here in New York City, with Chani Nicholas and steal the story, please, director, Tia Lesson.

I'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez for another edition of Democracy Now.