Assange Episode 3: Torture & double standards of the West

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"The world's most famous secret-spiller Julian Assange is on RT again, speaking with Tunisia’s first post-revolution leader about the West’s double standards in protecting human rights.
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Tunisia was the cradle of the Arab Spring and was the impetus for people in other countries in the region to struggle for freedom, democracy, and their rights. Some say, the final straw that triggered the revolution was WikiLeaks’ release of diplomatic cables describing the President and his family as a mafia turning the country into a police state.

The current Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki is a former human rights activist. During the reign of the previous President he was imprisoned and kept in solitary confinement, which he considers to be torture.

Once elected Head of State, he has vowed to put an end to human rights violations in Tunisia.

Torture and the West’s double standards on the issue is indeed one of the hottest topics in this episode of the show.

Marzouki recalls how he was invited to the US to talk about the human rights situation in Tunisia with a man he believed was involved in the Guantanamo controversy.

Marzouki turned down the invitation.

“You cannot take seriously somebody who was implicated in torture in his own country,” he explained. “And then this guy is going to give you some lesson about how to promote human rights in Tunisia. This is why I did not accept to meet him.”

Taking into account human right activists’ opinions and balancing them with the duties of Head of State is just one of the fine lines Moncef Marzouki has to walk every day......"