Democracy Now! Friday, June 5, 2009

Today's Headlines

• At Least 40 Killed in Pakistan Mosque Bombing
• Obama Plays Down Mideast Peace Hopes
• UN Human Rights Commissioner Urges Probe of Afghan Civilian Deaths
• 14 Killed in Somalia Clashes
• US Ordered to Release Secret Gitmo “Evidence”
• Obama Nominee Linked to Spying on Muslims, CIA Torture
• Bankruptcy Filings Projected to Reach 1.5M
• Study: Medical Bills Account for Over 60% of US Bankruptcies
• Ex-Countrywide CEO Accused of Fraud, Insider Trading
• Tennessee Schools Remove Censorship of LGBT Websites
• Hundreds to Attend Tiller Funeral in Wichita

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  20 Years Later, Chinese Dissident Wang Juntao and US Journalist Philip Cunningham Look Back on Tiananmen Square Uprising

  Twenty years ago, the Chinese military gunned down student protesters in Tiananmen Square. As twentieth anniversary events are held around the world, we speak with Wang Juntao, a prominent Chinese dissident who was sentenced to thirteen years imprisonment and now lives in exile in the United States, and Philip Cunningham, an American journalist who marched with the students and is author of a new book Tiananmen Moon: Inside the Chinese Student Uprising of 1989. [includes rush transcript]

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  "Guantanamo at Home": Muslim American Syed Fahad Hashmi Held in 23-Hour Solitary Pretrial Confinement for Over Two Years in Case Resting on Plea-Bargaining Government Informant

  One day after President Obama trumpeted the achievements and freedoms of Muslim Americans in his celebrated Cairo speech, we look at the case of Syed Fahad Hashmi, a US citizen who has been held in pretrial twenty-three-hour solitary confinement in a Manhattan federal prison for over two years. Hashmi is charged with providing material support to al-Qaeda in a case that rests on the testimony of Junaid Babar, an old acquaintance of Hashmi’s who turned government informant after his own arrest on terror charges. Hashmi is being prosecuted for a two-week period when Babar stayed at his home carrying rain gear that was allegedly later delivered to al-Qaeda members in Pakistan. [includes rush transcript]