Al Jazeera World

The 2011 Arab Spring had seen the end of President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule and within 18 months, Mohamed Morsi had become Egypt's first democratically elected president. But after one year in office, almost weekly street protests and riots appeared to reach a climax with calls for Morsi to resign and even for the military to intervene. In July 2013, Morsi was overthrown.

Al Jazeera's Jamal Elshayyal reported on events in Egypt at the time - and now reveals new exclusive evidence of top-level conspiracy, power-broking and betrayal in the turmoil that led to Morsi's last days in office.

Until now, much of what took place in the final days of the Morsi presidency was known only to those who witnessed the events first hand. Of the nine men with Morsi at the time, only one is no longer in jail.

In this film, Egypt's former foreign relations assistant, Khaled al-Qazzaz among others, tells the behind-the-scenes story of the Morsi presidency's final hours.

Throughout 2012 and into 2013, the streets of Egypt were rocked by almost weekly protests and riots, as well as an anger and frustration that divided the nation. The people who had risen up in 2011 had seen little improvement economically and they felt that the freedom they had gained was being misused by some to create chaos.

Continuous power cuts, fuel shortage and petrol queues that later were proven to have been orchestrated by the deep state, lead to a toxic mix of anger and despair among the public.

But the crisis in Egypt was not limited to fuel shortages and wages, nor were they limited to the big cities. In Sinai, attacks took place against security forces by groups that few had heard of before.

‎‎"President Morsi complained about interference from a certain Gulf state and told me that they had detected weapons shipments from this country to armed groups in Sinai, as well as money being sent to them," says Khalid al-Attiyah, Qatari minister of defence and former foreign minister. "But he also told me he was able to negotiate with this state."

As protests continued and events unfolded, concern was expressed by world leaders. But it seemed Morsi's fate had already been sealed.

"‎‎From what I know, senior US government officials by that juncture June 25, 2013, were aware of the possibility of a military coup against Morsi,"‎‎ ‎‎according to Andrew Miller, US National Security Council (2014-2017).

Days after Morsi's June 26 speech, in which he attempted to pacify the population and offered several concessions to the opposition, his minister of defence General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi issued him with an ultimatum either to step down or face military intervention.

"‎‎By the time that the military issued a 48-hour ultimatum, I think the overwhelming view in the US government was that it was too late. ‎‎That the die had already been cast, and no matter what happened short of Morsi resigning preemptively, that the military was going to forcibly remove him from the position of the presidency," explains Miller.‎‎

President Morsi was overthrown on July 3, 2013, and initially placed under house arrest where he was held incommunicado.

Khalid al-Qazzaz, the presidential secretary for foreign affairs, recounts his last meetings with Morsi: "On the morning of July 4, we were allowed to have breakfast with the president. We found him to be surprisingly calm. He said it was the first time he'd been able to sleep for consecutive hours since he'd assumed responsibility."

"It was clear he'd done his utmost to preserve the gains of the revolution and protect the Egyptian people. It was now up to the people either to choose to return to a police state or try to restore their revolution."

Since the 2013 coup, a police crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood has left hundreds dead and tens of thousands jailed, many under draconian anti-protest and anti-terrorism laws.

Morsi has been tried in several different cases. The former president remains in jail, facing a death sentence and charges that range from espionage, leaking intelligence information, collaborating with foreign forces to insulting the judiciary and freeing Islamists from jail in 2011.

Amnesty International has described Egypt's judicial system as "horrendously broken" and described death sentences handed out to Morsi and other members of the Muslim Brotherhood in previous trials as a "vengeful march to the gallows."

In a report released on March 28, 2018, a panel of British MPs and international lawyers said Morsi's conditions of imprisonment and inadequate medical care would likely lead to his "premature death".

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The 2011 Arab Spring had seen the end of President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule and within 18 months, Mohamed Morsi had become Egypt's first democratically elected president. But after one year in office, almost weekly street protests and riots appeared to reach a climax with calls for Morsi to resign and even for the military to intervene. In July 2013, Morsi was overthrown.

Al Jazeera's Jamal Elshayyal reported on events in Egypt at the time - and now reveals new exclusive evidence of top-level conspiracy, power-broking and betrayal in the turmoil that led to Morsi's last days in office.

Until now, much of what took place in the final days of the Morsi presidency was known only to those who witnessed the events first hand. Of the nine men with Morsi at the time, only one is no longer in jail.

In this film, Egypt's former foreign relations assistant, Khaled al-Qazzaz among others, tells the behind-the-scenes story of the Morsi presidency's final hours.

Throughout 2012 and into 2013, the streets of Egypt were rocked by almost weekly protests and riots, as well as an anger and frustration that divided the nation. The people who had risen up in 2011 had seen little improvement economically and they felt that the freedom they had gained was being misused by some to create chaos.

Continuous power cuts, fuel shortage and petrol queues that later were proven to have been orchestrated by the deep state, lead to a toxic mix of anger and despair among the public.

But the crisis in Egypt was not limited to fuel shortages and wages, nor were they limited to the big cities. In Sinai, attacks took place against security forces by groups that few had heard of before.

‎‎"President Morsi complained about interference from a certain Gulf state and told me that they had detected weapons shipments from this country to armed groups in Sinai, as well as money being sent to them," says Khalid al-Attiyah, Qatari minister of defence and former foreign minister. "But he also told me he was able to negotiate with this state."

As protests continued and events unfolded, concern was expressed by world leaders. But it seemed Morsi's fate had already been sealed.

"‎‎From what I know, senior US government officials by that juncture June 25, 2013, were aware of the possibility of a military coup against Morsi,"‎‎ ‎‎according to Andrew Miller, US National Security Council (2014-2017).

Days after Morsi's June 26 speech, in which he attempted to pacify the population and offered several concessions to the opposition, his minister of defence General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi issued him with an ultimatum either to step down or face military intervention.

"‎‎By the time that the military issued a 48-hour ultimatum, I think the overwhelming view in the US government was that it was too late. ‎‎That the die had already been cast, and no matter what happened short of Morsi resigning preemptively, that the military was going to forcibly remove him from the position of the presidency," explains Miller.‎‎

President Morsi was overthrown on July 3, 2013, and initially placed under house arrest where he was held incommunicado.

Khalid al-Qazzaz, the presidential secretary for foreign affairs, recounts his last meetings with Morsi: "On the morning of July 4, we were allowed to have breakfast with the president. We found him to be surprisingly calm. He said it was the first time he'd been able to sleep for consecutive hours since he'd assumed responsibility."

"It was clear he'd done his utmost to preserve the gains of the revolution and protect the Egyptian people. It was now up to the people either to choose to return to a police state or try to restore their revolution."

Since the 2013 coup, a police crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood has left hundreds dead and tens of thousands jailed, many under draconian anti-protest and anti-terrorism laws.

Morsi has been tried in several different cases. The former president remains in jail, facing a death sentence and charges that range from espionage, leaking intelligence information, collaborating with foreign forces to insulting the judiciary and freeing Islamists from jail in 2011.

Amnesty International has described Egypt's judicial system as "horrendously broken" and described death sentences handed out to Morsi and other members of the Muslim Brotherhood in previous trials as a "vengeful march to the gallows."

In a report released on March 28, 2018, a panel of British MPs and international lawyers said Morsi's conditions of imprisonment and inadequate medical care would likely lead to his "premature death".

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Browder shares what it's like to live 'rent-free in Putin's head' and how the Magnitsky Act became a 'viral phenomenon'.

The turmoil of post-Soviet Russia in the 1990s saw a handful of business people grow rich, while the country itself grew poor.

Into the mix of chaotic capitalism and Wild West opportunity stepped a young Stanford business graduate ready to make his fortune: Bill Browder founded what would become the largest foreign investment fund in Russia, Hermitage Capital Management, worth $4.5bn in assets.

While pushing his own ventures, he spoke out about a culture of corporate corruption and soon fell foul of Russia's new president, Vladimir Putin.

In 2005, Browder was expelled from the country and declared a "threat to national security". His Hermitage investment fund was raided, and, he says, a complex fraud conducted by Russian officials resulted in the theft of some $230m.

It was a scheme uncovered by Browder's lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, whose later death in prison - apparently the result of torture - set Browder on a lifelong mission to expose corruption.

"They killed him in a horribly sadistic way at the age of 37 and I've been going after them ever since they killed him," Browder said in an interview with Al Jazeera.

He lobbied for the Magnitsky Act, which aimed to freeze the assets of those suspected of financial crimes and human rights abuses. It was passed by the United States Congress in 2012. In 2016, it became the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, empowering the executive branch to impose targeted sanctions or visa bans on individuals who committed human rights violations anywhere in the world.

Magnitsky-inspired laws have gained traction in the European Union; Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, the United Kingdom along with several other countries have adopted provisions.

It has drawn the ire of the Russian president who, in 2018, said that he would grant the US access to 12 indicted Russian intelligence officials in exchange for access to several Americans, singling out US-born Browder and accusing him of not paying taxes while in Russia. In 2016, a Russian lawyer allegedly lobbied for repealing the Magnitsky Act and indicting Browder in a Trump Tower meeting with members of then-candidate Donald Trump's team.

"We know for sure that the Russians were there because of me and the Magnitsky Act ... Russia is a country, where a thousand individuals have stolen all the money from the country. Literally, a thousand individuals have stolen a trillion dollars over a 20-year period ... and the other 145 million Russians are in destitute poverty," said Browder.

"What the Magnitsky Act does ... is go after those 1,000 people. If they are ready to kill for money there's nothing more painful for them to have their money frozen. And even if you haven't frozen their money, just the idea that their money could be frozen is like a sword of Damocles hanging over their head. And that's why Putin hates the Magnitsky Act so much because he is a kleptocrat first and foremost.

Browder has also been investigating what happened to the millions of dollars that disappeared when his investment fund was raided - which has raised the question of whether or not Trump cropped up along the money trail.

"We've traced that for nine years and we've found all the money ... through law enforcement investigations, through private investigations, through whistleblowers, and so far there has not been any money that went to Donald Trump," Browder said. "Having said that, there's a lot of money that went to Vladimir Putin."

Critics of Browder may argue that he is being hypocritical; like the oligarchs he went after, Browder had taken advantage of the upheaval following the collapse of the Soviet Union to do business. But he says that he did things differently.

"The only similarity is that we were both investing in the system at the very same time. The difference was that almost immediately after I started, I started exposing corruption," he said. "I was doing it for money, I wasn't doing it for the goodness of the state. But to invest in companies, expose corruption, and try to stop it, that ... [by definition] is a good thing."

Now, he says Magnitsky-inspired laws are catching on quickly.

"The Magnitsky Act has now turned into a viral phenomenon. It's jumping from country to country to country. There's Magnitsky proposals all over the world in different parliaments and governments, etcetera, and of course I can help and stir up the pot and make things happen, but without my presence they would happen at the same time," he said.

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As women in all parts of the world still suffer violence, discrimination, and under-representation, what’s the status of global gender equality? And how can progress be made?

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka is the executive director of UN Women and has overseen its work in addressing gender issues since 2013.

Al Jazeera asked Mlambo-Ngcuka whether International Women's Dayon March 8 is an occasion to celebrate, protest, or take up activism.

"All of the above," she said. "Because even though we've made progress, and it's important that we celebrate the achievements, but we also haven't come far enough, we have a lot of work that we still need to do. So we still need to be activists. But also some of the gains that we have had are being eroded, so we have to protest and defend, and there is misogyny, and many other harmful and hurtful challenges that women still face. And because of that, protests are also in order."

UN Women is working to collect gender statistics, often lacking in countries worldwide, to help provide more focused solutions. For example, collecting data on girls' school attendance and dropouts may help address the issue of girls missing school because of their menstrual cycle.

"If we are unable to provide evidence about this phenomena, sometimes when we raise the importance of sanitation in schools as a critical human right, people don't believe that it is this serious, but when we have, then you are able to show this pattern. It means when you build, you build smart. When you innovate, you make sure that you provide the services at school and at home so that this right, which is about dignity ... is respected and taken serious," Mlambo-Ngcuka explained.

For her, women's equality benefits everybody.

"Feminism is about respecting the rights of people of all sexualities, but more than anything else being active in trying to correct and to address discrimination where it exists. This is not the responsibility of women alone, this is the responsibility of everyone who believes in equality. So feminism is not just about and for women. Feminism is about men and women working together to make the situation better for everybody."

One positive trend is the increasing number of women in the political arena; about 23 percent of women were in single or lower houses of national parliaments in 2018, a roughly four-percent increase from 2010, according to the UN.

Mlambo-Ngcuka agrees that more women in power will make a difference, but there is still progress to be made.

"We have not reached the critical mass across the world that would ensure that you actually swing the pendulum decisively. We are going the right way in some situations. We are going the right way in particular because of activism of ordinary people trying to hold their leaders accountable. But we need people to vote for women when elections come."

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Jair Bolsonaro was elected president of Brazil in October 2018, soon after the worst political scandal in Brazil's history, which saw dozens of businessmen and politicians arrested and accused of corruption.

Although he was a member of the National Congress for almost 30 years, Bolsonaro was seen as an outsider who promised to fight corruption and crime, and help Brazil recover from a deep economic crisis.

Now his challenge is to do that without angering crucial allies like China and the Arab world with his new foreign policy agenda that is taking his country closer to Israel and the United States.

Bolsonaro, who is still recovering after being stabbed in a rally before the elections last year, is hoping to pass crime and pension reforms, but many question his lack of policies to fight inequality and protect minorities.

Vice President Hamilton Mourao, one of several former military members appointed to Bolsonaro's cabinet, calls himself the "sword and the shield" of the president. He spoke to Al Jazeera in Brasilia.

The political crisis in neighbouring Venezuela is a key issue for Brazil. In January 2019, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself interim president following elections that many saw as fraudulent, while President Nicolas Maduro accused him of staging a coup and ordered his arrest.

The political crisis is taking place amid growing frustration over Venezuela's economic collapse, which has seen hyperinflation, food and medicine shortages, and failed public services.

Mourao believes the crisis must be addressed. "The Bolivarianism that was born with the later president, Hugo Chavez, proved to be not good for the country. It destroyed the oil industry, it destroyed their internal production. They put people against people. And so today the Venezuelan economy is totally shattered. Their social tissue also is shattered. So, of course, they need a change of government."

He does not believe this means Brazil should intervene, and said it will not. He does, however, accept recent moves by the US to put pressure on the Venezuelan government by imposed sanctions and has questioned Maduro's presidency. Recently, the US tried but failed to push the UN Security Council to call for presidential elections in Venezuela and allow unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid.

Internally, Brazil's government has promised to combat rising crime rates and crack down on the drug trade. In a televised interview with Brazil's TV Globo in 2018, then-candidate Bolsonaro said that police who kill criminals should be rewarded.

Bolsonaro's cabinet contains eight former military members, and some are worried that the military - Brazil was under military rule between 1964 and 1985 - may dominate politics again.

"Of course not, our democracy is a very strong one," Mourao said. "Our democracy has the balance of powers very straight. The executive does its job, the legislative does its job, the judiciary system does its job, and the president chose some military people for his cabinet. This is normal, and these guys are here working as civilians, not military. The armed forces are doing their job, nothing more than that. I don't see any threat for democracy in Brazil."

Many are concerned that minorities will not be protected under the new government, as Bolsonaro has been accused of making offensive remarks regarding women, black people and the LGBT community.

"Our constitution protects everybody here. The problem of human rights and minorities, I don't feel they are unprotected here in Brazil. And the government ... has a very good look for this and nobody is going to be persecuted here in Brazil," Mourao said.

In January 2019, a gay legislator left Brazil after receiving death threats. Deaths of LGBT people has more than tripled since 2011, with 420 deaths through homicide and suicide in 2018, according to a report written by gay rights group Grupo Gay da Bahia and summarised by teleSUR English.

"I walk in the streets, I don't see anybody fighting the gay people," Mourao said. "They are not killed because they are gays, they are killed because of crimes that happen with all other kinds of people. When 60,000 people are killed here in Brazil, some of them are from the gay community. I don't see a gay persecution in Brazil."

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Jair Bolsonaro was elected president of Brazil in October 2018, soon after the worst political scandal in Brazil's history, which saw dozens of businessmen and politicians arrested and accused of corruption.

Although he was a member of the National Congress for almost 30 years, Bolsonaro was seen as an outsider who promised to fight corruption and crime, and help Brazil recover from a deep economic crisis.

Now his challenge is to do that without angering crucial allies like China and the Arab world with his new foreign policy agenda that is taking his country closer to Israel and the United States.

Bolsonaro, who is still recovering after being stabbed in a rally before the elections last year, is hoping to pass crime and pension reforms, but many question his lack of policies to fight inequality and protect minorities.

Vice President Hamilton Mourao, one of several former military members appointed to Bolsonaro's cabinet, calls himself the "sword and the shield" of the president. He spoke to Al Jazeera in Brasilia.

The political crisis in neighbouring Venezuela is a key issue for Brazil. In January 2019, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself interim president following elections that many saw as fraudulent, while President Nicolas Maduro accused him of staging a coup and ordered his arrest.

The political crisis is taking place amid growing frustration over Venezuela's economic collapse, which has seen hyperinflation, food and medicine shortages, and failed public services.

Mourao believes the crisis must be addressed. "The Bolivarianism that was born with the later president, Hugo Chavez, proved to be not good for the country. It destroyed the oil industry, it destroyed their internal production. They put people against people. And so today the Venezuelan economy is totally shattered. Their social tissue also is shattered. So, of course, they need a change of government."

He does not believe this means Brazil should intervene, and said it will not. He does, however, accept recent moves by the US to put pressure on the Venezuelan government by imposed sanctions and has questioned Maduro's presidency. Recently, the US tried but failed to push the UN Security Council to call for presidential elections in Venezuela and allow unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid.

Internally, Brazil's government has promised to combat rising crime rates and crack down on the drug trade. In a televised interview with Brazil's TV Globo in 2018, then-candidate Bolsonaro said that police who kill criminals should be rewarded.

Bolsonaro's cabinet contains eight former military members, and some are worried that the military - Brazil was under military rule between 1964 and 1985 - may dominate politics again.

"Of course not, our democracy is a very strong one," Mourao said. "Our democracy has the balance of powers very straight. The executive does its job, the legislative does its job, the judiciary system does its job, and the president chose some military people for his cabinet. This is normal, and these guys are here working as civilians, not military. The armed forces are doing their job, nothing more than that. I don't see any threat for democracy in Brazil."

Many are concerned that minorities will not be protected under the new government, as Bolsonaro has been accused of making offensive remarks regarding women, black people and the LGBT community.

"Our constitution protects everybody here. The problem of human rights and minorities, I don't feel they are unprotected here in Brazil. And the government ... has a very good look for this and nobody is going to be persecuted here in Brazil," Mourao said.

In January 2019, a gay legislator left Brazil after receiving death threats. Deaths of LGBT people has more than tripled since 2011, with 420 deaths through homicide and suicide in 2018, according to a report written by gay rights group Grupo Gay da Bahia and summarised by teleSUR English.

"I walk in the streets, I don't see anybody fighting the gay people," Mourao said. "They are not killed because they are gays, they are killed because of crimes that happen with all other kinds of people. When 60,000 people are killed here in Brazil, some of them are from the gay community. I don't see a gay persecution in Brazil."

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Jair Bolsonaro was elected president of Brazil in October 2018, soon after the worst political scandal in Brazil's history, which saw dozens of businessmen and politicians arrested and accused of corruption.

Although he was a member of the National Congress for almost 30 years, Bolsonaro was seen as an outsider who promised to fight corruption and crime, and help Brazil recover from a deep economic crisis.

Now his challenge is to do that without angering crucial allies like China and the Arab world with his new foreign policy agenda that is taking his country closer to Israel and the United States.

Bolsonaro, who is still recovering after being stabbed in a rally before the elections last year, is hoping to pass crime and pension reforms, but many question his lack of policies to fight inequality and protect minorities.

Vice President Hamilton Mourao, one of several former military members appointed to Bolsonaro's cabinet, calls himself the "sword and the shield" of the president. He spoke to Al Jazeera in Brasilia.

The political crisis in neighbouring Venezuela is a key issue for Brazil. In January 2019, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself interim president following elections that many saw as fraudulent, while President Nicolas Maduro accused him of staging a coup and ordered his arrest.

The political crisis is taking place amid growing frustration over Venezuela's economic collapse, which has seen hyperinflation, food and medicine shortages, and failed public services.

Mourao believes the crisis must be addressed. "The Bolivarianism that was born with the later president, Hugo Chavez, proved to be not good for the country. It destroyed the oil industry, it destroyed their internal production. They put people against people. And so today the Venezuelan economy is totally shattered. Their social tissue also is shattered. So, of course, they need a change of government."

He does not believe this means Brazil should intervene, and said it will not. He does, however, accept recent moves by the US to put pressure on the Venezuelan government by imposed sanctions and has questioned Maduro's presidency. Recently, the US tried but failed to push the UN Security Council to call for presidential elections in Venezuela and allow unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid.

Internally, Brazil's government has promised to combat rising crime rates and crack down on the drug trade. In a televised interview with Brazil's TV Globo in 2018, then-candidate Bolsonaro said that police who kill criminals should be rewarded.

Bolsonaro's cabinet contains eight former military members, and some are worried that the military - Brazil was under military rule between 1964 and 1985 - may dominate politics again.

"Of course not, our democracy is a very strong one," Mourao said. "Our democracy has the balance of powers very straight. The executive does its job, the legislative does its job, the judiciary system does its job, and the president chose some military people for his cabinet. This is normal, and these guys are here working as civilians, not military. The armed forces are doing their job, nothing more than that. I don't see any threat for democracy in Brazil."

Many are concerned that minorities will not be protected under the new government, as Bolsonaro has been accused of making offensive remarks regarding women, black people and the LGBT community.

"Our constitution protects everybody here. The problem of human rights and minorities, I don't feel they are unprotected here in Brazil. And the government ... has a very good look for this and nobody is going to be persecuted here in Brazil," Mourao said.

In January 2019, a gay legislator left Brazil after receiving death threats. Deaths of LGBT people has more than tripled since 2011, with 420 deaths through homicide and suicide in 2018, according to a report written by gay rights group Grupo Gay da Bahia and summarised by teleSUR English.

"I walk in the streets, I don't see anybody fighting the gay people," Mourao said. "They are not killed because they are gays, they are killed because of crimes that happen with all other kinds of people. When 60,000 people are killed here in Brazil, some of them are from the gay community. I don't see a gay persecution in Brazil."

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Filmmaker: Muhammad Salamah

Known to some as the "Father of the Palestinians" or "Archbishop of the Arabs", Monsignor Hilarion Capucci was an enigmatic freedom-fighting Christian Archbishop in Jerusalem who was jailed for smuggling arms for the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in the 1970s, but continued battling for the Palestinians until his death.

Born in the Syrian city of Aleppo in 1922, Capucci was ordained as a priest of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church in 1947 and was appointed Patriarchal Vicar of Jerusalem and Archbishop of Caesarea in 1965, a time of great turmoil in the Middle East.

In 1946, he witnessed the Jerusalem bombing of the King David Hotel by members of the Zionist group Irgun. Deeply affected by this, he wrote: "I was the only student who left the Saint Anne monastery that day. I saw the destruction and the bodies of 90 English and Arab victims ... I felt unbearable pain."

On June 5, 1967, Israel declared war on Egypt, Syria and Jordan and defeated the combined Arab armies to occupy the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the Syrian Golan Heights and the West Bank.

The Israeli army entered Jerusalem and the city came under Israeli control, a turning point in the life of Archbishop Capucci.

We have to work hard, fight and struggle.

Hilarion Capucci , Christian Archbishop in Jerusalem

"He told me he was badly affected by what happened in 1967," recalls Ali Rafie, lawyer of the Malaabi brothers. "He saw 'martyrs' in the streets and alleyways of Jerusalem. He buried 400 bodies himself. Muslim Sheikhs helped him with the burials. He and the Sheikhs prayed together for those Jerusalem martyrs."

Capucci wrote in his memoirs: "Three days after the occupation of Jerusalem, I was driving my car in the streets of Jerusalem, wearing my clerical clothes. An Israeli soldier approached and spat at me. I got out of the car and started beating him until he fell to the ground. I was then convinced that these invaders must be confronted with violence to beat their brutality. I decided to work hard to resist the occupation."

Shocked by atrocities of war, he refused to maintain any relationship with Israel and thus began an aggressive underground campaign to provide weapons for Fatah and other Palestinian resistance factions.

As a religious leader with diplomatic immunity, the archbishop could travel across the Lebanese-Israeli border without being subject to inspection. But on one fateful day in August 1974, Archbishop Capucci was stopped in Jerusalem and inside his car, the authorities said, was a cache of weapons. The Malaabi brothers were also arrested in conjunction with Capucci for weapons smuggling.

During his highly publicised trial, he famously said, "I don't recognise this trial. You're occupiers. Everything I say is addressed to my people and to those who want to know why I did this. I don't care about your verdict," according to Palestinian historian Saqr Abu Fakhr.

Archbishop Capucci mediated in a hostage crisis in Iraq in the early 1990s [AP/Broglio]

He was sentenced to 12 years in jail, but Archbishop Capucci's time in prison came to an end in 1977, after Pope Paul VI appealed for his release. Capucci remained in the headlines following his release, attempting to mediate in the Iran hostage crisis.

In May 1980, he obtained the release of the bodies of American soldiers who had died in a rescue mission. He also mediated in a hostage crisis in Iraq in the early 1990s.

But his main preoccupation remained the Palestinian cause and he was a link between the PLO and the Catholic Church in the Vatican.

"The Archbishop introduced the significance of the Palestinian cause to the whole of Europe," says Mai Keila, the Palestinian Ambassador to Italy. "All the delegations who came to Rome had to meet the Archbishop."

Even with his mobility challenges, Capucci promoted the Palestinian cause wherever he could in the world. "We have to work hard, fight and struggle," he told his followers.

In 2010, he was on board the Mavi Marmara when the Turkish-owned ship was intercepted by Israeli commandos as it took part in an aid flotilla attempting to breach the blockade of the Gaza Strip. Ten Turkish activists were killed and dozens wounded after the commandos boarded the ship and opened fire on the activists. Capucci was injured and said the raid was unwarranted.

On January 1, 2017, the Vatican announced that Archbishop Hilarion Capucci had died in Rome, aged 94. It was his wish to be buried next to his mother in Lebanon. On hearing of his death, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas described him as a great "freedom fighter". Iraq, Egypt, Libya, Sudan and Syria have all commemorated him on postage stamps.

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Filmmaker: Muhammad Salamah

Known to some as the "Father of the Palestinians" or "Archbishop of the Arabs", Monsignor Hilarion Capucci was an enigmatic freedom-fighting Christian Archbishop in Jerusalem who was jailed for smuggling arms for the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in the 1970s, but continued battling for the Palestinians until his death.

Born in the Syrian city of Aleppo in 1922, Capucci was ordained as a priest of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church in 1947 and was appointed Patriarchal Vicar of Jerusalem and Archbishop of Caesarea in 1965, a time of great turmoil in the Middle East.

In 1946, he witnessed the Jerusalem bombing of the King David Hotel by members of the Zionist group Irgun. Deeply affected by this, he wrote: "I was the only student who left the Saint Anne monastery that day. I saw the destruction and the bodies of 90 English and Arab victims ... I felt unbearable pain."

On June 5, 1967, Israel declared war on Egypt, Syria and Jordan and defeated the combined Arab armies to occupy the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the Syrian Golan Heights and the West Bank.

The Israeli army entered Jerusalem and the city came under Israeli control, a turning point in the life of Archbishop Capucci.

We have to work hard, fight and struggle.

Hilarion Capucci , Christian Archbishop in Jerusalem

"He told me he was badly affected by what happened in 1967," recalls Ali Rafie, lawyer of the Malaabi brothers. "He saw 'martyrs' in the streets and alleyways of Jerusalem. He buried 400 bodies himself. Muslim Sheikhs helped him with the burials. He and the Sheikhs prayed together for those Jerusalem martyrs."

Capucci wrote in his memoirs: "Three days after the occupation of Jerusalem, I was driving my car in the streets of Jerusalem, wearing my clerical clothes. An Israeli soldier approached and spat at me. I got out of the car and started beating him until he fell to the ground. I was then convinced that these invaders must be confronted with violence to beat their brutality. I decided to work hard to resist the occupation."

Shocked by atrocities of war, he refused to maintain any relationship with Israel and thus began an aggressive underground campaign to provide weapons for Fatah and other Palestinian resistance factions.

As a religious leader with diplomatic immunity, the archbishop could travel across the Lebanese-Israeli border without being subject to inspection. But on one fateful day in August 1974, Archbishop Capucci was stopped in Jerusalem and inside his car, the authorities said, was a cache of weapons. The Malaabi brothers were also arrested in conjunction with Capucci for weapons smuggling.

During his highly publicised trial, he famously said, "I don't recognise this trial. You're occupiers. Everything I say is addressed to my people and to those who want to know why I did this. I don't care about your verdict," according to Palestinian historian Saqr Abu Fakhr.

Archbishop Capucci mediated in a hostage crisis in Iraq in the early 1990s [AP/Broglio]

He was sentenced to 12 years in jail, but Archbishop Capucci's time in prison came to an end in 1977, after Pope Paul VI appealed for his release. Capucci remained in the headlines following his release, attempting to mediate in the Iran hostage crisis.

In May 1980, he obtained the release of the bodies of American soldiers who had died in a rescue mission. He also mediated in a hostage crisis in Iraq in the early 1990s.

But his main preoccupation remained the Palestinian cause and he was a link between the PLO and the Catholic Church in the Vatican.

"The Archbishop introduced the significance of the Palestinian cause to the whole of Europe," says Mai Keila, the Palestinian Ambassador to Italy. "All the delegations who came to Rome had to meet the Archbishop."

Even with his mobility challenges, Capucci promoted the Palestinian cause wherever he could in the world. "We have to work hard, fight and struggle," he told his followers.

In 2010, he was on board the Mavi Marmara when the Turkish-owned ship was intercepted by Israeli commandos as it took part in an aid flotilla attempting to breach the blockade of the Gaza Strip. Ten Turkish activists were killed and dozens wounded after the commandos boarded the ship and opened fire on the activists. Capucci was injured and said the raid was unwarranted.

On January 1, 2017, the Vatican announced that Archbishop Hilarion Capucci had died in Rome, aged 94. It was his wish to be buried next to his mother in Lebanon. On hearing of his death, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas described him as a great "freedom fighter". Iraq, Egypt, Libya, Sudan and Syria have all commemorated him on postage stamps.

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Anwar Ibrahim got his start in politics as a student leader in Malaysia in the 1970s and stunned many when he joined the ruling party and teamed up with then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

He rose quickly through ranks to become finance minister in 1991 and deputy prime minister two years later.

But Anwar and Mahathir fell out in a spectacular fashion in 1998, as the Asian financial crisis plunged Malaysia's economy into recession and exposed long-rumoured differences at the top of government.

Anwar was sacked and charged with sodomy and corruption, triiggering the biggest protests Malaysia had ever seen.

Found guilty following an often lurid trial - a stained mattress was dragged in and out of court at one point in the proceedings - Anwar, who said the charges were politically-motivated, was jailed.

In 2004, Malaysia's High Court ruled that there had been insufficient evidence and overturned Anwar's conviction.

After his release, he reentered politics and ran for a seat in parliament in 2008.

But with his political star in the ascendant, and the opposition parties threatening to unseat the coalition that had governed Malaysia since independence, Anwar was once again accused of sodomy. In 2015, after his final appeal was rejected, he was jailed.

Anwar maintained the charges were politically motivated and the opposition parties united behind Mahathir, who had retired in 2003 and switched sides amid a deepening scandal involving Prime Minister Najib Razak and billions of dollars of losses at state fund 1MDB.

In May 2018, after a shock election victory of the Mahathir-led Pakatan Harapan coalition, Anwar was given a royal pardon.

With his release, Anwar returned to political life and Keadilan Rakyat - the People's Justice Party - which had been founded by his wife to campaign for him and reform after he was sacked in 1998.

He entered parliament after winning the seat of Port Dickson, a seaside resort about 90 minutes south of Kuala Lumpur, and, in a twist few would have predicted, is once again working alongside Mahathir.

The elderly politician - now 93 - has promised to hand over the job of prime minister to Anwar in two years.

So after such a bumpy journey, what are Anwar's ambitions for Malaysia?

And with Najib's trials on multiple charges of corruption getting under way in Kuala Lumpur, how does he plan to clean up Malaysia's political system?

Anwar Ibrahim talks to Al Jazeera.

He tells Al Jazeera that nurturing Malaysia's democracy is his primary goal, and to get there he wants to safeguard judicial independence and media freedom.

He says he is also determined to tackle corruption, and is confident that "a country can effectively rid itself of corruption."

He is also hoping to reclaim the solid economic performance that characterised his time as Malaysia's finance minister by pursuing "an economic policy that propels growth, yet at the same time, will not tolerate poverty in the midst of plenty, and gross inequality".

On Saudi Arabia's alleged connection to the 1MDB scandal, Anwar says transparency is key.

"The Saudis ... must explain," Anwar says. "They must be held accountable, they must explain, because Najib clearly said the money [$681m discovered in his private bank accounts] comes from Saudi Arabia ... he has admitted, by the way, that the prime minister can receive 2.6 billion ringgit [$638m] into his personal account, which to me is clearly a crime, it is a corrupt practice. But because it involves some personalities or authorities in Saudi Arabia, we must hold that person or that entity into account."

With regards to Abu Dhabi's alleged involvement in the fund, Anwar says the investigation is in progress.

Commenting on his position in a multiethnic coalition grounded in pluralism in a world where the political mood seems to be shifting towards populism and polarisation, Anwar says justice is his priority.

"I am committed to have Malaysia to be just to everyone. This is important. I am a Malay Muslim. I care for my people. I cannot condone any practice that causes injustice to any citizen in our country, irrespective of if they are Muslims or non-Muslims, Malays, Chinese, Indians or from the tribal regions of Sabah and Sarawak."

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