Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Syrians Search Morgue for Missing Loved Ones; U.S. Cautiously Optimistic About Gaza Ceasefire Deal; Underage Russians Thrown in Jail After Opposing War;. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired December 13, 2024 - 04:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[04:30:00]

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, welcome back to the CNN NEWSROOM. Here are some of the top stories we're following today.

Donald Trump has been named Times Person of the Year for the second time. During his sit-down with the magazine, he shared some of his day-one plans for his new administration, including making good on promises about mass deportations and pardons for January 6th rioters.

A watchdog report from the U.S. Justice Department found that there were no undercover FBI employees present at the Capitol during the riot on January 6th. The findings in the report reject speculation from allies of President-elect Donald Trump who have suggested that the violence that day was provoked by federal agents. The report did find that 26 FBI informants were in Washington that day.

And a former Syrian official who oversaw a prison where alleged human rights abuses took place has been charged with torture after being arrested in July in California. Human rights groups and United Nations officials have accused the recently deposed Syrian government of abuses in its detention facilities, including torture and arbitrary detention.

BEN HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Many people in Syria are searching for their missing loved ones. CNN's Clarissa Ward visited a morgue in Damascus where the bodies left behind reveal signs of the cruelty inflicted by the Assad regime. We should warn our viewers, you may find the following report disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A woman wails on the floor of the Mujtahid hospital.

My mother, she's been missing for 14 years, she says. Where is she? Where's my brother? Where's my husband? Where are they?

Dr. Ahmed Abdullah (ph) shows us into the morgue where about 35 bodies have been brought in. Discovered in a military hospital days after the regime fell, they are believed to be some of the last victims of Bashar al-Assad.

Take a look. This is the crime of the regime, he says. Even in the Middle Ages they didn't torture people like this.

Another man points to their tattered clothing. Evidence, he says that most were detainees at the much feared Sednayah prison. Even in death they are still only identified by numbers.

Everyone here heard about the horrors that took place in Assad's notorious prisons. But to see it up close is something entirely different.

WARD: A lot of them have bruises, have horrible wounds that seem to be consistent with torture. I just saw one woman retching as she came out of the other room. Families are now going through trying to see if their loved ones are here.

WARD (voice-over): There's not enough room for all of them in the morgue, so a makeshift area has been set up outside. More and more families stream in, the light from their cell phones the only way of identifying the dead.

My only son, I don't have another. They took him for 12 years now just because he said no. 12 years my only son, this woman shouts. I don't know anything about him. I ask Allah to burn him, she says of Assad. Burn him and his sons like he burned my heart.

A crowd swarms when they see our camera. Everyone here has lost someone.

WARD: All of these people are asking us to take the names of their loved ones to help them try to find them.

WARD (voice-over): It is a mark of desperation. Such is the need for answers. But finding those answers will not be easy. At the military intelligence facility known as the Palestine Branch, officers burned documents and destroyed hard drives before fleeing. But their terror was on an industrial scale. Troves and troves of prisoner files remain. It will take investigators years to go through them.

Below ground, more clues etched on the walls of cells that look more like dungeons.

[04:35:00]

WARD: So you can see this list of names of it looks like 93 prisoners here. There's also a schedule for keeping the cell tidy. And just graffiti everywhere, people trying to leave marks for someone to find.

WARD (voice-over): Down here, insects are the only life form that thrives. It's clear that anyone who could survive this will never be the same again.

The cells are empty, but the doors are finally open. And the quest for answers is just beginning.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HUNT: The rebel takeover in Syria has displaced hundreds of thousands of people, worsening the already dire food security situation. The World Food Program says 3 million Syrians need food. Essential items including rice, sugar and oil are in short supply. Food prices have also spiked as the Syrian currency depreciates. The WFP says over the last two weeks, it's provided aid to about 70,000 displaced people in Homs, Aleppo, Raqqa and Hasakah.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in the region, meeting with Turkey's president and foreign minister. He's stressing the need for unity among rival factions to facilitate a peaceful transition and prevent the resurgence of ISIS.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We want to avoid sparking any kinds of additional conflicts inside of Syria at a time when we want to see this transition to an interim government and to a better way forward for Syria. Part of that also has to be ensuring that ISIS doesn't rear its ugly head again. And critical to making sure that doesn't happen is the so-called SDF, the Syrian Democratic Forces.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well the U.S. is cautiously optimistic about a potential ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza. Diplomats have been there before when they said that deal was close, only to see it fall apart. But as Jeremy Diamond reports, a top U.S. official believes things could be different now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, with just over a month left in President Biden's term in office, his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, sitting down with the Israeli prime minister to see if a hostage and ceasefire deal can be reached before Biden leaves office. And Sullivan struck a tone of cautious optimism, saying that he believes that there is optimism in the air, that there is cause to believe that a deal can indeed be reached, and that he believes the Israeli prime minister is indeed ready to reach a deal. He gave a number of reasons for why things have changed, for why there is more optimism in the air.

He said that following the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, that Hamas seems to have changed its negotiating posture somewhat, recognizing that it was no longer receiving the support of Hezbollah, and that perhaps other actors that it had hoped would come into play in its defense ultimately will not.

At the same time, he also indicated that there were changes on the Israeli side as well, noting that Israel has killed Hamas's leader, Yahya Sinwar, and that some of its other military successes in Gaza may have made Israel more willing to reach for an agreement.

Now, at the same time, Sullivan did caution that the United States has said that a deal was close, that a deal was at hand before, and ultimately it didn't happen. So here was that more cautious side that he voiced.

JAKE SULLIVAN, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: We have been in a place before where American officials have stood before podiums and said we are close, and we were close, but we didn't get there. I believe we are close again.

Will we get there? It is not yet clear whether we will or we won't, but we are determined to try to drive this across the finish line.

DIAMOND: And I asked Jake Sullivan what new concessions Israel and Hamas have made at the negotiating table so far. He refused to confirm or comment on any specifics about the negotiations, making clear that they are trying to keep this close to the vest at this critical juncture.

But at this critical juncture, he is now headed to Doha, Qatar, and to Cairo, Egypt, where, of course, the two key mediators in these negotiations are based, as he said it, to try and, quote, put us in a position to close this deal this month.

And so that is ultimately the aim here of the U.S. administration, to get to a deal potentially as soon as in the coming weeks, and, of course, to get the Americans who have been held hostage in Gaza out as well. He actually confirmed tonight that of the seven Americans who are in Gaza, we know that four of those have already been confirmed dead. The three other American hostages, Sullivan said, are indeed believed to be alive. Some hope perhaps now for their families that they can get out as part of this deal, if indeed it can be reached.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNT: A British-based surgeon says food shortages are starting to show visible signs of their impact on children in Gaza.

[04:40:00]

She says the hair color of some children is starting to turn lighter, which she attributed to protein malnutrition. The doctor noticed the change on her patients over the past several months. The United Nations have been warning since this summer that the lack of food is creating conditions for famine in the enclave.

Palestinian officials say more than 17,000 children have been killed in Gaza and more than 40 have starved to death.

MACFARLANE: The Biden administration is reportedly scrambling to send more military aid to Ukraine. Still ahead, crunch time for the White House as it works out how to prop up Ukraine with only weeks left to spare.

HUNT: Plus, underage Russians paying the price for opposing the war in Ukraine as the Kremlin cracks down on dissent.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MACFARLANE: Emergency blackouts are in effect across Ukraine right now after a barrage of new strikes on its energy system. Kyiv's energy minister says Russia launched a massive new attack this morning but the extent of the damage is still unclear. Moscow has been stepping up its strikes on Ukraine's power grid as winter begins to set in.

The Biden administration, meanwhile, is trying to send Ukraine as much military aid as it can while it can. The White House announced a half- billion-dollar package yesterday and an administration official says there's even more help is on the way while President Joe Biden is still in office.

Donald Trump takes over as president in January but he's made no guarantees to continue sending the aid. In an interview with Time magazine, which named him Person of the Year, he criticized the recent decision to allow Ukraine to use U.S.-made missiles for strikes deeper inside Russia. He says that will only make the war worse.

HUNT: Since the war began, more than 20,000 people in Russia have been detained for standing up against it. A Russian human rights group says more than a dozen of them are underage because people as young as 14 can be prosecuted for such crimes as treason and terrorism.

MACFARLANE: And as Alex Marquardt reports, they learned the hard way what it means to speak out against the war in Russia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[04:45:00]

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Arseniy Turbin was your average Russian teenager. A top student who enjoyed electronics, he built a radio transmitter for a class project. Today, he's one of Russia's youngest political prisoners.

Arrested at 15 years old and now facing five years in a penal colony, found guilty on terrorism charges. He was accused of joining a Russian paramilitary group fighting for Ukraine. He admits he contacted them but denies joining.

On Russia's National Day in June last year, he staged a solo protest. Posting on YouTube saying, I'm against Putin and freedom for political prisoners. Now Turbin is one of at least three dozen teenagers who are jailed in Russia for political reasons.

Among Russia's almost 3,000 citizens facing criminal prosecution on political grounds. Human rights group, OVD Info, has tracked these cases and told CNN there are at least 16 teenagers that they know of, but almost certainly more, who were detained after Russia invaded Ukraine and the Kremlin dramatically cracked down on dissent, including by minors.

We spoke with Turbin's mother, Irina, in Russia, who had pleaded with her son not to speak out, knowing what could happen. IRINA TURBINA, MOTHER OF RUSSIAN TEENAGE PRISONER (through translator): Of course, I'm terrified for him, and I'm afraid that part of him will break, but I want to believe that he will be strong until the end.

MARQUARDT: You shared some of the letters that Arseniy wrote to you from detention, and in one of them he says, please, I'm asking you to do everything you can to make sure I get released. I dream of the day when I'll be released and can hug you. How painful is that for you as a mother to read that?

TURBINA (through translator): I cried because I understand that I am doing the best I can already. I knew I couldn't do anything. I have already done and am doing everything I can, but this is not enough for him to be free.

MARQUARDT (voice-over): In another letter, Turbin wrote, yesterday after lights out, an inmate pushed me into the toilet. Today he punched me twice in the head while I was in bed. The situation is very difficult.

Kevin Lick knows all too well about the brutality of Russian prisons, after being arrested at 17 years old and sent to a labor camp with a four-year sentence.

KEVIN LICK, FORMER PRISONER IN RUSSIA: They handcuffed my hands with a rope and started to beat me. They put out a cigarette in my hand, there's a scar left.

MARQUARDT: They physically abused you.

LICK: Yes, they abused, to try to get answers out of me.

MARQUARDT (voice-over): Lick had taken photos of a military base across from his apartment building. He says he wanted to document history as the Russian military prepared to invade Ukraine. Pro-regime media published this video of his alleged equipment.

Lick was accused of wanting to send the photos to the intelligence services in Germany, where he is also a citizen, but he denies this.

LICK: My first two months of imprisonment, I was held in solitary confinement. Now, when I look back, of course it left scars. A psychologist told me that I have PTSD.

MARQUARDT (voice-over): In prison, he says he was packed into cells with other inmates and lost a huge amount of weight. Then he was suddenly released in August as part of the historic international prisoner swap when Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan were also freed.

In protesting Putin and his regime's war in Ukraine, charges against teenagers range from arson to sabotage and treason. The youngest case that OVD-Info has told CNN about is of a 14-year-old unnamed girl accused of desecrating a military symbol. In late October, OVD-Info says that 15-year-old Sebastian Sultanov was arrested and is now being prosecuted for anti-Putin and anti-war graffiti.

He, like both Kevin Lick and Arseny Turbin, are supporters of opposition hero and Putin nemesis Alexei Navalny, who died in February in a penal colony. Lick marched alongside Navalny's widow, Yulia, in a pro-democracy demonstration in Berlin just weeks ago. He's now embracing a new life of activism.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: That was Alex Marquardt reporting.

And so far, Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service has not responded to our requests for comment regarding the allegations in that report. The Kremlin denies the existence of political prisoners in Russia.

[04:50:00]

HUNT: U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is set to have a private dinner with the widow of late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Akiya Abe will attend a meal at Mar-a-Lago with Trump and wife Melania on Sunday. That's according to a source familiar with the matter.

Trump and Abe have remained close since her husband was assassinated two years ago during a political speech in Japan. According to a source, they scheduled this dinner directly bypassing government channels.

MACFARLANE: Coming up, a Santa-inspired getaway goes terribly wrong for a suspect trying to flee from police.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: Welcome back. Now, a man in the U.S. state of Massachusetts may be on the naughty list this year after attempting a Santa-like escape from police.

HUNT: What?

MACFARLANE: Police were executing a search warrant at a home when two men fled onto the roof. While one jumped from the roof and got away, the other took a route inspired by Chris Kringle. Yes, that's right. Right down the chimney. Except Ben, he ended up getting stuck.

HUNT: What on Earth?

[04:55:00]

MACFARLANE: Police had to rescue him before arresting him. The man faces multiple charges including possession of drugs and a woman at the scene was also arrested in possession of drugs. Do you applaud the effort, though, to some degree?

HUNT: It's like a real-life Home Alone.

MACFARLANE: A rebel without a clause.

HUNT: Ooh. Ooh! I like it. It's too early for jokes like that.

There's a new champion in the world of chess. Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju has become the youngest ever undisputed world champ in classical chess after beating his Chinese rival in a grueling best-of- 14 final in Singapore. The 18-year-old is four years younger than a previous record holder, the legendary Garry Kasparov, who won his first world title in 1985.

Gukesh broke into tears as the emotion of his victory sunk in, telling reporters he's living a dream he's had for more than a decade. I know that's right. That's what it feels like today. Feeling it. Back in India, celebrations broke out for the homegrown hero.

MACFARLANE: Look at those kids. So lovely. Now, in other news, Hollywood-honored British actor Jude Law on Thursday with a star on the Walk of Fame.

He won a BAFTA Award for Best Actor for the movie The Talented Mr. Ripley, as well as nominations in Oscars, Tonys and Olivier Awards. His movie ventures include roles like the Fantastic Beasts franchise of the Harry Potter universe and Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes series. We're not mentioning The Holiday, one of my all-time favorites.

HUNT: As per what we just discussed. Yes, get it in there.

MACFARLANE: We're in the holiday season, let's bring it out. And the producer of the Walk of Fame said Jude Law's quote, incredible talent and dedication to his craft have captivated audiences around the world. Got to agree with that.

HUNT: Just like you on CNN. Great.

MACFARLANE: Well thanks, Ben. This is quite early.

HUNT: Cheese ends, cheese ends. That's it, all we've got for you there.

Thank you so much for joining us here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ben Hunt.

MACFARLANE: And I'm Christina Macfarlane. CNN "THIS MORNING" is up next. Stay with us.