CNN Radio News Day: May 9, 2013
CNN Radio News Day is an evening news program providing an informative, thoughtful and creative look at the day's events. It's posted Monday through Friday at 4:30 pm ET.
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(CNN) – Welcome to CNN Radio News Day. Here are some of the stories we're covering in today's show:
- Accused kidnapper Ariel Castro made his first appearance in a Cleveland, Ohio courtroom this morning. He's charged with four counts of kidnapping and three counts of rape, for allegedly holding three women captive for a decade. CNN veteran reporter Gary Tuchman was inside that courtroom and says even he was shocked and surprised by some of the details he heard:
"People ask us all the time, you know we cover these horrible stories for years and years all of us, and they say 'You must get used to it.' And my response is: 'I never get used to it.' We're just amazed, and astounded and disgusted when we hear details of these cases, all very tragic and sad."
FULL POST
The legend of hunger strikers
By Libby Lewis, CNN
Editor's Note: Listen to the full story in our player above, and join the conversation in our comments section below.
(CNN) - Denis O’Hearn’s willing to bet on one thing about the men on hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay:
[:52] “I can guarantee you that every one of those prisoners could tell you who Bobby Sands is.”
O’Hearn wrote a biography of Sands, a member of the Irish Republican Army who starved himself to death in a hunger strike in 1981. He was 27. FULL POST
A cook’s Guantanamo nightmare
By Jim Roope, CNN
Follow on Twitter: @jimroopeCNN
Editor's Note: Listen to the full story in our player above, and join the conversation in our comments section below.
(CNN) - The Guantanamo Bay terrorist detention facility has been troubled since it opened in 2002. Last week President Obama renewed his pledge to close it:
[0:19] “That is contrary to who we are. It is contrary to our interests and it’s gotta stop.”
One hundred Guantanamo detainees are currently on a hunger strike protesting conditions and their continued detention without trial. According to the Department of Defense, 24 of the hunger strikers are being force fed with three of those being watched at a hospital.
Here is one man’s story that underscores the problems with Guantanamo, the seemingly random rounding up of suspected terrorists:
[0:46] “I am not a terrorist. I am only a cook.”
Ahmed Errachidi, a Moroccan citizen, was trying to raise money in 2002 for a heart operation his young son needed. His idea was to import jewelry from Pakistan, but he was kidnapped by Pakistanis, sold to the Americans for bounty and taken to Guantanamo.
He spent over five years in detention, before a lawyer was able to prove that Errachidi was only a cook and not a terrorist:
[01:25] “His is one of the most ludicrous cases," says attorney Clive Smith. "And there were quite a few ludicrous cases that I came across at Guantanamo, but his was one of the worst.”
Errachidi wrote a book about his years at Guantanamo titled, The General: The Ordinary Man Who Challenged Guantanamo.
Listen to our podcast to hear more of Errachidi's story.
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