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Assad Makes Public Appearance; Murder Case Rocks Chinese Politics; Miners Back at Work After Shooting; One Shot at Freedom for Jason Puracal; South Korean Rapper Goes Viral; Grounded By Fear of Flying

Aired August 20, 2012 - 12:00   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to the NEWSROOM INTERNATIONAL. I'm Suzanne Malveaux. We are taking you around the world in 60 minutes.

Here's what's going on right now:

In London, the WikiLeaks founder breaks his silence, slamming the United States.

And she was considered China's Jackie O. The difference? This wife of a powerful Chinese politician just handed a life sentence.

I want to start, however, with a dictator coming out to pray in public in the middle of a civil war. That is right. We're talking about Syria. Syrians are trying to celebrate Eid, the holiday that which marks the end of Ramadan.

Well, rebels say that fresh fighting has now claimed at least 72 lives.

You'll get a video here. This was posted on YouTube. It is said to show a shelling in a Damascus suburb. Now, there's also been renewed violence in Sana'a. That is where anti-regime protests begun last year.

Now, President Bashar al Assad, he's made now a rare public appearance. He actually showed up for prayers at a mosque in Damascus. This is the first time he's actually been seen on TV since a bomb killed his brother in law, the country's defense minister and other senior members of his regime. That happened about a month ago.

I want to bring in Hala Gorani of CNN International to talk a little bit about this.

What do you make of the fact that Assad is in public, he's on television?

HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

MALVEAUX: What kind of message is he is trying to send?

GORANI: Well, there are two things interesting about that video you just showed our viewers. One is that it's not the Umayyad Mosque, which is the big, important mosque in Damascus. We don't know exactly where this mosque is.

The other thing that is important in the video is that the vice president of Syria, Farouq al-Sharaa is not in it. And you know that last week, there were reports that the vice president had defected to Jordan. If that is the case, it is an extremely symbolically important defection. It shows that the regime of Bashar al Assad is crumbling.

You mentioned Daraa. Daraa is in the south. That's where Farouq al-Sharaa comes from. This is the vice president we're talking about.

MALVEAUX: Right.

GORANI: At 73-year-old Sunni, some reports are that he is under house arrest. The Free Syrian Army is saying he's defected, the regime is saying he's not defected. We do not know where Farouq al- Sharaa is. If he has defected indeed, it is extremely significant for the regime.

MALVEAUX: And what does it mean -- you said that President Assad was not at a major mosque. He was at some other mosque. Is that important here? Do you think that he's actually fearful for his life?

GORANI: I think possibly for security reasons, it might not be a good idea to go into the center of Damascus, to Umayyad Mosque, for a prayer. In this case, it looks like a smaller mosque. It could be within the compound of where the president is staying.

So this might be one of the reasons why, but it is significant. This is not a president who is going out in public in convoys of cars, you know, even with the high level security detail. This is not the kind of risk that the President Bashar al Assad in this current situation seems to be willing to take, and it is understandable considering the security official assassinations a few weeks ago.

MALVEAUX: And let's go back to the vice president here, because you say that people have not seen him, and they do suspect that he might have defected to Jordan. Why Jordan?

GORANI: Well, he is from Daraa. You mentioned it in the introduction. To me, Daraa is where the uprising started. That is where he is form.

There have been reports from the beginning that he's kept a low profile, because he did not agree with the crackdown. That he's thought the crackdown was too harsh. It is after all his town.

And he has kept a relatively low profile for a vice president in Syria. He has not been seen at very many high profile events. He was last seen on state television for the funeral of the slain security officials last July.

MALVEAUX: And, you know, we have seen it kind of play out before. We have seen Gadhafi of Libya kind of come and go before his power ultimately -- he lost power. Mubarak as well.

So what does this mean when you saw two of the top leaders Assad who is coming and going and number two who's basically missing?

GORANI: Well, the regime is certainly more fragile now than it was several months ago. You are seeing more and more defections. Right now, what you're seeing are defections among the very high level Sunni officials. And the regime is a minority sect called the Alawite Sect.

So, right now, we're seeing that, probably more predictable. Once we start seeing high level defections perhaps from within the clan of the president if that happened, then really, it could be a clearer signal that that regime is just about to crumble.

We have not seen that yet.

MALVEAUX: And the bigger picture, Saudi Arabia as well contributing to the rebels in the tunes of millions of dollars. Why? Why is this so important to Saudi Arabia?

GORANI: Because Saudi Arabia is supporting the rebels. They are making no secret of the fact that they want to arm the rebels, because the regime of President Assad is allied with Iran. And Iran and Syria are one axis. Saudi Arabia and their Sunni allies is another.

But one of the things -- you're talking about arming the rebels. The French foreign minister said essentially as for heavy weapons, especially to destroy, this is a problem, he told French radio, because we cannot deliver weapons where the people we deliver them to later use them against us. This is going to be a tough dilemma for Western countries as far as arming the rebels.

MALVEAUX: All right. Hala, thank you for smart analysis, as always. Appreciate it.

It was a murder trial that rocked Chinese politics. The wife of a disgraced communist leader Bo Xilai was convicted of murdering a British businessman. Well, the court today suspended her death sentence.

Stan Grant has the story of this spectacular fall from political power.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STAN GRANT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A woman alone in court, a long way away from a life of privilege and power, Gu Kailai is convicted of murder now resigned to her fate.

GU KAILAI, CONVICTED MURDERER (through translator): I think this verdict is fair. It truly reflects that court's respect for law, reality and especially human life.

GRANT: Gu Kailai was one half of China's ultimate power couple. Her husband Bo Xilai, charismatic was once touted as the future president of China.

To Chinese scholars, like Wu Dengming, this is a story played out in the political heavens.

"This is a fight between the gods," he says, "way beyond the reach of ordinary people."

Bo Xilai styled himself as the spiritual heir of Mao Zedong, for a stage cultural revolution-style mass rallies, crowds sang revolutionary songs and chanted red slogans, all of this bolstering his power base as party chief of the massive metropolis of Chongqing.

But analysts Bo made enemies in the communist party wary of his redder than red rhetoric.

"He's been playing the role of Mao's successor,' says Wang Kang, "he was visiting PLA camps, and giving the soldiers Mao's busts at gifts. None of the politicians has done this. I think this has been a huge misjudgment of Bo, going back to Mao's path is not an option. That is proven to be a dead end. Mao led a road to ruin."

It was an enemy within that led to Bo's ruin. Wang Lijun was Bo's top cop. He carried out Bo's smash black campaign, a brutal crackdown on crime gangs and corruption. But the trusted insider, himself, fled to the U.S. consulate with an explosive story. Bo's wife Gu Kailai had murdered a British businessman Neil Heywood.

In the months since, this saga has played out in rumor and innuendo, lifting a veil of secrecy at the top of Chinese politics.

(on camera): Gu Kailai in the trial admitted to poisoning Heywood. She said that a business deal had gone wrong. She feared for the safety of her son and suffered from a nervous breakdown.

(voice-over): She is now behind bars convicted of murder. Her death sentence suspended. Her accomplice sentenced to nine years in jail. There'd be no appeal.

The other players of this saga await their fate. Wang Lijun will go to trial potentially for treason. Bo Xilai, the man once destined for the top remains out of sight and silenced.

Stan Grant, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Gu Kailai was once referred to as the Jackie O of China. She was glamourful and powerful, glamorous. A woman who had it all, but today, as you can see, a convicted murderer.

Michael Holmes, he's joining us to talk about this.

This is really a sensational case. A lot of people are talking about. It was expected.

First of all, tell us why the death sentence has been pushed back for down two years?

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I think that it was expected. This has been, well, you could call it a very tightly scripted trial, which is typical of these high profile cases in China, in particular. And everything was regulated down to the last word probably in the sentence when it was handed down.

So, no surprise in that. The sentence itself, no surprise in that either really because a death sentence might have been seen because she is the wife of Bo Xilai might have been seen as taking it a step too far.

What this does is it saves face in a way. The British did not want a death sentence because they don't have the death penalty themselves. Their lawyers for Heywood say they are happy with the sentence and sort of a compromise, if you like.

So, it's a death sentence suspended for two years, people say that she could serve up to 14, she could serve 12. If she gets a psychological reduction because she says she had a nervous breakdown at the time of the murder, she could get out in seven.

MALVEAUX: In seven years. How are the Chinese reacting to this? What do they make of this?

HOLMES: Well, the whole Jackie -- I don't know that I agree with the Jackie O comparison. I mean, she was really more of a Hillary Clinton, if you like, a political wife. She was one of the -- Bo Xilai is one of the most powerful men in Chinese politics. He was the head of the communist party in this area, Chongqing, which is a huge area.

And he was, he thought, too, destined for top, to the presidency. Now, she is the wife. Her name, by the way, Kailai means "embrace the future", ironically, which is going to be in a prison cell for the next few years.

She was sort of a high profile lawyer. She's actually gained some notoriety. He won a case in the U.S. courts on behalf of a Chinese company suing a U.S. company. That doesn't normally happen. And then this sort of power thing grew, and that's they're seen by the Chinese, powerful people, people in high places.

MALVEAUX: Is it possible that the two of them could become a power couple again? Is that -- I mean, when you look at the China and their culture of redemption like, say in our country, that might happen?

HOLMES: I don't see it happening for her. Bo Xilai, though, he is not going yet. Now, he's not being dealt with, and it's unlikely now that he's going to face criminal charges. He's going to be dealt with, probably within the party apparatus, because the party, itself, does not want to unseemly things like corruption and cover-ups to be in the public's sphere when you're talking about a guy as powerful as he was in politics.

So, you know, could he be rehabilitated? Perhaps, I don't se her coming back into the forefront any time soon.

MALVEAUX: All right. Fascinating story. Michael, thank you.

HOLMES: It is. A high profile, high power couple. And now, she's locked up for killing a British businessman, yes.

MALVEAUX: I can't imagine that playing out here. I don't know.

HOLMES: Oh, yes. Well, it become differently in the media. I'll tell you that.

MALVEAUX: Thank you, Michael. Appreciate it.

In a culture that puts the rights of men over women, rape victims in Afghanistan, they rarely see justice. But this woman, young woman, she is an exception, and she is still fighting.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Protesters in China overturned Japanese cars, burned Japanese flag, shouted in the streets. It is the latest round and a long fight over an island chain that both countries say is theirs.

You can see them turning over cars there, and protests broke out across China after a group of Japanese landed on the disputed island yesterday. Of course, there is an economic issue at stake here in all of this. The country that controls the island gets the oil, the mineral and the fishing rights.

Now to one of the world's largest mines. It is in Rustenburg, South Africa. Hundreds of striking miners have now returned to work. That is about a third of the workforce but enough for this mine to reopen.

Now, last week, you might recall, this is what happened there. Police opened fire on the line of armed strikers -- 34 were killed, 78 were wounded. Police say that they acted in self-defense.

Joining us live from the mines, Nkepile Mabuse.

And, tell us first of all, set the scene, if you will. There are about a third of the workers that actually came back under what conditions and why did they return?

NKEPILE MABUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Look, Suzanne, basically, this mine, the Lonmin (ph) mine, employs 28,000 workers. It's really just 3,000 who are on strike, who have embarked on this illegal wage strike.

They are drill operators, this is one the hardest jobs to do in the industry, and they want to believe that they need to be earning more. They say at the moment, they are earning about US$500 a month. They wanted more than three times of that much they're demanding from the company.

Today, the vice president of Lonmin the country saying that the 27 percent that came back to work today, he called it insignificant, because he said for all intents and purposes, the mine is not producing anymore. But he is convinced that the majority of these workers want to return to work, they are just too scared because of the violence that has engulfed this wage dispute, Suzanne.

Today, hundreds of striking miners gathered in an open field not very far from where their colleagues were murder, 34 of them killed by the police. They remain defiant. They say they are not going to go back until they get those increases that they are demanding, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Nkepile, how do we expect that this going to play out here?

You still have a lot of people not returning to the mine here, and a lot of fear as you described here, and the police are essentially justifying that attack from last week. What do they do? Do they get together? Do they talk? Is there a process to move this forward?

MABUSE: You know, Suzanne, today, it felt like this country had, was just standing stall. Everybody was watching this very, very delicate, and very tense situation. We had helicopters circling at thousands of miners who gathered here who are still refusing to go back to work.

We had labor unions meeting with the company, urging workers to go back and 3,000 saying they are not going to go back, and government has bought 10 ministers to this area the try to deal with the situation.

This has become a national crisis, a national issue, and how this is going to be resolved will really have an impact on the mining industry overall, and I think that the country's economy going forward as well, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right. Nkepile Mabuse, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

WikiLeaks founder is on lockdown in London, holed up in a foreign embassy. But some suspect he might actually try to escape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Is this an option, getting smuggled out in the trunk of a diplomatic car?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Julian Assange has been holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy rather in London. That's for two months now. Now, the founder of WikiLeaks Web site, he is in trouble with the U.S. for releasing secret documents. But Britain wants him to be sent to Sweden for questioning as an alleged -- for an alleged sexual assault.

Well, yesterday, he stepped out on the balcony, and in the balcony, he thanks his supporters, asked the U.S. to stop what he calls a witch hunt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIAN ASSANGE, FOUNDER, WIKILEAKS: As WikiLeaks stands under threat, so is the freedom of expression and the health of all of our societies. We must use this moment to articulate the choice that is before the government of the United States of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: So, Britain, it is not honoring the asylum that was granted to Assange by Ecuador. In order to take advantage of the asylum, Assange have to find a way to get from the embassy to Ecuador soil. Brian Todd takes a look at the options.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): He's reported to be tense and going a bit stir crazy.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange holed up inside the Ecuador in embassy in London. He's been there for about two months. Now that Ecuador's granted him asylum and Britain's refused to honor it, a classic standoff is underway.

If Assange takes one step outside the embassy --

JOHN NEGROPONTE, CHAIRMAN, THE COUNCIL OF THE AMERICA: My understanding is that the British would arrest him and extradite him to Sweden.

TODD: That's where Assange is wanted for questioning over sexual assault claims. With the fugitive inside in what's at the moment considered Ecuadoran territory and with British police outside ready to pounce, scenarios are being debated over a possible Assange escape.

(on camera): Is this an option, getting smuggled out in the trunk of a diplomatic car? A former British diplomat says the car would be considered Ecuadoran domain. British police he says could stop it, but not search it, couldn't necessarily pull Assange out. But there's a hitch in that plan.

The hitch -- apparently there's no garage available to the Ecuadoran embassy. We are told there's only one entrance to the embassy right here and obviously, that is not an option. The building is completely surrounded by British police.

They're in the streets, the alleys, the side streets. If anyone was going to try to take Assange from the building to a waiting car, the police would get him. The police are also reported to be monitoring the so-called communal areas of the building, the hallways and elevators, preventing Assange from taking an elevator up to the roof where a helicopter could pick him up.

(voice-over): Police can monitor the hallways and elevators because the Ecuadorian embassy occupies only one floor, the first floor and not even all of that. It's here right where this window is. And Assange can barely step into a hallway without risking apprehension.

If he did somehow get to a car, there are airports large and small in every direction. But experts say, once he got to one of those, he could easily be captured. He could, actually, be smuggled out in a crate or large bag. If it's labeled a diplomatic parcel, the British police can't open it. But --

OLIVER MILES, FORMER BRITISH AMBASSADOR TO LIBYA (voice-over): I think they could delay it, I think they can hold it, I think they can keep it in a -- in a very cold or very hot place or something like that.

TODD: But former British Ambassador Oliver Miles doesn't see that happening. One thing that could happen, he says, Assange could simply take refuge inside the Ecuadorian embassy indefinitely. It's happened before. In 1959 when the Soviet Union invaded Hungary, Cardinal Joseph Mensenti, a top Catholic official there too refuge inside the American embassy in Budapest. The good cardinal was granted asylum and lived inside the American embassy for 15 years.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Britain's Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth has left the hospital after receiving treatment for a bladder infection. The 91-year-old duke of Edinburg was admitted to the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary in Scotland. This his third hospital treatment in eight months.

If you are a victim of rape in Afghanistan, you are often treated like a criminal. But this young woman fought for justice and guidance.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: What you are about to see and hear is shocking. But sadly, it is not uncommon. A young Afghan girl forced to marry an abusive husband. She is rape and tortured and what makes the story different here is that this young girl's abusers were convicted and most of them now in jail.

Last month, those convictions were upheld.

Our Nick Paton Walsh, he met her in May.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sahar Gul only plays with a girl doll and hates the male one. That along with a terrible shyness is the most obvious trace of her unimaginable past.

Married off aged just 13, she said she was drugged by her mother- in-law and raped by her adult husband. Her in-laws locked her in a basement, she says, burned her with a hot poker and pulled out her nails.

SAHAR GUL, TORTURE VICTIM (through translator): They told me to go to the basement because there were some guests coming to the house. When I went there, they came in and tied my hands and feet and pulled me upwards from above. They brought very little food for me. While going to the bathroom they used to beat me a lot. I was crying all this time.

When they put electric shocks on my feet I felt like I was going to die at that moment. I screamed and that is how our neighbors realized that there is something happening. For one day and night, I was unconscious, feeling dead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The neighbors alerted the authorities who found her like this in December after five months of torture. She is safe in a shelter now, and she trembled when she saw three of the five in-laws, her attackers again. Now they were in court. But she was again horrified, this time by the sentences for abuse that the judge gave.

GUL: Ten years is not enough. They should be given 50 years. They should be punished in the prison. They hurt my eyes and pulled out my nail and hair, and the same should be done to them. Whatever they did to me, the same should be done to them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: It is hard, really hard, to imagine that anybody being able survive that abuse that the young woman went through, and yet her story isn't even rare. What is unusual is that it has gotten so much attention.

I want to bring Heather Barr. She is with Human Rights Watch. She lives in Afghanistan, though she is joining us from London today. And Heather, one of the things that struck me about the story and also being in Afghanistan in September is really how invisible these Afghan women are. They are almost indistinguishable. They are fully covered, fully veiled, mesh over the eyes. And a lot of people thought, you overthrow the Taliban, things would be better for young girls like we have seen there. Why is this not the case.

HEATHER BARR, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: Well, it is a long, slow road and you have to remember how difficult the starting point was in 2001 for women. I think that sometimes people think that there has not actually been any progress, and that is not the case. There are about three million girls in school today when in fact there were almost no girls in school in 2001. There are - maternal mortality has been falling steadily since 2001. And Afghanistan has a parliament which is about 28 percent women.

But it is still among one of the most difficult places in the world for women. Half of all of the girls are still not in school. Maternal mortality is still so high that an Afghan woman dies from pregnancy-related causes every two hours. So, there's a lot of work left to do.

MALVEAUX: Heather, tell us about Sahara's story here. Why was it that her story was able to get the attention that it did, and that those people who were responsible for the abuse were essentially put in jail?

BARR: Well, unfortunately, I think that the attention that the case has generated is more unusual than the facts themselves. This type of abuse against women happens all too often in Afghanistan, and usually goes without notice. And this is particularly frustrating, because in 2009, President Karzai signed a law on the elimination of violence against women, which makes many of the things that were done to Sahar Gul crimes for the first time.

But this law has been mostly unenforced. Now, the reason that Sahar Gul's case got so much attention is first of all, I think that the element of forced prosecution made it particularly shocking to the Afghan media. But second of all, I think that Afghan women's rights activists have been very effective increasingly in the last year or so in bringing the individual cases like Sahar's to the media and demanding accountability of President Karzai and from the rest of his government.

MALVEUAX: Tell us about what is happening with Sahar now. Where is she living? Is she safe?

BARR: She's living in a shelter, and she is safe. But there are problems with the way shelters provide in Afghanistan as well. In 2001, there were no shelters in all of Afghanistan. Today, there are 14 shelters. But they exist only in the northern half of the country, not this more conservative south. And they don't have the anywhere near the capacity in a country where an estimated 87 percent of the women who experience some form of abuse in their lifetime.

So that the issue of making sure that there is shelter available to women who are facing abuse is very much a work in progress. It's an area where a lot more support is needed from the international community.

MALVEAUX: Heather, you live in Afghanistan. You meet young women. You meet older women as well, I'm sure people in similar situations. What needs to happen here -- a ground swell of change? What is the shift, if you will, what has to happen to make life better for the majority of these young girls and women?

BARR: Well, I mean, as I said, progress happening. I think that the big concern at the moment is that with the withdrawal of international troops at the end of 2014, there's a real risk that the international interest in Afghanistan will disappear at the same time. And the progress that has happened and that needs to continue to happen has happened because of a combination of factors. And those factors are the really courageous activism of women's rights activists. But also the political pressure coming from the international community and the financial assistance that's paid for services like schools and shelters and hospitals and legal services for women like Sahar Gul. And there is a real danger -- go ahead.

MALVEAUX: Is there anything that people can do outside of Afghanistan? People like myself or anybody else who is watching, who looks at this and is just touched and horrified by what has happened to that little girl?

BARR: Well, people can contribute money to some of the organizations that provide shelter for girls like Sahar Gul and women. They can provide funding for legal services, and they can pressure their governments to say that, look, 2014 might be the end of the military engagement, but it is not the end of the struggle for women's rights in Afghanistan. And the U.S. and other countries need to continue supporting Afghan women and activists who are fighting for women's rights.

MALVEAUX: All right. Heather, we appreciate your work, the work you do there and obviously, we will be keeping up with that little girl, Sahar, to see how she is doing as well. Thank you, Heather.

He is an American tourist just sentenced to hard time for drug trafficking in Nicaragua. Well, the only the problem is that even the prosecution says that he is innocent.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Nightmare began two years ago for an American living in Nicaragua. Well, he has just one shot at freedom. Our Rafael Romo explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: He's been in prison for two years in Nicaragua. But Jason Puracal says he still trusts the Central American country's judiciary.

JASON PURACAL (through translator): I have faith that the judicial system in Nicaragua will let me go free.

ROMO: Puracal was arrested in 2010 in Nicaragua. He was found guilty of money laundering, drug trafficking and organized crime charges and sentenced to 22 years in prison. In an interview with CNN En Espanol in May, Puracal's Nicaraguan wife, Scarlett, called her husband 100 percent innocent and insists he was convicted without evidence. Earlier this year, Purecal described to CNN's Anderson Cooper the prison where he is being held as a hell hole.

JASON PURACAL, AMERICAN IN NICARAGUAN PRISON: There are concrete cells that are overcrowded. I have been in a cell with anywhere from 9 to 12 people.

ROMO: Ever since his arrest, the family has been trying to demonstrate to Nicaraguan and American authorities that Purecal was wrongly convicted. JANISE PURACAL, JASON PURACAL'S SISTER: Jason is absolutely innocent, I have no doubt in my mind. There is no evidence here of any drugs. There is no evidence of any illegal money. Jason did not even know the other ten people with whom he was arrested.

ROMO: The appeals phase opened last Thursday. Puracal's defense attorney introduced letters sent to the Nicaraguan government by several U.S. legislators, claiming that the American has never had any links to organized crime.

FABRITH GOMEZ, PURACAL'S DEFENSE ATTORNEY (through translator): The letter basically says that the U.S. government doesn't have any information. The DEA, the agency, also says that they haven't shared any evidence against Jason Puracal.

ROMO: During the first day of hearings, prosecutors called the letter an insufficient piece evidence. The lead prosecutor ignored reporters' questions as he exited the courtroom.

Puracal arrived in Nicaragua in 2002 when he was serving as a volunteer for the Peace Corps. He later married Scarlett. They have a young son together. Before his arrest in 2010, he was working as a realtor in the Central American country.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Rafael Romo joins us. This is a very interesting case. How does this play out now? Does he have any options? Is it possible that they could make a decision and he could go free?

ROMO: It is very possible, but the reality is that the decision is is up to this panel of three judges who are supposed to hear all he arguments on both sides of this legal fight and make a determination. Now, the way it happens in Nicaragua is that you never know how long it's going to take. They said it was going to take anywhere from five days to a full week of hearings and testimony. But then, there's no precise timing as to when they need to come out with a final ruling. So, it may happen right away; it may take months for them to come out with the ruling.

MALVEAUX: Why has this been so difficult, because you make the case here that the evidence is flimsy here, there's a lot of doubt. Why has this been so hard?

ROMO: Well, it is because at first, the Nicaraguan government did not even want to reopen the case. And it is not until all of the international pressure started. Even the U.N. has said that Puracal is wrongly convicted. There is a letter from several legislators here in the United States. Also, the international community has been speaking in favor of Puracal, and it was not until all of this started happening that the Nicaraguan government decided to open up the case.

MALVEAUX: All right. You give us the latest when it changes. Appreciate it.

ROMO: Absolutely. MALVEAUX: Thank you.

Well, you don't immediately think of South Korea when you hear the phrase hip-hop superstar. But this guy is blowing up the web with a hot new track straight out of Seoul.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Welcome back to NEWSROOM INTERNATIONAL, where we take you around the world in 60 minutes. Here's what's hitting number one on Swedish radio this week.

(VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: All right. This is their smash hit of "Vart Jag An Gar, " which means, "Wherever I Go." The band Stiftelsen likes to write songs that have a deeper meaning with musical influences from rock, pop, punk folk, wow, rockabila (ph), reggae, country, all of it. Easy to see why the Swedes just cannot get enough of Stiftelsen.

One South Korean musician proving that geek isn't cool. A few weeks ago we told you about this rapper, rapper Psy, received more than 41 million YouTube hits with his video "Gangnam Style." Some unique dance there going on. Paula Hancocks, she's finding out the meaning behind the song and how it's affecting South Korean culture.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Uncool just became cool. This horse riding dance by Korean rapper Psy is the reason why.

"There's a saying in Korean," says Psy, "let's ride a horse. It means let's have a drink and have some fun, hence the dance."

Psy, short for psycho, is a slight departure from South Korea's usual ultra groomed musical export (ph).

"I think foreigners think I'm funny," he says, "the way Korean people think Austin Powers and Mr. Bean are funny. There's no language barrier."

HANCOCKS (on camera): Psy's hit song "Gangnam Style" refers to this affluent neighborhood. It's considered to be the Beverly Hills of Seoul, and it is filled with expensive brands and trendy people.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): Usually associated with a more moody, chiseled look, Psy has turned the idea of Gangnam on its head.

"I'm crazy about music," he says. "Crazy about the stage, crazy about performing and crazy about my fans."

And he has plenty. Thirty thousand fans turned up to see him last week in all his geeky glory. And they seem to be enjoying themselves. After a decade long career, it took just one unorthodox song to spiral Psy into stardom. What better way to burn calories. Some Seoul gyms are using Psy to work out.

"I'm a very bad dancer," this woman says, "but this dance is easy. Also, it makes me work out and sweat a lot and I'm smiling all the way through."

And in case you thought this dance was Psy's only skill, he adds -- "just so you know, I can dance to Beyonce's song "Single Ladies" just like Beyonce." After his impersonation of Lady Gaga and her hit "Poker Face," uncanny.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.

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MALVEAUX: Wow, that is something else.

Another story. If you're suffering from phobias, we're going to take a look at a kid who is so afraid to fly, he's actually willing to travel through a war zone to avoid getting on a plane.

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JOE THOMPSON, AFRAID OF FLYING: Everything just went horrible for me. It -- my -- I just went into body lockdown. And I kept on crying. I sat down and I couldn't move. I just couldn't do it.

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MALVEAUX: For folks who move halfway around the world to work, a visit from home is one of the most important things that can really keep you going. But what do you do if one of your kids is suddenly struck by an acute fear of flying? Schams Elwazer explains that if you're coming home from the Middle East, the road home can turn into a logistical nightmare.

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SCHAMS ELWAZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On a scorching August afternoon, 11-year-old Joe Thompson only has his dad to practice rugby with. All his friends have gone home for the summer holidays. But when Joe tried flying home to the U.K. six weeks ago, a sudden fear of flying paralyzed him at the airport.

JOE THOMPSON, AFRAID OF FLYING: Everything just went horrible for me. It -- my -- I just went into body lockdown. And I kept on crying. I sat down and I couldn't move. I just couldn't do it.

ELWAZER: He's tried flying home four times already and once even made it as far as the flight cabin.

J. THOMPSON: And then the captain announced that we needed to shut the doors now, and so I immediately knew what to do. I just got over the chairs, went around into the aisle and sprinted out. ELWAZER: Joe's father, Tony, says the phobia came out of the blue, and that Joe had always loved flying. He says hypnotherapy, psychiatric consults and even a sedative injection failed to get his son on board.

TONY THOMPSON, JOE'S FATHER: The initial reaction was, come on, let's -- we'll get on the plane, you'll be fine, you know. But then I realize, no, it was far more serious than this.

ELWAZER: Even more serious is how to get Joe home now.

ELWAZER (on camera): The trouble for Joe and his father is that they live here in the oasis city of Alian (ph), in the middle of the desert of the United Arab Emirates. And London is 3,500 miles that way.

ELWAZER (voice-over): The challenge has been finding an alternative to the eight-hour flight that takes them across the Middle East by land and sea, while avoiding the deadly conflict areas.

T. THOMPSON: Through Baghdad, through Syria, through Aleppo, and into Turkey. But clearly that's not going to happen.

ELWAZER: The maritime option is to sail around the Arabian peninsula, through the Pirate infested waters of the Red Sea, up through the Suez Canal, past the Egyptian hot spot of Sinai, then on to Turkey and Europe.

But now there's also the option of a land route. After earlier being denied entry visas by Saudi Arabia, the ambassador in London stepped into help. And these freshly minted visas mean Tony and Joe can now take a bus through Saudi Arabia and Jordan, a car to Hifa (ph) in Israel, a boat to Cyprus or Greece, then trains all the way through Europe until they reach the U.S., about a two week journey.

T. THOMPSON: It's been a bit of a roller coaster. I know we'll just want to get on our way.

J. THOMPSON: I just can't wait to get started.

ELWAZER: Father and son say they're both optimistic that, once home, they can get Joe's condition treated. But for now, they're still grounded, playing ball on an empty field waiting for the first bus, ship or car heading roughly home.

Schams Elwazer, (INAUDIBLE), United Arab Emirates.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Smoking might be out of style here in the United States, but in the developing world, people are lighting up and a billion lives could be on the line.

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