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Bystanders Confront Attacker with Narwhal Tusk and Fire Extinguisher; Iraq's Prime Minister Resigns in Response to Ongoing Protests; World AIDS Day. Aired 3-3:30a ET
Aired December 01, 2019 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ROBYN CURNOW, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hi, welcome, live from Studio 7 here at CNN Center in Atlanta, I am Robyn Curnow.
Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM we are learning more about the victims and the heroes involved in the London terror attack.
Also, outrage in Iraq: protesters clash with police as some celebrate the prime minister's promise to resign.
Plus, the fight against HIV/AIDS: a look at the progress made and what still needs to be done on World AIDS Day.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Robyn Curnow.
CURNOW: So thanks so much for joining, me.
An update on our top story, British media report the justice ministry has begun an urgent review of the parole conditions for every convicted terrorist released from prison in the U.K. Now that's about 70 former inmates.
It's in direct response to Friday's brutal knife attack by a convicted terrorist who was paroled after serving less than half of his 16-year sentence.
And, also CNN has obtained dramatic video. Take a look at this of Usman Khan being knocked down by bystanders after he stabbed five people, two of them fatally. And as you can see from this extraordinary video, men try to take him down by spraying him with a fire extinguisher and another one using a long narwhal tusk here to try and subdue him.
Khan, of course, was shot and killed by police moments later. The mayor spoke about the extraordinary bravery of those men who stopped khan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SADIQ KHAN, MAYOR OF LONDON: What I did note was this man had an extremely large knife and another knife and they improvised in relation to trying to take the weapons off him and stop him harming others, whether it is using a fire extinguisher, whether it is using a whale's tusk or other devices.
And I think what we should do is reflect on the fact that these people ignored all the advice they were given, which is to run away from danger and to look after their own safety.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CURNOW: Now London's mayor also said three of the stabbing victims are now in a stable condition. Two people sadly died in the attack, as we mentioned. One of, them this man, 25 year old Jack Merritt. He worked for a program that tried to rehabilitate criminals. He was affiliated with Cambridge University -- it was affiliated with Cambridge University -- he was a graduate.
We are also learning about Khan's early release from prison. Mark Bolton has all of those details.
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MARK BOLTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Released from prison in December 2018, having served just under seven years of a 16-year sentence for terrorism, the British born 28-year-old Usman Khan was shot dead on by London police on Friday after they say he stabbed two people to death near London Bridge.
In 2012, Khan was convicted for his part in a terror plot. Aged just 19 and one of a gang of nine, Khan pleaded guilty for his role in a plan bombing the London Stock Exchange.
At sentencing, the presiding judge warned Khan was a serious jihadist who would pose a significant risk to the public, even after his jail term was complete.
Yet, on appeal in 2013, the terms of Khan's sentence changed allowing for his automatic release without a hearing in December of 2018, on license, a form of parole in the U.K.
One condition of his release from custody, Khan had to wear an ankle monitor so his movements could be tracked. He was wearing it during Friday's attack.
Police later searched Khan's home in Staffordshire, 150 miles from London in the English woodlands, amid growing questions about his early release from custody following the 2012 terror conviction. Sources are telling CNN Khan had historical links to a now banned radical Islamic group founded by Anjem Choudary.
QUESTION: What's intelligence failure leading to yesterday's attack?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is not the time to be talking about that. I am focusing entirely on going forward. BOLTON: Friday's lunchtime panic prompted Prime Minister Boris Johnson to claim the system is doing its job.
BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: This system simply isn't working. It does not make sense for us as a society to be putting terrorist, people committed terrorist offenses or serious, violent offenses out on early release.
BOLTON: Praise of the emergency services and individual acts of heroism have been universal.
But now, the British public will demand to know how could a convicted terrorist wearing an ankle monitor carry out such a horrific attack on the streets of London? -- Mark Bolton, CNN, London.
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CURNOW: The lawyer who represented Khan in a terror case said he is quote, "completely shocked" by what Khan did. He said Khan had matured in prison and no longer seemed aligned with the radical ideology.
But CNN has obtained a letter written by Khan back in 2012, requesting access to a program that specialized in deradicalization of terror suspects. But the lawyer says he actually never went through with it. the circumstances in the prison system prevented Khan from ever actually meeting anyone associated with that program.
Security analyst Bob Baer joins me now from Los Angeles.
Bob, hi; you have been involved in analyzing these kinds of incidents for many years.
What is your take on what played out on the streets of London Bridge?
BOB BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY ANALYST: Clearly, he never should have been left out of prison. Violent people like this are normally kept isolated even after they serve their sentences, the way Jordan does, Saudi Arabia. Most countries in the Middle East.
So to let him back into the community, they are often almost 100 percent rerecruited into the movement and it was a mistake.
What can I tell you?
CURNOW: So do you think the British authorities, even the lawyers were hoodwinked by him?
Do you think he had ever any intention of being rehabilitated?
BAER: No, none at all. They go through the motions, I have changed my mind. And don't forget, the CIA was dealing with one of these guys out in Afghanistan, who blew himself up and killed the entire base. And Khost, same sort of thing. They thought he had been reformed, was going to work for the CIA, work for Jordanian intelligence. He goes to Afghanistan, is rerecruited into this death cult and turned back against us. The same thing clearly happened with this man, Khan.
CURNOW: As we look here at some of these pictures here, it's also clear that even though he was part of a massive plot to blow up the London stock exchange, we know that at least 1,000 police and security forces were involved covertly to try and stop that happening, that was a network.
This, on the other hand, is him there alone with two knives and a fake vest. He still managed to be successful in ways he was not on the original first try.
BAER: Exactly. It is using simple weapons like a knife or a vehicle that the police cannot prevent. There is nothing you can do about it. We are all vulnerable. The ability to kill a couple of people are more with a knife or, like I said, a vehicle.
What do you do about it?
You can't. Lone wolves are the hardest to catch. You can take these people -- there is preventative detention but British law does not allow it.
CURNOW: Many people in Britain will say this is about human rights. It's about giving somebody a second chance.
From a political standpoint, the prime minister is pushing back at some of that. But the reality on the ground in London, as we heard from the home office, is that it's currently investigating about 800 live counter-terrorism investigations at the moment.
BAER: What is the problem is the Middle East. As long as there is political turmoil there and more, people in Britain and everywhere else, true believers, are going to be motivated to commit violence. I just don't see this changing anytime soon.
It doesn't matter that Britain in fact is not at war in the Middle East. You're still going to see these lone wolves popping up. It's very difficult for the police to predict who's going to turn violent and who is not.
CURNOW: No, and in terms of patterns, are terrorists like this a little bit like shooters, school shooters in the U.S.?
They do copycat?
Because this is almost pretty similar to what happened recently in the last few years in London Bridge, a fake suicide vest.
BAER: Exactly. It's easy to find this stuff on the Internet and see what they look like. You may not be able to get the acetone and peroxide and make one of these bombs but you can certainly scare people. You can create confusion. And the whole idea is to create terror, of course.
And what do you do about this?
I will tell you right now, we cannot let them out of prison, anybody who has attempted violence, because there is no way you can make sure they're not going to return to it.
CURNOW: Security expert Bob Baer. Thank you so much for your respective coming to us live there from Los Angeles. Really appreciate you joining us. Thanks, Bob.
BAER: Thanks.
CURNOW: Poland is celebrating one of the people who took down the London attacker. The Polish prime minister says a Polish chef working in London is the man wielding that narwhal tusk.
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CURNOW: In a Facebook post, Poland praised the man's brave behavior, telling him, "Your attitude deserves a special thank you and respect. Poland is proud of you."
Certainly an extremely brave man there.
Meanwhile, coming, up the unrest in Iraq continues. Anti government protesters hit the streets again, even after the prime minister agreed to resign. Why demonstrators say his departure isn't good enough.
Plus, a powerful winter storm is expected to cause a holiday travel nightmare in the U.S.
How long will it last?
Will have a check of the weather.
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CURNOW: Welcome back. I'm Robyn Curnow.
Iraq's Council of Ministers has reviewed the prime minister's resignation offer after he was -- after he vowed to step down amid protests. His exit requires parliament's approval and a vote on the matter is expected in the coming hours.
Meanwhile, the prime minister told the council that his government hasn't spared any efforts in responding to protesters' demands. He is now calling for a peaceful transfer of power.
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ADIL ABDUL MAHDI, IRAQI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): We had taken brave and daring decisions at that time to prevent the use of live bullets but, regrettably, when clashes happened, multiple interferences and complications occurred.
This led to the fall of victims and negative consequences. So it was left to the government to adopt a bold stance in this regard and, therefore, the resignation is now required in order to calm matters down.
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CURNOW: The prime minister's decision did not stop Iraqis from returning to the streets on Saturday. Over the past two months, hundreds have died in these anti government demonstrations. Now protesters say much more needs to be done to fix the country's political system, as Arwa Damon now reports from Baghdad.
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ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is quite chaotic here but this is Shaima (ph) and we were just talking to her.
(Speaking Arabic).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking Arabic).
DAMON: She was saying she just wanted the United Nations to come in and get involved at what is going on here, to come in and actually support the population. And they also want to end Iran's influence.
If you come this way, you can see --
(Speaking Arabic).
-- if you come this way, you can see what has become this de facto front line and what they are trying to do here is keep pushing forward to take control of these vital bridges that cross the Tigris River.
And in doing that, they are hoping to keep up even more pressure on the Iraqi government, because they say, unless they keep going like this, unless they keep trying to push forward and make sure that their demands are heard, they say nothing is going to change.
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DAMON: Shaima (ph) showing what is being shot at them, saying this, this is the blood.
(Speaking Arabic).
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DAMON: He says this is blood from someone who he says was just shot and was just injured and he carried him. And this is the blood. You can see how intense it is here right now.
And again, as we were saying, these are demonstrators who are determined to hold this ground, to hold all ground that they have and to keep pushing forward because, as I was saying, they want to make sure that, this time, their demands are heard.
And what they will also tell you is that just demonstrating has not been enough in the past. They say they have to keep the pressure up; otherwise, they say the government will just keep on making its empty promises -- Arwa Damon, CNN, Baghdad.
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CURNOW: In Hong Kong, pro-democracy protesters are giving thanks to the U.S. after president Donald Trump signed legislation supporting their movement. Hundreds of demonstrators are expressing their gratitude by marching to the U.S. consulate, as you can see here.
Many are waving American flags. Others are holding signs supporting the U.S. president. Chinese officials have condemned the American move and threatened counter measures.
Meanwhile, a powerful, powerful winter storm is threatening millions of holiday travelers across the U.S.; 50 million people from coast to coast are under weather alerts as they brace for a treacherous mix of rain, wind and snow. Hundreds of flights have been canceled. So the storm is moving east.
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CURNOW: Things are changing for people living with HIV. The head of UNAIDS recently told me about positive developments but also some pitfalls in the race to wipe out the disease. It is World AIDS Day. That is next.
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CURNOW: AIDS was once considered a certain death sentence but medication is helping people live with HIV. The battle against the virus that causes AIDS is showing significant progress, especially in expanding access to treatment. That is according to UNAIDS, the United Nations agency leading the fight against the disease.
But there is still a long way to, go especially in sub-Saharan Africa, where a young woman under the age of 24 is twice as likely to be living with HIV than men at the same age. The U.N. says HIV is more than a health issue. It's also about development and social justice.
Joining me now from Johannesburg is Winnie Byanyima, the executive director of UNAIDS.
Thank you for joining us.
World AIDS Day, what is the message this year?
WINNIE BYANYIMA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, UNAIDS: Our theme this year is that communities matter, that we must empower communities because they are the ones on the ground, who demand for their, rights demand the services they need and can ensure that the barriers that people have to treatment, to care, are removed. So empower communities is the message for this year.
CURNOW: It is certainly a great message.
Do you think it will work?
How much of an uphill battle are you facing still in terms of new infections?
BYANYIMA: Well, first the positive. The positive is that there's been tremendous progress on testing and getting people on treatment. Today, we have more than 24.5 million people on treatment. That is up by more than 5 million five years ago.
And in 2000, this figure was just less than 50,000 people on treatment. So huge progress there. And even more progress for regions like eastern and southern Africa, which is the most hit region by AIDS and HIV.
But we are not doing so well on prevention. Last year alone, 1.7 million new infections were recorded. And yet we have the science, we have a combination of tools that can help people prevent themselves from being infected, such as pre-exposure prophylaxis, such as voluntary medical male circumcision, condoms and even virus suppression itself is a preventive measure itself when people are on treatment and the virus is undetected.
They also do not transmit. But these tools are really out of reach of many people for various reasons. In Africa, it is women and girls. Women and girls are several times more vulnerable to infection than men and boys of the same age.
It is so bad, five out of -- four out of five infections in sub- Saharan Africa are girls, 80 percent; 1,500 girls, young women get infected every week. This is unacceptable.
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CURNOW: I was going to say, a lot of that has to do with sexual violence against women, particularly in South Africa.
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CURNOW: Let's talk broadly, when you talk about these 1.7 million new infections, obviously you are concerned about where you are in Johannesburg, sub-Saharan Africa, East Africa.
But where are these infections being picked up?
What demographics around the world are you concerned about? BYANYIMA: The epidemic is taking different trends in different regions. Here in Africa, it is girls and women who are more affected. In Asia, we see a trend towards more infection amongst men who have sex with men. While in Eastern Europe, the main driver is amongst people who inject drugs. In Latin America, it is gay men.
So we see that the real issue here is the human rights of these groups of people. The fact that they are criminalized, that in many countries we have laws that criminalize gay sex, because we have laws that criminalize sex work, that these groups of people are driven underground and do not come to get the science, the treatment, the testing.
CURNOW: It is so important to be positive, to look forward, particularly toward solutions on World AIDS Day.
Talk about a vaccine, how hopeful are you about that and how much of a difference when it potentially make?
BYANYIMA: I think work on a vaccine is continuing. I do not have information on it being near to being achieved but we do have a good combination of tools that are making it easier and better and good for people to live long and healthy lives.
But we do need to remove the barriers to them and we do need more science to improve on the tools that exist today. We still can beat AIDS. We need to focus on removing the social and structural barriers that various groups of people face.
CURNOW: And as you say, 24.5 million people on treatment. That in itself is a lifesaver for so many people. Thank you so much for joining us.
BYANYIMA: Thank you for having me on your program.
CURNOW: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I appreciate it. I'm Robyn Curnow. I'll be back with headlines just a moment.
