Arabic Video News in English

Rights activists say Kenyan authorities, whom they believe are holding a controversial Muslim cleric, plan to sedn him to an unknown country in what they say amounts to "rendition".

Kenyan officials had earleir said the cleric, Sheik Abdullah el-Faisal, had already been expelled but activists believe he continues to be held at Nairobi’s interntaional airport because several other countries have refused to grant him a transit visa.

An immigration ministry spokseperson said a deportation order had been signed but refused to name the destinaiton.

El-Faisal, who in the 1990s preached at the same London mosque attended by Richard Reid – the convicted "shoe bomber" who failed to blow up a jet liner in 2001 – was previously jailed in Britain for inciting murder and racial hatred.

Al Jazeera’s Andrew Simmons reports from Nairobi.

Global programmes to clear the world of landmines face a budget shortfall of almost half a billion dollars next year.

The deficit jeopardises efforts to reduce the number of poeple wounded or killed by the small bombs.

But now scientists have come up with a new technique to detect mines without any human presence nearby.

It involves genetically modified bacteria, and reseachers say it means mines could one day be located without risking lives, but critics aren’t convinced.

Tarek Bazley reports.

Al Jazeera has obtained footage that gives a shocking insight into the violence inside Russian prisons.

The video shows inmates being abused by masked guards, with some detainees beaten until close to unconsciousness.

It has been eihgt months since Russia’s president, Dmitry Medvedev, called for a review of the Russian Prison system.

But as Al Jazeera’s Neave Barker found out, there is no lte-up in claims of abuse.

The UN’s top torture investigator has called for action against Zimbabwe after he was detanied on his arrival at Harare airport and then deported.

Manfred Nowak had been invited by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, to investigate reports of rising violence and intimidation.

As Al Jazeera’s Haru Mutasa reports from Harare, mnay Zimbabweans are worried that human rights violations and arbitrary arrests will continue.

Since being awarded the 2010 chairmanhsip of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe better known as the OSCE – Kazakhstan has pledged to undertake maeningful political reforms.

But with questions ovre the way the country is run and a poor human rights record, many observers are asking is the first ex-soviet state to chair Europe’s leading human rights and elections watchdog up to the task.

Robin Forestier Walker reports from Almaty the captial of Kazakhstan.