Christa Pike: 911 calls reveal chaos after failed execution and other stories | Global News Podcast

Welcome to the Global News podcast from. the BBC World Service. I'm Anker Desai. Here's what's coming up. 911 recordings. reveal confusion in the moments after. the botched execution of Christa Pike. >> Per supervisors here at the DEC. We have. been informed that it is a false call. There is no medical assistance needed at. Riverbin Prison. >> A correspondent in Iraq speaks to women. about the widespread but under. reportported problem of violence against. women. Many women are usually too scared. to go to the police station for fear of.

not being taken seriously. They are also. discouraged by a society that often. blames the victim. >> And the International Monetary Fund says. many of the world's biggest economies. have shown surprising resilience in the. face of the ongoing wars in the Middle. East. Also in this podcast, the American. actor R.J. Mitti, best known for his. role in Breaking Bad, has died at the. age of 34. And Pope Leo is admitted to. hospital for an operation to remove a. growth on his lung. >> He plays a lot of tennis. He likes to go. to the gym. Uh he is uh relatively fit.

So I think that's reassuring for people. as he goes into this operation. But it. also has made it I think a bit of a. shock. After the failed execution of death row. inmate Christa Pike, recordings have now. emerged of confusing telephone calls. that took place among emergency. responders and Tennessee prison. officials. The first 911 call released. only as a written transcript reported. that Pike was unconscious and not. breathing normally. That came a little.

more than an hour after the attempted. execution by lethal injection got. underway. Then followed confusion when. responders tried to confirm whether it. was a false alarm or a legitimate. request for emergency assistance. Have a. listen to these extract of calls made. about 90 minutes after the start of the. execution process. So, we have a medical. call for service at the Riverben Prison. saying that they carried out the. execution, the subject didn't pass away, and they need an ambulance because she's. not breathing normally. Well, we don't. have any gender and we just know it's a.

six-year-old person. We are trying to. find out if that is an actual thing that. is happening and we need to send an. ambulance and or if you need police. assistance or if this is someone that is. just basically. prank calling or like swatting us. >> Per supervisors here at the DEC, we have. been informed that it is a false call. There is no medical assistance needed at. Riverbend Prison. >> We got a call about a failed execution. at you guys facility and we just calling. to verify. >> Who called you?

>> Um or is it like a sergeant that I can. speak with or a supervisor? >> Who called you? Do you know? >> Um. no, we don't exactly know. >> Um I'm being told that nobody from our. facility called you. So, uh there's not. really anything. to speak of at the moment. >> What's going on is my client Christale. Tikeke is undergoing a state execution. She has completed the stages of the. protocol and last we knew from the.

attorney who is present she is still. alive and breathing and needs immediate. life-saving care. She's received two. doses at least two doses of pabaritol. through IVs. >> Central control just called us and. advised that it is actually real. So. we're going to have FDN. This all came. to light after a public records request. from US media leading to the release of. the emergency calls. So what should we. make of them? Our North America. correspondent on Wells is in Washington. >> I think what they tell us is that there. were crucial moments there where clearly. Christopher Pike's condition was.

deteriorating. She had just received 10. grams of this lethal injection drug. Uh. and yet there were clearly delays in. getting her that emergency response. because of this confusion about. initially whether or not it was just a. prank call. Uh later confirmation in. fact uh it seemed from the prison that. this was a prank call before it was. established who actually made that. initial call and an emergency response. was sent. What we don't know as well is. whether in that interim period she was. receiving any kind of assistance or or.

treatment of some kind. And that's. because according to some witnesses. we've spoken to who are in who were in. that execution room, there was a period. of about half an hour after uh these. doses were administered to her where a. curtain was pulled over the execution. scene before that ambulance arrived. And. so that that's why many in the room. didn't really understand what was going. on. They didn't know uh what had gone. wrong before that ambulance turned up. I. think though what her lawyers will be.

keen to to do now is is show that they. are not just trying to push to preserve. these kind of phone calls but also they. have already asked that all evidence uh. in relation to this case be preserved. whether that be communications between. the execution team information about the. drug itself that was administered uh and. the the the medical uh sort of history. of of Chris Pike as well and any. documentation related to that because. they are trying to argue that she should. not uh there should not be a further. execution attempt not least because they. argue that she has already been through. unnecessary levels of suffering as a.

result of what happened. Well, she has. been discharged from hospital. So, she. is back in prison uh but still, according to her lawyers, receiving. medical support. Uh but they have. described it as a long road to recovery. Uh we don't yet know although we know. that she appeared to be speaking and and. walking around, we don't know what. extent of damage might have been done to. her brain uh given she was unconscious. for for a long period of time. uh also. to to parts of her body. There were. reports initially that when she was sent.

to hospital uh her arms where the drug. had been administered were extremely. swollen, blistered. Uh she according to. witnesses in the room had described. during the process that it felt like the. vein in her arm was going to burst. Uh. so physically and also mentally it's. unclear uh how she is doing exactly at. the moment but she does continue to be. receiving medical treatment and as I say. from her lawyers perspective they're. keen to argue that the suffering she's. been through so far is a reason that. this shouldn't be something the state.

attempts to do again. >> Violence against women and girls in Iraq. is widespread but under reportported. according to UN experts. Human rights. campaigners say the government needs to. do more to protect survivors who are. left with little redress and protection. for incidents of sexual violence. There. are no official figures. The BBC has. been to the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, to. speak to women who say family and social. pressures have discouraged them from. speaking out until now. This special. report from Salinabil contains details.

you may find distressing. For too long, sexual abuse crimes. against women in Iraq have been. overlooked. The scale cannot be. accurately known. There are no exact. figures. Speaking up is risky. Only a. few dare break the taboo. >> AML, not her real name, says her. daughter was raped by her own father. nearly 5 years ago. She was a minor.

then. We are not sharing most of the. graphic details to protect the family's. privacy. >> She told me he came straight in and. locked the door. He took out his gun and. told her, "No one will hear you if I. kill you.". >> After hearing her daughter's account, Eml says she rushed to report it to the. police. >> She shows me medical documents, including DNA evidence, which support. her account. He called a family member.

right in front of me and told him if the. police arrest me, wash off our disgrace. >> What did he mean by wash off our. disgrace? >> That is so that the medical examination. report would not come out and the. assault would not be proven. >> Do you mean honor killing? Yes. AML says the court case remains open and. the father is on the run. >> In just a few months, videos like this.

went viral on social media featuring. shocking violations. Here in one of Baghdad's upscale. neighborhoods, we see this girl who's. trying to flee as a couple of cars. persistently chase her. Many women are usually too scared to go. to the police station for fear of not. being taken seriously. They are also. discouraged by a society that often. blames the victim. Earlier this year, unknown gunmen killed prominent women's.

rights activist Yanar Muhammad outside. her home in Baghdad. No one has been. charged over her killing. Fellow activists fear their safety is on. the line, too. I've received death threats. I've also. been threatened by acid attacks and. subjected to online slur campaign using. fabricated photos. Sarah has been trying to help survivors.

document cases of alleged abuse online. She turned her Instagram page to a. platform where women could share their. stories. Publishing these videos has started to. serve these women justice. It's a means. to shame the harasser and also a piece. of evidence in case the woman decides to. sue him. We need a law. We need a. deterrent.

So far this year, Iraq's government says. it has received around 300 reports of. sexual harassment. The real number could be much higher. >> Many cases never reach the police. because of society, customs, and. traditions. I tell him we heard some testimonies. from women who said that security forces. are sometimes involved in cases of. harassment.

It is very limited. I don't deny that it. happens, but it's extremely limited. We. have strict oversight of this issue. Some prominent female activists find the. current picture pretty grim, but they. are determined to carry on. The risks of. speaking out are real, but they are well. aware. The risks of remaining silent. mean it can only get worse. The energy. crisis caused by the war in the Middle.

East has pushed prices up and put. pressure on governments, businesses, and. consumers around the globe. But the. International Monetary Fund now says. that the world's biggest economies have. shown surprising resilience despite the. ongoing conflicts. The IMF has reversed. its downgrades of economic growth at the. start of the Iran war. It's now. forecasting a slight improvement in the. global economy. At the same time, it. warned hazards remain. Our economics. editor Fislam is in Bangkok where the.

IMF is meeting. There's two things going. on if I can simplify it that you have. obviously the energy shock which endures. from the straight of horm uh but at the. same time we have this great sort of. engine of growth which is astonishing. amounts of investment in AI that. positive story has balanced off the. negatives of an energy shock and the. overall story so far is one of. surprising resilience and certainly some. of the countries that had been.

downgraded aggressively and. understandably 6 months ago when the. straight of horm was first blocked after. the USIsrael Iran war started are. finding their growth for this year being. revised back up uh again now that. doesn't mean that the glasses are full. and everything's going to be fine risks. abound in the world economy obviously. that energy shock could uh continue. further into next year obviously uh the. AI boom could turn to bust too and in.

particular as regards ards AI and tech. investment that sort of as I say engine. of the economy is quite patchy. It's. good for America. It's good for where I. am here in Asia in the supply chain for. chips and other electronics. It's been. pretty good for places like the United. Kingdom that have a good tech investment. story to tell. Um but it hasn't helped. you know other parts of Europe and South. America uh as far as we can see. So a. mixed bag in terms of the global economy. resilience. Yes. Uh some risks out there.

uh and this battle between an energy. shock and the uh the AI boom and how. long it lasts. >> Still to come in this podcast, Rwanda. signs a 10-year deal to host Africa's. first Formula 1 race since the 1990s. >> It is about opening a new chapter in the. history of Formula 1. For more than. three decades, Africa has been absent. from Formula 1 calendar.

The American actor RJ Mitti, best known. for his role in the award-winning drama. series Breaking Bad, has died at the age. of 34. The actor who had cerebral pulsy. drew on his own experience for his role. as Walter White Jr. in the series, or. Flynn as his character later became. known as. He died in Brownsville in. Texas, where police have said they're. still looking into his cause of death. Brian Cranston, who played the part of. Walter White, his on-screen dad, posted. to say, "I met him when he was only 14.

years old when he was cast." Little by. little, we watched him grow into a. really fine actor. He wrote, "I'll miss. you, son." In 2015, R.J. Mitti spoke to. the BBC's Newsight program about how he. got into acting. >> This job kind of picked me. I didn't. really pick it. I started working in the. industry. I moved to Los Angeles when I. was about 12, 13 years old because of my. little sister, actually. And if you move. to Los Angeles and you don't go to. school and you don't join a gang and you. don't act, which are all the same thing,

you're not going to really meet any. people your own age. So I I started. doing this to meet kids my own age. And. about. se seven months later, I auditioned for. Breaking Bad. And I booked Breaking Bad. And it it gave me a career and it gave. me an opportunity to bring light to to. subjects like this and to disabilities. that need to be heard and to show people. how normal a disability really is. >> And do you when you see an able-bodied. actor playing a disabled character? I.

don't know if you've seen the Eddie Redm. film. I don't know if you've seen the. theory of everything. Uh for example, I. mean what do you think? Do you think. that's a a job stolen from someone else. or do you think wow that's a brilliant. piece of acting? No, I I haven't seen the film yet. I um. but I don't think it's a job stolen. And. this is the reason why I say this is in. this industry, a job is never stolen. If. you have and you're able to work in this. industry, that's already you're that's.

already an amazing feat in itself. This. industry is a very ruthless and hard to. break into. And there's so so many. people coming into this industry that. it it jobs fill up. And yes, it is not. always what I want to see when I see an. able-bodied character in a non in a. disabled role. But I think it's. important to show people and to give. someone an opportunity that's never. lived that life, that's never lived.

through those eyes. And I think it's. important to show people real people on. television, film. And the more we do. this and and television has changed a. lot in the last 10 years and in the last. 20 years, it's it's it's 180. >> Yeah. Yeah. That's. >> But I think it's important to show. people with disabilities on television, film, and disabled or not disabled. I. think everyone has an opportunity, and. everyone should be given that. opportunity to audition for a role, no. matter who you are. Pope Leo is having.

surgery to remove a nodule found on his. lung. The Pope has arrived at JLI. Hospital in Rome. On Sunday, he. surprised worshippers gathered in St. Peter Square by announcing that he would. need an operation. Our Europe. correspondent Sarah Reignsford is in. Rome. >> The Pope himself has been, I think, at. Pains to be quite reassuring. His tone. was very calm. He was even smiling a. couple of times when he made that. announcement on Sunday. Uh he said that. the the lump itself was was small. It. had been detected at an early stage as. he put it and it was localized so.

contained. But obviously this is you. know significant moment uh specifically. I think because generally speaking uh. the pope this pope had been considered. and is considered to be a relatively. young uh man in the position and uh he's. also been considered to be pretty fit. and healthy. He plays a lot of tennis. He likes to go to the gym. Uh he is uh. relatively fit. So I think that's. reassuring for people as he goes into. this operation, but it also has made it. I think a bit of a shock. >> And do we know what will happen over the.

course of uh the coming days? >> Well, we know that he's expected to be. in hospital for several days. We know. that he was working did a full day of. normal events here in the Vatican. yesterday, but his schedule's been. cleared for just over a week. The. Vatican earlier said he would need. around about a week to recover from the. surgery itself, but of course we don't. know uh exactly how things will. progress. Obviously after the operation. of various tests will be done and it's. possible there could be further. treatment. We just don't know at this. point. So this is kind of the early.

stage. One thing I I can say is that on. Sunday as the pope was was speaking he. did mention a trip that he has planned. coming up to Peru to Uruguay to. Argentina and he was talking as if that. trip would go ahead. That is a big. flight to take. It is a a long uh way to. go, a big trip for the pope, but as I. say, at the moment, that trip, which is. planned for early November, is still on. the pope schedule. And finally, Sarah, what does this say about uh this pope. and and the Vatican in terms of the. transparency with which they're willing.

to give this sort of information? >> Yeah, it's interesting. I mean, previous. popes have been far more reticent and. there's been a whole lot more. speculation then about their health. you. know, Pope Francis occasionally would be. admitted to hospital and and then the. rumor will rumor mill would begin uh to. to turn. So, I think it is interesting. that Pope Leo has taken this step to be. very open to to speak uh publicly about. what's happening. Of course, you know, we're only getting fairly limited. information beyond that as you would. expect. But certainly, I think it is. interesting that he made this public and.

that therefore everybody knows he's. going in to have this surgery. And they. also know I think that he has has tried. to be reassuring, tried to be calm and. that's why I think and also there are. lots of well-wishes for him pouring in. uh from all over the world uh as he as. he heads in for this this operation. >> There has been no Formula 1 race in. Africa since the South African Grand. Prix more than three decades ago. But. that's about to change because Rwanda. has signed a deal to host what will be. called the African Grand Prix. It's. scheduled to start in the next decade on.

a specially built circuit south of. Kegali. Rwanda's president Paul Kagame. calls it a proud moment, but not. everyone is happy. Our reporter Emily. Brown told me more. >> This is the first time that the Grand. Prix will return to Africa since 1993. As you mentioned, the last race there. was the South African Grand Prix. It. signed a 10-year deal with Formula 1 to. host what's been called as the African. Grand Prix and that will start from the. early 2030s and the race will take place. on a new purpose-built circuit in.

Bugarazera. Okay, so many people will be. wondering why Rwanda then. >> Well, Formula 1 says it's been looking. for the right partner to bring the sport. back to Africa and believes that Rwanda. can provide the infrastructure and. long-term investment for this. F1 chief. executive Stfano Dominic Harley. described the deal as a landmark moment. and said it could bring wider economic. benefits through tourism and investment. The sport also sees Africa as an. important growth market. There are 100.

million F1 vans uh in Africa and Rwanda. has been actively pursuing major. international sporting events in recent. years and also Lewis Hamilton Ferrari. driver has been calling for the sport to. return to Africa. >> Okay. Uh so in in terms of the critics. though there are some who are out there. who who are actually questioning uh the. validity of this deal and why it should. go ahead. >> Yeah, that's right. Human rights groups. and some political campaigners are. likely to be among the critics accusing.

Randa of sports washing. One example of. the wider debate involving Rwanda is the. sponsorship deal that it had with. Arsenal. The partnership which was worth. more than 10 million pounds a year. attracted criticism from campaigners who. argue that Rwanda is using sport to. improve its international image. particularly amid concerns about the. conflict in the neighboring Democratic. Republic of Congo. Rwanda rejects those. accusations, but critics are likely to. make similar arguments about Formula 1. While supporters say the race will be a.

major opportunity both for Rwanda and. for F1's expansion into Africa. >> Okay. And and it's quite significant in. the sense that it's it's a 10-year deal. Um they're probably trying to capture a. new audience which has been starved of. watching any racing in the continent. just talk to me about your experience of. the sports and and the way it's growing. globally with with programs and series. like Drive to Survive. This is. absolutely a bit of a grab by F1 to try. and gain those those eyeballs on the. sport. >> Yeah, absolutely. This is really putting.

Africa back on the sporting calendar, the global sporting calendar. We've seen. the impact that drive to Survive and. bringing more F1 races has had in. America. There's now a huge US fan base. So the sport will hope that this will. bring a lot more fans uh from the. African continent and this is an. opportunity to showcase Africa to a. global audience um and encourage future. investment in infrastructure and major. events. >> And that's all for this edition of the. Global News podcast. If you'd like to. get in touch, our contact details are.

below. I'm Ana Design. Until next time, goodbye.