Hardtalk

A host of countries around the world still impose the ultimate punishment on the most serious criminals - death. What is it like to be in command of the machinery of state-sanctioned execution? As part of the BBC’s special Freedom Season, Hardtalk gets a rare insight from Allen Ault, who spent years running the corrections system in the southern US state of Georgia. He organised the killing of criminals until he could stand it no more. Now he is an opponent of the death penalty, Stephen Sackur finds out why.(Photo: Allen Ault - Former Commissioner of Corrections, Georgia, USA on BBC Hardtalk)

Hardtalk is in Paris at Roland Garros, the headquarters of tennis in France, to speak to the French tennis player and Wimbledon Champion, Marion Bartoli. Last year, just six weeks after achieving the highest accolade in her sport, the Wimbledon title, she announced she was retiring from tennis at the age of only 28. Can she really never imagine competing again? And if so, what does that say about the health of tennis?

It is nearly a year since the new Pope was installed, but still the same problems dog the Catholic Church. A UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has just criticised the Vatican over its failure to deal decisively with child sexual abuse by priests. Gay rights activists still attack the Church on its stand on homosexuality and the Vatican’s finances have been under scrutiny and criminal investigation. Hardtalk speaks to Cardinal Peter Turkson who was tipped to become the first black Pope. He’s calling for financial reforms and action against poverty and inequality. But does the Catholic Church have the moral authority to take a lead on such issues?

From Syria and Afghanistan to relations with the US and Europe, how influential is British foreign policy today?Picture: William Hague, Credit: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Stephen Sackur talks to the prominent women’s rights campaigner, Kavita Krishnan. Delhi is a proud capital of the nation - a noisy and vibrant place - but a city stained by its record on sexual violence. More rapes are recorded here than any other Indian city. Just over a year ago a 23-year-old medical student died after a brutal gang rape on a bus which shocked the nation and prompted millions of people to demand government action to end gender violence. Is India becoming a safer, more equal society for women?Picture: Kavita Krishnan, Credit: BBC

Hardtalk speaks to Hussain Al-Shahristani, Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister responsible for energy. He's in London to attend a conference, but also to convince the world that his country isn't sinking back into civil war. A decade on from the fall of Saddam Hussein, is Iraq perilously close to tearing itself apart again?Picture: Hussein al-Shahristani, Credit: Sabah Arar/AFP/Getty Images

Hardtalk speaks to the Archbishop of Canterbury and leader of the Anglican Church, Justin Welby. He has just embarked on a tour of four African countries, all touched by vicious and bloody conflict - South Sudan, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi. It’s part of his mission to visit as many communities as possible in the 80-million strong Anglican Church worldwide. Can he help heal the divisions in these conflict ridden countries? And what is his answer to critics who say that religion itself is partly to blame for ethnic hatred and killings. Also, the church is polarised on issues such as same-sex marriage and gay priests. Can the Archbishop keep the Church together?

In a special edition of Hardtalk recorded in front of an audience in India's capital Delhi, Stephen Sackur talks to one of the country's most intriguing politicians. Omar Abdullah is Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, a long disputed territory once described by former US president Bill Clinton as the most dangerous place on Earth. Is there any hope of Kashmir becoming a place of peace not conflict? Omar Abdullah has been Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir for five years, following in a family tradition. His grandfather was the state's first prime minister and his father served as chief minister too.Picture: Omar Abdullah (left) with presenter Stephen Sackur

India has experienced unprecedented growth. Why does poverty persist?Picture: Palaniappan Chidambaram, Credit: Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Getty Images

When Harris Georgiades became Finance Minister of Cyprus a year ago some said he had been handed poisoned chalice. He has had to preside over tough austerity measures that are driving poverty levels in the country. The economy is shrinking, unemployment will perhaps reach 20% this year and wages are being slashed. These were the tough conditions of a 10 billion Euro bailout granted last year with the Troika of the European Central Bank, the EU and the IMF to avoid a collapse of the banking system in Cyprus. So why then does the Finance Minister believe that the economy is proving more resilient than expected? Is he being too optimistic?Picture: Harris Georgiades, Credit: AP Photo/Petros Karadjias

It is three years since the uprisings collectively known as the 'Arab Spring' claimed their biggest prize – the ousting of Hosni Mubarak who had ruled Egypt for thirty years. The previously banned Muslim Brotherhood produced the country's first ever democratically elected president. Six months later he too was deposed. The Brotherhood has since been designated as "terrorist" with its leaders thrown in jail or in exile. One of those is Yehia Hamed. He was investment minister in a government, critics say, put its own interests ahead of the economic crisis which precipitated its downfall. A new constitution has just been overwhelmingly approved by Egyptians - elections are promised within months. With the Brotherhood telling its supporters to "topple the leaders of the treacherous military coup", isn't the Brotherhood encouraging the violence it professes to abhor?

The British government is 'going all out for shale'. Those are the words of the Prime Minister about his plan to allow companies to try to extract shale gas from deep underground. It's a contrast to most European countries - many have banned it until they are convinced it can be done safely without damaging the water supply. Sarah Montague speaks to Britain's Energy and Climate Change secretary - the Liberal Democrat Ed Davey. If we want clean, green and affordable energy, what role should fracking have?(Picture: Ed Davey, Credit: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

In a special edition of Hardtalk recorded in New York City, Stephen Sackur speaks to the former US Defence Secretary Robert Gates. In his newly published memoirs he gives the inside story on arguments and tensions inside the Obama White House – particularly over Afghanistan. He has called his book Duty but are some of his revelations an act of disloyalty?

Eight hundred million Europeans’ fundamental rights and liberties are supposed to be safeguarded by the European Court of Human Rights. It is an institution steeped in European idealism and ambition, but does it work? Hardtalk speaks to the President of the Strasbourg based court Dean Spielmann. Critics condemn it as an undemocratic, unaccountable infringement on national sovereignty - do they have a case?(Photo: President of the European Court of Human Rights, judge Dean Spielmann. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

When a US drone kills a jihadi militant in Pakistan has a law been broken? What if the missile kills women and children too? Who can be held to account? Hardtalk speaks to Ben Emmerson, the British lawyer addressing these questions for the United Nations. He says drone strikes and other exceptional counter terror measures simply breed more terror - but does this liberal lawyer really know what's best in the struggle to make the world a safer place?(Photo: Ben Emmerson QC, 2012. Credit: Matrix Chambers HO)

Is English justice all it is cracked up to be? Hardtalk speaks to Keir Starmer, the top barrister who has just stepped down after five years as the Director of Public Prosecutions - in effect the chief prosecutor in England and Wales. Are the pillars of the English judicial system, the laws and the courts really fit for purpose?

Twelve years ago photographer Giles Duley abandoned the world of celebrity and fashion photography to focus on stories of human suffering - he was in Afghanistan in 2011 when a landmine blew off both of his legs and an arm. Since then he has defied the odds, not just surviving but returning to work, even revisiting Afghanistan. He is still a photographer, but does he see the world through a different lens?

One of the great global challenges of the next half a century will be feeding a human population set to rise beyond nine billion. Farmers worldwide face an enormous productivity challenge. Mike Mack is the CEO of Syngenta – one of the world’s biggest agribusinesses. He sees farming's future driven by bioscience and genetic manipulation. But why does he face so much mistrust and suspicion?(Photo: Mike Mack, CEO of Syngenta)

Mark Cavendish has enjoyed the reputation of being the fastest man on two wheels over the past five years . He is a cycling phenomenon - an explosive sprinter, a world champion and the winner of more Tour de France stages than any other Briton. He also has a reputation for blunt talk in a sport tainted by illegal drug use. So, has cycling cleaned up its act and thrown out the cheats?

Artist Jeremy Deller defies all the labels and categories of the art world. He is a visual artist who can’t paint, can’t draw and professes no great technical skill - yet he is widely regarded as one of the most important artists in Britain today. He uses images, objects, words and real people to present a portrait of the modern world, from the factory floor to the Iraq war. What is at the heart of his creative vision?