Amal Clooney 'Perplexed' by Trump's Popularity in U.S.
Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney talks to BBC News about Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. In her interview, she discusses his disparaging comments toward Muslims and women. Clooney talks about how Trump demonizes all Muslims and portrays them as people who hate the American way of life, despite many Muslims living comfortably in U.S. society. Clooney shares the same confusion over Trump’s popularity as many other international figures. Amal and husband George Clooney have come out in support of Hillary Clinton, holding multiple, expensive fundraisers for the Democratic candidate.
Heather Saul
The Independent
While garnering an increasing number of supporters as he edges closer towards securing the Republican nomination, Donald Trump has also amassed his fair share of detractors.
Amal Clooney became his latest critic on Tuesday when she took a moment to highlight flaws in some of Trump’s most controversial claims in recent months. Amal, a human rights lawyer who is married to George Clooney, criticised him as he prepared to outline what his principal foreign policies would be should he be elected to the White House in November.
He has pledged to temporarily ban Muslims from coming into the US and has repeatedly vowed to build a “big, beautiful wall” on the border with Mexico to curb illegal immigration.
Amal specialises in public international law, international criminal law and human rights at London’s Doughty Street Chambers. She led an international delegation attempting to secure the release of the former president of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, stood before Europe’s top human rights court to represent Armenia in their case against Doğu Perinçek, the leader of the Turkish Workers’ Party, and she recently represented convicted Canadian Mohamed Fahmy in Egypt.
Amal called out Trump’s decisive rhetoric in an interview with the BBC, where she was speaking about her latest case representing Azerbaijan reporter Khadija Ismayilova at the European Court of Human Rights.
“When you listen to what the leading candidate on the Republican side has been saying about building walls, about excluding Mexicans, and saying there has to be a complete shutdown on all Muslims coming in,” she said.
“If you actually look at what he specifically says in that now-infamous speech about Muslims, he kept saying, ‘They only want jihad … they don’t believe in our way of life; they don’t respect our system.’ And when he says ‘they’… And, you know, you watch the media coverage afterwards and people should’ve been saying, ‘Do you mean the 1.5 billion people around the world who fit that description? Do you mean the people who are US citizens, who are members of your military, the vast majority of whom are not extremist or violent in any way?'”
The billionaire business mogul has already declared himself the “presumptive Republican nominee” after winning in five crucial contests, placing him well ahead of his rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich in the contest for the party’s candidacy.
He courted controversy once again after Tuesday’s primaries by suggesting Hillary Clinton was “playing the woman card” in her campaign for the Democratic nomination.
source: www.independent.co.uk