Five investigations to follow under lockdown

Millions of people across the globe are under lockdown as governments try to contain the spread of COVID-19. If you are looking for a way to spend your time, here are five groundbreaking investigations to watch.

1. The Poachers Pipeline

“Everything in Africa is based on money.” – A Chinese businessman based in South Africa describing his dealings in rhino horn and how he escapes prosecution.

Explore the network of dealers, agents and traffickers who profit from the multi-million dollar trade in rhino horn – an illegal business that is decimating the rhino population close to the point of extinction. 

2. The Dark Side: Secrets of the Sports Dopers

“Have I doped people? Oh yeah. And no one’s got caught because the system is so easy to beat. That’s the sad fact.” – A Vancouver pharmacist.

Enter the secretive world of doping in sports as a former athlete-turned-undercover reporter investigates the doctors, pharmacists and medical professionals providing drugs and guidance to athletes trying to cheat the system.

3. Islamophobia Inc.

“Most people in America do believe Islam is bad but don’t want to say anything.” – Ruben Israel, a street preacher in Los Angeles

Examine the tactics of groups that portray Islam as a threat and follow the trail of “dark money” fuelling the rapid growth of Islamophobia, including tens of millions of dollars funnelled through shadowy, anonymous donor funds.  

4. Stealing paradise

“The president [Abdulla Yameen] received bags filled with up to $1 million in cash, so much cash that it was ‘difficult to carry’, according to one of the men who delivered it.”

Gain unprecedented insight into the workings of a corrupt government in the holiday islands of the Maldives. 

The investigative team behind this film received the corruption reporting award from One World Media in 2017. In 2019, Yameen was convicted of money laundering. 

5. Myanmar: The Hidden Genocide

“The fields were filled with bodies and soaked with blood.” – Mohammed Islam, a Rohingya.

This is the story of a people fleeing the land where they were born, of a people deprived of citizenship in their homeland. It is the story of the Rohingya of western Myanmar, whose very existence as a people has been denied.

The Myanmar military has been accused of genocide by the United Nations for its brutal crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim minority. A UN fact-finding mission estimates at least 10,000 Rohingya were killed in the violence. 

Since August 2017 more than 740,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar and found temporary shelter in refugee camps around Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh – now home to the world’s largest refugee camp. 

 

You can find more Al Jazeera investigations here.