Your task is to extract the thesis of an opinionated news article by selecting some of its text segments. The thesis is a summarization of what the author wants to persuade the reader of. Your answer should consist of segments of the given text. Note that you are not allowed to combine different sentences.

Input: Consider Input: What is not being reported in Azerbaijan. While global media appears to be focused on debating the limitations on free speech in France following the attack on the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo , it is worth remembering that France is not the only country whose media professionals are targeted . For years, journalists in Azerbaijan have suffered harsh penalties for defending their freedom of speech- from prison sentences to interrogation and the confiscation of broadcasting equipment . On December 26, at around 10:30am, a group of police officers and investigators stormed the Baku bureau of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty , ransacking the company's safe, seizing company documents, the official seal and equipment , while keeping the staff hostage in a conference room for over five hours . Once the search was over, the office was sealed shut . The staff was let go only to be forcefully summoned a day later at the heavy crimes unit of the state prosecutor's office for questioning . In just a few days, over 30 former and current staff members of RFE/RL were questioned, including the bureau's cleaner . On December 30, the government accused the radio and its staff of espionage, money laundering and appropriation of funds as part of the ongoing criminal investigation against foreign-funded entities in Azerbaijan . Similar measures were taken against Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS), the Media Rights Institute, and International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) . The offices of all three were raided in August and sealed shut with IREX leaving the country shortly after . The director of IRFS, Emin Huseynov, remains in hiding . Consistent targeting . This is not the first time the RFE/RL station, locally called Azadliq Radio (Liberty Radio) is targeted by the authorities . In 2009, its FM broadcast was shut down . BBC radio service and Voice of America followed suit . For years, the police harassed the radio's reporters, often confiscating or breaking their equipment or detaining them for endless hours of interrogation . On December 5, Azadliq Radio investigative journalist and the host of the radio's daily show, Khadija Ismayilova, was arrested and placed in pre-trial detention for two months . Accused of "incitement to suicide" or "an attempt to suicide" as per Article 125 of the Criminal Code, Ismayilova remains in jail  - even though her accuser, Tural Mustafayev, has withdrawn his complaint . Mustafayev had accused Ismayilova of inciting him to attempt suicide and "insulting his honour and dignity on social networks and among her friends following the break-up of their relations and his intention to marry another woman" . On December 30, the Baku Court of Appeal dismissed Ismayilova's appeal for house arrest . Prior to this charge, Ismayilova was already facing an unrelated criminal trial for defamation linked to her posting a document on Facebook revealing the identity of a man who was an informant for Azerbaijan's intelligence services . In October, when travelling for a conference in Prague, Ismayilova was prevented from leaving the country . A little over a week before this trip, Ismayilova was searched and detained for four hours at Baku International Airport . She was returning from Strasbourg where she talked about the deteriorating human rights conditions in Azerbaijan . Her investigative work uncovered many of the hidden and illegal business dealings of the ruling Aliyev family and other government officials for which she is recognised internationally . Ismayilova is the recipient of Global Shining Award, the Gerd Bucerius Free Press of Eastern Europe Award, the Courage of Journalism Award, and named one of the Brave Thinkers of the world by Atlantic magazine . Was it a coincidence that Ismayilova's detention came just a day after the country's chief of staff, Ramiz Mehdiyev, accused Ismayilova of treason and being a foreign spy? Or that the radio station was raided and then closed in another few weeks time? In his 60-page diatribe on "Western Colonialism", Mehdiyev wrote:"Their main concern is lip service to their bosses abroad and keeping good relations with them . The example is Azadliq Radio's journalist Kahdija Ismayilova . Together with her colleague 'friends' she puts on anti-Azerbaijani shows, makes absurd statements, openly demonstrates destructive attitude towards well-known members of the Azerbaijani community, and spreads insulting lies . It is clear this sort of defiance pleases Ms Ismayilova's patrons abroad." He concluded:"Overall there is an understanding within the society that Azadliq Radio and its employees are on a disgusting path . There is no need to prove that provision of false information is the same as working for the foreign secret service . This is treason . This is what journalists and people with a healthy mindset would think . If the symbol of democracy is Khadija Ismayilova , then it is awful to imagine what future awaits the society." Siyavush Novruzov, an MP from the ruling party, agrees . In an interview with a local news site, Novruzov said:"Every place that works for foreign intelligence and the Armenian lobby should be searched." The Armenian lobby is just another popular tool used by government circles to punish dissent in Azerbaijan . Despite its support for Track Two diplomacy initiatives, Aliyev's regime was quick to accuse Leyla Yunus and Rauf Mirkadirov of treason and spying for Armenia this year . Both Yunus and Mirkadirov have been engaged in public diplomacy initiatives pressing for reconciliation between Armenia and Azerbaijan for over a decade . The authorities were fully aware of their work for years . And yet ,  in what has been by far the most unprecedented year of crackdowns, Azerbaijan continues to maintain a steady relationship with Europe and the image of a transforming country, young and rich, and eager to spend so long as its critics keep quiet . With many of the country's prominent advocates, lawyers, and journalists in jail; independent media platforms under attack; and only a handful of international non-governmental organisations left in the country, there is little hope for the country's positive transformation anytime soon . So long as President Ilham Aliyev keeps saying there are no political prisoners and no limitations on freedom of speech in Azerbaijan- conjuring the illusion of a democratic country- little is going to change in this country .

Output: For years, journalists in Azerbaijan have suffered harsh penalties for defending their freedom of speech- from prison sentences to interrogation and the confiscation of broadcasting equipment


Input: Consider Input: Zero suicides is an admirable aim but it requires all-out change. On Monday, Nick Clegg pledged to sign up the NHS to a national "zero suicide" campaign . This comes in a week when I have spent a lot of time talking to the media about depression in an attempt to get people to support Calm and the other charities that are doing incredible work to help people coping with mental illness . I have appeared on national radio, in the press and on television to talk about my story , but the more coverage I get, the more I ask: why me? Let me make this clear . I am not famous , I am not trying to be famous . I am a normal lad who made mistakes, lived a lie, and eventually attempted to take my own life . I am just another statistic . Someone who suffered from an illness that took over my life and made me a person I didn't recognise . There is absolutely nothing special or unique about me . Yet I am getting calls from people asking me to share my story . The fact that I am newsworthy, simply because I have spoken openly about the demons I was facing, makes me think that we are being greatly let down by society . Suicide is the biggest single killer of men aged 20-49 in the UK . It's a statistic that, no matter how many times I say it, continues to shock me to the core . Yet it's something that few people seem to be talking about openly, if at all . I get it, we're British . Sometimes we don't like talking about things that make us uncomfortable . Sometimes we'd rather not ask the question because we can't handle the answer . But that simply cannot continue . It's time that people are made to stand up and face the harsh reality . The fear of being judged is preventing people from talking about their secret turmoil . There is very little being done by the people who have the biggest influence to remove those fears, remove the stigmas, to get people talking about mental health, and make people comfortable with the subject . The media doesn't just have influence, it has a responsibility to help communicate a message and set an agenda . Yes, things are changing , but it can't be right that the furthest we've come is having someone receive live therapy on air with Phillip Schofield or a soap character crashing a minibus . There is too much box-ticking going on . A petition signed, a campaign joined, an empty promise in an election year . All very good but what do they actually do? Do they help save enough lives? The system needs changing from top to bottom . There is no consistency or urgency, despite the high rate of men dying from suicide . What bigger wake-up call do you need? I would ask David Cameron to speak up and tell us what he is going to do . To meet me, to let me introduce him to the small team at Calm, the volunteers, the campaigners, the people on the end of phones with someone's life in their hands . Let me show him people who feel as if they have nowhere to turn . Let me show him the lack of knowledge of some people working in GP surgeries, and the pressure that those who make a positive difference are working under, as rates of mental illness increase continually . Let me show how so little can make such a big difference . If Nick Clegg is serious about mental health then he needs to show it . It's great that he has decided that we need to aim for zero suicides but I wonder, what was the aim before this? Just a few suicides? A hundred? Shouldn't the aim always have been zero? The likes of Calm, Mind, The Samaritans and everyone else, are doing incredible work but it shouldn't be left to them to do it all alone . They can only work with the limited resources they have . They need supporting and backing . We need to put faces and voices to genuine experiences . Speaking out about dealing with depression shouldn't be considered a "brave" act ; it shouldn't be an extraordinary or unusual story to read . It should be common . It should be accepted . It should be normal . But while we live in a society that doesn't know how to deal with it, and perhaps does not want to deal with it, we cannot expect people to talk openly about such private matters . Much focus is placed on those who are suffering , and rightly so , but in order to truly help them, we need to make everyone else comfortable and knowledgeable enough to know what to do, how to act, and know how to signpost people to the help that is out there . We need to be talking about mental illness in schools . We need to make in-depth training compulsory in the workplace . We need to be training taxi drivers, bar staff, hairdressers - people who will find out more about a person through a casual conversation than their friends will ever know . We need to normalise talking about the realities of depression, to normalise conversations about the very real prospect of suicide - it is the only way we can move forward together . We need a radical change from top to bottom . Therapy isn't just about lying on a couch while someone writes down your childhood memories . It's about feeling comfortable enough to say you're not OK .

Output: On Monday, Nick Clegg pledged to sign up the NHS to a national "zero suicide" campaign


Input: Consider Input: Torturing Muslims is an 'awesome' way to get things done. On December 9, the Senate Select Committee released a partial report of the horrifying, illegal torture tactics used by the CIA during the Bush administration . Some question the timing . I think the timing is perfect . We are now in a position to recall what past black activists, from Martin Luther King to Angela Davis to Muhammad Ali, knew when they spoke against the immoral actions of their nation in Vietnam . The protesters in Ferguson got a sneak peek, or a reminder, of this lesson in August, when Palestinians, who had experience with being shot at with US-made weaponry, advised US protesters on how to treat the searing pain of tear gas bombs (pour Coca-Cola directly over the eyes) . But recently, because of the quick succession of the failures to indict the killers of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, and then the release of the torture report, we are at a moment in which the link between our domestic terrorism and our international terrorism is being drawn for the rest of us . Immediately after the release of the report, many in the media did their best to claim that the release of this report was part of some wider conspiracy to demoralise Americans . The best example of this would be Fox News' Andrea Tantaros , who, in the middle of a conversation about the report, began shouting that "The United States of America is awesome, we are awesome." She seemed positively indignant that the Obama administration was attempting to "have this discussion to show us how we're not awesome" . For those unfamiliar with the slang of US hipsters and teenagers, we generally use the "awesome/not awesome" binary to evaluate things like pizza, beer, or surfboards - not the moral character of a nation-state . But , if we are to adopt her method of expression , Tantaros seems to be forgetting that she is able to be on television in part because one or two generations ago, a few people declared that women not being able to participate in news media was not very "awesome" . She also forgets that a couple generations before that, her Greek last name would have prevented her from being considered"white" , and she thus would not have been allowed in front of a camera . Whether Tantaros accepts it or not, the history of equality in the US has been one of people deciding that things were not yet awesome, and taking it upon themselves to make them more awesome . But we should note that Tantaros was primarily angry at being forced to have a public conversation, and at being embarrassed that the world was seeing us have a discussion about our behaviour . "This makes us look bad," she pleaded . "And all this does is have our enemies laughing at us." Not only is torture illegal , but by US' own standards, it is ineffective . The CIA knew this . The 1992 US Army Field Manual on Interrogation explicitly advises that "the use of force is a poor technique, as it yields unreliable results", and can "induce the source to say whatever he thinks the interrogator wants to hear" . This ended up being true - we now know that one prisoner told the CIA that he was trying to recruit black Muslims in the US to attack gas stations . He later admitted that he made up the story,"because he thought that's what interrogators wanted to hear" . This year has also shown us that ineptitude can also happen at home, with our domestic police forces . The Ferguson Police Department has utterly failed to de-escalate tensions at every possible opportunity . We now know the officer that killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice was not fit to hold a pistol, much less a badge . In fact ,  a report by the Justice Department has shown that Cleveland police officers routinely use unjustified force in arrests, and fire their weapons "carelessly" , putting both innocent bystanders and themselves in danger . If the timing of the one-two punch of public revelations of anti-black racism and criminal torture do not convince us , then we can at least recognise a pattern in the people that are desperate to deny both . The torture report is available to anyone to view online, provided they are willing to wade through pages and pages of gruesome accounts . There is an account of putting a prisoner in a diaper, shackling him to the ceiling, and leaving him for days . One prisoner died of hypothermia after being chained, nearly naked, to a concrete floor . Many were sexually assaulted . Despite this, Republican Congressman Peter King attempted to wave these facts away, declaring that no harmful torture occurred . Instead ,  he brushed it off as merely a few"people made to stand in awkward positions" . This is the same Peter King who said that Eric Garner did not die because of a chokehold, but because he was overweight . It is also the same Peter King that implied that Garner, in his final moments, was lying about not being able to breathe . If Tantaros' reaction to the defiling of the "awesomeness" of the US seems childish , Peter King's reaction is worse . It is the rhetorical equivalent of sticking your fingers in your ears, and shouting "nyah, nyah, I can't hear you" - as your brother drowns beside you . And , as if we needed any clearer indication on how racism and callousness regarding the torture of non-whites were connected , we were given a clear reminder last week , when Facebook released a 23 second commercial about a feature of its service, and cast a Sikh man as the spokesperson . The video was immediately bombarded with angry comments calling the man an "ISIL terrorist", a "raghead", and a "sand nigger" . One commenter blasted Facebook itself, asking"Why do you have a Muslim on this pic?" When another user replied that he was a Sikh, the commenter responded:"Same thing." We might chalk this up to ignorance : Our education system is focused on white European and US history . Most Americans don't know the difference between a friendly Sikh man and a scary Muslim terrorist . Actually, most Americans couldn't tell you the difference between a fatwah and a plate of chapati . But we should be more precise here - it's not that we don't know , it's that we don't want to know . But then again , separating "good" brown people from "bad" ones isn't the point, and wouldn't make a difference . For too many of us, anyone brown and bearded is automatically al-Qaeda, and deserves to be tortured and killed . Our understanding of humanity does not apply to anyone that can be mistaken for Muslim or Arab , and we excuse ourselves for this moral exception by constantly reminding ourselves that our country was attacked in 2001 . It's not that we can't know that we are terrorising black people . It's not that we can't know that the people we tortured in those prisons were people . We could, if we wanted to . But we don't want to . The events of the past few months have shown us that we are not up against a few crooked cops, a group of rogue rednecks, or a wacky news station . We are up against an empire of immorality that, in its fear, would rather shoot and waterboard the world, than to learn about it . If there is a true "enemy" , it is that Empire . It has been hiding in plain sight , and this year, it has revealed itself- in the mirror . As Tantaros says, it laughs at us . What we choose to do about that is up to us .


Output: On December 9, the Senate Select Committee released a partial report of the horrifying, illegal torture tactics used by the CIA during the Bush administration