Abdulelah Haider Shaye ‘put in prison because he had the audacity to expose’ deadly US drone strike
The White House is “concerned and disappointed” over the news that Yemeni Journalist Abdulelah Haider Shaye, who was kept in a Yemeni jail for three years per the request of the Obama administration after he exposed a deadly U.S. drone strike, was released Tuesday.
Following news of Shaye’s release, journalist Jeremy Scahill, who has written extensively about Shaye’s story, contacted the White House for a comment.
The White House’s response was brief and alarming:
We are concerned and disappointed by the early release of Abd-Ilah al-Shai, who was sentenced by a Yemeni court to five years in prison for his involvement with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
According to Scahill and numerous other journalists who have followed the story, Shaye’s only involvement with Al Qaeda was conducting interviews with their members for major news outlets that included theWashington Post, ABC News and the New York Times.
Shaye’s legal troubles only arose after he uncovered the deadly U.S. strike that killed dozens of innocent Yemeni civilians, after which he was thrown in prison. At one point Shaye was slated for early release, but a phone callfrom president Obama urged Yemeni officials to keep him behind bars.
“We should let that statement set in,” Scahill said of the White House’s response. “The White House is saying that they are disappointed and concerned that a Yemeni journalist has been released from a Yemeni prison.”
“This is a man who was put in prison because he had the audacity to expose a U.S. cruise missile attack that killed three dozen women and children.”
Watch Scahill in an interview with Democracy Now!, which aired Thursday morning:
http://beforeitsnews.com/blogging-citizen-journalism/2013/07/footage-of-michael-hastings-shows-explosion-prior-to-crash-2448488.html
CCTV footage allegedly shows Michael Hasting’s car exploding before coming to a standstill. Do you see any braking?
willemshotstuff Michael Hastings died in a single-vehicle automobile crash in his Mercedes C250 Coupé at approximately 4:25 a.m. in the Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles on June 18, 2013. A witness to the crash said that he seemed to be driving at the car’s maximum speed before the car fishtailed and crashed into a palm tree. Witnesses described the car’s engine being ejected 50 to 60 yards from the scene. Some press reports have described the crash as suspicious,although the Los Angeles Police Department has said there are no signs of foul play. 
Earlier the previous day, Hastings indicated that he believed he was being investigated by the FBI. In an email to colleagues, which was copied to and released by Hastings’ friend, Army Staff Sergeant Joe Biggs, Hastings said that he was “onto a big story”, that he needed to “go off the radar”, and that the FBI might interview them. WikiLeaks announced that Hastings had also contacted Jennifer Robinson, one of its lawyers a few hours prior to the crash, and the LA Times reported that he was preparing new reports on the CIA at the time of his demise. The FBI released a statement denying that Hastings was being investigated.
http://boingboing.net/2013/07/27/critics-of-nsa-spying-includi.html
Critics of NSA spying, including Glenn Greenwald, to testify before Congress
Democratic congressman Alan Grayson is leading a bipartisan group of representatives concerned about "constant misleading information" from the intelligence community. They're holding a hearing Wednesday, at which critics of the National Security Agency's spying programs will speak. One of them is Glenn Greenwald, who will participate remotely from Brazil. I'm sure the NSA will want to listen in on that line.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/26/glenn-greenwald-congress-nsa-surveillance-programs_n_3660352.html
Glenn Greenwald, the journalist who broke the story on top-secret NSA surveillance programs earlier this summer, will testify before a congressional committee.
Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), who is leading the Wednesday congressional hearing that has invited critics of the NSA programs to testify, told The Guardian, "I think that most people simply don't understand that, despite the news coverage, which my view has been extremely unfocused. There has been far too much discussion of the leaker, and not enough discussion of the leak."
Greenwald tweeted on Friday that he would join the hearing remotely.
No comments:
Post a Comment