Yemeni Journalist Who Obama Kept in Prison is Free
I posted about this courageous journalist 5 days ago: Why Is President Obama Keeping a Journalist in Prison in Yemen? This pardon from Yenen's President is GREAT news!Also reported in the UK Guardian: Yemeni journalist who reported US drone strike is released from jail
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Yemeni Journalist Who Obama Kept in Prison is Free
By: Kevin Gosztola Tuesday July 23, 2013 3:27 pm
Photo posted to Facebook by @aljamal2007 of Abdulelah Haider Shaye, after he was freed from prison
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(Iona Craig, a Times of London) Craig acknowledged that Yemen President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi deserved credit for keeping his word and releasing Shaye. She also praised the organization, Index on Censorship, in the United Kingdom for calling attention to “Shaye’s long-running story” and the threat his imprisonment posed to freedom of expression.
Farea al-Muslimi, a Yemeni youth activist and writer who testified before Congress this year on the impact of US drone operations in his country, reacted, “After FOUR years of jailing him by order from Barack Obama, Yemeni government releases journalist Abdulelah Shaea.” He also said, “Only Barack Obama can compete with Yemen’s dictators (throughout history) in jailing journalists and killing civilians in Yemen,” and, “What a great Iftar Shaea’s kids might be having today; having their father back with them after 4 years in prison.”
The story of Shaye is told in detail by Jeremy Scahill in his book, Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield. Shaye went to the site of a US cruise missile attack in al Majalah where at least 21 children and 14 women were killed. He also tracked down US-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki to interview him on how he could support the US Army medical officer Nidal Hasan, who went on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood and why he believed Umar Farouk Abdulumutallab, the Christmas Day underwear bomber, was justified to have targeted a “civilian airliner.”
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It takes courage to do what Shaye was doing before he was imprisoned. Sadly, when he wound up in prison, US media outlets virtually abandoned him. He had contributed to outlets such as the Washington Post and ABC News but they do not appear to have ever raised their voices to get answers from the administration on why they were keeping a journalist in prison.
In solidarity, it is good to see Shaye be freed. Obama owes Shaye an apology and reparations of some kind for depriving him of the years of his life that he spent in prison and could not be with his family or out in the field doing journalism. Unfortunately, it is pretty much a certainty that there will not be a peep from the Obama administration where they acknowledge it was wrong to keep Shaye jailed.
http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2013/07/23/yemeni-journalist-who-obama-kept-in-prison-is-free/
= new reply since forum marked as read
The pardon was by Yemen's President who had already prepared a pardon for him once at which time Obama picked up the phone to “express concern” over the release and he was jailed again.
Those poor people in Gitmo are on their own 
They're not even allowed to die to escape the injustice.
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White House Stands By Obama Push for Yemeni Journalist to Remain Behind Bars
By Jake Tapper
Mar 16, 2012 3:03pm
White House officials Friday defended President Obama’s request that the government of Yemen keep a local journalist behind bars for alleged terrorist ties.
Abd al-Ilah Haydar Al-Sha’i had investigated a series of airstrikes in December 2009 against what Yemeni officials described as an Al Qaeda training camp in al Majala, finding what he assessed to be remnants of U.S. ordnance — Tomahawk cruise missiles and cluster bombs – and reporting that among the victims of the strikes were 21 children and 14 women. The journalist also interviewed terrorist cleric Anwar Awlaki, an American citizen who was in September 2011 killed by a U.S. Predator drone. His December 2009 interview with Awlaki for Al Jazeera publicly established the cleric’s praise of the Fort Hood shooter, Major Nidal Hasan.
In January 2011, Al-Sha’i was convicted in a Yemeni court of terrorism-related charges and sentenced to five years in prison — but he was reportedly in line to receive a pardon. In February 2011, however, President Obama spoke on the phone with then-Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and, according to a White House read-out of the call, “expressed concern over the release of Abd-Ilah al-Shai, who had been sentenced to five years in prison for his association with AQAP,” al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
February 03, 2011
Readout of President's Call with President Saleh of Yemen
President Obama called President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen on February 2 to welcome the significant reform measures that President Saleh had announced earlier that day, and to stress that President Saleh now needs to follow-up his pledge with concrete actions. President Obama asked that Yemeni security forces show restraint and refrain from violence against Yemeni demonstrators who are exercising their right to free association, assembly, and speech. The President also told President Saleh that it is imperative that Yemen take forceful action against Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to protect innocent lives in Yemen as well as abroad. Finally, President Obama expressed concern over the release of Abd-Ilah al-Shai, who had been sentenced to five years in prison for his association with AQAP. President Saleh thanked the President for U.S. support and committed to continuing and strengthening relations with the United States.
On Thursday, ABC News asked White House press secretary Jay Carney about al-Sha’i, a Yemeni journalist whose case was recently covered by Jeremy Scahill in The Nation. Carney said he didn’t have any information, but would get back to ABC News, a White House official did today.
In a statement to ABC News, National Security Staff spokesman Tommy Vietor said that “President Obama expressed concern last February about Sha’i's possible early release from prison on the basis of his involvement with AQAP-a group that had twice launched attacks on the United States. The President’s comments had absolutely nothing to do with Sha’i's reporting or his criticism of the United States or Yemen. A Yemeni court, not a U.S. court, convicted Sha’i. We refer you to the Yemeni government for details on Sha’i's arrest, conviction, and the status of his detention.”
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http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/03/white-house-stands-by-obama-push-for-yemeni-journalist-to-remain-behind-bars/
Koko, thanks for sharing that but it made my blood boil. There's no excuse for this. None. The majority of the people who die from our drone attacks are innocent. If Congress is obstructed from doing their job, who's representing us?
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Despite claims from the administration that drone strikes have killed very few civilians, multiple independent reports confirm that Obama is severely downplaying the wreckage that these drone strikes inflict. It is ultimately impossible to get exact numbers, but a new study from Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Institute finds that the number of Pakistani civilians killed in drone strikes are “significantly and consistently underestimated” by tracking organizations which are trying to take the place of government estimates on casualties.
There are estimates as high as 98% of drone strike casualties being civilians (50 for every one "suspected terrorist"
. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism issued a report detailing how the CIA is deliberately targeting those who show up after the sight of an attack, rescuers, and mourners at funerals as a part of a "double-tap" strategy eerily reminiscient of methods used by terrorist groups like Hamas.
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http://www.policymic.com/articles/16949/predator-drone-strikes-50-civilians-are-killed-for-every-1-terrorist-and-the-cia-only-wants-to-up-drone-warfare
