

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
To donate by check, phone, or other method, see our More Ways to Give page.


Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
Abdulelah Haider Shaye, a Yemeni journalist who was kept in prison for three years at the request of the Obama administration after he uncovered a deadly U.S.

According to Shaye's lawyer, he will have to remain in Sana'a for 2 years at which point his case will be reviewed.
According to journalist Jeremy Scahill, who reported on Shaye's story extensively, Shaye was detained after risking his life "to travel to areas controlled by Al Qaeda and to interview its leaders," and is known to have conducted the last known interview with U.S. citizen Anwar al Awlaki before he was killed by a U.S. drone.
However, it was Shaye's uncovering of a deadly U.S. drone strike in 2009 which ultimately lead to his legal troubles, according to Scahill and a slew of journalists and activists who have researched his case.
Shaye was a widely trusted journalist used by the Washington Post, ABC News, the New York Times and other media outlets before he was detained by Yemeni forces and accused of being an Al Qaeda operative.
At one point Shaye was to be released by Yemeni officials, "but it took just one phone call from the US president urging them to reconsider, and the government backtracked," Al Jazeera reported.
Human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists, have all condemned his imprisonment.
On Tuesday Scahill tweeted:
And reporter Kevin Gosztola adds:
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, as much as the administration may claim to support press freedom, 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.
_______________________
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Jacob Chamberlain is a former staff writer for Common Dreams. He is the author of Migrant Justice in the Age of Removal. His website is www.jacobpchamberlain.com.

According to Shaye's lawyer, he will have to remain in Sana'a for 2 years at which point his case will be reviewed.
According to journalist Jeremy Scahill, who reported on Shaye's story extensively, Shaye was detained after risking his life "to travel to areas controlled by Al Qaeda and to interview its leaders," and is known to have conducted the last known interview with U.S. citizen Anwar al Awlaki before he was killed by a U.S. drone.
However, it was Shaye's uncovering of a deadly U.S. drone strike in 2009 which ultimately lead to his legal troubles, according to Scahill and a slew of journalists and activists who have researched his case.
Shaye was a widely trusted journalist used by the Washington Post, ABC News, the New York Times and other media outlets before he was detained by Yemeni forces and accused of being an Al Qaeda operative.
At one point Shaye was to be released by Yemeni officials, "but it took just one phone call from the US president urging them to reconsider, and the government backtracked," Al Jazeera reported.
Human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists, have all condemned his imprisonment.
On Tuesday Scahill tweeted:
And reporter Kevin Gosztola adds:
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, as much as the administration may claim to support press freedom, 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.
_______________________
Jacob Chamberlain is a former staff writer for Common Dreams. He is the author of Migrant Justice in the Age of Removal. His website is www.jacobpchamberlain.com.

According to Shaye's lawyer, he will have to remain in Sana'a for 2 years at which point his case will be reviewed.
According to journalist Jeremy Scahill, who reported on Shaye's story extensively, Shaye was detained after risking his life "to travel to areas controlled by Al Qaeda and to interview its leaders," and is known to have conducted the last known interview with U.S. citizen Anwar al Awlaki before he was killed by a U.S. drone.
However, it was Shaye's uncovering of a deadly U.S. drone strike in 2009 which ultimately lead to his legal troubles, according to Scahill and a slew of journalists and activists who have researched his case.
Shaye was a widely trusted journalist used by the Washington Post, ABC News, the New York Times and other media outlets before he was detained by Yemeni forces and accused of being an Al Qaeda operative.
At one point Shaye was to be released by Yemeni officials, "but it took just one phone call from the US president urging them to reconsider, and the government backtracked," Al Jazeera reported.
Human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists, have all condemned his imprisonment.
On Tuesday Scahill tweeted:
And reporter Kevin Gosztola adds:
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, as much as the administration may claim to support press freedom, 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.
_______________________