Tarek Mehanna sent to prison for expressing a political opinion

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Tonight we are joined by Laila Murad to discuss the efforts to free Tarek Mehanna. Mehanna case is particularly interesting because what he was alleged to have done. The US government tried to link Mehanna to Al Qaeda, this of course was before the US started supporting Al Qaeda and Al Qaeda linked militants in Libya and now Syria.

According to reports, Mehanna has stated that he does not support the worldview of Al Qaeda, but that he does support Muslims' right to fight the U.S. military invasion and occupation of Iraq as well as other foreign military forces in Iraq.

Mehanna was said to have began to translated and posted online materials described by prosecutors as Al Qaeda propaganda. In April 2012, Mehanna was sentenced in a Boston federal court on four terrorism-related charges and three others related to lying to FBI and other U.S. federal officials.

The ACLU issued a statement after his sentencing which read, "Under the government's theory of the case, ordinary people--including writers and journalists, academic researchers, translators, and even ordinary web surfers--could be prosecuted for researching or translating controversial and unpopular ideas."

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Activists Sabrina Green and Ralph Poynter on Cuban Five and Lynne Stewart

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Sabrina Green will join us to discuss the updates concerning the case of The Cuban Five. The Cuban Five consists Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González. The men were on a mission to investigate terrorist groups among the Cubans in Florida who fled from the island following the Cuban Revolution led by Fidel Castro and Ernesto "Che" Guevara.

Terrorist based in Florida were suspected of being behind attacks on hotels in Cuban and evidence implicated several CIA-linked anti-Castro Cuban exiles being behind the deadliest terrorist airline attack in the Western Hemisphere. All 78 people on board Cubana de Aviación Flight 455 died including children. The United States would charge members of the Cuban Five with conspiracy to commit espionage, conspiracy to commit murder, acting as an agent of a foreign government, and other illegal activities in the United States.

Recently new evidence surfaced that the US government through the Broadcasting Board of Governors was secretly paying prominent Miami journalists who were saturating the Miami media where the trail was conducted with highly inflammatory reports that were prejudicial to the Cuban Five impeding their right to a fair trial. The US State Department is refusing to release documents that prove the government conducted a propaganda war in the media against the Cuban Five.

Ralph Poynter, activist and husband of people’s lawyer Lynne Stewart will update us on the campaign to free her from a Texas prison, which has already approved her compassionate release due to the cancer that is spreading though her body. Lynn Stewart, an attorney by trade has built a legacy of representing poor and marginalized people whom other lawyers would not.

Stewart would be convicted on trumped up charges of conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists in 2005 and was originally sentenced to 28 months in prison. The prosecutor unhappy with the sentence appealed and Stewart would get a ten-year sentence. A campaign was launched to free her but it intensified after it was discovered cancer was spreading aggressively though her body. She was granted the compassionate release but is still being held many believe because of the federal government want to make further examples of those who stand up for justice and do comply with a system of injustice.

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Prison Radio Director Noelle Hanrahan

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Political Prisoner Radio had an opportunity to catch up with the director of Prison Radio, Noelle Hanrahan. She is known most for her radio work with political prisoner and former Death Row member Mumia Abu Jamal in helping him to record and distribute his political commentaries from behind bars. She also participated in the production of the independent film "Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal" which is now available on DVD after a successful run in select theaters. We will also get into the repression of Black revolutionary politics in mainstream media.

After the interview we will share some of the latest events and alerts related to political prisoners.


Free All Political Prisoners, Free The Land!

Raymond Luc Levasseur former leader of United Freedom Front

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The United Freedom Front was active during the 70's and 80's and its co-founder, leader and former political prisoner Raymond Luc Levasseur speaks with us tonight. The group opposed racism and police brutality and terrorism against Black and poor communities. Mr. Levasseur once compared the New York City Police Department to the Klu Klux Klan and said there is no difference in the Klan lynching someone and a police officer putting a bullet in a Black man's head.

The UFF was also opposed to US Foreign police, particularly in Central America and targeted corporations that they saw as supporting apartheid in South Africa.

He will discuss his experiences as a political prisoner and the cases of his incarcerated comrades Tom Manning and Jaan Laaman.

Free All Political Prisoners, Free The Land!