US journalist in record jail term

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-- US journalist in record jail term

Posted by star-traveller on Feb-08-2007 09:19:

US journalist in record jail term

quote:
US journalist in record jail term

A reporter in California has now passed the mark for the longest jail time served in US history for failing to hand over source material.

At midnight on Tuesday, Josh Wolf entered his 169th day in custody for refusing to hand over a video of an anti-capitalist rally in 2005.

Activists have condemned his jailing but no date has been set to free him.

Houston freelancer Vanessa Leggett served 168 days in 2001/02 for failing to reveal information on a murder case.

Defiant

Wolf, 24, had shot video footage of a violent San Francisco protest against the G-8 summit that was taking place in Scotland at the time.

He sold some of the footage to TV stations but refused to obey a subpoena to hand over the rest of the tape to police.

A police car was burned and an officer suffered a fractured skull in the violence.

Although Californian laws protect journalists from revealing material, prosecutors successfully argued federal money helped pay for the police car, thus making it a federal case.

Judges have since refused appeals for Wolf's release, saying he is not constitutionally protected over grand jury investigations or criminal trials.

Wolf remained defiant, saying on his web blog on Tuesday: "I cannot be coerced."

Lucie Morillon, the Washington director of Reporters Without Borders, said: "Keeping Wolf in jail is absurd and cruel. It is a bad signal sent to the rest of the world.

"We would have expected a democratic country such as the United States to put the bar higher regarding press freedom."

Wolf's lawyers are to continue to try to get their client freed. He could remain behind bars until the expiry of the grand jury in July, although then prosecutors can apply to have his imprisonment extended.

US journalist in record jail term

Posted by Lilith on Feb-08-2007 09:52:

Just about set my watch by these new posts... hmm H-8 oclock again!

Posted by LazFX on Feb-08-2007 10:19:

quote:
Originally posted by Lilith
Just about set my watch by these new posts... hmm H-8 oclock again!

I am just surprised that he didn't post something about how evil America is at the same time..... but the day is not over just yet,

Posted by Lilith on Feb-08-2007 10:29:

Oh, you amerikana's are evil.

mmm imperial fried chicken...

Oh yes, back to our daily hate.
I'd like to suggest you change your national anthem to reflect the current sentiments of the population and bring it up to current events.

War
AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!
On
AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!
Terror
AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!
Arab
AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!
Mexicans
...damn Mexicans and damn Canada too!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!
Democracy
AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!
Fear!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!

We could work on the rest later perhaps, its been a dull day in the PDD for topics.

I am joking, please dont bomb my mud hut, I dont have any oil

Posted by Magnetonium on Feb-08-2007 18:48:

What a great way to ignore information at hand. Best way to face the situation is to pick on the person delivering the information, because you yourself decide not to post it or ignore when faced with it. Great article, star-traveller, keep up the good work. Instead of facing the information, going personal is a very dumb move, and loses respect in eyes of other people.

Posted by Dopey on Feb-08-2007 20:40:

quote:
Originally posted by Magnetonium

What a great way to ignore information at hand. Best way to face the situation is to pick on the person delivering the information, because you yourself decide not to post it or ignore when faced with it. Great article, star-traveller, keep up the good work. Instead of facing the information, going personal is a very dumb move, and loses respect in eyes of other people.

??

you don't think the information on those tapes could lead them to find whoever bashed a cop's head in? you feel comfortable with an attempted cop-killer walking the streets?

Posted by Magnetonium on Feb-08-2007 21:00:

Instead of going personal here, a course of action should be recommended and/or discussed. As for the situation at hand, the journalist, I don't have a comment on that - can't think of where to stand on this issue. What bugged me is that instead of criticing the journalist or those who put him in jail or ignoring the thread, some people instead are going personal ...

Posted by Dopey on Feb-08-2007 21:14:

chech u never make any sense

Posted by DJ Shibby on Feb-08-2007 21:55:

lol