Two Grand Jury Resisters Released Last Night

Two of the Pacific Northwest Grand Jury Resisters, Matthew Duran and Katherine Olejnik (aka Kteeo), are free after being held for five months in Federal prison – including two months in solitary confinement – despite the fact that there were no convictions or charges filed against them. The judge ruled that there was no reason to continue holding them, as they have proven their resolve not to testify.

We have proudly moved them from our active mailing list to the Free At Last! page. That makes 3 prisoners who have been released in the 6 days since we launched #OpPenPal. We like those numbers.

The remaining imprisoned grand jury resister, Maddy Pfeiffer, was moved out of solitary confinement. We hope to see him free in the near future as well.

More info: http://nopoliticalrepression.wordpress.com/2013/02/28/two-grand-jury-resisters-released-maddy-pfeiffer-moved-from-solitary-confinement/

John Kiriakou, CIA Whistleblower

John Kiriakou is a former CIA analyst who, in 2007, gave an interview on ABC admitting that the CIA was using waterboarding as a form of torture on inmates in Guantanamo Bay. He would later go on to give more interviews and, in 2010, released a memoir entitled The Reluctant Spy: My Secret Life in the CIA’s War on Terror.  In 2012 he was charged with repeatedly disclosing classified information to the press. He originally plead not guilty to the charges but in October of 2012 he accepted a deal to plead guilty, sparing reporters he had talked to from having to testify in the trial. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison in January of 2013. John is the only person to be charged for the CIA’s torture program. We here at OpPenPal would like to lend our support to him for standing up for the rights of the press and blowing the whistle on the CIA’s illegal operations at Guantanamo Bay. You can send an email to kiriakoudefense@gmail.com and his lawyers have said they will forward the messages along to him.

We are Anonymous

We do not forgive

We do not forget

Expect us

#OpPenPal Launch

Our brothers and sisters have been taken away from us. Some of the best and brightest of our generation are locked away from the world in an effort to silence them and make us forget. But we are Legion. We do not forgive, we do not forget. We leave no one behind.

Our comrades are accused of working to make government transparent and accountable to the people. They are accused of setting information free. They are accused of opposing war and crimes committed under its banner. They are accused of disrupting financial institutions that have themselves disrupted and ruined the lives of millions.

We do not believe these actions or the people being charged for them are dangerous. The acts that they are accused of can at worst be called civil disobedience and whistle blowing. Yet the government has already decided they are guilty, holding some for years without a trial.

During #OpValentine, letters of love and support poured into prisons across the world. We now launch #OpPenPal as an ongoing action in support of Anons and other activists navigating the nightmare of the “justice” system.

Anyone can join this op – find a pen, some paper, and a stamp. We may be from the Internet, but we are backward compatible. Let a political prisoner know they are not forgotten.

@OpPenPal | #OpPenPal

https://oppenpal.wordpress.com

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