The Dangers Of Reporting The 'War On Terror'

We Look At Obama's Role In The Continued Imprisonment Of A Yemeni Journalist and The Issues Behind It.

By Listening Post
Last Modified: 26 Mar 2012 13:00
Courtesy Of "Al-Jazeera"

Rarely does the Listening Post dedicate a whole show to the story of a single journalist. But when that story speaks so eloquently of how world history is being written, or erased, we decided it was something we just could not ignore.

In December 2009, Yemen's air force claimed it had killed 30 suspected al-Qaeda operatives during an airstrike on a training camp in the southern Abyan province.

This version of events was circulated around the world but when Yemeni journalist Abdulelah Haider Shaye managed to get to the scene, the remains of the missiles he found were clearly marked 'Made in the USA'. And among the dead were 14 women and 21 children.

Shaye's subsequent report incriminated the US in a military operation in which they had been so keen to deny any involvement. Yemen dismissed the report and the US refused to comment - and Shaye became a marked man. He was accused of being an al-Qaeda operative and has been behind bars ever since.

Last month, the Yemeni government pardoned Shaye and was about to release him. But it took just one phone call from the US president urging them to reconsider, and the government backtracked.

Shaye remains locked up.

In this week's Listening Post, we take an in-depth look at the case of Abdulelah Shaye: what it reveals about the politics and the dangers of reporting the so-called war on terror - and what the world stands to lose when the work of independent journalists is put on the line.