{"id":91527,"date":"2017-05-01T12:00:42","date_gmt":"2017-05-01T11:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=91527"},"modified":"2017-04-29T15:27:26","modified_gmt":"2017-04-29T14:27:26","slug":"journalist-barrett-brown-detained-again-for-exercising-free-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2017\/05\/journalist-barrett-brown-detained-again-for-exercising-free-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"Journalist Barrett Brown Detained [again] for Exercising Free Speech"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

\u00a9 Photo: facebook.com\/freebarrettbrown<\/p><\/div>\n

27 Apr 2017 – <\/em>US intelligence reporter Barrett Brown was arrested, again, on Thursday [27 Apr] morning for criticizing the US government while appearing on radio interviews.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would call the people who did this a bunch of\u00a0chicken-sh*t a**holes that are brutalizing the Constitution,\u201d Brown\u2019s lawyer, Jay Leiderman, said following\u00a0his client\u2019s detainment.<\/p>\n

Brown first won acclaim for\u00a0reporting on\u00a0Stratfor\u2019s intelligence operations directed against\u00a0US civilians. The Justice Department told Bank of\u00a0America that Stratfor would be ideally suited to\u00a0conduct these operations. As the tales of\u00a0corporate espionage emerged, Brown reported on\u00a0the leaks, which made waves due to\u00a0the operations coinciding with\u00a0the Occupy Wall Street movement.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The government tried to\u00a0paint Brown as\u00a0the person who leaked these documents, though he\u2019d only reported on\u00a0them. He initially faced a 100-year sentence. After pleading guilty to\u00a0two charges pertaining to\u00a0obstruction of\u00a0justice and threatening an FBI agent, Brown\u2019s sentence was knocked down\u00a0to five years and three months. In sum, Brown\u2019s helped spark the war on\u00a0leaks that persists to\u00a0this day.<\/p>\n

Brown was put in\u00a0handcuffs during\u00a0a routine check-in, before\u00a0being taken to\u00a0an unknown facility. Since being released early from\u00a0jail, Brown has not missed a single meeting with\u00a0prison authorities.<\/p>\n

Endless Black Hole: America\u2019s Top Spies Don\u2019t Know Full Dangers of US Intel Capabilities, Says Barrett Brown<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Following his arrest, Brown told his mom he believes authorities brought him into\u00a0custody over\u00a0failure to\u00a0gain \u201cpermission\u201d to\u00a0provide interviews with\u00a0news outlets after\u00a0he was released in\u00a0November. Brown\u2019s first exclusive interview<\/a> was given to\u00a0Radio Sputnik\u2019s By Any Means Necessary<\/a> with\u00a0the ever-affable Eugene Puryear.<\/p>\n

Listen to the interview below or click here to open it<\/a>.<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/radiosputnik-headline-exclusive-interview-with-barret-19445588.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

\u200bBrown also spoke to\u00a0Vice News last week and was slated to\u00a0go on\u00a0PBS Friday for\u00a0another interview, and these appearances may be what landed him back in\u00a0jail. So much for\u00a0free speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this were happening in\u00a0another country, [the US government] would deplore it,\u201d former CIA clandestine operative Barry Eisley tweeted. \u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

According to\u00a0his mother, Brown said that the Bureau of\u00a0Prisons never informed him that he would need to\u00a0get special permission to\u00a0do TV or radio interviews. Brown\u2019s point of\u00a0contact with\u00a0the BOP, Luz Lujan, refused to\u00a0give Brown \u201ccopies of\u00a0program statement rules saying this is a requirement during\u00a0halfway house and\/or home confinement status.\u201d When Lujan finally got back to\u00a0Brown after\u00a0a week of\u00a0not returning his calls, Brown received a form for\u00a0reporters visiting an inmate in\u00a0prison, the Intercept reported. The BOP also never showed Brown the document stating why he had to\u00a0get permission.<\/p>\n

In other words, according to\u00a0Brown, he was never provided a copy of\u00a0the form he is now being arrested for\u00a0not having filled out.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYou guys are going to\u00a0carry out\u00a0this, you guys are going to\u00a0characterize this as\u00a0a refusal of\u00a0an order that they\u2019re not giving me in\u00a0writing,\u201d Barrett said in\u00a0a recorded conversation with\u00a0his case manager. If failing to\u00a0cooperate with\u00a0BOP restrictions on\u00a0interviews is the reason Brown was stripped of\u00a0his freedoms during\u00a0a routine meeting, that would be \u201cdisgusting,\u201d his lawyer said, noting that the so-called restrictions seem to\u00a0have been created on\u00a0an improvised basis.<\/p>\n

UPDATE: “This is a terrible affront to\u00a0the First Amendment,” Leiderman told Sputnik News in\u00a0an exclusive interview. Ironically, Brown was never required to\u00a0get permissions to\u00a0do interviews while he was previously in\u00a0federal custody, Leiderman added.<\/p>\n

‘Preemptive Defense’: Assange Explains What Prompted CIA Chief’s Angry Attack on WikiLeaks<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Within the past\u00a0two days, Brown was asked to\u00a0produce “prior authorizations” to\u00a0conduct interviews. “It came out\u00a0of the blue,” Leiderman continued. Brown never actually said no to\u00a0getting the prior authorizations, but\u00a0simply requested that the BOP furnish the policy manual which Lujan said was the reason Brown was being asked to\u00a0get the permissions. The counselor is “not aware” of\u00a0any existing precedent where the BOP deployed this policy manual, which adds fire to\u00a0the claim that this policy measure is being used against\u00a0Brown personally.<\/p>\n

Brown’s words “are weapons of\u00a0mass education, which is why they are targeting him.”\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

_______________________________________<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Related:<\/em><\/p>\n

Sputnik Exclusive: Journalist Barrett Brown Speaks After Release from Prison<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Journalist Released From US Prison: The Case of Barrett Brown<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

US Journalist Barrett Brown Released From Federal Prison<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Imprisoned Journalist Barrett Brown Loses Email Privileges<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Jail Sentences Insufficient to Stop Leaks of Classified Information to US Public<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 sputniknews.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US intelligence reporter Barrett Brown was arrested, again, on Thursday [27 Apr] morning for criticizing the US government while appearing on radio interviews. \u201cIf this were happening in another country, [the US government] would deplore it,\u201d former CIA clandestine operative Barry Eisley tweeted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91527\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}