Free Republic

A court in Turkey sentenced six journalists to life in prison Friday for their alleged involvement in a failed 2016 coup attempt. The decision came shortly after another reporter who had been controversially imprisoned was conditionally released from custody.Prominent journalists Ahmet Altan, Mehmet Altan and Nazli Ilicak and three other media workers were convicted of crimes against the state, a charge that governments around the world are increasingly employing as a tactic to instill fear in and silence journalists who are critical of ruling authorities. [2017 was the most dangerous year ever for journalists. 2018 might be even worse.]

DALLAS — A man convicted of raping a woman in 1981 and sentenced to life in prison has been cleared by DNA evidence and will be released, according to attorneys who have helped free 14 other wrongfully convicted inmates in Dallas County. Charles Chatman, 47, is expected to be released Thursday after spending more than 26 years behind bars, said Natalie Roetzel of the Innocence Project of Texas. "I never lost hope," Chatman told The Associated Press. "I always believed I would get out. I didn't know when or how, but I kept believing."

RAMALLAH, West Bank - A top PLO body gave its approval Thursday for President Mahmoud Abbas to hold new presidential and legislative elections, a high-stakes gamble meant to sideline Hamas militants but also bound to set off more confrontations between Palestinian rivals Fatah and Hamas. Hamas, which won parliament elections last year, immediately threatened to derail a new vote. On Friday, Israel started releasing more than 250 Palestinian prisoners in an attempt to bolster Abbas in his power struggle with Hamas. A first batch of about 120 prisoners were put aboard buses at the Ketziot prison camp in southern Israel's...

(AP) DES MOINES, Iowa A bald eagle owes its life to the sharpshooting skills of an Iowa conservation officer. Though the bird has yet to offer any thanks, Jason Sandholdt is getting plenty of recognition from those who saw him use a single bullet last weekend to free the bird from a branch that hung over a cliff at Lake Red Rock. "There were accusations of sheer luck," said Brian Lange, one of the kayakers who discovered the bird Saturday and alerted authorities. He added: "It was really a heroic shot." Sandholdt, who works for the Iowa Department of Natural...

US outraged as Pakistan frees Taliban fighters By Isambard Wilkinson in Peshawar (Filed: 15/09/2006) Pakistan's credibility as a leading ally in the war on terrorism was called into question last night when it emerged that President Pervez Musharraf's government had authorised the release from jail of thousands of Taliban fighters caught fighting coalition forces in Afghanistan. Five years after American-led coalition forces overthrew the Taliban during Operation Enduring Freedom, United States officials have been horrified to discover that thousands of foreign fighters detained by Pakistan after fleeing the battleground in Afghanistan have been quietly released and allowed to return to...

WASHINGTON, March 23, 2006 – Coalition forces rescued three hostages held by terrorists in Iraq since November in an early morning raid today, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman said. "Based on intelligence that we recovered over the last 36 hours, an operation was planned and conducted, and those three hostages were rescued," Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch said during a briefing from Baghdad. "I'm happy to report all three are in good condition." The hostages, Christian peace activists, have undergone medical screening and are anxious to be reunited with their families, Lynch said. A fourth hostage, and the only American...

BALAD, Iraq (Army News Service, March 8, 2006) – A late-night operation by Iraqi Counter Terrorism Forces east of Taji March 6 freed an Iraqi government official held hostage and led to the detention of two suspects believed to be involved in the hostage taking. Soldiers from the 2nd Counterterrorism Battalion, 1st Iraqi Special Operations Forces Brigade planned and conducted an assault that freed the Iraqi official who, according to sources, was to be executed later that night after spending almost four days in captivity. The hostage was handcuffed to a bed in an isolated room of the house in...

WASHINGTON, March 8, 2006 – Coalition forces destroyed an improvised explosive device-manufacturing site in Fallujah, Iraq, yesterday, and Iraqi forces freed an Iraqi hostage March 6 in Balad, military officials in Iraq reported. The coalition forces were conducting a raid looking for an al Qaeda in Iraq military operations leader and discovered the IED manufacturing site in a terrorist safe house about 10 miles east of Fallujah. Coalition forces destroyed all equipment and explosives in place. Troops detained five men during the raid. The men will be questioned about their knowledge of and involvement in terrorist activities. In Balad, a...

Five hundred prisoners walked free from the US military's Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq on Tuesday, released in a goodwill gesture to mark the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The detainees were presented with a Koran and USD 25 on their release which marked Eid al-Fitr celebrations. Their release was in addition to 1,000 prisoners set free in October at the start of the month of fasting. All 1,500, who also received traditional white shirts, were released after their cases went before an Iraqi-led review board and were found not to have committed serious or violent crimes,...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - After months of bickering and political recriminations, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders put differences aside and forged a bipartisan compromise over the state budget. Whether such comity can extend to negotiations over Schwarzenegger's proposed reform initiatives and the fall special election remains the looming challenge. Recent polls show the public has lost confidence in Schwarzenegger and holds the Democrat-controlled Legislature in even lower regard than usual. The poor standing has prodded both sides to say they want a global agreement on the initiatives to avoid a bruising showdown in November. "Everyone's willing to talk," Schwarzenegger spokesman...

ADRIAN - An ex-wife's claim of using marijuana for medical purposes freed an Adrian man from a felony possession charge and resulted in her arrest after a trial Thursday in Lenawee County Circuit Court. Juan Mauricio Solis, 32, faced a possible prison term if convicted of possessing the small amount of marijuana Adrian police reported finding in his SUV because he is on parole for a marijuana trafficking conviction four years ago. The prosecution ran into trouble during the non-jury trial Thursday when defense attorney Anna Marie Anzalone called Solis' former wife as a witness. Linda Solis testified that she...

Israelis seal off Jericho as court frees radical leader By Phil Reeves in Jerusalem 04 June 2002 Israel's army sealed off Jericho yesterday after a Palestinian court ordered the immediate release of a radical faction leader jailed in the West Bank town by Yasser Arafat's security force under the supervision of British and American wardens. The ruling that Ahmed Saadat, head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), should be freed infuriated Israel, which accuses him of masterminding the assassination of its far-right-wing tourism minister. The jailing of the PFLP leader, and five others, was the centre-piece...