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Since January 2011 Alexa O'Brien has covered the WikiLeaks release of US State Department Cables JTF memoranda known as the 'GTMO files' revolutions across Egypt Bahrain Iran and Yemen as well as the prosecution of Bradley Manning and the US investigation into WikiLeaks. She has interviewed a preeminent US foreign policy expert on the Cambodia cables and published hours of interviews with former GTMO guards detainees defense lawyers and human rights activists as well as WikiLeaks media partners Andy Worthington a GTMO historian and author and Atanas Tchobanov the Balkanleaks' spokesman and co editor of Bivol.bg.
As a result of her work covering the Global War on Terror the 2011 revolutions across the Middle East and North Africa and her extramural activities helping to organize the original occupation of Wall Street in New York and five other American cities on September 17 2011 the U.S. Government and private security contractors attempted to falsely link her and a campaign finance reform group which she helped found to Al Qaeda and 'cyber terrorists'.
She subsequently became party to a lawsuit brought against the Obama administration for Section 1021(b)(2) of the National Defense Authorization Act FY2012 with author Chris Hedges and five other plaintiffs. Section 1021(b)(2) allows for the indefinite detention without trial or charges of anyone who by mere suspicion alone are deemed by the Executive to be terrorist sympathizers.
Her testimony and submissions were central to U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest's ruling granting a permanent injunction on Section 1021(b)(2). In June the 2nd Circuit is expected to rule on the Department of Justice's midnight appeal of Forrest's September 2012 injunction.
For a year and a half she has produced the only available pre trial transcripts of Manning's secret prosecution. She has provided some of only analysis available on his case a forensically reconstructed appellate exhibit list witness profiles and a searchable database of the available court record.
Because of her familiarity with the proceedings and investigative work she has been able to 'un redact' a selection of court documents.
She was awarded a generous grant by the Freedom of the Press Foundation for her work covering Bradley Manning's trial and her work there was shortlisted for the 2013 Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism.
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