Prosecutors used the initial threat of Hale spending decades in prison as a tool to intimidate potential whistleblowers and break Hales spirit. The fact that President Joe Biden's Justice Department kept the Trump administration case under investigation serves as a reminder of how the U.S. system is still at war with whistleblowers. Since it prohibits whistleblowers from being able to present a defense before a judge and jury, successive administrations have used the Espionage Act to prosecute them. This is a violation of basic liberties as well as the Constitution rights of the accused. Its use to punish independent journalism and dissent is an authoritarian weapon disguised as a law and should be repealed.Although President Barack Obama's Justice Department didn't prosecute Hale for his crimes, the Trump administration uncovered the case and handed it to Hale as a ploy to stop leaks about President Donald Trump's corrupt administration. Trump's prosecutors made a dishonest piece political propaganda to indict Hale and threaten the freedom of press.Daniel Hale has a remarkable moral conscience and courage. After being convicted for exposing the horrors U.S. drone programs, civilian deaths, and the Kafkaesque terror surveillance system, it is a shame that the brave whistleblower was sentenced to almost four years imprisonment.After Daniel Hale's arrest and indictment on charges that he leaked documents that were the basis of The Intercepts series The Drone Papers as well as documents regarding the government secret watchlisting system, it has been my desire to speak out publicly about this unfair prosecution. Security concerns, legal advice and the desire to not hinder Hales defense nor to assist the government in its shameful prosecution prevented me from speaking publicly. Now that I have some perspective, the circumstances have changed. This is my opinion only and I do not speak for The Intercept.Daniel Hale and me were invited to speak in 2013 at a Washington, D.C., public forum about drone strikes and the U.S. war on Yemen. He was a very moral person, who was deeply pondering the consequences of his role in a global assassination system. He was a thoughtful, sincere and caring individual with an inexplicable level of honesty and selflessness that I have never seen in our society. Hale seemed to be deeply troubled by the nature of his work for the U.S. government, and the horrors that he witnessed.Trump Justice Department's indictment against Hale contained little evidence. It was full of innuendo, circumstantial events and other inaccuracies that were dishonestly constructed and presented as facts. The government monitored Hale's communications and created a grossly inaccurate picture of his character and motivations to help the prosecutors railroad him.It was particularly disappointing to see those claiming to be supporting Hale repeat Trump Justice Department assertions. The prosecutors have told many lies about the Trump Justice Department case, including on social media and in news reports. Contrary to what the judge in this case implied and stated, Hale wasn't motivated by impressing journalists or any other person. Hale was driven by love for his fellow human beings and a deep, abiding sense duty duty to defend the innocent and defenseless. He also had a dedication to morality that none of his critics can match. In a world of systemic deceit, lethal secrecy, Hale is a noble teller of truths.Hale was convicted for the following crimes: revealing that nearly nine out of ten people killed in so called targeted strikes by the U.S. were not intended targets; exposing complicity by top U.S. officials in a secret kill chains that decides who should assassinate by drone strike; exposing how the U.S. government officially names unknown civilians as enemies killed by drone strikes unless it is posthumously proven that they were civilians; and exposing secret watchlisting rules that used to identify people as terrorists or suspected terroristsDaniel Hale should receive a pardon and be released. The government should also pay him restitution for any trauma it has caused him by daring to speak up, even at great personal risk, about the suffering of extrajudicial assassinations and wars funded by U.S taxpayers. For his bravery, courage, and sacrifice, he deserves the appreciation of all good people. It is a terrible injustice to put a man who whistled about the killing of civilians in prison and have those who do it receive medals or appear on cable news as pundits.
