Abdulelah Haider Shaye

rdf:langString Abdulelah Haider Shaye

rdf:langString Abdulelah Haider Shaye, or Abd al-Ilah Haydar Al-Sha’i (born c. 1977), is a prominent Yemeni investigative journalist best known for his reporting of the December 17, 2009 U.S. cruise missile strike on al-Majalah in southern Yemen, his interviews with al-Qaeda leaders, and the controversial nature of his arrest and imprisonment in 2011. In 2011, Shaye was arrested, beaten, and held in solitary confinement for 34 days in Yemen. He was eventually tried and convicted of terrorism-related charges and sentenced to five years in prison, followed by two years of restricted movement and government surveillance. His conviction and sentencing was deeply unpopular with the Yemeni populace. On February 2, 2011, President Obama called then-Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to discuss counterterrorism cooperation and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. At the end of the call, according to a White House read-out, Obama "expressed concern" over the release of Shaye. Shaye had not been released at the time of the call, but Saleh did have a pardon prepared. Consequently, Shaye was not released until 2013. Shaye is related by marriage to the radical Islamic cleric Abdul Majid al-Zindani and he has used this relationship and other connections to gain access to al-Qaeda leaders, including the late Yemeni-American Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. In 2013, Shaye won a coveted Alkarama Human Rights Defenders award in Geneva for his work in exposing the reality of the US-led drone war in his country.