Free Republic

After it was reported on Thursday that Iran had transferred five Iranian Americans from prison to house arrest, it became clear that a deal between the Biden administration and the radical Islamist state had been reached — which would include billions of dollars of frozen Iranian assets in exchange for the Americans.This again raises the question — which we’ll tackle later in the article: Should the United States pay ransom to rogue states and others for the release of captured Americans?Anyway, sure enough, the United States and Iran have reached an agreement in which the Islamist regime will free the...

A man stabbed to death during a vicious Chelsea street brawl was wanted for murder in Baltimore, sources told The Post. The victim, 36, was knifed by another man Friday morning during a wild broad-daylight melee in the middle of a crosswalk, where they settled their score as non-plussed New Yorkers went about their business, according to a video of the face-off. Nisean Graves, 34, a homeless man, was later charged with murder in the fatal encounter and was held without bail during a Saturday appearance in Manhattan Criminal Court. Video shows Graves instigating the unprovoked confrontation by taking a...

A suspect was arrested on suspicion of arson after a fire last week at a mosque in St. Paul, Minn., at least the fifth such act of vandalism in the state so far this year that has left members of the Muslim community “living in fear,” a state senator said. Jaylani Hussein, the executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said at a news conference that the mosque, the Oromo American Tawhid Islamic Center, was left “completely burned” after being set on fire on Wednesday. The building was unoccupied at the time and no injuries...

Denver, Colo., May 26, 2023 / 13:15 pm Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco said Thursday that prosecutors’ decision to reduce the charge against activists who destroyed a parish’s statue of a saint from felony to misdemeanor sends the signal that attacks against the Catholic Church can continue with impunity. “It is clear to me that this course of action would not have been taken with anyone else. In fact, if the same kind of offense had been committed against another religious congregation or group, it would almost certainly have been prosecuted as a hate crime,” Cordileone said. Cordileone’s statement...

Biden's DOJ has decided not to charge Rachael Rollins after evidence found her guilty of election interference, raising concerns about a double standard in the criminal justice system.

A California man found guilty of lighting UC Berkeley students on fire inside a boba tea shop in 2020 with a blowtorch has been released from custody and will avoid jail time, The Berkeley Scanner reports. Brandon McGlone, 49, was referred to the Veterans Treatment Court and will be participating in a "diversion treatment" program as part of his plea deal, according to Alameda County Superior Court records. Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, who ran on "racial equity", agreed to the plea deal after reaching an agreement with the public defender's office, the outlet reports. At a court hearing...

A North Dakota man accused of mowing down an 18-year-old with his car because he thought the young man was a “Republican extremist” has pleaded guilty to manslaughter after initially being charged with murder. Instead of the prospect of life in prison, Shannon Brandt, 42, now faces a maximum sentence of 10 years behind bars in connection with the death of Cayler Ellingson, KVRR-TV reported. Brandt’s attorney, Mark Friese, told the news station earlier this month that the local prosecutor had dropped the murder charge on her own and that “it was not a part of any plea deal.” Continue...

An extraordinary legal filing revealed two of the hijackers responsible for the September 11 terror attacks had a much more intimate relationship with the Central Intelligence Agency than previously known. At least two of the 9/11 hijackers were being closely monitored by the CIA and may have even been recruited by the agency well before they helped fly a pair of Boeing 767s into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, newly-released documents reveal. The jaw-dropping court filing contains extensive testimony by multiple FBI investigators who maintain that the CIA obstructed official investigations into the notorious terrorist attack in...

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is pro-rapeNBC News just reported the following:“A New York man is accused of sexually assaulting five people in the Bronx a week before he was going to be sentenced to 30 days in jail as part of a plea deal in a separate rape case.”“Justin Washington was out on bail when he allegedly assaulted four women and a man in a string of attacks on Sept. 15, according to a criminal complaint obtained by NBC News.”Alvin Bragg is the Manhattan District Attorney.He thinks a rapist should only get 30 days in jail.And he let that...

Two Pakistani brothers held by the United States at Guantanamo Bay detention facility for two decades were freed and returned home on Friday to be reunited with their families, officials said. Pakistan arrested Abdul and Mohammed Rabbani on suspicion of links to al-Qaida in 2002 in Karachi, the country’s southern port and largest city. That same year, Ramzi Binalshibh, a top al-Qaida leader, was arrested by Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence on a tip from the CIA. The Rabbanis’ releases come months after a 75-year-old Pakistani, Saifullah Paracha, was freed from Guantanamo. The Foreign Ministry later Friday released a statement...

While Americans were focused on a Chinese spy balloon making its way across the country, the Biden administration quietly released an al Qaeda terrorist radicalized by the September 11 attacks from Guantanamo Bay. The Pentagon announced on Thursday that Majid Khan, 42, was moved to Belize after spending 16 years in CIA custody. Authorities have maintained he was a close personal ally of al Qaeda leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed who helped deliver money and transport other senior terrorists. And under Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's plans, Khan would have attacked US gas stations and water reservoirs.

The Chinese coronavirus pandemic has once again delayed the long-awaited death penalty trial of the self-professed 9/11 mastermind and his four co-conspirators held at the U.S. military prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, the judge handling the cases revealed recently. Justice remains elusive nearly two decades after the jihadis executed the attack that left about 3,000 people dead and over 6,000 injured, marking the deadliest assault on U.S. soil. U.S. officials charged the late Osama bin Laden’s close ally Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) alongside his nephew, Ammar al-Baluchi, accused hijacking trainer Walid bin Attash, facilitator Ramzi bin al-Shibh, and al-Qaeda money...

WASHINGTON, U.S.A (AFP): The White House on Thursday announced the capture of a top ally of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Asia, Riduan bin Isomuddin, also known as Hambali. The 36-year-old Islamic scholar, a chief of the radical group Jamaah Islamiyah, is wanted in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines in connection with a series of bomb attacks. "His capture is another important victory in the global war on terrorism and a significant blow to the enemy," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters from the presidential plane, Air Force One. A senior administration official called Hambali "one of...

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. military officials said Thursday they released and sent to Belize a onetime al-Qaida courier who had completed his sentence. The transfer of Majid Khan ended an imprisonment that included torture at clandestine CIA sites and 16 years at the Guantanamo Bay detention center. Khan, a Pakistani citizen who grew up outside Baltimore, wound up in the Central American nation under a Biden administration agreement with that government. Khan’s lawyers said he should have been freed last February under a pretrial agreement. Khan, who is in his early 40s, said in a statement through his legal team...

As the whole country was preoccupied with the Chinese spy balloon last week, one of the 9/11 terrorist planners was quietly released from Guantanamo Bay in Cuba by the Biden regime. On Thursday, Majid Khan, now 42, was moved to Belize, his legal team announced. “Today, more than 16 years after he was brought to Guantánamo Bay and almost a year after he completed a military commission sentence there, pursuant to a plea and cooperation agreement with U.S. authorities, Majid Khan was transferred to Belize,” his legal team said in a statement. Khan is one of the few detainees to...

"Intelligence trafficker to the world" sets up shop in the nation's capital. “It [the Cuban embassy opening] is going to be a celebration on our part,” gushed Gustavo Machin, deputy director for U.S. affairs at Cuba’s Foreign Ministry. “Many Americans who have supported the Cuban Revolution will be among the 500 celebrants at the new Embassy.” Despite the innocuous professional title the mainstream media insists on using for Gustavo Machin, he’s actually a KGB-trained Cuban spy who was burnt and booted from the U.S. back in 2003 shortly before the invasion of Iraq. He was among 14 other Cuban spies...

Ana Montes, who is regarded as "one of the most damaging spies," has been released from a prison in Texas. Montes, now 65, worked for the US Defense Intelligence Agency, or DIA, as the top analyst on Cuba during the Cold War. Washington knew her as the "Queen of Cuba" for her insights into Fidel Castro's communist regime.

A man arrested as the prime suspect in the serial killing of four Muslim men in Albuquerque is believed to be a Sunni Muslim himself, it has been reported. Police named the man as 51-year-old Muhammad Syed, who lived in southeast Albuquerque. He emigrated from Afghanistan 'in the last few years', police said on Tuesday, and was twice charged with domestic violence - but charges were dropped. Court records obtained by DailyMail.com show Syed was arrested in May 2018 and charged with 'battery (household member)'. He pleaded not guilty, and prosecutors dropped the charges in August of that year. Four...

The U.S. has offered a deal to Russia aimed at bringing home WNBA star Brittney Griner and another jailed American, Paul Whelan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday. In a sharp reversal of previous policy, Blinken also said he expects to speak with his Kremlin counterpart for the first time since before Russia invaded Ukraine to discuss the deal and other matters. Blinken's comments marked the first time the U.S. government has publicly revealed any concrete action it has taken to secure the release of Griner, who was arrested on drug-related charges at a Moscow airport in February and...

he pair of suspects arrested for allegedly plotting to “shoot up” a Fourth of July celebration in Richmond, Virginia — thwarted by an American citizen — are illegal aliens, court records state. On Wednesday, as Breitbart News reported, the Richmond Police Department announced the arrests of Guatemalan nationals 52-year-old illegal alien Julio Alvardo Dubon and 38-year-old illegal alien Rolman Balacarcel Ac for allegedly plotting a mass shooting at the city’s July 4th celebration. According to Police Chief Gerald Smith, Dubon and Ac’s plan was thwarted thanks to an American “hero citizen” who overheard a conversation about the plot and subsequently...