Farewell. The Flying Pig Has Left The Building.

Steve Hynd, August 16, 2012

After four years on the Typepad site, eight years total blogging, Newshoggers is closing it's doors today. We've been coasting the last year or so, with many of us moving on to bigger projects (Hey, Eric!) or simply running out of blogging enthusiasm, and it's time to give the old flying pig a rest.

We've done okay over those eight years, although never being quite PC enough to gain wider acceptance from the partisan "party right or wrong" crowds. We like to think we moved political conversations a little, on the ever-present wish to rush to war with Iran, on the need for a real Left that isn't licking corporatist Dem boots every cycle, on America's foreign misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq. We like to think we made a small difference while writing under that flying pig banner. We did pretty good for a bunch with no ties to big-party apparatuses or think tanks.

Those eight years of blogging will still exist. Because we're ending this typepad account, we've been archiving the typepad blog here. And the original blogger archive is still here. There will still be new content from the old 'hoggers crew too. Ron writes for The Moderate Voice, I post at The Agonist and Eric Martin's lucid foreign policy thoughts can be read at Democracy Arsenal.

I'd like to thank all our regular commenters, readers and the other bloggers who regularly linked to our posts over the years to agree or disagree. You all made writing for 'hoggers an amazingly fun and stimulating experience.

Thank you very much.

Note: This is an archive copy of Newshoggers. Most of the pictures are gone but the words are all here. There may be some occasional new content, John may do some posts and Ron will cross post some of his contributions to The Moderate Voice so check back.


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Saturday, June 4, 2011

Zainab Alkhawaja -- Epistle From Bahrain via Twitter

By John Ballard


From Angry Arabiya's Tweetstream beginning here.



Mr. Jawad Mr Jawad isn't affiliated with any organization or political society, he is just a man who speaks up when he sees injustice
Jawad is known by many and loved by all who know him. He is very kind and accepting.


Jawad is now imprisoned in the same prison as my father and is also on the same military trial. At his age Jawad not only went thru the worst kind of torture but is also brave enough to speak up abt it. Jawad told his fam that for 1st two months of his detention he was not allowed to shower or change his clothes. Jawad was heart broken that becuz of all the blood on his clothes he cudnt even pray.


 Jawad says in his prison cell there is a pic of king Hamad & another of saudi king Abdulla Every morning he was told if he kissed the pictures of kings they wud spit in his mouth, and if he didn't they wud urinate in his mouth.


In court Jawad cudnt hear a word, his already bad hearing had gotten so bad becuz of the torture. In court Jawad raised his pant legs & kept telling the Judge "I have been tortured. I have the proof on my body"


After 2 months of torture, with no bathroom and wearing the same clothes, Jawad was given clean clothes n told to shower they blondfolded Jawad, put a sack on his head, and told him "We will take u to Saudi to get hanged now" Jawad, expecting death, was surprised when he was pushed into a court room.


On their 1st visit, his family say Jawad kept sayin "I can't believe I'm alive, I can't believe I can see my family infront of me" Jawad told his fam "I kept reading the shahada when I was being tortured. I kept thinkin it was the end, that I was going to die" When Jawads family thot it cudnt get worse, he asked them abt his frnd who was also imprisoned... Kareem Fakhrawi. Jawads family had to tell him thru tears that Kareem had died in police custody Jawad said he heard screams of ppl getting tortured, n the screams wud suddenly stop. N he was left wondering if some1 had died


Jawad showed his daughters signs of torture on his legs & arms. His daughter was horrified. Fearing police who was watching them, Jawads daughter asked him to cover the torture marks. Jawad said "no, tell the world" Jawad put himself in danger of more torture just to get the word out. Just so all of you wud know I feel honored and moved to be in the same courtroom with this Hero. I see him looking 4 his family amongst the crowd, n I wanna tell him: we r all ur family, n we are all so proud


The 1st time I saw my father after court, he cud hardly speak. He cudnt smile becuz of the pain, becuz of the fractures in his face... [Cntnd] ... But he told me this "Zainab there r many prisoners who are being forgotten. So many ppl who have suffered more than me" Jawad like my father is a grandpa, and he misses his little grand daughter so much. He used to spend most of his time with her.


Many ppl are being tortured, not many dare speak out abt it while they're still in hands of torturers... I bow my head out of respect n admiration for Mohd Jawad, #bahrains Nelson #Mandela <3




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