The District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision which could make a huge difference for alternative media and nonprofit organizations seeking to have fees waived when making Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. More and more agencies—at all levels of government—charge high fees for public documents.

The state government of Mississippi appealed a federal judge’s temporary restraining order against the use of two execution drugs, which effectively brought executions to a halt. Even if the state’s appeal fails, the death penalty in Mississippi would remain entirely intact.

President Barack Obama’s administration would rather subject a gravely ill Guantanamo Bay prisoner to continuous abusive force-feedings, which amount to torture, than support his release from the military prison because he is sick.

A federal judge rejected “fear-mongering” over “illegal immigration” by President Barack Obama’s administration and ordered the government to implement changes to ensure detained mothers and children are released within the next two months.

For this week’s protest song, Alec Hall submitted a piece created as a comment on the criminalization of black bodies in the United States and how black life is often erased from American culture and society. The 11-minute string quartet composition, “28 Hours,” is the first reader-submitted protest song featured here at Shadowproof.

The United States has experienced a spike in anti-Muslim racism and threatened violence against American Muslims in the past months. Much of the escalation has taken place in the aftermath of a shooting in Garland, Texas, at a Prophet Muhammad drawing contest.

Kiriakou and two other American whistleblowers, Thomas Drake and Jesselyn Radack, are the subjects of Silenced, a film directed by James Spione which has tapped into a zeitgeist moment, when people all over the world are deeply concerned about powers their government has claimed to protect security which infringe upon civil liberties, press freedom, and openness in government.

After a four-hour disciplinary board hearing, the United States Army has punished Chelsea Manning for possessing books and magazines having to do with LGBTQ and political issues. The Army has also punished her for having an expired tube of toothpaste and for brushing food off the table and refusing to talk to a guard after she was accused of misconduct. For these actions, the Army imposed 21 days of recreational restrictions.

Attorneys for Guantanamo Bay prisoner Mohammed Kamin asked the Periodic Review Board during a hearing to approve his release. Kamin is an Afghan who has been detained at the military prison for over eleven years. He is currently not charged with any crime, however, he is one of a number of forever prisoners, who President Barack Obama’s administration has designated for indefinite detention. In April 2008, Kamin was charged with “material support for terrorism.” A convening authority subsequently withdrew the charge against him 2009, and a federal court later ruled “material support” was not a valid offense triable by a military commission.

A Maryland judge ruled on August 14 that the public has a right to information provided to the state’s Department of Transportation by railroad companies about dangerous trains carrying crude oil. Judge Lawrence Fletcher-Hill rejected CSX and Norfolk Southern’s arguments that the information needed to be kept secret because it contained “confidential commercial information,” “trade secrets,” or information which could be useful to terrorists.