Sean Nevins

Sean Nevins is a Washington DC based staff writer for MintPress focusing on foreign affairs, and the intersection of politics and policy. His work has appeared on Link TV, Inter Press Service, and The Real News Network. He has lived and reported from all over the world and holds a Master’s in Asian Studies (focus: Pakistan) from Lund University in Sweden.

The US Prison System Perpetuates “The Criminalization Of Disability”

“So when we want to talk about mass incarceration, we can’t talk about mass incarceration without talking about disability because once the psychiatric facilities were shut down in the 70s and 80s people started funneling people with disabilities into prisons instead.”

Sean Nevins
By Sean Nevins
An inmate sits in is his wheelchair near his bed in the assisted living facility at the Coyote Ridge Corrections Center in Connell, Wash. Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2010.

Merle Baldridge, 42, is fifth generation deaf. “I’m deaf, my family’s deaf… We’ve been deaf for over a hundred years, you know, we’re proud and strong,” he told MintPress News from Columbia River Correctional Institution in Portland, Oregon, where he has been interned since 2011 on charges of first-degree sexual abuse of a minor. In April

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The US Quietly Considers Sanctions Against The Biggest Threat To ISIS: Hezbollah

It’s not clear whether a bill passed by the House and stalled in the Senate is meant to bring Hezbollah to the negotiating table or thwart its efforts. Yet, as with so many foreign policy matters, this bill may have an entirely different goal.

Sean Nevins
By Sean Nevins
Hezbollah fighters stand on their armed vehicles

France and Britain are reportedly concerned that a Hezbollah sanctions bill, which unanimously passed the U.S. House of Representatives in July, might crash the Lebanese economy. Lebanese bank authorities recently told the Daily Star that sanctions would not affect the Lebanese economy, as the group does not even use the country’s banks. One

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American In Cairo Jail In Critical Condition As Hunger Strike Approaches 300 Days

Mohamed Soltan has been in an Egyptian jail since August 2013, charged with participating in an anti-government conspiracy. His complicated medical history coupled with a nearly 300-day hunger strike put him in critical condition, yet the court won’t allow his release.

Sean Nevins
By Sean Nevins
Mohammed Soltan

The Cairo Criminal Court in Egypt on Wednesday refused for the fourth time a request to release Egyptian-American Mohamed Soltan on the grounds that he has a debilitating health condition. A dozen rights groups petitioned the court to place Soltan in a hospital outside of the prison to ensure his survival, as he is on a nearly year-long hunger

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The Forgotten Hunger Strikers Of Guantánamo Bay

Gitmo detainees have been staging hunger strikes almost since the island prison opened. Prisoners, their counsel and advocates all say force-feeding practices are purposely painful and inhumane, but the U.S. government says it’s “safe-guarding” the prisoners’ health.

Sean Nevins
By Sean Nevins
Guantanamo

WASHINGTON --- Within the next two weeks Judge Gladys Kessler of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia is expected to rule on alleged abusive force-feeding at Guantánamo Bay detention center in Cuba. Abu Wa'el Dhiab, a 43-year-old Syrian national and the father of four children, sued the Obama administration in 2013 in the first case

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Rasmea Odeh: Raped And Tortured By Israel, Now Being Prosecuted By The U.S.

In 1969, Rasmea Odeh was tortured until she confessed to a crime she denies committing. After a decade in an Israeli prison, she was released and eventually became a U.S. citizen. She now stands to lose her citizenship for not reporting the conviction she refuses to accept.

Sean Nevins
By Sean Nevins
Rasmea Odeh

UPDATE (3/13/2015): On Thursday March 12 Rasmea Odeh was sentenced to 18 months in prison for charges of immigration fraud. U.S. District Judge Gershwin Drain also revoked her American citizenship, and Odeh faces deportation to Jordan upon serving her sentence. Odeh is currently free on bond, pending a planned appeal. WASHINGTON --- Rasmea

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American Citizen On The Verge Of Death In Egyptian Jail

Imprisoned for over a year in an Egyptian jail without proper medical care and under a self-imposed hunger strike, an American citizen’s health is fast deteriorating. But because of his ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, the U.S. hasn’t been very vocal in demanding his release.

Sean Nevins
By Sean Nevins
Soltan

WASHINGTON --- “Last year I put my hands up like #Mike Brown did and the Egyptian police shot me twice with bullets my US gov’t paid for!” wrote Mohamed Soltan, 26, in a letter from a prison cell in Egypt. “It pains me that this type of injustice is still taking place in America, and I wholeheartedly declare my solidarity with #Ferguson from my

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ISIS: Military Contractors’ “Gravy Train” To Profits

“Wall Street’s looking ahead and saying, ‘War’s good for business and companies are going to cash in,’” the director of a think tank aimed at addressing war and corruption, among other issues, tells MintPress News.

Sean Nevins
By Sean Nevins
Turkey Syria

WASHINGTON --- Since the beginning of the year, the defense stocks of America’s top five arms producers -- Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman -- have risen substantially. Last month, Bloomberg reported that “the biggest U.S. defense companies are trading at record prices as shareholders reap rewards from

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