An Award Ceremony Like No Other: Jeffrey Sterling honored for Integrity

By Ray McGovern

Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence (SAAII) annual award is always a poignant occasion to congratulate the winner and to catch up with others, including earlier winners, struggling for Justice against tougher and tougher odds. Coleen Rowley (laureate in 2002) and her team saw to it that this year’s ceremony at Moffat House in Washington on Jan. 15, 2020 was an occasion of exceptional warmth, solidarity, and humor . (More about SAAII can be found on its website: samadamsaward.ch. For more about Jeffrey and this year’s award see:

https://consortiumnews.com/2020/01/12/whistleblower-jeffrey-sterling-who-went-through-kafkaesque-trial-wins-2020-sam-adams-award/ )

Below is the link to the video recording of the affair, filmed by Paul Williams of Shoot First Pictures.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qghZdm2LK0E&feature=youtu.be (52 minutes)

With this year’s award, Jeffrey Sterling brings to five the number of award recipients imprisoned for exposing government abuse (not counting 2013 Sam Adams laureate, Ed Snowden, who was made stateless and has been marooned in Russia for more than six years). Worst still, Julian Assange (2010) and Chelsea Manning (2014) remain in prison, where UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer has reported they are both being tortured.