Legal Niches

News Reports Use Games to Depict Terror Suspects as Ordinary

By pete_gallagher

Two alleged young terrorists arrested over the past two weeks were described as "gamers" in various news reports, though that portrayal seems to be more of an attempt to paint them as 'normal' rather than an effort to cast dispersion on gamers.

In a New York Post story on the arrest of 21-year old Abdel Hameed Shehadeh, the Staten Islander, who was busted in Hawaii by U.S. marshals for making false statements, was described by a former landlord as a typical 'all-American kid' who liked sports and was a 'video-game fan.'

Shehadeh had been on the radar of authorities since attempting to get to Pakistan on a one-way ticket in 2008. It was reported that Shehadeh was hoping to make his way to Dubai from Hawaii, and then get to Somalia. He was thwarted due to his name being placed on the no-fly list. Read More

read more

Full post as published by GamePolitics.com on October 27, 2010 (boomark / email).