14 DAY TRIAL // The last photos taken of Osama bin Laden will remain classified, a court has ruled. The shots depict bin Laden being buried at sea.
As I wrote previously, several organizations petitioned for the photographs to be released to the press; however officials decided that they would cause “exceptionally grave harm” to the American people, were they made public.
According to the Washington Post, Judicial Watch asked for access to the 59 photos taken in May 2011, after the al-Qaeda commander was killed in a raid in Pakistan.
Responding to conspiracy theories and allegations on the Army's lack of transparency in handling the case, Judges Merrick B. Garland, Judith W. Rogers and Harry T. Edwards stress the motivation for their ruling.
“It is undisputed that the government is withholding the images not to shield wrongdoing or avoid embarrassment, but rather to prevent the killing of Americans and violence against American interests,” they say.