The Taliban has released a video of two professors from the American University of Afghanistan who were abducted in August, the first public evidence that the rebel group is holding the two men hostage. The group wants imprisoned insurgents to be set free in exchange for the two Westerners. In the video, American Kevin King and Australian Timothy Weeks ask the U.S. government to cooperate with the Taliban so that they can be released.

The video clip portrays the two men as fragile and bearded, breaking down in tears and begging President-elect Donald Trump to lead negotiations. “Donald Trump sir, I ask you please. This is in your hands. I ask you please to negotiate with the Taliban. If you do not negotiate with them, we will be killed,” said Weeks.

Taliban video shows US and Australian hostages https://t.co/2tp1qEMWr6

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) January 12, 2017

The professors were abducted at gunpoint from their car on August 7, close to the university campus in Kabul. A team of Navy Seals and Army Rangers launched a rescue mission to free them, and the battle resulted in the death of several rebels. But the abducted men were not to be found–the U.S. troops were believed to have missed them by only a few hours.

A few weeks later the Taliban launched an armed attack on the university campus, killing 12 people and wounding many more. Classes have been suspended all fall and were just about to begin again when the video of King and Weeks was released. The school’s president, David Sedney, immediately issued a statement calling for the release of his colleagues:

We call on the Taliban to release immediately and safely Kevin and Tim and all other hostages. Kevin and Tim came to Afghanistan as teachers, to help Afghanistan. These innocent people have done nothing to harm anyone and need to be reunited with their family, friends and colleagues.

According to U.S. officials, the Haqqani wing of the Taliban is holding the men. That is the same group that also held U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl, who was freed in 2014 and was featured in the podcast Serial last winter. The Haqquanis are also believed to be holding a Canadian-American couple hostage, who allegedly have had two babies since being captured.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Angela Gui, the daughter of a Hong Kong publisher who went missing seven months ago is now appealing to the United States for help. On Tuesday, Gui testified before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, which is currently investigating China’s efforts to silence people who are critical of the government.

In her testimony, Angela Gui claimed that China has been acting illegally beyond its borders by imprisoning her father without trial or reason. She notes that this is particularly troubling because her father, Gui Minhai, actually has Swedish citizenship, not Chinese. He moved to Sweden to study in the 1980s and during his time there she was born.

Gui Minhai, 51, ran a publishing house in Hong Kong and wrote gossip books critical of China’s political elite. He disappeared from his vacation home in Thailand last November. Angela Gui said she had no idea where he was, but that she received messages from her father telling her to keep quiet about what happened to him.

Then, three months after he went missing, he appeared in tears on Chinese state television, saying he had turned himself in for a drunk driving incident that occurred years earlier, and that Sweden should stop looking for him. He also said that his roots would always be in China.

None of this made sense to Angela Gui. In the hearing on Tuesday, she said:

In his so-called confession my father says he traveled to China voluntarily, but if this is true, then why is there no record of him having left Thailand?…Only a state agency, acting coercively and against both international and China’s own law could achieve such a disappearance.

The Swedish government’s own investigation hasn’t produced any results, so she urged the United States to pressure China “to make sure that Chinese authorities are not allowed to carry out illegal operations on foreign soil.”

See her full speech below:

In full: Daughter of ‘abducted’ bookseller Gui Minhai testifies at US hearing https://t.co/ATLH2xNvcjhttps://t.co/FWjgTc11sU

— Hong Kong Free Press (@HongKongFP) May 25, 2016

Gui Minhai is not the only bookseller to suspiciously go missing like this. Since last October, as many as four of his colleagues have been through the same ordeal–all of them later appeared on Chinese state television admitting to various crimes and claiming to have turned themselves in.

One of them, Lee Bo, was allegedly taken from Hong Kong by police from the Chinese mainland, a move that would constitute a breach of the treaty between Hong Kong and China. In his confession video, Lee Bo even renounced his British citizenship and asked people to stop searching for him, just like Gui Minhai. Republican congressman Chris Smith, chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, said on Tuesday:

The methods used by Beijing to enforce a code of silence are going global…The heavy hand of the Chinese government has expanded beyond its borders to intimidate and stifle critical discussion of the Chinese government’s human rights record and repressive policies.

The Swedish embassy in Beijing has repeatedly requested to visit Gui Minhai but has not been allowed to since February 24.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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The 2014 disappearance and murder of second-year University of Virginia student, Hannah Graham, shocked the residents in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The 18-year-old went missing on September 13, 2014, after moving between parties alone and texting a friend saying she was lost. Police tracked some of Hannah’s movements using surveillance footage and found a tape where she was seen walking with a man, later identified as Jesse Matthew Jr, a hospital worker, who was then arrested on suspicion of kidnapping Graham. Police launched an aggressive manhunt searching for the teen; after five weeks Graham’s remains were unearthed in a rural area just 12 miles from UVA’s campus.

COMING UP: Update on slain UVA student Hannah Graham. Watch live here: pic.twitter.com/3EoYZ3aA6s

— NBC News (@NBCNews) February 10, 2015

Matthew, 33, who has been held by police since September 2014 in connection with Graham’s disappearance, has now been charged with first-degree murder and abduction with the intent to defile. Albemarle County Police Chief Steve Sellers announced at a press conference Tuesday that Matthew was served four indictments Monday afternoon. Besides the murder and abduction charge, Matthew was also indicted on reckless driving counts.

He is scheduled to make his first appearance in Albemarle Circuit Court for the abduction and murder charges on February 18 by video from Fairfax. Matthew is currently jailed there in connection with a 2005 rape and attempted murder he’s been charged with. He will remain behind bars in Fairfax until his trial in March.

Jesse Matthew charged with murder in Hannah Graham case; won’t face death penalty http://t.co/gyCXUSRRbCpic.twitter.com/6Jg4mC5YEV

— The Virginian-Pilot (@PilotNews) February 10, 2015

In addition, he has also been forensically linked to the death of Virginia Tech University student Morgan Harrington, who disappeared after leaving a Charlottesville concert in October 2009. Harrington’s body was discovered in 2010.

Matthew faces a possibility of five life sentences if convicted in both Fairfax and Albemarle counties, but surprisingly, not the death penalty. Had Matthew been indicted on a capital murder charge that wouldn’t have been the case.

Why did prosecutors choose not to file any capital murder charges? Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney Denise Lunsford told CBS reporters:

The decision on how to charge in a specific case is very difficult and often times there are many considerations that going in to charging decisions. I’m not going to discuss the specific facts and circumstances that led to this consideration for ethical reasons, however understand that a great deal of serious thought went into this determination, including the impact on the community, the Grahams and the need to provide Mr. Matthew with a fair trial.

Matthew exhibited a pattern of hurting college-aged girls. In 2002 he was the main suspect in a campus rape investigation while attending Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, but no charges were filed.

It didn’t stop there, because in 2003, Matthew was forced to leave the Christopher Newport University football team he played on shortly after a report of an on-campus sexual assault.

That makes a grand total of five cases where Matthew has been accused of sexual assault. Even scarier, there could be more victims. As someone working in the healthcare field–he worked in a hospital–Matthew could have had the opportunity to victimize countless others that he “cared” for. This man’s horrific crime spree has shone a light on the importance of reporting campus sexual assaults. Had these universities taken the previous accusations against him more seriously, Graham and Harrington may have still been alive.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

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