Martin Gottesfeld and wife Dana
Hacktivist Martin Gottesfeld was sentenced to 10 years in prison for exposing Boston Children's Hospital for a medical kidnapping. His wife joined RT to talk about how the US is protecting abusers while punishing whistleblowers.

After doctors at Harvard affiliated Boston Children's Hospital misdiagnosed 15-year-old Justina Pelletier's rare blood disorder as a mental condition, she was confined against her family's will, and forcibly separated from her parents. Denied medication and treatment, she lost the use of her legs and suffered incredible pain before Martin Gottesfeld exposed the situation by launching a cyber-attack against the hospital's network.


Comment: He briefly knocked their website offline while they were running their annual fundraiser. And he got 10 YEARS for it...


While Pelletier was reunited with her family as a result, Gottesfeld was arrested and prosecuted for the hack which saved her from horrific conditions. His wife Dana spoke with RT about the case.


Martin is currently being held in the "special housing unit" at the Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn. According to Dana, He has been held in "small confinement" for over a month, facing conditions "analogous to solitary confinement." The facility is "well known for protests inside and outside the jail," particularly in light of a recent situation where the prison lost power and heat.

To make matters worse, he will soon be moved to the communications management unit, a part of the facility which heavily restricts outside communication and according to Dana, is generally "reserved for terrorists, and people who are politically inconvenient." The staff at the facility have allegedly indicated that Martin is being moved to the special unit in order to restrict his behind-bars activism.


Comment: How insanely Orwellian is that? 'Communications management unit' - as in, silenced.


Dana stressed that no patients were harmed by the attack, or even "potentially harmed," and that US prosecutors are showing that they will "back Harvard institutions and big money" even "at the expense of the lives of children."

RT spoke with Martin himself shortly after his arrest in 2017, the hacktivist describing the charges against him as "100% political" and "an attempt to indemnify torturers." During his imprisonment, he has been outspoken regarding his case as well as the extensive human rights violations he claims to have witnessed in the US' prison facilities.