A death threat written in Arabic was sent to Navy SEAL Chief Eddie Gallagher.
The threat was mailed to Naval Medical Center San Diego, where Gallagher is living and restricted to until his court-martial trial begins May 28.
Gallagher’s civilian defense attorney, Tim Parlatore, confirmed the threat to American Military News, and said he was notified Wednesday by the prosecutors. It is unclear when the threat was received or when Navy prosecutors were notified.
The postcard was created through an internet printing site and mailed from New York, Parlatore said. It was then intercepted in the mail room of the medical center and sent to prosecutors, he continued, noting that he was not made aware of the death threat until the next day. And his client had not been made aware of it until Parlatore called Gallagher to inform him of the postcard, he noted.
The postcard contains a screen shot image of the critically wounded ISIS fighter that Gallagher is alleged to have killed, along with some text along the lines of, “You killed me. You’re guilty. I’ll see you in hell,” according to Parlatore.
“It’s made out to look like it’s from the dead terrorist,” he said.
Confirmed: Death threat (written in Arabic) against Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher. Just received by US gov’t…. thank you #NCIS #prosecution for leaking info and making Eddie and his family targets. #freeeddie @realDonaldTrump @DLoesch @ChrisLoesch @donaldjtrumpjr pic.twitter.com/iMvP3tmiol
— Jared Ogden (@JaredWOgden) May 9, 2019
The postcard is written in Arabic.
Regarding any security concerns, Parlatore said, “I’ve been told there are some unspecified additional security measures” being made to ensure Gallagher’s safety.
He is also concerned that the Navy is treating the threat “like another piece of evidence in the case,” Parlatore pointed out.
Gallagher, 39 and a 15-year Navy SEAL, is charged with premeditated murder, accused of stabbing and killing a critically wounded ISIS fighter during a 2017 deployment to Mosul. He is also accused of shooting at unarmed civilians. He was arrested on Sept. 11, 2018, and was held in Naval Consolidated Brig Miramar in San Diego for more than seven months before President Donald Trump took note of the case.
In late March, Trump tweeted an order that Gallagher be moved to less-restrictive pre-trial conditions, this after more than 50 members of Congress called for urgent attention to the case and implored investigations into how Navy is handling both the case and Gallagher’s treatment.
Gallagher has been at the medical center since, preparing for his trial.
Recently, Gallagher’s defense team has said that video footage from a helmet cam shows the SEAL did not try to kill the captured, critically wounded ISIS fighter, but rather tried to provide medical treatment to him. That video was also shown to members of Congress this week.
