U.S. releases Iraqi photographer detained two years without charge

[Praxius]

Bilal Hussein, right, shown here before his 2006 arrest, converses with other journalists outside the Ramadi Government Center in Iraq.

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/04/16/ap-release.html

The U.S. military in Iraq freed Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein Wednesday after holding him without charge for more than two years.

The army announced on Monday that it would release the 36-year-old from military custody because a review had concluded that "he no longer presents an imperative threat to security."

U.S. officials had said he was held for "imperative reasons of security" but neither laid charges against him nor gave more details of their allegations.

In November 2007, U.S. military lawyers said Hussein would soon face criminal charges and he would be turned over to the Iraqi legal system. A special judicial panel in Baghdad ordered his release earlier this month, saying he was covered by an Iraqi amnesty law.
Hussein and his employers maintained his innocence throughout the entire time he was in custody.

He was a shopkeeper in the embattled Iraqi city of Fallujah when he was hired as general helper and fixer by the Associated Press in 2004. Trained in photography and reporting, Hussein stayed in Fallujah during the sustained U.S. marine assault on the city in 2004, photographing not only American operations but also militant and insurgent activity.

He was part of a team of Associated Press photographers who won a Pulitzer Prize in 2005 for their work in Iraq.

Arrested at his home in Ramadi in April of 2006, he was accused by U.S. authorities of having bomb-making equipment and photographs of insurgents that could only come from being part of illegal activity himself.

Associated Press lawyers and journalists investigated the allegations against Hussein and found no evidence to support this contention.

Tom Curley, chief executive of the Associated Press, said earlier this week that the agency was relieved that the photographer's long ordeal was finally over.

"While we may never see eye-to-eye with the U.S. military over this case," Curley said, "it behooves all of us to move on.

Campaigners for journalists' rights and safety say the detentions of journalists and media workers by U.S. forces in Iraq underline the wider issue of thousands of Iraqis being held in U.S. military jails.

 

[MikeyDB]

Someone let ITN know about how terrible the Chinese are when they're practicing their censorship and thuggery then have him explain how Americans can suspend their "great" system of laws and "morality" whenever it suits them!

OH no....not America....... America has the First Amendment enshrined in their constitution.....

Military tribunals are undoubtedly a grave necessity to an administration that's unable and unconcerned with telling the truth about anything!

 

[Praxius]

I just love how it seems like this guy has just had two years of his life taken away (Plus who knows what the US did to him while in their custody) and he'll probably have no way of being compensated besides being thanked for his co-operation and then sent on his way.

How many more people like this will we keep hearing about who've been captured and held for years being interogated by the US and then eventually being released because they're innocent?