News
U.S. military imprisons AP photographer as security threat
Editor&Publisher, an American trade publication for journalists, has reported of a case where an Associated Press photographer has been detained by the US Military in Iraq for more than 5 months. Bilal Hussein - an Iraqi photographer for the Associated Press since September 2004 - was arrested on April 12th for "imperative reasons of security". However, The US military has yet to file charges or permit a public hearing. According to AP executives a review of Hussein's work did not find anything to indicate inappropriate contact with insurgents and the AP is lobbying the US military to release or charge the photographer. "Indefinite detention is not acceptable," said Tom Curley, AP's president and chief executive officer. "We've come to the conclusion that this is unacceptable under Iraqi law, or Geneva Conventions, or any military procedure."
Hussein is one of an estimated 13,000 people detained by the U.S. military in Iraq and according to military officials he was captured along with two insurgents. "He has close relationships with persons known to be responsible for kidnappings, smuggling, improvised explosive device (IED) attacks and other attacks on coalition forces," according to a May 7 e-mail from U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Jack Gardner, who oversees all coalition detainees in Iraq.
Click here for more details from the Editor&Publisher site. Click here for more details from the AP site.
Posted in: News, Photographers
