Associated Press says one of their photographers has been detained for five months by the US military without hearing or charges. The photographer was part of a team that won a Pulitzer last year.
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The U.S. military in Iraq has imprisoned an Associated Press photographer for five months, accusing him of being a security threat but never filing charges or permitting a public hearing.
Military officials said Bilal Hussein, an Iraqi citizen, was being held for “imperative reasons of security” under United Nations resolutions. AP executives said the news cooperative’s review of Hussein’s work did not find anything to indicate inappropriate contact with insurgents, and any evidence against him should be brought to the Iraqi criminal justice system.
Hussein, 35, is a native of Fallujah who began work for the AP in September 2004. He photographed events in Fallujah and Ramadi until he was detained on April 12 of this year.
“We want the rule of law to prevail. He either needs to be charged or released. Indefinite detention is not acceptable,” said Tom Curley, AP’s president and chief executive officer.
Source:Richard’s Notes
Obviously there are two sides to this story but you would have thought if there was any evidence against this chap then something would have been done in those 5 months. It is a sorry time when just the accusation of “terrorism” is enough to lock someone up for months on end without even a passing wiff of any legal movement.
It seems the allegations are about his associations. I knew a policeman who had informants in the criminal underbelly of the city where he worked. There are also long histories of journalists getting friendly with criminals to uncover big stories. Could be this is the case here. Could also be of course that the AP were duped and he really is a terrorist, they do say they knew very little of him before working with the guy.
Either way though, just an allegation really ought to not be enough?
With any big story like Iraq it is important to get good, accurate reporting and images that aim to tell as true a story as possible. Actions like this could cause a chilling effect on photographers getting involved.
Technorati Tags: journalism, photography, iraq, associated, press, photographer, news
3 Comments
He took a photo of the Italian, far out in the desert, with two gun toting terrorists. This was at the time of the execution. So that seems to say to me that he was rather friendly with the killers. They wanted to be photographed killing this poor fellow and they got this photographer to do it.
He is part of the terrorist PR organization.
This photographer has participated in terrorist executions, in particular the killing of an Italian. He is part of the sunni terror apparatus.
As for the claim that he has to be close to terrorists in order to report the story, think of this. Did Ernie Pyle cross the lines and join the Japanese Army? Did Edward R Murrow have himself dropped into Berlin so he could report the Nazi point of view?
Are they proven facts or allegations? As I said, he could be a terrorist or he could be innocent. Just claiming something about a person does not make it true, right?