Press Releases

12/07/2007

Press freedom group: AP photographer 'finally getting chance' to face US military accusations

NEW YORK (AP) -- An international press freedom group expressed relief Friday that an Associated Press photographer held since April 2006 by the U.S. military in Iraq is "finally getting the chance" to learn the formal charges against him.

But the New York-based group, the Committee to Protect Journalists, questioned why the Pentagon waited so long to bring the case before an Iraqi judge.

The U.S. military is scheduled to present evidence on Sunday against Bilal Hussein to an Iraqi magistrate, who will decide whether to drop the case or bring it to trial.

The military has not formally announced the charges against Hussein, who was taken into custody on April 12, 2006 in Ramadi, a city west of Baghdad. But the military has pointed to an array of suspicions that attempt to link him to insurgent activity.

The AP says it has seen no convincing evidence that Hussein was anything other than a photographer covering a conflict zone.

"We're relieved that Bilal Hussein is finally getting the chance to defend himself in a court of law," said Joel Simon, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists. "But the question remains why it has taken the U.S. military 20 months to bring charges in a case where they say the evidence is convincing."

The statement by Simon also noted that other journalists in Iraq have faced similar "ominous accusations that were never substantiated."

This "raises our concern about (Hussein's) case," said Simon.

The group cited the cases of eight journalists detained and later freed by the U.S. military in Iraq -- held for periods ranging from two weeks to one year -- after the accusations were not substantiated.

Hussein was part of the AP's Pulitzer Prize-winning photo team in 2005. The U.S. military currently holds more than 25,000 detainees.