U.S. Kidnaps Iraqi Journalists For Seven Months Then Lets Them Go

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Two journalists freed by US military in Iraq
Reuters, Baghdad

The US military freed two Iraqi journalists who work for Reuters on Sunday after holding them for several months without charge.

Ali al-Mashhadani, a television cameraman who was arrested in August, and Majed Hameed, a correspondent for Reuters and Arabiya television who was detained in September, are both based in Ramadi, one of the centres of a Sunni Arab insurgency.

They were freed from Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison after being held there and at Camp Bucca, a US jail in southern Iraq.

At least three other Iraqi journalists for international media, including a freelance cameraman working for Reuters in the northern town of Tal Afar, remain in custody.

Reuters has urged the US military also to free Samir Mohammed Noor, who has been held without charge since his arrest by Iraqi troops at his home in Tal Afar seven months ago. A cameraman for US television network CBS in Mosul has been held since April.

http://www.thedailystar.net/2006/01/16/d601161311106.htm

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

1. Well, it took them only 7 months to discover that they were journalists.

I guess the phone they could have called Reuters with was being used to get orders from Der Fuhrer in Crawford.

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2. Thus, while the vulture of sedition

Feeds in the bosom of such great commanders,
Sleeping neglection doth betray to loss
The conquest of our scarce cold conqueror

-Shakespeare

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3. another account

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=81488

Monday Jan 16

At least three other Iraqi journalists for international media, including a freelance cameraman working for Reuters in the northern town of Tal Afar, remain in custody.

Reuters has urged the US military also to free Samir Mohammed Noor, who has been held without charge since his arrest by Iraqi troops at his home in Tal Afar seven months ago. A cameraman for US television network CBS in Mosul has been held since April.

Reuters and international media rights groups have repeatedly voiced concern at the long and unexplained detentions of journalists by US troops.

They have in particular criticised the military's refusal to deal more quickly with suspicions apparently arising from reporters' legitimate activities in covering the insurgency.

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4. report from October from Committee to Protect Journalists

Open-ended and unsubstantiated detentions of journalists in Iraq have undermined the ability of the press to report on the conflict. The Committee to Protect Journalists has documented seven cases in 2005 alone in which reporters, photographers, and camera operators were detained by U.S. forces for prolonged periods without charge or the disclosure of any supporting evidence. These detentions have involved journalists working for CBS News, The Associated Press, and Agence France-Presse, among others.

At least three documented detentions have exceeded 100 days; the others have spanned many weeks. CPJ has received reports of numerous other detentions that, because of the secrecy of the proceedings, it has been unable to confirm.

Most of the confirmed detainees are Iraqis—local journalists covering the conflict in their own country. These journalists are vulnerable because they are most frequently in the field reporting from places deemed too dangerous for Western reporters. They are often the first on the scene to report on clashes or insurgent attacks. In at least five cases documented by CPJ, the detainees were photojournalists who initially drew the military’s attention because of what they had filmed or photographed.

Despite repeated inquiries over many months, the U.S. military has refused to provide evidence to support these detentions. Instead, military officials have made vague and unsubstantiated assertions that these Iraqi journalists may pose “security risks.”

http://www.cpj.org/Briefings/2005/DA_fall05/comment/comment_DA_fall05.html