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US military should release the three other journalists they've kidnapped

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bigtree Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-19-06 01:26 PM
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US military should release the three other journalists they've kidnapped
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/060119/2006011923.html
Iraq-USA, Politics, 1/19/2006

The United States rose to sixth among countries jailing journalists worldwide - holding at least five - when CPJ conducted its annual census of imprisoned journalists on December 1, 2005, After Sunday's release, at least three other journalists remain in US custody. They are:

Abdul Ameer Younis Hussein, CBS News. Hussein, an Iraqi cameraman working for CBS News, was taken into custody after being wounded by US forces' fire as he filmed clashes in Mosul in northern Iraq on April 5. CBS News reported at the time that the US military said footage in the journalist's camera led them to suspect he had prior knowledge of attacks on coalition forces. Agence France-Presse also cited US officials as saying the journalist "tested positive for explosive residue." No charges have been made public and the evidence used to hold him remains classified. The New York Times reported that the US military referred Hussein's case to Iraqi justice officials who reviewed Hussein's file but declined to prosecute him. US military officials have made unspecific accusations that Hussein was "engaged in anti-coalition activity" and was "recruiting and inciting Iraqi nationals to violence against coalition forces and participating in attacks against coalition forces." Military officials have not disclosed any evidence to support these accusations.

Samir Mohammed Noor, Reuters. Freelance cameraman Noor was arrested by Iraqi troops at his home in the northern town of Tal Afar in May 2005. A US military spokesman told the news agency that Noor was determined to be "an imperative threat to the coalition forces and the security of Iraq." US officials have not disclosed any charges against him or any evidence supporting his detention. Reuters said he was being held at Camp Bucca, in southern Iraq.

Sami Muhyideen al-Haj, Al-Jazeera. Al-Haj, a 35-year-old Sudanese national and assistant cameraman for Al-Jazeera, was detained by Pakistani forces after he and an Al-Jazeera reporter attempted to re-enter southern Afghanistan at the Chaman border crossing in Pakistan, in December 2001. Al-Jazeera said it learned of al-Haj's detention—first at a US detention camp in Afghanistan and later at the US military facility in Guantánamo Bay—from letters he sent to the station and to his wife in care of Al-Jazeera, beginning in April 2002. Al-Haj's lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, told CPJ in October 2005 that his client was being held as an accused enemy combatant. Smith said no specific allegations had been lodged, and his client denied any wrongdoing. US Navy Lt. Cmdr. Chris Loundermon, a spokesman for the US Southern Command, which administers the Guantánamo military facility, would not provide any information about al-Haj, nor would he confirm the journalist's detention. He said the information constituted confidential intelligence. The Guardian of London reported in September 2005 that US military interrogators allegedly tried to recruit al-Haj as a spy. Interrogators allegedly told him he would be released if he agreed to inform US intelligence authorities about the satellite news network's activities, Smith told The Guardian and CPJ.

full article: http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/060119/2006011923.html

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