The news editor of a prominent Shiite-run television station in Iraq was released Friday afternoon from US custody, two weeks after a raid aimed at disrupting Iranian-backed militia groups, a producer for the station told the Associated Press.
The AP report said:
Hafidh al-Beshara, the news editor and manager of political programming for Al-Forat TV, and his son were taken into custody after American forces, acting on a tip-off, stormed their house in Baghdad in February. Al-Forat is operated by Iraq's largest Shiite political party, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, or SIIC.
Haider Khazim, a producer for Al-Forat, said al-Beshara was given no reason for his release, and that his son remains in custody. The raid targeted his son, but al-Beshara was detained as well after an unauthorised machine gun was found on the premises, a military official said at the time.
The US military had said in an email response to Reuters that Beshara had been detained in the operation to arrest his son. "His (Beshara) detention had nothing to do with his place of employment or his relationship to his son," US military spokesman Major Brad Leighton said.
Reuters had reported:
A US military official with knowledge of the operation said Beshara had been held because an unauthorized belt-fed machinegun had been found in a search of his home.
The military said Beshara's son was suspected of belonging to the "special groups", jargon for rogue units of Shi'ite militias that they say receive weapons and training from Iran. Tehran denies the charge.
"The targeted individual reportedly aided in Special Groups criminal militia attacks on Iraqi and (US-led) Coalition forces as an intelligence operative," a military statement said.
