Deathtrap Iraq

The United States military said Monday that it would release Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein who has been jailed in Iraq without trial for two years on accusations of terrorism and kidnapping. The US military initially said it had more than enough evidence to hold him under a UN mandate, but on Monday, Maj Gen Douglas Stone, deputy commanding general for detainee operations, signed the...

Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein began his third year in US military detention Saturday with the bulk of accusations against him dropped by Iraqi judges and press freedom groups renewing calls for his release. But the Pentagon said Hussein will be held until it reviews the Iraqi amnesty ruling and also said it reserves the option to ignore the decision and keep Hussein in custody. A...

A British journalist abducted in the southern Iraqi city of Basra two months ago has been rescued by Iraqi troops. Richard Butler, who worked for CBS News, was found with a sack over his head and his hands tied inside a house in Basra, Lt Gen Mohan al-Fireji told the Associated Press (AP). He said Butler was in "good" condition. In a statement, CBS said: "We are incredibly grateful that our...

An Iraqi judicial committee has dismissed terrorism-related allegations against Associated Press (AP) photographer Bilal Hussein and ordered him released nearly two years after he was detained by the US military, the news agency has reported. Hussein, 36, remained in custody Wednesday at Camp Cropper, a US detention facility near Baghdad's airport. A decision by a four-judge panel said Hussein's...

Five years after a series of US military strikes against news media outlets in Baghdad killed three journalists, there are calls on the US military to fully investigate the incidents and make its findings public. So far, impunity has ruled. On April 8, 2003, a US tank fired a single shell on the Palestine Hotel, the main base for dozens of international journalists covering the US-led invasion of

An Iraqi reporter was seriously injured Wednesday in a landmine explosion in east Baghdad, while another was injured by a sniper in the southern city of Basra, according to the Iraqi Journalistic Freedoms Observatory (JFO). Haitham Ibrahim, a cameraman working for Iraqi al-Dayar satellite channel, had his leg amputated after suffering serious injuries in a landmine explosion in Talabiyah district...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has called for the release of Ahmed Mahmud Hassan, of satellite al-Sumariya television, who has been held since March 30 by Iraqi authorities who have not given any reason for his arrest. Mahmud Hassan was picked up in Mahmudiya, 30 km south of Baghdad, while he was covering clashes between Iraqi forces and rebel insurgents. He is thought to be detained in a...

The first-ever detailed report on the plight of Iraqi journalists who have been forced into exile was released by Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) today, the eve of the fifth anniversary of the start of the US-led invasion of Iraq. Most of these journalists fled to Jordan or Syria after receiving threats or surviving murder attempts. Hundreds are trying to live a normal life again in Amman or...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned the murder of an Iraqi journalist by at least one unknown gunman in Baghdad on Thursday last. Qassim Abdul Hussein al-Iqabi, 36, of the local daily Al-Muwatin (The Citizen) was shot dead in Baghdad’s predominantly Shiite Karradah neighbourhood, according to local and international news reports. “We offer our deepest condolences to Qassim...

A French reporter was stabbed Saturday last at a hotel in Iraq's northern Kurdish city of Irbil, police said. The reporter was hospitalised with minor injuries to her arm, according to Irbil police chief Brig Gen Abdul-Khaliq Talat. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemned the attack on Cécile Hennion, a reporter working for Le Monde. “This brazen attack shows how dangerous the...