CBS Cameraman Is Acquitted by Iraqi Court (but sent back to prison)

[brooklynite]

BAGHDAD, Iraq - An Iraqi criminal court Wednesday acquitted a CBS News cameraman accused of insurgent activity a year after he was wounded and detained by the U.S. military. But the cameraman, Abdul Ameer Younis Hussein, was returned to Abu Ghraib prison pending final U.S. military approval of his release.

A three-judge panel ruled that there was insufficient evidence against Hussein, a 25-year-old Iraqi, who was filming the aftermath of a car bomb for CBS in the northern city of Mosul when he was apprehended.

"I am so happy," said Hussein's brother, Mohammed Younis Hussein, who traveled from Mosul for the trial. "I have cried a lot these months, but now I feel I can rest. It's incredible."

The defendant, who wore a yellow jumpsuit, was not permitted to speak to reporters. Between appearances on the witness stand, he had to kneel on the floor in the back of the courtroom, facing a wall. Half a dozen American soldiers in full body armor stood nearby, guarding him and other Iraqi defendants, who also faced the wall.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060405/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_cbs_cameraman_1
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Nice to know Iraq is fully sovereign...

[Rose Siding]

1. Has CBS even been covering this?

How do they get anyone to work for them?

[Supersedeas]

3. Good point - probably consider it a breach of employment contract

to do real reporting.

[Norquist Nemesis]

2. Send Katie!!! Exclooosive!!!

It sounds unsurprisingly like Gitmo SOP.

[Blue_Tires]

4. he was held a year?

for filming an explosion and the celebration after?

[WhiteTara]

5. this is what we are fighting for?

"Between appearances on the witness stand he had to kneel on the floor in the back of the courtroom, facing a wall". WTF!?!?! This is sickening.

[progressivebydesign]

6. OMG. this was an awful story!

WTF are we doing over there?? OUR military arrested him.. and he was held for a year, then subjected to that sham of a court (can you imagine being forced to kneel in the back of the courtroom for the entire trial, facing a wall... with AMERICAN soldiers holding guns on you??? He is free, but not free. Wonder if he'll die in prison "accidentally" before they let him go, even tho he was aquitted. Did you also notice the part where he was acquitted, then tried to speak to reporters in the parking lot, but was stopped by OUR military shooting guns into the air and threatening him and the reporters???

WTF are we doing exactly??