Iraq court drops charges against CBS cameraman

[UpInArms]

http://today.reuters.com/misc/PrinterFriendlyPopup.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=uri:2006-04-05T125155Z_01_FRI530032_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ-JOURNALIST.xml

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An Iraqi court on Wednesday threw out terrorism charges against a cameraman for U.S. network CBS who has been held in jail for a year, saying there was no evidence against him.

Iraqi security forces fired warning shots into the air as journalists tried to speak to cameraman Abdul Ameer Younis Hussein's American lawyer outside the court.

The guards told Reuters they fired because journalists refused to turn off their cameras.

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Hussein, a 26-year-old Iraqi, was shot by U.S. troops and arrested exactly a year ago, on April 5, as he filmed clashes in the northern city of Mosul.

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Although the court threw out the charges, Hussein was again taken back to Abu Ghraib prison and is not expected to be freed for several days, pending paperwork.

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The committee ranks the United States as the sixth worst jailer of journalists, along with Burma.

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