Detention of Iraqi Employees Angers Western News Media

[struggle4progress]

By ROBERT F. WORTH
Published: September 15, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Sept. 14 - On April 5, Abdul Ameer Younis Hussein, an Iraqi cameraman for CBS News, was struck in the thigh by an American sniper's bullet while filming the aftermath of a suicide bombing in Mosul. As he recovered in a military hospital, the Americans arrested him. They later said the film in his camera suggested he was working for insurgents.

More than five months later, Mr. Hussein is still in an American military prison. The Iraqi criminal authorities have reviewed his case and declined to prosecute him. Colleagues who were with him that day have produced affidavits supporting his innocence. The American military has not released any evidence against him, despite repeated requests for information by CBS producers, lawyers and even the network's president, Andrew Heyward. <snip>

Pentagon lawyers have told CBS that Mr. Hussein is being held on classified evidence, according to letters sent to the network that were provided to The New York Times. The military has released statements saying that Mr. Hussein tested positive for explosive residue, and citing accusations that he "had knowledge of future terrorist attacks." It is not clear who made the accusations, or whether the residue may have resulted from his proximity to the scene.

Mr. Hussein's friends and relatives - who have not been able to visit him in prison - say the military has not interviewed them or searched his home, standard procedure with people suspected of having ties to insurgents. CBS executives say the network has investigated the incident and has no reason to believe that its cameraman was working with insurgents. <snip>

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/15/international/middleeast/15cbs.html

[DBoon]

1. Just an effort to intimidate the media

and let anyone who looks Middle Eastern that they are guilty of all charges. No way to prove innocence. period.