AP Lawyers Will Go to Iraq Next Week to Defend Photographer -- Press Group Raises Concerns

By: Joe Strupp Associated Press Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll believes AP photographer Bilal Hussein, who finally may be charged with unspecified alleged terrorist crimes in Iraq, can get a fair trial there.

But she stressed that the U.S. military's failure to provide AP with specific information or evidence related to charges may well hamper efforts to mount a defense and ultimately free Hussein, whom AP contends is innocent.

"I have no reason to think the Iraqi court system will be anything but fair and impartial," Carroll told E&P a day after AP revealed charges had been brought. "But they can only be impartial about what is presented to them. If one side has evidence and the other side doesn't know what it is, how can we defend Bilal? They have told our lawyers they will find out specifics when the complaint is filed next week."

Carroll's comments come a day after Hussein, 36, who has been held by U.S. and Iraqi military officials in Baghdad since April 2006, received word that the U.S. military planned to seek a criminal complaint against him. An AFP report late Monday stated the complaint accused Hussein of being "a terrorist media operative" who had "infiltrated the AP."

Dave Tomlin, AP associate general counsel, said such language is not new, noting the military had used such vague phrasing for months to describe Hussein, but without substantial evidence or specific incidents that have not been refuted.

"We continue not to have heard anything that would be grounds for a charge," Tomlin said. "What is new this week is that after months of stonewalling, they propose on less than two weeks notice to drag him into a court room."

AP has reported that, in Washington, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell claimed "new evidence has come to light" about Hussein, but did not reveal more specifics. Morrell asserted the military has "convincing and irrefutable evidence that Bilal Hussein is a threat to stability and security in Iraq as a link to insurgent activity" and called Hussein "a terrorist operative who infiltrated the AP," the news service reported.

Tomlin said the military has raised examples of alleged criminal or terrorist behavior by Hussein since he was first imprisoned, but each has been refuted. One example, Tomlin recounted, was that Hussein allegedly was involved in the kidnapping of two Arab journalists in Ramadi. Tomlin said AP investigated and found that Hussein had actually helped the two after they were released and contacted a friend who knew Hussein.

In another incident, claims surfaced that Hussein had been photographed with bomb-making equipment. Tomlin says an AP review found Hussein had been allegedly taken from his apartment and brought to a shop where the equipment was stored and forced to stand for a photo.

"If this is the kind of justice we are dealing with in Iraq, it is a pretty crude justice," Tomlin said. AP officials and Hussein have claimed he is being targeted because of his work, which has included photos of Ramadi and Fallujah that were "deemed unwelcome by the coalition forces," according to one AP story.

He was part of the photo staff that won a Pulitzer Prize two years ago for breaking news in Iraq, with a shot of four insurgents in Fallujah firing mortar and small arms against U.S. forces.

"We can only think it was considered useful to get him off the street," Tomlin said. "Whether that was a motivating factor, we don?t know. But it has certainly been for them a beneficial byproduct of this."

Tomlin said AP Attorney Paul Gardephe will head to Iraq and represent Hussein during his Nov. 29 court appearance. Carroll says she has no plans to travel there as of yet: "I don't know that our being there for this is particularly helpful."

Even if Hussein is found innocent, Tomlin says he may not be out of legal problems: "The military could label him a security risk and put him back in custody anyway."

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From the Committee to Protect Journalists today:

"Hussein's detention is not an isolated incident. Over the last three years, dozens of journalists -- mostly Iraqis -- have been detained by U.S. troops, according to CPJ research. While most have been released after short periods, in at least eight cases documented by CPJ Iraqi journalists have been held by U.S. forces for weeks or months without charge or conviction.

"In one highly publicized case, Abdul Ameer Younis Hussein, a freelance cameraman working for CBS, was detained after being wounded by U.S. military fire as he filmed clashes in Mosul in northern Iraq on April 5, 2005. U.S. military officials claimed footage in his camera led them to suspect Hussein had prior knowledge of attacks on coalition forces. In April 2006, a year after his arrest, Hussein was freed after an Iraqi criminal court, citing a lack of evidence, acquitted him of collaborating with insurgents."