'Photo District News' Covers Latest on Bilal Hussein Case

By: E&P Staff One of Editor & Publisher's sister publications, Photo District News, had a few stories this week about detained AP photographer Bilal Hussein. The leadoff story below was posted today.

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Bilal Hussein Will Face Overloaded And Rushed Court System

By Daryl Lang

No one knows when Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein will have his day in court. It could be tomorrow. Or Thursday. Or any other day.

The lack of a schedule is a telling detail of the Central Criminal Court of Iraq, or CCCI, where Hussein's case will be heard.

Hussein, an Iraqi who has been held by the U.S. military as a security detainee since April 2006, will be brought before the court in Baghdad and accused of terrorist activity, the military says.

People familiar with the CCCI describe a crowded system where cases are decided quickly by judges who toil under constant threats.

Already, elements of the court system are working against Hussein. Hussein and his lawyer will probably not see the charges against him until a hearing where they are expected to present a defense.

What's more, even if the court acquits Hussein or dismisses his case, the U.S. military says it has the right to keep him in prison.

A New, Unstable Justice System

The Central Criminal Court of Iraq was established after the U.S. invasion in 2003 to handle serious criminal cases. It follows an inquisitional system, in which a judge decides the facts of a case, rather than an adversarial system like the one used in the U.S.

Iraq had no justice system under Saddam Hussein and its new system remains "unstable," according to Linda A. Malone, a professor at William & Mary School of Law who worked as a consultant to The Iraqi Special Tribunal.

"I think it is fair to say it's a very rustic process and a very overloaded process," Malone says. "I think they have far more cases in the pipeline right now than they can possibly handle."

One way the CCCI deals with overcrowding is to churn through cases quickly.

"What might take years in our court system can be done in 30 days there, if not sooner," says Capt. Stan Martin, an Army reservist and attorney in Palm Arbor, Fla.

Martin, who served as a Special Forces legal advisor in Iraq from November 2006 to April 2007, watched numerous captives pass through the CCCI in Baghdad. Investigative hearings would last three or four hours depending on the amount of evidence, he says. Following the hearings, trials would take place as soon as clerks could get them on the docket. Verdicts and sentences were announced the same day as the trial.

"It's a very rudimentary system," Martin says, noting that clerks keep records in the form of hand-written notes. "Remember from school the old ditto paper? They still use that."

A December 2006 New York Times article described a morning of back-to-back CCCI trails that lasted about 15 minutes each and were decided the same day.

The CCCI judges are mainly Shiites, Martin says, who endure very real threats to their lives and their families from militia groups. As a result, it was difficult to obtain convictions against members of Shiite militias, Martin says.

It also doesn't bode well for Sunnis like Bilal Hussein.

"I would not want to be a Sunni before the CCCI," Martin says. "Of course, I wouldn't want to be a Shia before the CCCI, either."

Not everyone shares Martin's experience. A staffer at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad who knows several CCCI judges said they include Shiites and Sunnis who take fairness very seriously.

CCCI judges can impose the death penalty in cases involving terrorism. Death penalty cases are automatically sent to an appellate court.

Hussein's legal process will begin with an investigative hearing. Hussein and his attorney will be called before a single Iraqi judge, who will hear the case presented by an Iraqi prosecutor. Representatives from the U.S. military will participate as complaining witnesses.

So far, military officials have declined to explain their case against Hussein in detail, other than to say it is strong.

"We feel very comfortable with the evidence," says Maj. Brad Leighton, a spokesperson for the Multi-National Force in Iraq.

The AP has identified nine informal charges leveled at Hussein. (Related story.) The news agency has argued that the evidence shows he was a photojournalist doing his job, not a terrorist or a member of the insurgency. AP executives have vigorously defended Hussein in opinion columns and media interviews.

Based on the evidence presented, the judge will decide whether to send the case to trial. If he does, the trial will be assigned to a random three-judge panel. Judges weigh the evidence and issue a verdict and sentence.

Last week a U.S. military spokesperson said a formal filing of charges was scheduled for Nov. 28, though a different spokesperson told PDN Monday that Hussein's investigative hearing could happen any time after the 28th.

The AP, which has dispatched attorney Paul Gardephe to Baghdad to defend Hussein, says it was told to expect an early-morning phone call announcing the hearing any day after Nov. 29.

"The whole process at this seemingly eleventh hour is still shrouded in mystery," says AP spokesperson Paul Colford.

Even if the Iraqi court dismisses Hussein's case or finds him not guilty, the U.S. military may continue to detain him.

"If we deem him a threat to the security and stability of Iraq and we decide to detain him further we will do that," says Leighton, the military spokesperson. "We retain that prerogative."

This has happened in about four percent of the dismissed cases involving American-held detainees, according to The New York Times.

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From November 26th:

Interrorgators Told Bilal Hussein His Photos Were A Threat, Report Says

By Daryl Lang

Under U.S. military interrorgation, Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein was blindfolded for nine days, given an offer to become a paid informant within the AP, and told, "Your photos pose a threat to us," according to a report by his attorney.

These claims are inside a 46-page report prepared for the AP by attorney Paul Gardephe to rebut the allegations against Hussein, who has been held as a security detainee for 19 months. Hussein is expected to be formally charged this week in an Iraqi court.

Gardephe's report is based on over 40 hours of interviews with Hussein in March 2007, as well as interviews with Hussein's coworkers, fellow journalists and family members. The report was made public last Wednesday through the AP's web site.

Gardephe's report underscores serious questions ? raised by the AP repeatedly over the last year ? about whether Hussein is being held because he is a legitimate threat, or simply in retaliation for his work as a photojournalist.

Most of the report concerns the allegations against Hussein, which have been made informally through e-mails and other communication from the military. The report also includes information on Hussein's background, his professional conduct, and how he became a photographer ? none of which support the government's argument that he is a terrorist who infiltrated the AP.

Hussein, an Iraqi employee of the AP, was arrested in his Ramadi apartment in April 2006 along with two men tied to the Iraq insurgency. Soldiers collected equipment from Hussein's home including his laptop computer and discs containing photographs.

The report says Hussein was interrogated about 32 times between April 12 and May 19, 2006. He was initially held at a facility in Ramadi, where he was kept in solitary confinement and blindfolded for nine days, the report says.

After Ramadi, Hussein was taken to Abu Ghraib and interrogated for about 15 days. He was later moved to a detention facility at Camp Cropper.

Gardephe's report gives this account of one early interrogation:

"USM interrogators first attempted to recruit him, offering to pay him more than the AP, give him better equipment, and still permit him to continue working as a photographer for the AP. Hussein told me that he rejected the offer to become a USM informant because of his commitment to his profession, to the AP, and to the country."

The report also mentions a previously undisclosed series of photographs Hussein took before his arrest that were never published:

"USM interrogators have focused, in particular, on several photographs taken shortly before his arrest showing Iraqi children playing with torn-off leg of an injured U.S. or Iraqi soldier. One interrogator said to Hussein: 'Do you know what would happen if these photos were show in the U.S.? There would be huge demonstrations and we would have to leave Iraq. This is why you won't be released. Your photos pose a threat to us.'"

Hussein was interrogated on a wide range of subjects including insurgent leaders in the cities where he worked, Ramadi and Fallujah. The report says Hussein was given three polygraph examinations, which the military says he failed.

Hussein is one of thousands of security detainees being held in Iraq, including other journalists. But his case stands out because of the length of his detention and his record as part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team for a major news organization.

The U.S. military has not listed its formal charges against Hussein, but Gardephe's report cites nine informal allegations and offers a defense of each.

Hussein tested positive for explosive residue. Gardephe says the AP has no evidence of such a test. Even if it did exist, it would not prove insurgent activity since as part of his job Hussein went to public places where explosions were common.

Soldiers found bomb-making materials at Hussein's home. The report says Hussein lived over a shop run by an electrician. Soldiers photographed the building's storage room, which included electronics repair parts, when Hussein was arrested.

One of Hussein's brothers is associated with the insurgency. The report says the brother fled Iraq in 2004, there is no proof of his connection to the insurgency, and even if true, it does not prove Hussein participated in the insurgency.

Hussein was involved in the kidnapping of two other journalists. The report says AP investigators spoke to the two journalists who had been kidnapped and they said Hussein had in fact helped them after they were kidnapped and released. The names of the two journalists were deleted from the AP's public version of Gardephe's report.

Hussein's photographs of Salvatore Santoro, an Italian who had been taken hostage and killed, call into question his role as a journalist. The report says the pictures of Santoro taken by Hussein and an AP videographer were not the result of any special relationship with insurgents. The report says Hussein and the videographer were stopped by militants at a checkpoint and ordered to take the pictures when it became clear they were journalists.

Hussein produced insurgent propaganda. The report says this is a vague claim that appears to refer to all of Hussein's work from Fallujah and Ramadi. The report says there is no evidence of Hussein producing propaganda for insurgents, and that some of his photographs show the insurgents in a negative light.

Hussein was associated with insurgents. Regarding the two men arrested with Hussein, the report says Hussein did not know them before that day. Hussein met them when he offered them shelter in his apartment from a nearby explosion, the report says.

Hussein provided a false identification to an insurgent sniper. The report says Hussein denies ever providing false ID to anyone. Moreover, false IDs are commonplace and easily obtained on the open market in Baghdad.

Hussein conspired with insurgents to synchronize photographs with explosions. The report says none of Hussein's 900 photographs taken for the AP suggest any advance notice of an attack.