NEW YORK, NY (November 19, 2007) – The United States military has been secretly planning a criminal case against Associated Press photojournalist Bilal Hussein, who has been in military custody in Iraq for more than 19 months (since April 2006) without being charged, and until now the government has refused to say what evidence it has or what accusations it will make against the journalist, Associated Press officials said today.
But tonight a press spokesperson at the Pentagon says the U.S. military has "convincing and irrefutable evidence that 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."
Associated Press lawyer Dave Tomlin rejected the claim: "That's what the military has been saying for 19 months, but whenever we ask to see what's so convincing we get back something that isn't convincing at all."
Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell in Washington, DC, explained the decision to bring charges now by saying "new evidence has come to light" about Hussein, but Morrell said the information will remain in government hands until the formal complaint is filed with Iraqi authorities, AP reports. Hussein will apparently be turned over to the Iraqi judicial system on or before November 29.
"While we are hopeful that there could be some resolution to Bilal Hussein’s long detention, we have grave concerns that his rights under the law continue to be ignored and even abused," AP president and CEO Tom Curley said today in New York. "The steps the U.S. military is now taking continue to deny Bilal his right to due process and, in turn, may deny him a chance at a fair trial. The treatment of Bilal represents a miscarriage of the very justice and rule of law that the United States is claiming to help Iraq achieve. At this point, we believe the correct recourse is the immediate release of Bilal."
Tonight CNN reported that Hussein had come under suspicion by the U.S. military when they asked to use his house in the western Anbar province city of Ramadi as an observation post during a military operation, and they found "insurgent propaganda and bomb parts" in the residence. CNN also reported that Hussein had become a suspect because he arrived at terrorist attack sites "so quickly" that "they [the military] suspected he had advance knowledge of the attacks."
A public affairs officer notified the AP on Sunday that the military intends to submit a written complaint against Hussein that would bring the case into the Iraqi justice system as early as November 29. Under Iraqi codes, an investigative magistrate will decide whether there are grounds to try Hussein, 36, who was seized in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi on April 12, 2006.
U.S. military forces in Iraq imprisoned Hussein, accusing him of being a security threat but never filing charges or permitting a public hearing. He is a 35-year-old Iraqi citizen and a native of Fallujah. AP executives said an internal review of his work did not find anything to indicate inappropriate contact with insurgents, and any evidence against him should be brought to the Iraqi criminal justice system. Hussein began working for the AP in September 2004. He photographed events in Fallujah and Ramadi until he was detained.
AP says that Hussein is one of an estimated 14,000 people detained by the U.S. military worldwide (13,000 of them in Iraq). They are held in limbo where few are ever charged with a specific crime or given a chance before any court or tribunal to argue for their freedom. In Hussein's case, Curley and other AP executives say, the military has not provided any concrete evidence to back up the vague allegations they have raised about him.
AP lawyer Tomlin said the defense for the photographer is being forced to work "totally in the dark," and that the U.S. military's plans against Hussein make "a sham of due process."
The AP said today that it rejects all the allegations and contends it has been blocked by the military from mounting a wide-ranging defense for Hussein, who was part of the AP's Pulitzer Prize-winning photo team in 2005.
Soon after Hussein was taken into custody, the AP appealed to the U.S. military to either release him or bring the case to trial — saying there was no evidence to support his detention. However, Tomlin said that the military is now attempting to build a case based on "stale" evidence and testimony that has been discredited. He also noted that the U.S. military investigators who initially handled the case have left the country.
The AP says various accusations have been floated unofficially against Hussein and then apparently been withdrawn with little explanation.
Tomlin said the AP has faced chronic difficulties in meeting Hussein at the Camp Cropper detention facility in Baghdad and its own intensive investigations of the case — conducted by a former federal prosecutor, Paul Gardephe — have found no support for allegations that he was anything other than a working journalist in a war zone.
A petition calling for Hussein's release and the names of those who have signed it can be seen online here.
