American 'justice' in Iraq

Editorial
Monday, April 16, 2007

An Associated Press photographer who shared a Pulitzer Prize in 2005 now sits in a U.S. Army jail in Baghdad. He's been there a year with no formal charges filed against him.

Bilal Hussein, an Iraqi citizen born and raised in Fallujah, Iraq, was hired by AP in 2004 as a translator and driver. A graduate of the Baghdad Institute of Technology, he quickly made the transition to photographer.

His photos were remarkable for catching close-up action, including fighting and poses by insurgents. After his arrest on April 12, 2006, the U.S. military claimed that he was collaborating with insurgents.

One allegation was that Hussein assisted in the kidnapping of two Arab journalists. AP, according to a United Press International report last September, tracked down the two journalists, and they said Hussein had helped them, not betrayed them.

A former federal prosecutor, Paul Gardephe, is examining the military's case against Hussein for AP. Gardephe says he has discussed the allegations at length with U.S. officials and has interviewed Hussein and examined his photos, yet has turned up nothing to sustain the military's allegations.

"The absence of evidence leads to the conclusion that Bilal is being held because of the photographs he took for AP, which were published around the world," Gardephe said last week as Hussein's detention surpassed a year.

In a Washington Post column in September, Tom Curley, AP's president and chief executive, also speculated about the real reason for Hussein's detention: "He (Hussein) is no longer free to circulate in his native Fallujah or in Ramadi, taking photographs that coalition commanders would prefer not to see published."

Hussein is one of an estimated 13,000 people in Iraq being held indefinitely by the U.S. military for undefined security reasons. It is possible that he and the others do pose security risks. But we believe that if democracy is ever to take hold in Iraq, the U.S. must demonstrate how it actually works. Hussein and the others are entitled to know exactly why they are being held and procedures should be in place for their timely appearances in open court.